This month’s weather had regional variations as St Neots and Cambridgeshire were very dry and Caithness was fine but the Norfolk Broads were lush green after rain with Crabbet's Marsh road very soft.
The month begun in Norfolk with a family holiday as we enjoyed all of our usual pleasures, including the Pleasurebeach, Winterton, Broads walks, cinema outings and the Cromer "Seaside Special" show. Fun continued at home with The Kimbolton "Statty Fair" and many good films to watch at the cinema. Familiar trips to Brackenbury's coffee shop, meals out at Little Chef's and Tuesdays at Cambridge with Charles and Norma and it was good to see them well with Charles over his operation and Norma over the worst of her breathing problems.
Much time was spent maintaining the Paxton Princess varnishing the rails, boarding ladder and then treating the bathing platform with teak oil. Also Daniel was helping with gardening and chores for reward but he had just dented my dad's car. My friend, Nigel Smith, offered him a position as work experience and he looks as if he wants to stay on.
I had a busy month, organising my Scottish trip. The month ended with me having a good time with Sam in Caithness, when Nigel could not join me because of his court appearance, when he feared the worst outcome for his fraud case. I met my foresters and Sam flushed grouse for me to shoot. I enlisted the help of ranger Chris Ross as usual and stalked two more red deer stags and my first sika stags and was catching some of the small trout that Ian McGregor had introduced to The White Loch.
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When at home, there were plans to make for Cambridge Street development and much bill-paying and tidying of my office to do. Building materials were also needed for the work that I had to do with Bill at our new property at 18 Lawrence Road. There were odd jobs to do at The Hayling View such as clearing out the gutters and down pipes and doing some more door adjustments. I treated myself to a Sky Sports channel connection in time to see England beat Poland 3-0 and enjoyed much football and rugby but also enjoyed BBC's motor racing via conventional broadcast where Daimian Hill comes of age and wins Grand Prix races in the image of his father.
The family in good health, which was a blessing, and one source of conflict was removed when Freda told me that she was working on the sale of Redgrave by Christmas. My friend Sally, now the Deputy Mayor, is expecting a baby and we all hope that it is a boy to join her two daughters.
More political developments as the T.U.C. agreed the end of the Union block vote for the Labour Party as the Tory government's unpopularity plumbs new depths in the history of opinion polls. Then the shocking news of a fascist party victory in a local election in the Millwall Ward of Tower Hamlets. The Australian Prime Minister comes to England and sees the Queen to get her support in the event of his people following his advice and ending the monarchy.
The news is still as bad as ever in Ireland where atrocities pile up endlessly. The historic step of mutual recognition between Israel and the P.L.O. which was sealed on the 11th, despite the efforts of Israeli extremists to de-rail it More horror stories from Croatia as Moslem prisoners are starved and abused just as in the Nazi concentration camps.
More G.A.T.T. agonies as the last ditch negotiations and posturing go on. Amazing athletics records set by Chinese women athletes at their national games have the unfortunate effect of triggering suspicions of drug abuse. Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short battle in early chess championship matches but then Short's challenge peters out
I returned to a very dry Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire from the lush green of Norfolk. It had rained from second quarter of the month onwards with several downpours around the middle so that the Crabbet's Marsh road was already very soft by the 18th. Locally the shooting began and Sam's first birthday came and went as he meet the wildfowlers' Labradors and their fowl there. The duck shooting began and Sam's first birthday came and went as he meet the wildfowlers' Labradors and their fowl on Crabbetts Marsh.
I was struggling with his diet and altering volumes and mix both up and down. His continuing trait is to flush rather than point game but in the Harlow training session Sam does better than the others on water retrieves and I bought a training video to learn from. He learns the stay command and retrieves boldly from water yet keeps "springing" pheasants and partridges that he finds and then "pegs" a couple of "cheepers" in the field opposite to really worry me. I control him and avoid game by mid-month and his obedience improves all the time but still he "mouths" people by holding them with his jaws but I do not think it is with evil intent
Had a good time with him in Scotland, staying in the annexe of the Forss House Hotel whilst Sam slept in the car, but he found too many dogs there to be able to use the run. The trip really brought him on as he found, flushed and shot grouse for the first time ever. As Sam learnt more of his trade, I also had a successful trip, meeting the Fountain Forestry management team and agreeing the year's work and then enjoying my other sport. I enlisted the help of ranger Chris Ross as usual and stalked two more red stags and my first sika stags and was catching some of the small trout that Ian McGregor had introduced to The White Loch as part of our management deal. It had been a better year for salmon after the recent years of drought and the stags were well-fed and fat after a wet season.
One of the reds weighed nearly twenty stone and the first sika was a large beast that warranted saving his antlers as a trophy. I met Ian's son, Peter McGregor, seeing his new venture at Borgie Lodge and received my repaired boat back from Farquar. I towed it to one of Peter's garages for storage. I also met one of my co-owners and neighbours in Broubster for the first time, Mr Forsale, and had an interesting exchange of views over dinner.
As the month ended in the middle of my Scottish shooting holiday, so it had begun in Norfolk with a family holiday enjoying all of our usual pleasures. We went to Great Yarmouth's Pleasurebeach and Latham’s in Potter Heigham in one trip. Several journeys to Norwich to see "Much Ado About Nothing" and to Cinema City to see "Toys" and to Cromer for the "Seaside Special" show. We were back again for another weekend at Horning later in the month and got a warm welcome from lonely Doris next door. The girls enjoyed visits to Norwich and Wroxham Libraries and us an evening meal at Wroxham Bridge Restaurant. We caught Yarmouth's Pleasurebeach again on the 19th the last day of the season, saw Gorleston Harbour and took our last Winterton walk whilst the weather permitted. Our first walk on Woodbastwick side of the River Bure to see Cockshoot Broad via The Jolley to get us over there with Sam.
It was not all play for me as I spent time greasing and tending Paxton Princess, varnishing the rails, boarding ladder and then treating the bathing platform with teak oil. Also pressure-cleaning the dinghies for the end of the season. There were gate adjustments to make, work to do weeding and weed-killing the garden before strimming and then pruning the roadside vegetation. I also paved the perimeter of Sam's run and creosoted his kennel. The girls to school, once back from Norfolk, and needed plenty of attention as did the gardener who we had left to fend for himself. Daniel had not served us well and brought our garden produce to Norfolk and so I made him paint the riverside quay heading and clear the garage; which jobs drove him to work! My friend, Nigel Smith, offered him a position as work experience and he looks as if he wants to stay on. This is just as well as he is running out of money and has just dented my dad's car.
I had to take over the care of the swimming pool again as it had become infested with algae. and was leaking water badly until I replaced the multi-port valve. Nigel confided in me that he fears his fraud case outcome as we play some snooker together. An abortive shooting outing to instructor John Buckle as we get our arrangements in a muddle but we make application together for a wildfowl club membership.
Still Diana gave the girls outings with friends to Wickstead Park and transported Debbie for the start of her school voluntary service. A trip for both of us to The Kimbolton "Statty Fair" with the children and their friends but we seem to fall out with Katie Morris's mother as a result which saddened us. I still found time with Diana to enjoy the new Clint Eastwood film, "In The Line of Fire" and then "The Firm", "The Fugitive" and "Sliver" at the busy Peterborough cinema. Familiar trips at home to Brackenbury's coffee shop, meals out at Little Chef's and Tuesdays at Cambridge with Charles and Norma and it was good to see them well with Charles over his operation and Norma over the worst of her breathing problems. Invited them for tea at The Hayling View and Debbie played tennis with Charles. Invited Charlie, Chris and children likewise.
I had a busy month personally, organising and re-organising my Scottish trip and specially re-waxing my Barbour jacket. A replacement windscreen was needed for the Discovery after it had taken three separate impacts and the new gun safe had to be bolted in. There were plans to make for Cambridge Street and much bill-paying and tidying of my office to do. Building materials were needed for the work that I had to do with Bill at our new property at 18 Lawrence Road. We were running out of cash and were pleased to get back in funds by repayment from investments after the childrens' house purchases. There were odd jobs to do at home such as clearing out the gutters and down pipes and doing some more door adjustments. There were other gardening chores to do whilst Bill was on holiday in Hemsby. I treated myself to a Sky Sports channel connection in time to see England to beat Poland 3-0 and enjoyed much football and rugby but still enjoyed BBC's motor racing via conventional broadcast where Daimian Hill comes of age and wins Grand Prix races in the image of his father.
The family in good health which is a blessing and one source of conflict was removed when Freda told me that she was working on the sale of Redgrave by Christmas. My friend Sally, now the Deputy Mayor, is expecting a baby and we all hope that it is a boy to join her two daughters. More political developments as the T.U.C. agrees the end of the Union block vote for Labour Party. Chancellor Kenneth Clarke is upsetting Tory right-wingers by not ruling out tax increases in the forthcoming budget and the Home Secretary falls foul of the police with his planned reforms. John Major is under pressure on VAT extensions planned and keeps having to deny rumours of a leadership challenge as this government's unpopularity plumbs new depths in the history of opinion polls. By horrible coincidence, the sad news of a fascist party victory in a local election in the Millwall Ward of Tower Hamlets.
The Australian Prime Minister comes to England and sees the Queen to get her support in the event of his people following his advice and ending the monarchy. Elsewhere, the news is still as bad as ever in Ireland where atrocities pile up endlessly, but the only hope is for a breakthrough of the type seen with the historic step of mutual recognition between Israel and the P.L.O. which was sealed on the 11th, despite the efforts of Israeli extremists to de-rail it and of Yassar Arafat's colleagues who distance themselves from it with four having actually resigned.
More horror stories from Croatia as Moslem prisoners are starved and abused just as in the Nazi concentration camps. More G.A.T.T. agonies as the last ditch negotiations and posturing go on. Amazing athletics records set by Chinese women athletes at their national games have the unfortunate effect of triggering suspicions of drug abuse which they counter with tales of the use of herbal tonics and medicine. Gary Kasparov and Nigel Short battle in early chess championship matches but then Short's challenge peters out.