To Ekins Auction, St Ives, on a wet day but on to St Neots for some more garden plants and planters before home to resume drawing my overall landscape gardening Hayling View plan and to welcome Bill Clark to complete the boat and river plot transfer as Russian expels 25 British diplomats in retaliation for our expulsion of 25 of their spies and Asians in Handsworth protest over lack of West Indian condemnation of the police violence and Europe take control over the US in the Ryder Cup
A good night’s sleep and awake to my morning tea, but no paper as the paper boy lays in today, being a non-school day. Down to breakfast as usual and then, as my back was hurting sitting in bed, I sat in my bedroom chair to finish reading the FT. Up then, washed and shaved and out quickly to the birds such as to be ready to leave with the rest of the family by 9.15am. We set off, but the rain had started and by the time we had arrived in St Ives it was pouring. Diana had forgotten the baby’s plastic pushchair cover and we had to improvise. I left the girls to shop in town whilst I went to the Ekins general auction. Nothing of interest and, as it was pouring with rain still, I went to the shops also, meeting Diana as she was on her way to her favourite shop – Jackdaw, for second-hand children’s clothes. I helped her with the girls and then took Debbie to Tooks to get her an orange and jam doughnut (her favourite) whilst I had a coffee. Diana had already taken her elevenses, which was a disappointment and so she did some more shopping. Off then by car and to stop on the way at the Brompton Garden Centre, where I showed Di the stone manhole cover planters and we decided to buy one to try and took a bale of peat as well.
Then to St Neots, where I got some prawns for tea and some large-scale local maps whilst waiting for Daniel’s school bus to arrive. As the baby was grumbling, Deborah had not really eaten last week, and I wanted to get back; we just gave the Happy Eater a miss today and took home plaice and chips from the fish and chip shop. This afternoon and evening starting to draw out The Hayling View gardens. I chose to use drawing ink and traced the house and front garden outline before adding all of the plants – their shapes, names and left scope for painting the whole when finished. Before tea Bill Clark dropped in to deliver Daniel’s boat registration documents and we chatted again about the history of the Haylings. Riverside Cottage is evidently the second along Mill Lane and Laurence, who lived there, was previously the water bailiff and kept a lock key. Worked on until well after dark and then went in to write up my journal and hear the TV news. Main item is of the USSR expelling 25 British citizens in retaliation for the 25 expulsions from London. The British government have now to decide how to react. Asians in Handsworth today resign from the community relations council in protest at the lack of West Indian condemnation of the violence. A man suffering from Aids is constrained by court order not to leave hospital. In Ireland, supermarket chain owners have agreed with the unions to withdraw all South African produce from their shops. In another continental rail crash, this time in Switzerland, at least five people die and more are injured. In the Ryder Cup, Europe take a firm lead in some surprising golf today with some very long putts going in as the Americans fumbled. Following the rain today (although it cleared up later) there will be a cloudy night with strong winds. Cold and showers for tomorrow.