The Northern Irish trawler Karen
The Northern Irish trawler Karen

Receiving Elm Leisure for boiler rectification between sessions writing my history all day and then taking Debbie for a poor horse-riding lesson before watching Gary Lineker score all four goals as England beat Spain 4-2. Leyland Trucks to be sold off to DAF of Holland, Charles Haighey is slightly ahead in the Irish election and the Tories just the same in our opinion polls but the big story is of an Irish trawler being dragged backwards by a submarine for hours

Slept well last night after warming up with our electric blanket first. A while listening to Radio Cambridgeshire, whilst I drank my morning tea and then got showered, shaved and dressed. Breakfast of wheat flakes and then a couple of hours in my office working on the chapters on the Grove Farm cottages in the village centre. I had opened up the inner garage and rear gate and, at 10.00am, Paul Salvadori of Elm Leisure and his builder had arrived and were surveying the job of screening the boiler. I went out to see them and we had decided on a course of action in a few minutes and they left, planning to do the work quickly.

Back to my work, but soon it was time for a salad lunch, with ice cream to follow. Only a brief rest, and getting rather fed up and bored by this time, I nevertheless ploughed on and had completed more sections by 4.00pm, when it was time for an early tea and trip afterwards to take Debbie horse riding. A very cold day, with snow flurries and it was not very pleasant sitting in the riding school whilst Debbie rode. Worse still, she was all at sea today and did not ride well, as she would not follow the instructor’s advice. Home and back to an evening’s work, completing just about every section by bedtime. Opted to watch the international football tonight and saw England beat Spain 4-2 in a friendly, with Gary Lineker scoring all 4 for England. News today is of the planned sale of Leyland Trucks to a Dutch manufacturer, DAF. There are more incidents with English football fans in Spain, with three Englanders stabbed and many more arrested. The Irish general election result is a cliff-hanger, with Fianna Fail’s Charles Haughey slightly ahead. Back in the UK, the latest opinion polls show the Tories 1 ½ % ahead of Labour. A Northern Ireland trawler was dragged backwards by an American submarine for a few hours, before they managed to tear their nets free.