Trip to St Ives to earmark more Harraden prints for purchase on the hottest day yet and home to the sanctuary of the pool where Garry was waiting for Daniel with the Law family joining us in the pool later after a neighbour had written off two cars outside by bizarrely hitting the wrong pedal on an automatic! Rallie, Marches and Rock concerts support the cause against South African apartheid as a black journalist is detained and nine more die but concern at home when a huge cloud of sulphuric acid mist engulfs St Helens in Merseyside
Woken very early as we had another false fire alarm. With my ears blocked by wet wax from my swimming lately, I did not hear it, but Di switched it off and woke me up after. Washed, shaved and down to a cereal breakfast, after dressing in sports jacket and trousers for our trip to St Ives. The day started and continued hot, perhaps the hottest so far this summer. I fed the doves, but forgot the ducks until we returned after lunch. Early to St Ives and we parked too early to have coffee at the normal café.
We had coffee at Tooks for a change, as I poured over the auction catalogues. A couple of hours at Ekins, but nothing at the general auction. I found one thing of interest for Tuesday’s antique auction – a framed set of three St Neots engravings from Harraden views, including one that I have. I shall buy it on Tuesday. Back to the sanctuary of the car’s air conditioning, as the continued heat was getting us and the girls down. I reckon it touched 85-90degF in the shade. The drive back to St Neots, where we managed to rendezvous with Daniel with far less trouble than last week! Then off to the Happy Eater for a nice salad lunch. Home after, in the burning sunshine and Gary is waiting to join us for a swim. We swim with Debbie at 4.00pm and the Law family join us for a swim and barbeque after. Pavescaping fitted our gates this morning, but they were too long and so installed at an angle, which is rather bizarre. This afternoon poor David McGinness opposite, unused to the automatic transmission of his new car, tried the wrong pedal, careered across Willow Close and crashed into another car, wrecking them both! What a disaster. The news today is of 100,000 people attending a rock concert against apartheid in South Africa. The day began with a rally in Hyde Park, then a march through London, with people as far as the eye could see. Then a ‘freedom festival’ to celebrate the event, of pop music at Clapham Common. A black journalist, detained in South Africa, is admitted to be in custody and nine more people have died in the country in overnight violence. At Merseyside, parts of St Helens are still sealed off after a leak of sulphuric acid from a local factory. Thousands of people had to spend the day inside after an explosion and are still having to have doors and windows closed, as a cloud of chemical hangs over the southern part of the town. As the temperature soared into the 90sF at Wimbledon, the remaining British players were hustled out of the tennis tournament. Another fine and warm day is forecast for tomorrow. Richard Branson’s Challenger, still plagued with engine and fuel problems, looks to have only a break-even chance of breaking the transatlantic sea crossing record.