Recovery vehicle covered in snow  on this day
Recovery vehicle covered in snow on this day

Venturing forth to the London Boat Show at Earls Court in our trusty Range Rover on London’s coldest-ever day since records began in 1940 with snow and ice defeating most motorists in max -7degC at noon but not us. The Thames Estuary at Westcliff was frozen 700 yards out! Looking at day boats and speed boast without decision as The Guinness Finance Chief resigns with the Chief Executive still to follow, Prince Edward quits the Marines and the Russians and Americans start manoeuvring in Geneva with some chance of arms control talks resuming

A very cold morning and some say the coldest in London since records began. Huntingdonshire is the coldest area too, as we are furthest from the sea and prone to extremes of temperature. The governments cold weather hardship payments to old people are ludicrous, as it would have to continue freezing until the end of the week before they would qualify for a £5 contribution, which is little enough anyway. Glad of our electric blanket, once more, and a warm bed, though it took a long while before my feet warmed up, nevertheless. Was a bit restless, thinking of the extent of my Little Paxton studies outstanding. Slow to rise early, but then got showered and dressed in time for breakfast with the family. Only wheat flakes, top of the milk and apple juice for the meal. A brief chat with Pete about my theories on why the weather vane fell and then off with Daniel in the Range Rover, after putting a shovel and extra socks in the back with a stout pair of wellington boots, in case we ran into trouble. Collected his friend Steve from Great Gransden and then set off across country in a southerly direction, joining the A1 north of Baldock.

Was running out of petrol by this time and so pulled off the A1, before the motorway, into Baldock and filled up with petrol at the new super-store that was once the Spirella Carpet factory. They have kept the facade of the old building, but completely rebuilt the body of it. On towards London. A slowish journey, with many cars and lorries pulled over to the side, either temporarily to wipe their windscreens (the window washing fluid having frozen in the nipples and tubes) or more permanently, where radiator hoses etc had fractured, or (in the case of lorries and vans) where diesel fuel had become frothy in the tanks all due to the low temperatures. The Range Rover has special high-strength anti-freeze mixture and it came through with flying colours. We had started quite late to miss most of the London bound Monday morning traffic, but there was still a procession of cars on the reduced-width roads (from the snow) and we only got to Earls Court and parked at 11.30am. Bought a catalogue and settled down for a morning snack of continental crepes (pancakes) and drinks to plot our plans for seeing the 1987 London International Boat Show. Several hours going from stand to stand, looking at a range of boats. Our particular interest was a day-boat-cum-overnight-boat for the family to use as a day tripper (when firing up The Lady would be too much trouble) and for Daniel to use with his friends at other times. It seems a choice between a sports speed boat (which we would trial to the seaside as well) or a cabin cruiser, which I would like to see as an electric boat, but Daniel is not so sure. A good session before lunch and then time to leave. We managed to avoid the rush hour and got back onto the A1 before dark. A little more snow had been falling and further cars and lorries stranded each side of the road. The back way to drop Steve off and saw two cars just slid off of the road into a deep ditch – and still drivers were overtaking us and risking a similar fate. We had our 4-wheel drive and large wheel heavy tread patterns and did not even slip, but they should have realised their limitations and taken things easy. Home, after dropping Steve Off, for a latish tea and then I lit the fire in my office and spent the evening there updating more of my history chapters. I burnt a huge log by placing small swigs and branches around it and this makes best use of my remaining firewood, which has no normal sized logs left. Debs came in later and wrote her diary and both she and Daniel were attracted in for a chat. The news was of the cold weather – London was the coldest January day since records began in 1940, it was still -7degC at noon and Big Ben’s hammers froze. 700 yds of sea off Westcliff was frozen. Demands for electricity and gas were of record levels and the snow in Kent and Essex was the worst. The Guinness Finance Chief, Oliver Roux, resigns as the latest casualty and Chief Executive, Christopher Reeves, is hanging on by his finger tips and must soon fall. Prince Edward finalises his decision to quit the Marines and good for him – there are more ways to train than the barbaric mindless discipline of this elite force and he is much too intelligent and intellectual for this type of career. Israel are raiding Sidan in Lebanon again and they recently killed a neutral Irish UN soldier, the second in the last two months from tank fire in the same position. Aids leaflets start tumbling through the letterbox, but it is health expenditure, not mail shots, that’s needed. The Russians have upgraded their chief arms negotiation hierarchy in Geneva, but there seems little chance of progress, unless Reagan wishes to salvage something and distract comment on his recent bad publicity. Petrol prices are creeping up again, as the oil price has firmed a little of late.