Still raining hard after a very wet night with flooding throughout southern England as I stayed in and played with the children until our customary Happy Easter lunch when Daniel could join us after his school morning after which I heard more local history information from ladies that worked at Paxton Park Maternity hospital.. Spotted the river rising alarmingly as we drove back and there then followed some swift action to secure our boats and riverside belongings as the water came over the camp-shedding as all of South East England and East Anglia are on flood alert. The Sri Lanka conflict escalates with eight Indian soldiers killed by Tamils who themselves suffer ten dead, the US ship set to burn toxic waste off of the North Yorkshire coast is scared away to Belgium by a Greenpeace ship, armed police have seized a large haul of arms in Essex
Slept well enough, but was late down to the morning meal. Debbie also had a lay in, but Daniel had already breakfasted and left the table. An appallingly wet night and stories of flooding throughout southern England. It was still raining then and, despite Diana’s offer of a lift to the bus stop, Daniel walked there anyway. Di was upset and drove after him, telling him she ‘would deal with him later’. This morning I read the paper and looked after Daniella in the playroom, which was one of the only warm rooms on a cold and miserable day.
Later, Amy and Catherine came to play. I set up the microcomputer program for Amy and Debbie to test their knowledge of tables and Della played uncomfortably with Catherine in the playroom. Near to lunchtime, we locked and alarmed the house and all left to collect Daniel from the Little Paxton bus stop on the way to the Croxton Happy Eater. Good service there, but came straight home afterwards to see the river was rising alarmingly. Phoned David Robertson, who came over and, with Daniel, we tended to the boats. David’s boat was put alongside a neighbours and Daniel's and his friend Steve’s alongside mine. Only just in time, as the river came right over the campshedding soon afterwards. This afternoon, I did a little on my history project. Read through my files and then phoned a lady who had left a message on my answering machine. She had worked at Paxton Park Hospital since before the age of 14, as a kitchen maid, and I have arranged to see her photographs on Monday night. I phoned Miss Hazelton, the Hospital’s former Matron, and chatted a while about it as well. This evening, I watched a spy film with Daniel on TV and it was exciting enough to make me late to bed. News today is of escalation of the conflict in Sri Lanka, where 8 Indian soldiers are killed in clashes with Tamils in Jaffna, in two separate incidents. 10 of the guerrillas also died, but recently many more deaths have been caused by Tamil massacres of villagers. A US ship, due to burn toxic waste off of the North Yorkshire coast, has been diverted to Belgium, after the environmental group, Greenpeace, had been chasing the ship, Vulcanus II, in their own vessel, Sirius. Armed Essex police have seized a large haul of arms in Fyfield and Felsted, after an investigation into suspected gun-running. The wet weather has caused flooding extensively and emergency services in parts of SE England and East Anglia are on flood alert – and still it rains! Iraqi planes have been in action against Iranian oil cargo again.