Better day for my back with Diana helping in bed for an early start for Steve to arrive and help Daniel clean my car in return for the money to buy paint for Aquabean before much of the day painting my weather vane and then the afternoon’s peace shattered when another boat had crashed into Jason’s dinghy holing and sinking it with their outdrives and throwing Jason and Paul into the Paper Mill lock. This as violence erupted in Tottenham and Nigel Mansell won a Grand Prix as the first British driver to do so for two years
A sound night’s sleep after an energetic start to the night now that my back is healing. Diana did all the work just to make sure! A lay in and Debbie gave up waiting and went down to watch Breakfast TV. Morning tea and then down to wait for breakfast as Diana cooked my fried meal, remembering the mushrooms as well. Daniel’s friend Steve came again and was waiting outside at 9.00am. Washed, shaved and shampooed and the boys had washed my car by the time I emerged. It was a condition of giving them some money for paint and they then cruised into St Neots on Aquabean to buy it. It was a very windy day today, but the doves just managed to settle on the bird table for their seed. I had bought a couple of pounds of pigeon mix from St Neots yesterday and by mixing this larger grain with my mixed seed it should give them more lasting nourishment now that the poorer weather is closing in. Then to my weather vane and to spend most of the day painting it. In our inner garage, I was well away from the wind and rain.
Coffee at 10.00 and a chance to let the ducks out, but only one egg. One of Marilyn’s rabbits was all over my garden again, but I am giving her until next weekend to realise her loss and keep them in. Russel (in between us) was seeding his lawn today and covering the soil with wire netting so I hope that might discourage the things from straying. Another break from the painting for lunch, but Daniel and his friends were covered in paint from their own efforts and delayed lunch. A nice meal of pork, but I could hardly let Daniel near to our best silver with his hands tacky from paint. My normal chore to wash up after and this, together with bullying Daniel to remove the paint from his clothes, really wore me out. I slumped down in the lounge and was just reading the Sunday Times and anticipating my cup of afternoon tea when all hell broke loose by the river. Jason and Paul had been taking Jason’s dinghy back to The Ouse Valley River Club, when a cruiser had reversed into them by the lock, capsizing and holing the dinghy and throwing them and the boats contents into the river. Paul had run down to our gardens to ask Daniel to bring up Aquabean to fish out their belongings but, in all this wind, I calmed them all down, got Daniel to bring a pen and paper and set off for the lock on foot. We just caught the cruiser in the lock, its crew quite happy to cruise on, making no attempts to assist, but I took the name, address and boat details of the cruiser helmsman, the same of another cruiser in the lock with them and also the details of an angler who had seen the incident. It seems that they had been wheeling about in the lock pool and then followed the cruiser in. The owner had got into difficulties approaching the lock in the high wind and had slammed his twin outdrives in reverse to shoot backwards and push the youngster’s boat sideways on and capsize it. The screws had cut holes in the dinghy and they are lucky to escape hurt from the screws and from the river. Rather impatient and upset at the problems Daniel’s friends seem to have, I first helped them get their gear together on the riverbank and then got Diana to take Paul and Jason home to change. I could not get the phone number of the OVRC and so Diana took them there to tell their parents and get them to collect the debris. With that, I turned my back on the whole affair and got back to my weather vane and, choosing to leave my tea until later, I spent a few hours finishing it off. The central sphere gold, the compass points black, and the rotating ‘flag’ pointer is bedecked in my coat of arms, badge and banner. All-in-all quite a masterpiece that will grace our new chimney when it is built. Away with the ducks, a check on Daniel’s school work and then, as the rain poured, I went in, washed my brushes and updated my diary as I waited for the TV news. Violence erupted tonight in Tottenham, North London, after a women died from a stroke when police searched her home. Petrol bombs were still being thrown well into the evening with hundreds of youths involved. The neighbourhood is, of course, the place where I spent the first 11 years of my life. The other main story tonight is the publication of Sara Keays memoirs in tomorrow’s Daily Mirror, which will further embarrass the Tories during their Party Conference this week. A Liverpool demonstration took place today against the militant councillors. In the Europe Grand Prix today, Nigel Mansell became the first British racing driver for two years to win a Grand Prix.