A welcome dip in my swimming pool today
A welcome dip in my swimming pool today

More rotavating today after a late start before and after changing to join Di’s relatives who had gathered together in Bedford as a huge drugs raid arrests 11 men and seizes £4million-worth of cannabis across Europe, a Leicester rapist is arrested after over 4,000 men were genetically-tested and the Arab League grapples with the problem of ending the Iran/Iraq war

Stayed up very late to see the end of the old war film, ‘A Bridge Too Far’, but was allowed to lay in for quite a time this Sunday morning. Most of us came down to breakfast in our pyjamas and enjoyed a nice fried breakfast. Soon dressed after and I put on my old clothes and did some more rotavating on the drier and new patches of earth. In late morning we all had a drink together and then got ready for a trip to a social gathering of Diana’s relatives in Bedford. We put on some best clothes and drove there in the Range Rover. Daniel and I had hoovered it out and washed it this morning and it was a more practical choice than the Daimler. We needed the air conditioning by this time, as the sun had broken through the morning mist & low cloud and was now quite warm in the humid atmosphere. These events are always a bit dry – so many obscure relatives, many of which are scarcely known to us – but there was an agreeable buffet lunch to savour.

Home again by about 4.00pm and had a large mug of tea whilst watching a little football on TV. Then went out to try the rotavator for a little while before tea, to find that the rest of the earth has dried out a bit. A light tea of sandwiches, then a long rotavating session until dark, covering about ¾ of the lawn area, which is now getting much more workable as the grass is eliminated. After dark I went for a dip in the swimming pool, as I was hot, sweaty and covered in specs of mud from the rotavator. Time only for a brief moment with Debbie at bedtime, before I sat in the lounge in my pyjamas and dressing gown to write up today’s journal, whilst also watching an hour’s TV programme on the lemurs of Madagascar, which are strange and endearing things. They are threatened by the forest clearances. News tonight is of our police tussling with the sins of the age. Armed police and customs officers arrested 11 men and seized £4million-worth of cannabis, following a Europe-wide hunt with help from colleagues in Italy, Spain, Gibraltar and France, from a ship at Grays in Essex. A man has been charged in Leicester with the sex killings of Dawn Ashworth and Lynda Mann, found in 1983 and 1986 after being strangled. This follows over 4000 men from three villages being screened in a new type of ‘genetic fingerprinting’. Foreign Ministers of the Arab League have met in Tunis and agreed to hold a special summit on the Gulf War. They want an implementation of the UN Security Council ceasefire resolution and an end to this damaging conflict. On the eve of the coal industry overtime ban, planned for tomorrow, Scargill claims a strengthening of support in the coal fields for tougher action. Nigel Mansell’s William’s racing car dropped out of the Grand Prix today and is now far behind Nelson Piquet and Alain Prost in the world championship.