Working outside on The Lady and taking Debbie horse-riding on a cold day after Diana’s traumatic night as Mr Larkin arrives to work after a road delay and Daniel works on his chemistry prep. former Prime Minister, Sir James Callaghan’s plea for an MI5 enquiry is controversially rejected by Thatcher, the new defence budget tries to accommodate Trident, Millions of South African blacks boycott work on whites-only polling day but UK teachers’ unions will not stop this summer’s exams
Slept well and awoke early, going to the en-suite before my cup of tea arrived. It had been a traumatic start to the night. Diana had been watching a sad film and had gone to bed in tears. Down early for breakfast, to eat a boiled egg and toast, but nothing else (the children had cereal afterwards). Out after to The Lady at 9.00 am when Mr Larkin arrived as well. He had been delayed an hour in Huntingdon by an overturned lorry and was exasperated. I cleared off the excess mastic from my latest securement of rubbing strake and then applied a coat of coloured varnish on to the gunwales and it was time for lunch. The day had started sunny and pleasant, but it got a bit cooler as the day wore on, but with little wind, and ideal conditions for working.
Mr Larkin measured out the extent of the boat dock, dredged out a ridge blocking the entrance, and then pulled his dredger in to start piling the downstream wall. I worked on after lunch and then an early tea of bread/salad rolls, before taking Debbie the long way around to Offord for her riding lesson. She was on Barbie again and was taught on the outside school and then over a few jumps in the field. Got rather cold as I stood out watching her, and was glad to get back home to put a couple of jumpers on. Out to the boat again to put another clear coat of varnish on the gunwales before dark. Today, I also salvaged a number of planks from an old landing stage to reuse later. Daniel spent all evening on some chemistry prep and nobody went swimming today. Di did a mammoth shop and prepared the ground for Debbie's birthday party tomorrow. News today is of former Prime Minister, Sir James Callaghan, coming out today in favour of a public inquiry into the alleged MI5 plot to overthrow Harold Wilson. Surprisingly, Thatcher turned down this request by the Father of the House in the House of Commons and ran into a political storm because of it. The much-leaked plans for strengthening the RUC in Ulster were duly announced today and a Defence White Paper targets the next year’s budget at £19,000 million, which is less than last year in inflationary terms. The Tories claim that this still leaves room for Trident, but the opposition disagree. In the Polling Day for South Africa, more than a million blacks have stayed away from work in protest. In the latest decision by the two biggest teachers’ unions, it is decided that the summer’s GCSE & CSE examinations will not be affected by the industrial action.