Home to find Dixie Dove killed by a cat and then to hear of a football riot and 39 deaths at the Heysel Stadium which will lead to a ban for English football
Diana awake first on a beautiful sunny morning and breakfast and preparations as usual. Debbie gets out early to play with her friend from the neighbouring boat, Nicola, but after chatting for a while on a bench in the sunshine, they are sadly parted as her family leave for St Neots. Daniel and Diana leave for an hours shopping in Huntingdon as I stay in The Lady to read and Debbie plays with her new colouring book. Daniel comes back first and takes Debbie and I for a cruise round in the dinghy and we take a close look at Huntingdon Bridge, the boatyard and the Hinchingbrooke Arbitrary. Back to The Lady and, the dinghy safely on the davits, we cruise upstream on a glorious day through Godmanchester, Brompton locks and moor in late morning at the end of River Road. We all walk along to the Brampton Garden Centre and, after a lunch of snacks such as peanuts, fudge and ice cream, take a good look round.
The garden centre is opposite the air base and many American and British servicemen use the shop. We are getting quite overrun with US forces in this part of East Anglia. Back to The Lady and the cruise home via Offord lock. Nice to have the sliding roof back and the windscreens down, although I ended up with a headache from the strong sun and burnt arms! The cool breeze and hot sunshine made for a comfortable day. Eventually, to arrive at the Haylings and moor The Lady and I open up both houses to find a mountain of papers and mail. As the European Cup football match was not on until later, I helped unload and put The Lady to bed. After, I used the ladder to look at the doves and found the dove chick, Dixie Dove, left the nest and searched for it. Sadly, I found its dead and dismembered body under a hedge. It has obviously been caught by a cat after fluttering down. Its split crop was full of seed and so had been well looked after, but it must have been vulnerable during its initial time away from the nest and before it learnt to fly back up to the dovecote. In to tea of toast and butter and then, with Debbie, to open and sort the post before she went to bed. I then started to read it whilst waiting for the European Cup final between Liverpool and Juventus to start, but was horrified by the news from Brussels. A riot had taken place at the ground with some Liverpool supporters attacking the Italians. They had panicked and ran, crushing one another and causing a wall to collapse, killing 38 and seriously injuring a hundred more. Evidently there were not sufficient precautions to separate the rival fans and few restrictions on the sale of tickets. Eventually, the match went ahead two hours late, as the authorities feared further violence if it was abandoned, but riot police ringed the ground. A sad end for a terrible seasons football incidents and the chances of Britain being banned from European football matches is high. Nobody can understand the mindless violence and warped actions of these thugs, but the high youth unemployment and grievance against society must be a contributing cause. The delay lets me catch up on my reading of the mail and papers before getting to bed at 11.00pm.