Michael was being elusive and probably sick with the tension
Michael was being elusive and probably sick with the tension

Seeking a progress update on Della about her getting a plaster aster and then working hard to try and sort out the party row with Michael being elusive and probably sick with the tension. Eventually relieving Diana at a busier Holly Ward with Della making progress.

Slept deeply after my exertions and stresses of yesterday. Diana took the early shift at the hospital this morning and then I went along to join her after taking Debbie to the bus stop; having carried my briefcase and portable computer in case I should be there for a while. I had been asking yesterday about what was due to take place next and this morning Mr Vaughan-Lane had called quite early to see Della and Diana. He was still planning for Della to be plastered on Thursday and had little to add during a brief visit. He was gone by the time I got there and so I took Diana down to have a coffee and then came home to leave her there.

Before embarking on the task of transcribing all my telephone messages and returning the telephone calls, I stopped off at Percy's house in Offord D'Arcy on the way and let him brief me on the latest developments over this monstrous row. Michael had been commenting publicly on what he felt was "appalling behaviour by Ross McKay" and was calling for his expulsion from the local group and party. Percy had written to both of them on an equal basis telling them to cool it and desist from further comment until the matter could be resolved and had received a call from Ross agreeing to this and sounding conciliatory but there was no word from Michael. They were all talking about a meeting on Friday and I got Percy to get Sally, our Town Council Group Leader on the telephone and wanted to know (with some irritation) why there had not already been a meeting this last weekend to defuse the situation before positions became too entrenched.

The answer was that they all felt that a "cooling-off" period was advisable which was a reasonable assumption for those not fully understanding organisational behaviour. I then wanted a meeting to be called immediately with this evening as the preferred date so that Percy and I would forgo our HDC Planning Committee if necessary. We left this with Sally to try to organise and I left Percy and came home. Some little time with my mail and, though intending to try and get some work done, this did not prove to be possible. Sally and I then compared notes after her midday opportunity to talk to Michael and we found that he was not of a mood to attend a meeting, had taken offence over Percy's letter and referred to a letter in the post to Sally, Percy and I which set out his position! From this we deduced that he was probably in resigning mood and that their tactic of waiting had proved to be the wrong thing.

This was confirmed when, not being able to talk to Michael who had left his telephone answering machine on, I spoke to his mother and found out that Michael had been very ill over the weekend with a recurrence of his migraine attacks and had been dead beat all of Sunday just going to sleep on the chair from mid-afternoon onwards. He was expecting an early meeting to be organised to thrash it out. She said he had been very, very, very upset about Ross McKay and related some stories and opinions that she had heard criticising him. I avoided commenting on this, but she also said that she also felt that his migraines were related to nerves and confided that he had been through something close to a breakdown when studying at college. From all this, I deduced that Michael was going through a crisis which needed understanding rather than more pressure.

I was off back to Hinchingbrooke for the afternoon to give Diana a break and then on to the District Council Planning Meeting this evening after I had heard from Sally that she could not get everybody together for this evening. The meeting was a bit odd. There was nowhere near as much on the agenda as usual and the chairman and committee seemed to be spinning things out. The Tories were occupying our seating positions in the council chamber for a start and certain of them were quite offish. Percy was late and I was to find out that this was due to a British Rail delay but I was beginning to wonder whether it was because Sally had got Michael to a meeting after all!  Eventually Percy turned up and then I left after 9.00pm to go and relieve Diana at Hinchingbrooke. I spent some time typing up these last few days journal there and then went home when she was safely asleep again. There seem to be more patients in Holly Ward now including some arm fractures and injuries amongst older children.