My LibDem colleague Simon Hughes  visiting Calcutt's Pharmacist in 1988
My LibDem colleague Simon Hughes visiting Calcutt's Pharmacist in 1988

After another late night and a slow start to the day, I set off for Cambridge, and went together with Di to the instrument shop to buy a Boosey and Hawkes flute for Debbie. After some more financial chores and a trip to buy some things from the garden centre, we drove to Offord to buy her a new saddle for Sundance as well and then had lunch at The Little Chef.

This afternoon, I visited Dad again and then took Di to an evening history club lecture by St Neots Chemist, Jim Calcott. There are talks at last on the ambulance drivers pay dispute and Gorbachev is visiting East Germany for its 40th anniversary

After another short night for me following a late, midnight, bedtime, I was slow to rise and then a little late to breakfast. As I fed the Koi Carp this morning, I noticed that the Hariwake Ohgon has the infection coming back, which is a shame as he seems quite healthy otherwise. There was quite a lot of mail this morning and the post seems to get ever later.

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Earlier, we had to set off for Cambridge 8:40am to park in the town centre and go together with Di to the instrument shop to buy a flute for Debbie. We chose a Boosey and Hawkes flute and followed their advice. We then did transactions in the Post Office and Abbey National before driving off to the garden centre for coffee and to make a few purchases. We drove on to Offord by 11:30am, where we met up with Mrs Longley, the Sadler’s wife, who fitted Sundance with a new saddle, and we brought back his old one patched up as the spare. We will leave the latter at the stables for Lisa to use and Debbie will have the new one to bring and return after cleaning.

Then, after lunch at the Little Paxton Little Chef and spending just an hour at home,  I drove back to Cambridge to see Dad. He was bright today, still lucid and quite comfortable but having bowel trouble. This evening, I took Diana to hear a talk at the St Neots Local History Society by Mr Jim Calcott the Market Square chemist on the history of pharmacy in his shop. The talk was a bit dry, such that Di got rather bored, but then speaking is a skill that has to be learned. It was raining today and this was washing my Autumn Top Lawn application into the ground.

The annual Labour Party Conference has ended with Neil Kinnock and his party on a high. Now the spotlight will be on the Tory conference next week, where this normally stage-managed event may have scenes of actual debate and discussion after all. There are talks at last on the ambulance drivers pay dispute and I hope that they get the pay and conditions that they deserve rather than being second fiddle to the fire and police services. Elsewhere, Gorbachev is visiting East Germany for its 40th anniversary.