After an early start, I failed to start the Rolls-Royce but successfully cruised down river to Offord to deliver The Lady to Buckden Marina for transport to Norfolk. Then to collect Debbie from Kimbolton and take her riding in Offord, where she did very well on the show-jumping circuit in the backfield. This evening Di took Della and the other Brownies on the ‘Butterfly Walk’ and I joined them and put up village hall posters. I then got out the Blue Peter dinghy for our Norfolk holiday as Daniel prepared his boat with Steve’s help. The news was of many strikes in public services, the rail and tube and even passports are not being renewed. Two blasts at the Cheshire chemical works are worrying for local residents and the government ploughs ahead with Water Privatisation and rejects House of Lords amendments
I made an early start and had French toast for breakfast. The children went off to school and I tried to prepare the Rolls-Royce for Diana to take to Bedford for its MOT. Unfortunately, I could not start the car after it had been unused for months. Then I spent the morning preparing The Lady to cruise down to Offord for transporting to Norfolk. I checked the state of the gas and other aspects, and then cleared out the cupboards and loaded up fishing tackle, tools and other items. I grabbed a couple of buttered rolls and some pie for lunch and then set off on The Lady. It was a warm and sunny day again today and I was pleased to be back on the river. There was virtually no traffic and the lock was set in my favour and so I arrived at 2pm at Buckden Marina in time for a rendezvous with Diana as planned so that she could drive me home.
Then I had to collect Debbie from Kimbolton and take her to Offord to go riding, but Fiona was not available to give her a lesson and so I took out into the back field to put Sundance over the show jumps with Alex. We sequenced the jumps so that she had to negotiate some tight turns and, after a few failures, she managed to complete a clear round! We hosed off Sundance, groomed him and then put him back in the field and I was pleased to see that Debbie is improving all the time in show jumping. This evening, Di took Debbie and the other Brownies on the Butterfly Walk from St Neots to Little Paxton. This event is a vehicle for walkers to raise money by sponsorship for local causes. I put up some Village Hall fête posters as the route was past our house. I carried on preparing for our holiday – this time dragging out the Blue Peter dinghy, cleaning it up and putting new ropes on it for Norfolk. Daniel worked on repairing his boat seat this evening and his friend Steve came over to help. I was quite tired tonight after quite a physical day. The news stories were as full of strikes and industrial unrest. A new day’s rail strike is planned for tomorrow and this time the buses and tubes will be out on strike as well. Today was an NUPE Public Service strike and North Sea oil men are out as well. Also, other countries are being asked to accept British travellers with out of date passports in view of the backlog of renewals after recent industrial action in Passport Offices. Sir Geoffrey Howe is in Hong Kong but his hard line message on immigration to England is winning no friends. There have been two blasts at Cheshire chemical works, renewing environmental worries as the residents of the area had to lock themselves inside. Despite House of Lords amendments to the unpopular Water Privatisation Bill on water quality and property rights, the government is going to vote them down in the House of Commons and plough on regardless.