The start of my stay at Heronshaw on the Paxton Princess, being welcomed warmly by the Butterfields, but with my cough and cold getting worse. I was getting a legal opinion on dyke maintenance, doing some repairs, collecting my boarding plank from the grumpy Mr Taylor and hosting the first part of the engine/gearbox coupling by the Marine Power engineer.
PLO leader Yasser Arafat calls for the presence of a UN force as trouble continues on the West Bank, Soviet Prime Minister Mr Ryzhkov pleads with Deputies to approve a swingeing bread price after £3bn had been spent on importing an additional 27m tonnes of grain and Thatcher called for urgent international action to fight the "greenhouse" effect but she will not agree the necessary domestic measures
I had morning tea early and then got myself ready for my trip to Norfolk by packing bags and loading up the Range Rover. Then breakfast with the kids to whom I said my goodbyes before setting off. I made a few phone calls on the journey to my political colleagues to let them know what I was doing and to chase them for action on a few items. I arrived at Wroxham at 10.00am which was very good. The new brake pads on the car were squeaking and that will be an action item for my return. I took the Heronshaw Deeds in to my solicitor so that she could provide me with a legal opinion on the road and dyke maintenance for later in the day and then had morning coffee at the Riverside Restaurant and read the day's edition of the Eastern Daily Express, which I found very good as usual. Each day seems to bring a new story of the region being threatened by "Global Warming" and rising sea levels. Off to "Quiet Waters" in Horning to get my gang plank from Mr Taylor who delivered it up grumpily and without social niceties. He is upset with me for my letter and over the sale because of the extra costs of repairing the generator which have fallen on him; but even so he is a most unpleasant individual who is not easily satisfied by anyone with whom he has a relationship.
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It was after 11.00am before I arrived at Heronshaw and found all the Butterfields there to greet me with another cup of coffee and a long chat. I still had time to unload the car into the Paxton Princess and then chase Marine Power by telephone before lunch. They had been working on the replacement coupling but had not completed the job; but at least the engineer was already on his way to me. He arrived and could only work for an hour because of a family funeral but, with me helping, he used this time to prove that the coupling was indeed going to fit between the shaft and engine when he returned tomorrow. I then had a sandwich lunch with Freda and Alf before spending quite a while clearing up the mess in the boat and getting everything stowed away. I then decided that I should tackle the varnish on the port rubbing strake and stripped of the offending patches and put on a coat of thinned varnish and then another full one to protect it overnight. Back to Wroxham then to collect my Solicitor’s opinion and search the chandlers for more fittings and this time Freda and Alf came with me to do some shopping. This evening, I fitted a nice new marine stainless-steel windscreen wiper and I was very pleased that this was another job well done. I was still boggling over door catches at the end of the day when I just read and cleared up. It had been sunny today but with a cold breeze and my cough and cold were getting worse.
As trouble continues on the West bank, PLO leader Yasser Arafat calls for the presence of a UN force. After dogs have been confirmed as having "Mad Dog" disease, now a cat is being examined after having died of a similar affliction. The Soviet Union is in the headlines as the Prime Minister pleads with Deputies to approve a swingeing bread price increase on the grounds that "the government is bankrupt". Mr Nikolay Ryzhkov told them that £3bn had been spent on importing an additional 27m tonnes of grain in the last four months alone and that they were running out of gold reserves. The hypocritical Thatcher has now called for urgent international action to fight the "greenhouse" effect after her cabinet had been "dumbfounded" by a briefing from the Chief Government Scientist but she will not agree the necessary domestic measures and this policy only makes things worse.