Unsuccessful but valiant attempt by three bridge pilots to get The Lady under Potter Heigham bridge on a very warm and muggy day and then the bus to Norwich where we bought a new McLaren pushchair and then the bus back to Potter Heigham where we first moved The Lady to safer moorings and then relaxed on a warm evening. News today was of the death of Rudolf Hess at his prison of Spandau, a four ship British minesweeping task force has set off for the Gulf, together with their support ship and 150 people have died in a plane crash at Detroit Airport
A warm night, that saw us organising our bunks with open sleeping covers, with the bags unzipped. The girls were late to bed after our day-boat trip and gave us no trouble this morning and so I had time to visit Di in her bunk before our morning drinks. It was in the 70’sdegF already and so I opened the sliding roof a bit and lowered the windscreens for air whilst we had breakfast. A funny sort of morning. The weather was hot and muggy and we were held up by the low tide for the bridge being at 1.00pm. Di went for a walk to the Post Office to look for card adverts for second-hand pushchairs, but found none and was then quite exhausted with the heat, which had gone in to the 80sF. I had bided my time fishing off of the boat and fending off all manner of hire cruisers, who were pouring through the Potter Heigham Bridge. The pilots were very busy and working continuously to get the boats backwards and forwards, without stop. Then I went shopping with Di and we got two large boxes of groceries and supplies to replenish the galley for our last week aboard. Brought a trolley to the staithe to get it all back aboard and then collected Daniel for lunch at the staithe-side cafe. Unfortunately, they would, or could, not open their windows and it was even hotter in there. The pilots had tried to get us through again – three of them again and we failed by an inch or so at 6ft 11ins and must need a good 7ft to get through.
We tried twice and as hard as we could, but to no avail and so I tipped the pilots another £4 for their trouble. Over lunch we agreed to take the bus to Norwich this afternoon, on a pushchair quest, as we are already due to go to Yarmouth again this holiday. We took a bus that was there in an hour and were fascinated by the view of all of our visited places from the road, which is quite different. A difficult walk with Daniella at the other end without the pushchair, but we got another £250 cash from the building society and then found a McLaren pushchair at the Co-op that was exactly the same as our last and bought it. By this time Daniel had become separated, but I found him at Halfords and we took some takeaway Wimpy hamburgers etc to the bus station. The bus home was quite an experience. The driver drove like a man possessed and arrived 10 minutes early at Potter Heigham. This evening we moved the boats to safer moorings away from the bridge and then sat around in the warm weather until the TV news. We also all had a shower and hair wash on board The Lady, which was nice after such a sweaty day. Della was both pleased and relieved to get her new pushchair. News today was of the death of Rudolf Hess at his prison of Spandau. He was a founder member of the Nazi Party, was convicted of war crimes, but given a life, rather than death, sentence in view of his attempts to end the war. His 40 year prison term started when he flew to Scotland in 1941 to try to initiate peace talks and was seized. The 4 ship British minesweeping task force has set off for the Gulf, together with their support ship, amidst scenes harking back to the Falklands campaign. American assault ship, Guadal Canal, has arrived on station already with its fleet of 8 Sea Stallion helicopters and other support helicopters, in their quest for mine detection and destruction. The build up of US ships in the Gulf is the biggest naval concentration for them since the Vietnam war. After a raid in Hull, an Arab has been arrested for having a cache of arms, including 68lbs of high explosives, 7 hand grenades and detonators. Last night 150 people died in a plane crash at Detroit Airport, as it crashed into a busy road in flames and killed motorists, as well as its passengers. Septuplets were born at Liverpool Infirmary on Saturday, but two have died already and the rest have respiratory problems. These fertility-drug multiple births are commonplace these days. After today’s hot and humid weather, it showered and finally rained. This is forecast to continue in showers in the morning, but clearing up to give us a chance of our visit to the seaside.