Mum and Dad together
Mum and Dad together

After time with the children, dropping our boat heater offer service in St Ives and collecting our painting from Horseheath, I drove to Stanton to find my parents rather depressed after a matrimonial row with mum’s arthritis back in the spine and dad tired and groggy with his facial swelling and septic discharge. I calmed them as much as I could, packed away a swing chair and mowed the lawn and then took their car for a short drive to make sure the battery was charged before leaving after three hours understandably depressed.

I drove home via Cambridge, for some more errands and then attended St Neots Town Council meeting. They had contracted a local planning consultancy for £10,000 to advise them on developing a plan for St Neots and the company, ‘A Campbell’, had proposed a lot of undesirable sites for housing development on land owned by its clients, a case of supreme naïveté or corruption which we are now determined to expose.

A busy day today. I was up rather slowly but then began organising a whole series of chores to do. After breakfast with the children, Daniel was late for the bus and so I first had to give him a lift to the bus stop. I then loaded up the car and set off to LH Jones in St Ives where I dropped off our Ardic boat heater for a service. It needs its combustion chamber and burners clearing out after 200 hours use and so I thought that this would be the best time.

Then across country and the A604 past Cambridge and Linton to Horseheath where I had to collect our painting from the sister of the Beccles Society of Artists member who had brought it back from Suffolk for us. I had directions to find a pink cottage and rested with that information as I thought it must be quite distinctive. Little did I realise that a lot of cottages in Horseheath are pink as it is characteristic of the place! I found it at the third attempt and collected the painting after a social chat.

Then the journey through Bury St Edmunds to Stanton to see my Mum and Dad. I stopped on the way to have a mug of tea and a doughnut from a transport café which only cost me 50p! I found my parents rather depressed after a matrimonial row. You would think that they would both know better in their 70’s but their pain and discomfort make them irritable. The dull and cool weather has brought mum’s arthritis back in the spine and dad was tired and groggy with his facial swelling and septic discharge. I stayed a while comforting them and calming the tension before going out to take down and pack away the garden swing chair that had led to my visit. I mowed the longer grass that was now visible and took my dad’s car around Stanton to charge the battery and made sure it was ready for when it was next needed. I left them after about three hours drove home rather depressed over the way in which lifelong friends and mates and fall out when subjected to such pain and frustration.

On my way home, I stopped off in Cambridge and sought out the small business that takes apart toner cartridges from photocopiers and laser printers and recharges and recycles them. I left four such cartridges and will collect them next Tuesday. I also picked up a newspaper back number from the Cambridge Evening News offices that featured a story on my anti-development motion. Home in time for tea and then off to watch the St Neots Town Council meeting. They had contracted a local planning consultancy for £10,000 to advise them on developing a plan for St Neots and the company, A Campbell, had proposed a lot of undesirable sites for housing development on land owned by its clients, a case of supreme naïveté or corruption that had to be exposed. Michael Pope was in the meeting and I, Percy Meyer, and Sally Guinee in the public seats. Michael described it as ‘Count Dracula being contracted to organise the blood transfusion service’ and asked what safeguards had been undergone with respect to the consultants retained clients. The Tory group close ranks and tried to suppress discussion but the point was made. Worse still, the report had many proposals which the Town Council were debating about Little Paxton which is a gross discourtesy to the Little Paxton Council. I got home late again after another long meeting and was late again to bed as a result. My story made the headlines in the Hunts Post today but Celia Chignell’s ‘Citizens Express’, made no use of the story!