Britons advised to leave Afghanistan after the Soviet Army withdrawal
Britons advised to leave Afghanistan after the Soviet Army withdrawal

Another slow start to the day, then a fine cooked breakfast before a combined trip shopping and attending to financial matters in St Neots and then off to the Eaton Socon garden centre for wiring and posts. Afterwards, to erect a fence to keep the ducks off the lawn and the bowls out of the river. Mowing the lawns ready for tomorrow after first repairing the lawnmowers and then relaxing watching boxing on TV and writing my journal. More bomb attacks supported by the ANC in South Africa, Britain’s are advised to follow the example of the Soviet Red Army in leaving Afghanistan and news that July has been the second wettest this century!

Felt cold again during the night but slept well. Slow to breakfast, but so was everyone else. We had a fried meal on this day for once, as tomorrow is going to be very busy. We enjoyed the meal and then got ready for a combined trip to St Neots to do some shopping. First to the town centre, where I withdrew some money and visited the library to look at the last few days editions of the Cambridge Evening News. Then off to Jordan and Addington’s garden centre, where Di could order us some morning coffee and I could buy some fencing wire and posts. Di also bought some flowers to make the house look nice for tomorrow. Home by 11.00am and then I changed and went out to start to enclose the ducks in fencing, which would also have the benefit of stopping bowls rolling into the slipway and then into the river.

But first, I played Daniel a few ends and he beat me quite easily. I had the posts inserted by lunchtime and then spent the afternoon putting up the wire. I strung wire across top, middle, and bottom and then secured the netting to it with twists of wire. It had to be tight and well-fitting, or the heavy woods would go through (or the ducks). All finished by teatime and then this evening I mowed the grass. It seems that Pete broke the rotary lawnmower by burning the clutch out and I also had to repair the throttle linkage of the cylinder mower as well, before using it to cut the games lawn. I then set up the post and hoops for croquet and practised for an hour until dark. Now the lawn is ready for any guests tomorrow that want to play. Later, I watched some boxing on TV and wrote up my journal at the same time. Rather a lazy day, as far as paperwork was concerned, but quite satisfying. News today is of the bomb attack on a Wimpy Bar near Johannesburg, South Africa, which injured dozens of people. These attacks have increased sharply this month, as the ANC condones them. The UN negotiator says that only ‘procedural difficulties’ are holding up on Iran/Iraq settlement. It now seems that Iran will concede and allow direct talks, despite earlier reluctance to meet Iraq face-to-face. Red Adair says that he had never seen fires like those on the Piper Alpha oil platform. All Britons are being advised to leave Afghanistan, now that the Soviet Red Army are withdrawing. The England selectors have dropped David Gower and Bill Athey and two newcomers, Barnett and Maynard, take their place in the team to face the West Indies for the last Test Match of the series. This July has been the second wettest this century. More showers forecast for tomorrow, but it will be less breezy. Incredible news tonight, as surgeons at Dulwich Hospital, London, have got agreement from their ethical committee to transplant pig organs – such as heart, lungs, liver – into human beings, but Home Office approval will be needed as well.