Polishing The Lady on another glorious and warm day after recent varnishing and then shopping for supplies whilst hearing of the £25.5K sale of my Linton Lordships as Mr Larkin starts the dredging, Diana takes Della to Cambridge to see her Charles and Norma and then Daniel and his friends stayed late in the pool. Lawyers for the bereaved castigate Townsend Thorenson safely procedures after witness statements and so their fleet will now wear parent company P & O colour. A security review is underway in Ulster after another IRA shooting, Thatcher is angry with Labour issuing ‘the secret Tory manifesto’, but refuses to deny plans to increase VAT and also allegations about MI5’s anti-Labour activities
Slept well enough and awoke slowly to my morning tea. Was a little late down for my boiled egg and toast fingers with the children. Nothing in the post today and only glanced at the newspaper before going out to The Lady. A job of polishing the woodwork with beeswax traditional polish, then getting Pete’s help to lower the canopy off of its support, then turn the boat round. Raised the canopy on two supports again that side, then sanded off the sliding roof channel and gave it a coat of coloured varnish. I could not reach this spot before. The two sliding doors had had their last coat of varnish affected by last night’s dew and so I had to strip it off and re-varnish them. Di was late back from Cambridge with a slimmer’s sandwich for my lunch, then I went into St Neots afterwards for some shopping. Mill Lane is still blocked by the Electric Board road works and so I had to drive the Range Rover down the A1 and down Crosshall Road to get there. Just made the bank before 3.30pm and then balanced my building society accounts as well.
Could not get the items I needed from town and so I walked out to St Neots Marina for some deck paint and then drove to Eaton Socon Garden Centre for some chain and some posts. I had got fed up with cars and vans turning on my new tarmac drive, so had decided to block it. Home and then put The Lady to bed, before sweeping round the swimming pool and getting the boys to vacuum it for me. Daniel’s friends stayed too late for my liking and then I watched TV snooker before bed. The news today is of the ferry company, Townsend Thorensen, taking full responsibility for the ferry sinking. Lawyers for the bereaved said that, if the passengers knew the shortcomings on safety, they would never have sailed with the company. Evidence was taken before the enquiry from the three seamen closest to the front door operation. It was a sad tale of gross inefficiency. The Herald of Free Enterprise will be disposed of and all TT ferries have had their funnels repainted with their parent company’s P&O flag. N. Ireland Secretary, Tom King, flies to Ulster to review security problems on a day when another IRA shooting saw another man killed, said to be the deputy leader of the Protestant paramilitary UDF. In the City, interest rates fell ½ % and the stock exchange experienced a record one-day rise. The CBI reports that firms have their best order books for 10 years, but manufacturing jobs are still falling. The Labour Party have published ‘The Real Conservative Manifesto’, including a range of unpopular measures. The Tories are furious, but Mrs Thatcher refused to deny an intention to increase VAT. She was also pressed about the MI5 ‘anti-Wilson’ revelations, but refused to answer questions and the Speaker also refused a Commons emergency debate. A Tory Minister, Lynda Chalker, preaches caution (near hostility) about the proposed USSR offer to eliminate both intermediate and short range nuclear missiles. Most European governments are in favour of the deal and it is thought that Britain will have to agree. Another glorious warm and sunny day, with a breeze to keep me cool and I hope for another tomorrow. Today I heard from Manorial Research, who tell me that the sale of my Linton Lordships is 99% certain at £22,500. I also heard from Imperial Conservatories, who asked a few points prior to quoting me. Mr Larkin did the first bank piling today, managing a 4/5 metre stretch in the middle, which was on a perfect line.