Debbie and friends enjoying the pool
Debbie and friends enjoying the pool

The whole family enjoying the swimming pool on a swelteringly-hot day with 9-year-old Debbie and her friend Amy running around naked in the heat and I was at last able to collect my Rolls Royce from Bedford. Some time working on The Lady, at last Iraq agrees to a ceasefire, 300 pilgrims die as a boat capsizes on The Ganges, computer failure at West Drayton disrupts air traffic and the roads are jammed with holiday traffic

A nice night with our French windows again, keeping cool as many sweltered. A fairly early start to the day, managing to get showered, shaved and dressed before breakfast. I started to read my paper, waiting for the meal, and Debbie kept running by naked with her friend, Emma. They are both nine and we will not be able to let them do that for much longer, as Emma is beginning to develop a figure. I went out and did some work this morning. I took the riverside garden gate off its hinges, secured the posts and turned the gate round the other way, so that access is much easier. After coffee, it was getting very hot in the sun and so I just watched the TV cricket. Today England threatened, but then fell away as the West Indies look poised to win the fourth game of the series. Close to lunch, I had not heard about the Rolls, and so I phoned Alec Norman Garages and then preceded a rush over to Bedford to collect the car, as it was ready. Another telephone call with Frost Conservatories made me late, as Charles Frost was giving me a lot of nonsense about no new drawings being needed and I had to change his mind. Back home for lunch and then more TV cricket after, until I eventually went down and cleared out the boat locker and started work. Emma & Holly came back late for a swim – Emma and Debbie naked again – but with this heat, you can’t really blame them.

After tea, I worked all evening doing quite a lot to the front of The Lady’s sliding roof, where the damp had been getting in. By dark, I had removed the trim strips of mahogany and swept up. After dark, I took Daniel swimming in the pool, as an ideal way to get cool with the house being so warm. This afternoon, I also took Daniel in the Rolls Royce, found all of the systems working well, and we quite enjoyed it. The air conditioning makes the biggest difference on a day with the temperature in the 80’sdegF. More hot weather forecast for tomorrow and Monday, then showers from Tuesday. I look forward to fishing off a bit more on The Lady. The news today is of agreement at last by Iraq to a ceasefire, before direct Iraqi/Iranian talks take place. In Northern Ireland, against a background of funerals and grief, the leader of NORAID (the banned fund-raising organiser for the IRA) courts the risk of being arrested as he stays just yards inside the Eire boarder. A boat capsizes on the river Ganges in India and 300 people are feared dead and there is a major train crash in Paris, with one dead and 60 injured. More disruption for air travellers, as a computer fails at the West Drayton, Middx, air traffic control centre and it may take until the end of the weekend to clear the backlog of delayed flights. Around the country there have been massive traffic jams as well and we are the better off for being at home with our swimming pool and riverside shade.