Debbie before her 12th birthday
Debbie before her 12th birthday

Up early for my household chores before helping with Debbie's 12th Birthday Celebrations, which involved using the sunny weather to best advantage a trip to The Wickstead Park open-air recreational centre.

Then home for a swim in our pool to cool off and then they had a birthday tea before tidying up my desk and office after the last few tiring days and thinking about getting over to Norfolk and preparing for my voyages

I have decided to try to get up as early as possible now that I did not have a gardener. It is also an advantage during this very hot weather as it is the only time you can do any physical work without getting too hot and bothered. I tended the conservatory, ducks and doves and then settled down at my desk and tried to sort out all of the election information, discarding the papers that need not be kept and filing the rest in some sort of organised state. There was much mail to look at and quite a deal of cheques that needed to be sorted out and paid in.

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Then the party girls began to arrive, and it fell to me to be one of the drivers as we took them all to Wickstead Park. The sunny weather was ideal for this open-air recreational centre and the girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves on all of the amusements. We took the cars right in and parked under a tree so that we could have our picnic in the shade which was very nice. We stayed there all day and left in time to come home for a swim in our pool to cool off and then they had a birthday tea. They sang "Happy Birthday Dear Deborah" and then watched a video film in the lounge until it was time to go to bed in their tent. This they seemed to be able to do but it was very late before they went to sleep. I worked on tonight completing the tidying and organisation of my office before writing up these last few days' journal. It has been a successful, if tiring, period and now I am worrying about getting over to Norfolk and preparing for my voyages.