Family visit to the East of England Show to see the heavy horses as Channel Ports are blockaded by lorry drivers and talks are started with little hope of success
A fair lay in this morning after an unsettled night. The weather continuing dull but humid and warm. Eventually Daniel and Debbie start the process of making the morning drinks and I rose to complete the process. Breakfast of toast, cereal and fruit juice and we all wash and dress which, considering the household chores and the time needed to feed Daniella, takes us until 10.00am to complete. Then all off together in our new Jaguar to the East of England Show with the air conditioning keeping us all cool and relaxed in the humid air. A lot of traffic and record attendances which were not put off by the occasional showers.
I was impressed by the huge numbers of stalls, rings, events, not to mention the livestock – predominantly horses. I chose today to coincide with the appearance of the Heavy Horses and there was a record number of Shires and Suffolks presented in fine gear and pulling smart turnouts. The Brewers Drays rather dominated the prizes. Then a burning diver jumps 60ft into a 6ft deep pool and the most interesting event was a demonstration of falconry with birds of prey flying freely and coming to lure to the obvious enjoyment of the crowd. We buy a large picnic basket, lots of refreshments and leave to arrive back by 4.00pm. An evening relaxing after tea and the washing up broken only by the persistent Mrs Little phoning about shares with the effect of upsetting Diana.
News tonight of the channel ports being blockaded by lorry drivers upset by holiday makers being let through and them left behind. The Sealink enterprise is sold by the government to British Ferries for £66M, which I think is a poor sum for the assets. Talks are in progress between the port employees and the Dockers on the one hand and between the miners and NCB on the other, but no agreements yet. Negotiations also began today between officials of ministerial rank between Britain and Argentina. None of this has helped the Government and the public opinion polls give the Labour Party today an increased lead over the Conservatives.