After another poor night worrying about Dad’s funeral arrangements, I welcomed Mum’s visit with Della’s help and then had coffee with Di after which I picked up Debbie and Daniel then arrived from school such that we all had lunch together. Once Mum had returned to Weald House, we went to the Little Paxton November Fayre which raised Village Hall and local charity funds.
This evening planning a conservatory bridge and house access ramp. Dubcek has slated the USSR and former regimes for putting down past reforms and Thatcher’s popularity is at rock bottom with Hazeltine threatening her leadership.
I had another poor night tossing and turning whilst thinking about the demise of my Dad and dealing with the aftermath. This followed a late bedtime which did not help. I fed the fish and backflushed the pond filter after breakfast and there was only Daniella with me when Mum arrived. We exchanged news and condolence sentiments from the cards that had arrived here and at Weald House and we had quite a tearful session as far as Mum was concerned. We also went into a few aspects of the administration with the aid of her filing case and sorted some things out. Then coffee at which point Di arrived and we had a nice chat to brighten things up.
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Freda and Jane, her daughter, are taking Dad’s death very badly – probably from the point of view of being so far away from here. Mum had to leave with her taxi at 11:30am and then I picked Debbie up from her Brownies Craft Morning in St Neots. Dan having arrived back from school by that time, we all had lunch together. This afternoon, Daniel was off with Gary Skinner and the rest of the family went to Little Paxton November Fayre at the Village Hall. It seemed to be a successful event, and everyone appeared to be spending well to support local groups and The Village Hall fund. Tonight itself, I sat in the lounge, planning the construction of a bridge for the conservatory and a ramp for mum to get up and down the steps into the house. Then I wrote up my journal and started to look at the order of service for Dad’s funeral. I was determined to go to bed early for once.
The world news on this day was firmly focused on Czechoslovakia where former leader Dubcek has slated the way in which tanks from the USSR put down the reforms during the Prague Spring. The ruling Czech government has tried to draw up a plan for improving communications with the Communist Party but members of the politburo are resigning and so they are being overtaken by events. Eight leading dissidents have been released as well. Thatcher is at rock bottom in the opinion polls this weekend and the high popularity of the Tory rebel Michael Hazeltine puts her leadership under even more threat. A sunny day today but cold and frosty tonight.