My duty was in judging the Little Paxton Cub Scout annual kite flying contest on a hot and sunny day with a strengthening breeze helping their efforts
My duty was in judging the Little Paxton Cub Scout annual kite flying contest on a hot and sunny day with a strengthening breeze helping their efforts

My traditional Sunday breakfast enjoyed after a very sound night’s sleep which encouraged me to clean the Range Rover and then start work on the Lady. After this, it was time to set off for Bedford and the church service for Diana’s brother Charles and his wife Chris who had arranged the christening of their baby Natalie in a Greek Orthodox service at a Ukrainian Church! The whole thing was quite unintelligible for non-Greek speakers but I was able to bail out in time for judging the Little Paxton Cub Scout annual kite flying contest on a hot and sunny day with a strengthening breeze helping their efforts. Some time persuading local Cub leaders to try finding a volunteer for an urgent little Paxton need. A change of guard in Hungarian political leadership and another incident of English football hooliganism sees 200 arrested and with it hopes ended of getting English teams back into European club competitions.

Slept very soundly last night and had to be woken this morning. I opted to just shave and dress to do some work this morning, before showering later and it meant that I was on time for my traditional Sunday breakfast. The work was the cleaning of the Range Rover, though I also went and opened up The Lady early and removed the last of the masking tape from screening the paintwork. Felt physically quite tired, but finished the car OK and did some other chores as well. Had my shower and changed later and we locked and alarmed the house and set off for Bedford and the Ukrainian Church! The reason was that they also hold services for the Greek Orthodox religion and Di’s brother Charles and wife Chrisula were having baby Natalie christened there. Arrived at 12.30 and had to sit through half an hour of the last service in Greek, without our hosts wondering if we were at the right place. The whole thing was unintelligible Greek, which did not help. Then an hour of the christening, which, though sprinkled with some English, was an equal trial. I had to bail out at 1.30pm to get to Little Paxton for 2.00pm and the start of the Cub-Scout annual kite-flying contest.

I was to be the judge! I chose the best dressed and presented kites in all age groups and presented the prizes and was pleased to see the arrival of a news photographer, who took pictures of me and the kids. I persuaded the Cub Leader to contact The Express with a story about needing cub leaders on Monday, and later I contacted the District Guide Commissioner, Pat Young, and persuaded her to do the same thing. Later on, I went through the local papers for press cuttings on the village and then wrote up my journal. The international news story is of the Hungarian leader, Janos, being replaced by Grosz, a more modern leader in the mould of Gorbachev. Janos Kadar, Premier since the 1956 uprising, has given way to a younger and more dynamic man and has been elevated to a status position alone. The wake of the international football match has now seen over 200 arrests and the publicity around Europe seems to have put an end to hopes of getting English teams back into European club competitions. The weather today was hot and sunny, but with a breeze steadily getting stronger during the day, which was good for kite flying.