A ‘flaming June’ with three record hottest days of the year in succession with temperatures over 30degC but Afghanistan earthquakes were the worst disaster. I hosted my Father’s Day family BBQ amongst several family gatherings with Kathleen gaining independence from some separate events at a time of great agitation for her as her former husband William suffered greatly.
My Blackrow planning application for a new band sawmill shelter was eventually obtained and construction started, and our new touring caravan sought, purchased and used for our first stay in Southwold. The Woodcocks eventually turned up to excavate the hole for the installation of our new sewage tank which was eventually commissioned and much used and appreciated.
Charlie Randall and his boys were starting work on Ropes Hill Dyke Road this month after several years neglected and it fell to me to mark the road sections for levels to be achieved. Though working in Blackrow, I tried to keep the Horning house and moorings gardens tidy in a big growth season. As well as controlling the bracken and cutting the rides, processing branches and spreading the chippings, there were wasps, rats and squirrels to control. I had the help of David and sometimes that of his partner Lizzie to help in this respect.
When not to exhausted to do so, there was always the task of compiling my daily journal articles and completing the publication of my month-end entries. Then there was always my day-today accounts work, keeping track of expenditure.
The news was dominated by the rapid deterioration of Boris Johnson’s premiership; the price of petrol saw its biggest daily jump in 17 years, the UK Government’s plans to send some asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda were deemed to be a breach of international law. Boris Johnson's ethics adviser, the second in succession to quit, says he did so after the PM forced him into an “impossible and odious” position.
There was resurgent industrial unrest with rail and tube strikes as the government tried to hold wages down in times of growing inflation. Passengers were expressing fury over what they see as poor treatment amidst continued misery at UK airports.
In such depressing times, the nation was lifted as roaring crowds cheered the Queen as she joined other royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the first of four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations, some of which she could watch in person and others, due to her advanced years, she was forced to watch on TV.
Internationally, the war in Ukraine dragged on bloodily. President Biden said he would supply Kyiv with new long-range missiles as dozens of Russian missiles struck targets across the country, with the capital Kyiv enduring the heaviest barrage in months. Leaders of the G7 group of the world's richest nations meeting in Bavaria described the missile strike on the Ukrainian shopping centre in Kremenchuk as "abominable".
Turkey has finally agreed to support Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications. The US Supreme Court, weighted with right-wing appointments in the Trump era, struck down a New York law restricting gun-carrying rights and removed millions of women in the US of t their existing constitutional right to abortion. To complete a horrible hattrick, they also reduced some of the powers of the US president to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
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Flaming June lived up to its reputation and we had three record hottest days of the year in succession with temperatures over 30degC but there was also some cold days and showery ones with the odd downpour. The earthquake in Afghanistan struck impoverished hilly areas with weak buildings ill-equipped to handle the shock
We took advantage of the daylight hours and hot weather to host my Father’s Day family BBQ and my family brought cards and presents. and loved my new touring caravan. We also welcomed family visits from Michael and Rebecca, with Ben away and Joseph was also away when we hosted his brothers on another occasion. I made the journey to Debbie and Paul’s house where we gave Rebecca a card and special ‘scrapbook’ that Kathleen had made for her 7th birthday. Kathleen was busy hosting her family as well; Anne and Hilary on one occasion and Anne and Howard on another. Though busy, I took Kathleen to the cinema to see the latest ‘Top Gun’ film, but she was constantly upset with me which spoiled the day. This unfortunately became a pattern as Kathleen, and I were at odds for much of the following day; her criticising Della without me agreeing and then storming off later when I accused her of shouting again. She had other outings on her own with church friends, going on a church trip on a Norfolk Wherry, and visiting a famous garden centre. She spent some evenings with her House Group conference and also eventually took the bad decision to hair cut shorter. It was a tough time for her with her son Joseph’s wedding imminent and she had to hear the tragic news from Freddie about William’s sharp deterioration. She did join me for a nice visit to Gordon and Jackie and came for the Southwold trip.
Personally, I had the remains of my molar tooth extracted this month and await a replacement This month was all about the trials and tribulations concerning my planning application. It was a lot of hard work to edit my Blackrow Sawmill shelter planning application, but I finally managed to reformat and resubmit this satisfactorily reducing the height to 3m and finally secured approval and so started work on it soon after. I completed the assembly of the framework for one side and then spent the rest of another working day erecting the second side and then assembled most of the rafters ready for the sheeting to come.
Being late to the opportunity I had to spend a nervous day waiting to hear about a possible caravan purchase This touring caravan seemed just about what we needed, and I had to wait for another possible purchaser to duck out. I then purchased the caravan one afternoon, before installing it at Blackrow and learning about it during the evening, connecting mains electric to fuel all the systems. I just needed to drive over to Heronshaw to collect cables and accessories for the van after I had booked our first overnight stay. There then followed work sessions to prepare the touring caravan for our trip to Southwold for which I towed it down to Southwold to stay for two days. Though we had an enjoyable time, this trip was a trial as we assembled the full canopy, which required quite an effort. Once settled, we cycled and drove around to find dinner before our first night on board. There followed a full day at Southwold taking the ferry across to Walberswick and back before doing some more shopping by car and then collecting our sea food platter before preparing our caravan for the homeward journey the next day
The Woodcocks eventually turned up to excavate the hole for the installation of our new sewage tank. This took place one morning with three guys, three tractors and trailers seeking to get it as deep and level as possible. The brothers eventually returned to connect up our new toilet tank and we no longer had to use the chemical one, emptying the Blackrow chemical toilet for the last time
Despite this fun and games, other priorities and work needed attending to. I loaded our two empty Flo-Gas cylinders into my box trailer and got them replaced with full ones by Paul Attew and I drove into Wroxham for a medical check-up which was uneventful. I tried to sell my Range Rover but failed to get a reasonable offer for it and so kept it for now. Charlie Randall and his boys were starting work on Ropes Hill Dyke road this month and it fell to me to mark the road sections with painted indications for desired road level and I ensured that it would be a good height after several years without attention. Whilst mostly working at Blackrow, I also tried to keep the gardens of Heronshaw and the moorings in reasonable shape.
I contracted Platten Pest Control to eradicate the wasps from the Blackrow caravan roof, acquiring some squirrel traps and advice in the meanwhile, joining Kathleen for the journey to Horning and spending an entire day strimming and mowing. Kevin had created a huge pile of branches from next door, and I took the Timberwolf there and chipped them all. I spent another day travelling to Horning to collect more things and start tidying up the garage and boat shed and then strimming some areas. I did manage to catch up with Gordon a couple of times, collected my tablets and a fine lobster for dinner. Being the growing season, there was much work to do at Blackrow, strimming away the bracken growth and flailing the roads to keep them clear which was a constant job this month. I had the help of David and sometimes that of his partner Lizzie to clear branches and trim back the bracken and there was another big job chipping the arisings and spreading the chippings on the roads. For example, I used the Timberwolf to clear piles of branches in compartment C2 and then deposited the chippings along the south pond road, making it passable again. When not to exhausted to do so, there was always the task of compiling my daily journal articles and completing the publication of my month-end entries. Then there was always my day-today accounts work, keeping track of expenditure.
The news was dominated by the rapid deterioration of Boris Johnson’s premiership. As Tory Party PM’s first suffered the poor ‘confidence’ vote. The price of petrol saw its biggest daily jump in 17 years which was a devastating blow to private and business drivers, but I was using free solar electricity at Blackrow and for driving. The UK Government’s plans to send some asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda were deemed to be a breach of international law, according to the UN's refugee agency but UK appeal court judges then allowed them with the numbers being drastically reduced after legal challenges relating to modern slavery and human rights claims. Then the first flight scheduled to take them was cancelled after a last-minute legal battle. Bank of England rate rises from 1% to 1.25% as my IL Gilts now pay 9% inflation income. There was resurgent industrial unrest as firstly rail and tube strikes went ahead on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday after talks failed to resolve a row over pay, jobs and conditions. 80% of train journeys were cancelled and the Government tried to blame the unions when they were holding them down to a 3% increase during inflationary times of nearer 11%! Thousands of TUC members marched to Parliament to call for better pay and conditions
Boris Johnson's ethics adviser, the second in succession to quit, says he did so after the PM forced him into an “impossible and odious” position The Railway Union, the RMT, confirmed three days of strikes would go ahead and UK passengers faced severe disruption after last-ditch talks failed to stop the biggest rail strikes in 30 years The national rail strike went ahead after talks between the RMT union and railway employers broke down This as news overnight is of the Tories losing two by-election seats. Facing personal criticism, Boris Johnson has said a "psychological transformation" in his character is "not going to happen. Passengers were expressing fury over what they see as poor treatment amidst continued misery at UK airports.
Roaring crowds cheered the Queen as she joined other royals on the balcony of Buckingham Palace on the first of four days of Platinum Jubilee celebrations. HM The Queen was unable to attend all the functions on this day or the Epsom Derby the day after following her exertions yesterday, but the parties went on. There was a star-studded Platinum Anniversary Party at the Palace, and HM The Queen watched on television and she had recorded a Paddington Bear sketch. The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations ended with another balcony appearance by the nation’s longest-serving monarch in front of large crowds. HM The Queen has taken part in her third event in four days during her visit to Scotland. Cricket captain Ben Stokes said England's remarkable victory over New Zealand is his greatest win as an England player, as Gareth Southgate digests England's worst home football defeat in more than 90 years
President Biden said he would supply Kyiv with new long-range missiles Two Britons, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were unjustly sentenced to death by Russians in occupied Ukraine alongside Moroccan national Saaudun Brahim. Dozens of Russian missiles struck targets across Ukraine, with the capital Kyiv enduring the heaviest barrage in months. These strikes came as leaders of the G7 group of the world's richest nations began a three-day summit in Bavaria They have described Monday's missile strike on the Ukrainian shopping centre in Kremenchuk as "abominable". Turkey has finally agreed to support Finland and Sweden's NATO membership applications. The US will increase its military presence across Europe as NATO agreed a "fundamental shift" in its response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron is at risk of losing his outright majority in the National Assembly in elections that put him neck and neck with a left-wing coalition. The Taliban in Afghanistan have appealed for international support, as the country deals with the aftermath of a devastating 6.1 magnitude earthquake.
The US Supreme Court struck down a New York law restricting gun-carrying rights, in its most important judgement on guns in over a decade. In the US, millions of women in the US will lose their existing constitutional right to abortion, after the Supreme Court overturned its 50-year-old Roe v Wade decision The US Supreme Court has also reduced some of the powers of the US president to reduce greenhouse gas emissions