Using The Little Lady for our taxi to the dykes when mooring The Lady with her mudweight out in the Broads
Using The Little Lady for our taxi to the dykes when mooring The Lady with her mudweight out in the Broads

Quiet start to the day on a warm and bright morning in Salhouse Broad and then some sailing in the Blue Peter after no luck fishing and then on to Horning Ferry Marina where Di caught up with the washing, I played Daniel at a couple of games of pool as the girls found friends to play with. Then some better luck fishing before a family swim after which I hear news of Botham and Gatting saving the last Test and of the British and French governments at last sending minesweepers to the Gulf whist The City recover a little but trouble deepens in South Africa and forest fires devastate Rhodes Island in the drought as the rain now pours here!

I woke up first and put the kettle on and it was a warm and bright morning. A very quiet night in Salhouse Broad and I felt unable to start The Lady’s engine to charge the battery for fear of upsetting the tranquillity. I read Daniella and Della some stories to keep them happy, got Di a cup of coffee and then the family started reviving. It was mild enough to slide back the roof a little for our breakfast and the humid, balmy air got to us so that we rested this morning and lounged around with the cockpit roof back. No luck fishing from the boat and, with a breeze springing up, Daniel and I rigged the Blue Peter and we took turns sailing around Salhouse Broad.

Daniel put the girls ashore and I took the dinghy over to watch them play on the sandy banks. They have been eroded by recent generations of children playing and the numerous Grey Lag geese cropping any grass very short. This has left several oak trees, including one several hundred years old, high with roots exposed, making an even better play area for the children. At last back to the boat and Di handled the helm as I raised the anchor and washed the mud off of this and the fenders. I think it is the first time we have used it and it worked fine. Cruised on to the Horning Ferry Marina leisure centre and moored in the same place as last time. Had a salad/burger lunch and then, as Di caught up with some washing, drying and ironing in the laundrette, I looked after Della. Debbie had found a playmate, called Joanne, from another boat and Della was shy at first in her presence and needed company. They all enjoyed the play things by the marina, until it was nearly time to go swimming. I just managed to find time to play Daniel at a couple of games of pool beforehand. I also went off this afternoon by dinghy for some fishing and caught two roach in the dyke, one of them 4/6ozs. This evening we had a family swim and all took part, but I was suffering from a stomach ache and had to rest and lay down afterwards. Still, struggled up to write this journal and watch the TV news. England batted all day for the loss of only one wicket to draw this last match of the series. Botham and Gatting carried their bats, but we still lost the series 1-0. The news today is of British and French government decisions to send minesweepers to the Gulf. They justify this by saying that the large number of mines in the area, some outside the inner Gulf area, represent a danger to British ships. Four more mines were found today by helicopters, but the latest US convoy got through all right. The City of London welcomed the latest Trade figures as an improvement on May’s, and the result was a rise on the stock exchange, but the jitters still remain. The enquiry into the Cleveland child abuse cases has opened, with stories of the stress and problems caused by high levels of diagnosed cases by two doctors. Trouble and casualties in the S African miner’s strike, with conflicting stories as to whether they were due to security guards trying to force people to work, or whether non-strikers were being forced to stay away. A light aircraft crashed coming into Munich airport, killing 7 people in a hamburger restaurant and injuring many others. Forest fires now affect the island of Rhodes off Greece to add to the hot weather and heat exhaustion they have suffered of late. This evening it started to rain and then poured and more is forecast for the next few days.