Taking Debbie horse-riding today
Taking Debbie horse-riding today

Being ‘looked after’ by Della this morning as the others go shopping in St Neots and then playing chess with Daniel, planning the conservatory and relaxing this evening after taking Debbie horse-riding on Barbie as hundreds of bodies are recovered from The Herald of Free Enterprise.

Diana let me sleep in after a much better night and I felt much better. She brought my breakfast up at the same time as waking me – an hour after the others. Daniella came up to keep me company and stayed with me instead of taking Debbie to school with Di. She got me up and took me into the en-suite to wash and shave to get rid of my whiskers and was most insistent! As I showered, Di came to take her off with her to do the week’s shopping in St Neots.

I got up and dressed after this and challenged Daniel to a couple of games of chess in the playroom – beating him both times. Di returned and got him to unload the things from the car and then we all had lunch. A salad, which we all ate. The river had risen sharply today, but Daniel went out in The Little Lady and then sat in it for some time this afternoon. After lunch, I took a ‘climbing frame’ out of the lounge and sat planning my conservatory. I also watched some horse racing on the TV, which was quite exciting. Later, I had to take an early tea with the family so that Debbie could go horse riding. I decided that I was well enough to take her and so we set off together, albeit rather late. I drove fast so that we arrived in time. Debbie had Barbie and rode it beautifully today, learning her ‘diagonals’ today and not losing control of the pony at any stage. She thoroughly enjoyed the session. Home and, after getting Daniel to tend the ducks and doves, I went in and returned to a more relaxing regime. I had started to cough whilst out, my headache and temperature returned, and so I took a couple of tablets and felt better after. An evening of TV, before my journal and Debbie came and sat with me to watch a programme on ballerinas. The news today is of further efforts to remove the dead bodies from the ‘Herald’. They brought off more than a hundred overnight and today. They encountered much more destruction inside than they expected, with bulkheads collapsed, mud and oil everywhere, and the corpses pinned to a wall by wreckage as the vessel overturned. The owners announced a compensation offer of £80K per death, plus extra money from the company’s hardship fund and public subscription fund organised by Dover Council. Tory MP, Harvey Proctor, has been charged with 4 offences of gross indecency with male prostitutes under the age of 21. (This is the age for consenting homosexuality). The IRA funeral took place today after two postponements. There was still a massive police presence, but mourners surrounded the coffin to keep them at a distance. The tricolour flag had to be removed prior to the coffin entering the churchyard and there was no armed salute. The latest opinion poll reduces the Tory lead to 6%, but Labour is in front of the Alliance. The Lebanese refugee camps in Beirut have been relieved with supplies under the auspices of Syrian troops. A third US marine has been arrested after security breaches at their Moscow embassy and US/USSR diplomatic relations are deteriorating at a time when good faith is needed for the Geneva arms talks. The Tory MP, Keith Best, accused of multiple share applications during recent ‘privatisation’ issues, has decided not to seek re-election at the forthcoming general election and this avoids early embarrassment