An early start and considerable progress in reconciling accounts and dealing with financial matters generally, which delayed me joining Di so that we missed lunch together in town after getting my haircut. Quickly over to Huntingdon to plead unsuccessfully for lorry restrictions in Little Paxton and home to more messages and press opportunities before considerable time spent planning for tomorrow’s District Council Meeting. Thatcher plays on the world stage inviting Gorbachev and arrangements for the IRA ‘Shoot to Kill’ trial may be challenged by judicial review. The nurses dispute escalates and Israel’s Jitshijk Shamir gains religious extremist support to form a government.
A good night sleep and flying start to the day. Breakfast of wheat flakes and then to my office to update my financial affairs. Plenty of bills to pay, bank accounts to reconcile and had to calculate the transfers needed between accounts to balance the books. Letters to write as well. In the end, I could not complete the task before Di went to town and I could not join her. I cycled in later and did my financial transactions and delivered some letters before going to the barbers and getting my haircut. I was looking for Diana around St Neots soon after midday, as we would have lunch together, but she had gone home as our lines of communication were crossed.
Pity was, by the time I had realised and phoned home, it was too late for us to go out to lunch and I had to settle for a sandwich and me a salad. After lunch, I changed and rushed to Huntingdon where I was attending a Joint Transportation Panel to speak in support of stronger anti-lorry restrictions and Little Paxton but the plea fell on deaf ears as I had bigger problems elsewhere to worry about. Home to find phone messages. Bill Walston has transcribed the rest of my discs, Julia Silverton of the Town Crier needs press copy and I also today typed out and passed on the introduction to the new Little Paxton Planning guidelines. This evening, Mr Wilmot of Carisbrook came around and I helped in further on his preparation for a complaint to the ombudsman over an injustice. Got some work done on my Council meeting preparation but it was hard going. Later, I sat and watched the TV news and wrote up my journal. It seems that USSR to Gorbachev is to visit the UK in two weeks’ time and Thatcher took the opportunity of announcing this in her Guildhall speech this evening. During the IRA ‘Shoot to Kill ’, inquest, defence lawyers of walked out of the court and are going to seek a Judicial Review because the soldiers involved were not allowed to present evidence in person and be questioned. The nurses regrading dispute escalates with more protest action in train, threatening to re-emerge as a big issue. In Israel, Jitshijk Shamir gets the backing of the religious extremists who hold the balance of power and will now form a government. The stock exchanges were remarkably stable today, with only small losses, but it might be the lull before the storm. The key will be the US trade figures next Wednesday.