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Too much information (probably) . For those who have wondered about my succession of hospital appointments lately, please do not be concerned as it is all purely precautionary. I am always very proactive on any matter of health so that I can keep fit and dancing to keep up with you younger guys! My most recent consultations have gone well and was good news with my MRI prostate scan showing no lesions and so <4% chance of cancer but will still lead to another invasive investigation to reduce this to <1% and then another procedure to alleviate some current benign symptoms once and for all. There is more cost and inconvenience to come but nothing that is going to reduce my target of 20 more active years J!. In the meantime, nobody knows why the prostates of alpha males grow benignly with age so every encouragement and openness for discussion and research is a good idea until us men-folk have the solutions that our female friends enjoy for their similar issues
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Family day watching ‘Ghostbusters’ with Daniel whilst my Mum Grace prepares for a Christmas heart operation at Papworth as Gorbachev visits the UKand chemical leaks are still in the news
Awake tired after yesterday’s exertions and, after my morning tea, back to sleep until breakfast. To bed after and some time laying in and reading the paper and the morning mail. Still no refund cheque for our £75,000 from de Zoete. Up eventually to wash, dress and out to feed the doves and ducks – both very hungry after missing them last night. Changed and out with Diana and the girls to St Neots for some shopping. We gave a lot of old clothes to Oxfam who were busy, but thanked us for them. Di took Debbie to the last of her Saturday ballet lessons for a few weeks, and I bought some shrimps and a fine fillet of sole for tea. Also Christmas cards for the family and food and grit for the doves at the pet shop. Then to rendezvous with Daniel and the girls in Readwells before all off to lunch at The Happy Eater. The children behaved for once and we all enjoyed the meal before returning home. Daniel checked with the Bedford cinema and established that the fad film ‘Ghost Busters’ was on and so I drove him out to see it. A fine film with catchy music, but a bit corny. Daniel thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Collecting Freda from London and taking her to see Dad and then Mum in hospital in Bury St Edmunds; a rare meeting of the four of us together after Freda moved to Devon as the government rejects the TUC move for miners’ talks and more Bhopal residents flee as they now burn off the spilt chemicals
Up and the FT whilst supping my morning tea. Down to a breakfast of honey, toast and apple juice. To finish the paper and then washed, dressed and out to the birds. The doves are hungry again and ranging further from roof to roof. An hour in the office checking the mail, but no messages and not much interesting. Off by car to London, turning off towards the Edgeware Road and down towards the centre. A lot of traffic and I worried about being late but time to park and shop at High and Mighty in Edgeware Rd for a new anorak. On to Paddington and I park at a meter and go in to check on the trains. Freda’s train from Exeter arrived about 1.00pm and I welcomed her and took her into the Tournament Buffet for some chicken and chips, then out to the car and across London. The traffic was horrific. We hit the weekend travellers from London and later, as we drove through Essex, the work traffic. But time for several hours to talk with Freda about her family, her daughter Stacey’s pregnancy and how her latest plan is to buy a small house at the bottom of the garden for her to live in. At least this is a sounder idea than the holiday house she previously favoured. Then to reminisce about our earlier childhood and I told her what I had researched of our background and grandfathers. She tells me that there were a lot of old papers and photographs when she was young, kept by our grandmother in Kentish Town when she lived with her son in law, Sid. Freda thinks that his son, Alan and wife Doris, might have saved the records, and I shall check. Eventually we arrive at Stanton near Bury St Edmunds and Freda meets Dad for the first time in a couple of years.
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Bitterly cold day working on my finances and looking after my family as I plan to collect my sister Freda from Paddington tomorrow as 100,000 refugees abandon Bhopal and Thatcher gets a hard time in the Commons in public and from her own back-benchers in private over tax reforms
Another groggy start to the day and preparations the same as yesterday. This morning the ducks were not around, but the pigeons were very hungry for more seed. Still no main cheque from de Zoete but, at the office, Computer Weekly has my letter in it. This is a lucky preference for it is the last issue until the New Year. I phone Gerald Chadwick of Vintners and still no reply from my previous family solicitor, David Christy, on my children’s trusts. Then Roger Brittain to give him the news (or lack of it) and ask his advice on a few personal tax matters. He has just returned to work after an operation to remove a ‘nodule’ from his vocal chords and has had several weeks rest and recuperation. No luck returning phone calls to NEDO Consumer EDC Secretary, Roy Fuscone or June Hamilton and so I leave messages to ring me again. Time to read the papers and catch up on my journal before taking Diana out to a Little Chef lunch.