Preparing to leave The Hayling View and complete my paperwork and political contributions before I attended the Southoe Parish Council meeting and took the girls to their swimming lessons and prepared the Paxton Princess.
The London meeting of the G7 group of the seven largest world economies invited USSR President Michael Gorbachev for the first time as Europe wanted to help him move towards openness and democracy and the Anglo/American alliance did not. The weather stayed fine today but tonight, and tomorrow is forecast for some rain clearing up later.
I was awake just after 7.00am today and went down to see Diana in the kitchen and have my morning drink. She was a little grumpy and down about getting the boat ready for the cruise and was feeling that the new waters would not be the same as we were used to, nor so familiar but then we both agreed that we were a couple of stick-in-the-muds. I showered, shaved, and wrote up yesterday's journal before breakfast and did my chores and this gave me time afterwards to do some more preparation for the boat trip. This morning, however, I tackled the mountain of paperwork that had built up on my desk; most of it concerning the District Council and my local political activities as the by-election was still in motion.
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I prepared more election literature and polling-day slips and then, for my District Group, I composed the letter and schedule which asked for certain additional service items to be considered for next year's budget. The idea was that we get officers to cost them and put them on the agenda with others for the autumn cycle of meetings that reviews the matter. I managed to get Daniel to go down to Jordons of Biggleswade and get a couple of sacks of dove food to top up our supply but he found Avenue Fisheries closed on Wednesdays and we will have to call again for the fish food. This afternoon, I worked on the Paxton Princess and did a short service, greasing the propeller shafts, checking all of the vital fluids, clearing out the water intakes and mopping out the remaining sea water from the bilges where it had slopped through the fridge vent.
Then Diana could work there this evening, loading most of our clothes and belongings on whilst I took the girls to their swimming lessons and attended the Southoe Parish Council Meeting. The main matter there was the continued problems of Rectory Lane with the running sewage and road traffic problems which are due to get worse with the establishment of a trade antiques renovation business there. Both I and the Parish Council will be making our objections but it may go ahead anyway. After I picked up the girls, I delivered and posted all of my mail and papers to their recipients and then came home to lock up the house and boat for the evening. Daniel had upset me by borrowing my multi-meter and leaving it switched on to run down the batteries and gone out for the evening having also left on the television in the lounge.
The girls had been mischievous after their swimming and so I made them get themselves to bed so that Diana could get on as well. I was rather tired after all this and so I just sat and watched the television for an hour before going to bed. The satellite dish picks up a number of soft pornographic German channels which are not always fully scrambled and the sight of all that sex was quite arousing. The news is of the London meeting of the G7 group of the seven largest world economies which had invited USSR President Michael Gorbachev for the first time. The Continental countries were wanting to provide economic assistance to help them transfer to more open capitalism and democracy but this was blocked by an Anglo-American pact that sought to allow technical assistance but no more. John Major had fun posing for the cameras. The weather stayed fine today but tonight and tomorrow is forecast for some rain clearing up later.