Mothering Sunday as the clocks go forward – A social day as I visited Mum in Stanton on my way back from Norfolk after welcoming the Jackson family who visited Heronshaw. The weather was cold windy and showery, but I could still tidy the garage, clear out the boathouse, fit more mooring rings to secure the dinghies as the water rises with the flooding.
Daniel had crashed his car again, forgotten Mother’s Day and Debbie had fallen out with Fiona at the riding school. Thatcher faces a rebellion in Parliament over the Poll Tax, A New York nightclub fire has killed 87 people and arson is expected and Soviet troops are on manoeuvres on the Lithuanian border as the Baltic Republics pledge solidarity in their fight for unconditional independence
I had made the decision yesterday to go back home later today, the weather being cold, windy and showery and visit Mum on the way back and so I tried to bring things to a conclusion. I stayed a while clearing things up after having been on the boat for several working visits, making a mess. I had just about started outside when the Jacksons arrived. There was Norma and Charles Jackson, Snr, and Chris and Charles, Jnr, together with their daughters Catherine and Natalie. I showed them the buildings first - the garage and shed - and Heronshaw itself. They could not have seen it in less favourable circumstances, but they still felt that it was well worth renovating and saving. Then I showed them the boat-house which they entered with some trepidation before I invited them into the warmth of the Paxton Princess for cocktails for the grown-ups and cola, peanuts and crisps for the girls.
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They stayed a while there and then I accepted their invitation to join them for lunch and I took them to Wroxham where only the cafe was open. We took the last two tables and were lucky not to get there later when many were disappointed and had to leave without eating. The two girls were very taken with me and I sat with Natalie at first and tried to encourage her to speak and behave nicely. I taught her how to speak without squealing and not to kick people under the table to get attention! She eventually cried when it was time to leave.
I went quickly back to Heronshaw and started tidying up my things outside to get them out of the rain and rising water. The northerly wind was holding up the ebb and levels are always high under those circumstances. Then I tidied up the garage and spent a lot of time on the boat-house. I cleared out a huge amount of junk, swept and tidied it out and then modified the door so that it opened properly. Lastly, I screwed on a half-dozen additional mooring rings and fitted ropes to the three dinghies so that they could rise and fall with the tide and not be damaged. All this took until early evening and I did not realise that the time had flown so quickly. The clocks had gone forward an hour which meant that it stayed lighter later.
It took me a further hour to get ready to leave and so I telephoned Mum to warn her that it would be quite a late visit. I eventually arrived there at 9.30pm and stayed until 10.30pm, delivering her a present on Mother's Day, collecting Daniel's birthday present in return and doing a couple of jobs for her. She has taken delivery of her new electric chair with which she is very pleased. On the journey, I also telephoned Di who had experienced a very bad weekend. First Daniel had crashed the car again and the cost of repair looked prohibitive. Then he had just about forgotten Mother's Day and Debbie had got herself into trouble with Fiona at the Riding School. She and Daniel had wept about the car and the hopelessness of it all and she was quite clinically depressed about Daniel growing up and being thoughtless and selfish.
Elsewhere, the weekend had seen John Major trying to sound more hopeful on interest rates "early next year" but this has not done much to limit the political damage. The storm over the Poll Tax is set to intensify as the Labour Party has established the largest lead in the opinion polls since records began with the Poll Tax as the most unpopular measure. Thatcher has had to again dampen speculation about her future and there is likely to be a rebellion in the House of Commons tomorrow over the latest Poll Tax rebate measures.
In New York, a nightclub fire has killed 87 people and arson is expected. Dr Robert Runcie has retired early as Archbishop of Canterbury (head of the Church of England) after 10 years in office and now the Prime Minister has to select a new one from a short-list prepared by the church elders. The continual conflict with the government and the kidnapping of Terry Waite has taken its toll. Soviet troops are on manoeuvres on the Lithuanian border as the Baltic Republics pledge solidarity in their fight for unconditional independence.