A long day restoring Lady Martina’s cockpit running channels with a break for a fine roast pork lunch and tea of scones and cake with Daniel serving his Sunday detention as the ex-Philippine President Marcos refuses to go, Ian McGregor British Steel and Coal hatchet man is being suggested to head the NHS and Nigel Mansell wins the French Grand Prix
A lay in today and not awake and up until 8.00am. Showered, dressed and down for my fried breakfast before feeding the doves. A bright start to the day and so I carefully peeled back the covers on The Lady and let the woodwork dry out again. Today I spent my time filling the recess in The Lady with mahogany stopper and then fashioning the new wood to form the repairs to the cockpit channel. It was a long and difficult job, hand sawing through 5”x2” mahogany to a length of 6 feet, with a taper one way and an angle the other! Was the whole morning and much of the afternoon to do it and then drilled the screw holes up and across.
All I need to do is make the groove channel, but that could be tricky. Lunch of roast pork and tea of scones, teacakes and chocolate cake. The cake had two candles and we sang ‘Happy Birthday’ for Della, which was better late than never. A party of cars and people came to the meadow opposite today , sang songs and had some sort of religious service, which was quite quaint. Debbie went to church this morning and then watched Daniel and Gary play tennis outside on the road. The boys were hoping the neighbourhood girls - Clare and Heather – would come out and swim after, but Clare had to do her homework. Later, when she was playing, Daniel had to do his Sunday detention, which was to repeat his history exam in writing and get a more acceptable mark. The weather held up all day, despite a lot of clouds coming over from the north and I ended the day by putting the covers over The Lady again. The flower baskets to water, the ducks and doves to attend to and then the long task of locking up and putting the alarm on. Today my dove hen strayed into the Eaton’s garden and they called me to bring it back. I don’t think it will live much longer. The news today was of the Wimbledon finals and Becker beat Lendl in three straight sets. Martina Navratilova failed to win three titles, losing the mixed doubles, but won the women’s singles and doubles in a fine effort. Thatcher appealed at the last minute to try to halt the execution of British born Kevin Barlow, who was convicted of drug smuggling, but the Malaysian authorities ignored her and he will die tomorrow. In the Philippines, a rival group of ex-President Marcos supporters have proclaimed a rival government in a Manilla hotel and surrounded themselves with pro-Marcos troops. Corazon Aquino will return to Manilla on Monday and the outcome will be quite interesting. In an appalling turn of events, Ian McGregor successively hatchet man for British Steel and the NCB, is being suggested as new head of the National Health Service. We all pray he does not get the job. The planned trip of Sir Geoffrey Howe to South Africa is in jeopardy next week as, not only are black leaders not willing to see him, but now President Botha will not see him either. Nigel Mansell won the Formula 1 motor racing French Grand Prix today and moves up to second in the driving championship, with 8 of the 16 races now complete. The weather forecast is for cloudy weather tomorrow, but at least it is due to stay dry, so I should be able to get on.