Our first day back at home in Horning as I take Della under my wing, who I suffering more than the rest of us from the change and disappointment. Progress with my accountant, the Broads River Inspector, the gas fitter and with visits in town to shops and building societies. The circumstance of the death of Rudolf Hess is a controversy, cat and mouse games between warships and tankers in the Gulf become dangerous and the SDP leaders are back from their holiday and active.
I slept soundly, back in my own bed again, but Diana found the bed too soft and uncomfortable after the experience of her boat bunk! Awoke to find her up and about at 6.30am and so went down to join her in the kitchen and get my cup of tea. A slow start to the day (and then an even slower continuation....!). After a month away it is difficult to drop back into a routine and many of our things were still in bags, or the wrong place. I washed and dressed, was last to breakfast, and then sat in the playroom and read today’s paper to keep Della happy, who was even more disorientated than the rest of us – in truth, the girls were disappointed at ending the holiday, which was the best they ever had.
After Joan arrived to start working at 9.00am, I went out and saw Pete. He has kept the garden tidy, but did not work many hours and did not hire the rotovator to do the planned lawn area, saying it was a two-man job. To my office and made a couple of phone calls. I called my accountant to discuss a number of papers that I had received, then my stockbroker to sort out more problems of his creation, and finally called the Broads River Inspector to respond to a message he had left. They have some good witness statements from the others against the speeding offender, but need one from me to tie up the boat identification. Soon time for lunch and I took the family to the Little Paxton Little Chef to save Di any more cooking. After checking that the gasman had called and repaired our leak, we then went shopping in St Neots. I took Della under my wing and took her to the building society for my transactions, and then the pet shop to see the fish, birds and turtle. A lady at the Abbey National had to take her to use their toilet, which was nice of her, but we are their best customer. Home this afternoon and I took the Range Rover and launched Daniel’s boat at the St Neots public slipway. This took place without incident and becomes a routine. When I got back, I made a tray of afternoon tea and then sat and watched the TV and coverage of the MCC vs Rest of the World bicentennial test and saw some good cricket. Tea and then continued watching BBC2 television and a string of very good programmes. Later fed and put away the ducks and doves and also got Daniel’s help to clean out and commission the swimming pool, which is encouragingly free of algae. We have bred a couple more baby doves that have not been ringed, but the white one seems to have been injured by a cat attack and has one leg hurt and swollen. We received a visit from Hunts DC Environmental Health Officer today to discuss our burglar alarm noise, but we missed him and he intends to return tomorrow, but will miss us then again. After I had got Daniel to bed, I stayed up to catch up on my journal and TV news and current affairs. The news is of Hess being buried in a secret grave to head off the prospect of Fascist demonstrations at the funeral and of the use of his tomb as a shrine. Trouble is brewing in the coal industry. In addition to the miner’s willingness to take industrial action over 6-day working of pits, there is now a large majority for action over the new disciplinary code that has been foisted on them. In the Gulf, an incident occurred where US ships fired across the bows of unidentified patrol ships and an Iranian warship scatters a US tanker convoy in a surprise appearance and is chased off by US battleships on battle stations, but an international incident is averted. US spokesmen say that the UK has agreed to ‘re-flag’ Kuwaiti tankers, which will cause a political row at home. SDP internal party row comes back into political focus, as the key players arrive back from their holidays. Tomorrow’s weather is forecast to be wind and rain and so we are not missing much ashore.