Outside helping Daniel sorting out Aquabean after the flood and supervising the girls playing in the riverside garden before tea on the patio all in the better weather as IRA gunman, Seamus McElwaine, was shot dead in Northern Ireland after an escape from the Maze, 20 prison officers are suspended after a dispute at Leicester and the expelled Libyans arrive in Tripoli to the sound of bomb attacks in France and Beirut
A warm night, but we slept well and I awake to my morning tea well rested. I listened to ‘On Your Farm’ on the radio, which was all about farmers diversifying out of agriculture into other activities, due to the EEC food surpluses. Showered, shaved and dressed before a nice breakfast of warm croissants and natural cereals. Outside for a couple of hours to get Daniel’s boat in some order. I used his bilge pump to empty it of water and then took off the outboard motor and tried to start it on dry land, but the fuel system was too full of water. We had intended to go to St Ives this morning to view the antique auction, but the weather was so nice, warm and sunny, that I got the steamer chairs out for morning coffee.
Then, as Di popped into town for some shopping, I looked after the girls and let them use the tree swing. Amie and Katherine came round to play and Della actually played quite nicely with them both. Di came back and we sat out again with the girls, before it was time to leave for St Neots. We collected Daniel and then drove on to Tempsford to the Happy Eater for our lunch. A nice meal and then home via St Neots, where Di collected her bicycle and I ordered the curtains from Brittains. With Daniel and Gary, we drained the engines carburettor of water and managed to start it. We then patched the hull with Sylglas and got the boat in and the engine back on and it worked fine. Tea with the family on the front patio of bread, scones and cake and then the evening fitting a fine cover to Aquabean. I carefully crimped on some rings to the cover and connected rubber ties. In at dark to lock up, rest and watch the television. News today of an IRA gunman shot dead during preparations for an attack on the security forces. It was Seamus McElwaine, who was a past escapee from the Maze prison. In an accident in the province, four children and a woman died in a house fire in County Donegal. In the prison dispute, 20 prison officers have been suspended in Leicester. They had stopped work in sympathy with the earlier suspension of 4 colleagues. The expelled Libyans arrive in Tripoli, denying that they are terrorists, but several bombing incidents occurred around Europe. In Lyon, a bomb shatters an American Express office and in Beirut, it was the turn of an office of a British bank.