A lay in on a fine morning and then breakfast and a walk to the shops and back just in time to avoid a downpour and then a long rest, reading, until we could cruise to Brampton Mill for lunch and then on through Offord Lock and home to The Hayling View as HM hosts a Commonwealth leaders dinner to try and heal rifts and Anatoly Shcharansky’s family given permission to leave the USSR
Di laid in a little, on a fine, sunny and calm morning’s beginning and eventually got us the drinks as the children became more and more restive. Breakfast and then a walk into Godmanchester to the Causeway and shops. Bought a Sunday paper and Di some fresh milk and we just managed to get back to The Lady before the heavens opened and it poured with rain. A long rest, reading our papers and books, before the rain abated just in time, so that we could slip our moorings and cruise the short distance to Brampton Mill for lunch. A fine meal, enjoyed by us all and I was glad I had done the ‘pathfinding’ a couple of weeks ago.
We ate at the top of the building in the restaurant, but it cost me £23, which was quite a lot. Through the lock, which was set for us and again through Offord lock. This time we paid boys £1 rather than work the lock in the pouring rain. Then the final cruise home to find all in good order, the house untouched, the gardens well-tended, and the doves and ducks relatively unscathed. Again today we were lucky with the rain stopping when needed and we unloaded, recommissioned the house, and said our hellos to our neighbours. It took some effort to relight all three gas boilers (two for the house and a third for the pool). An evening sorting out the mountain of post and papers of all sorts that had accumulated this past fortnight and then sat with Daniel watching the TV as I updated today’s diary and rested from the efforts of the whole endeavour. News tonight is of the Commonwealth Leaders Conference beginning with a lunch and then the meeting itself. ‘No vitriol’ yet and a measure of civility and caution from all sides, but it will only be tomorrow that the final postures are agreed. Tonight they will dine with the Queen. A rocket and mortar attack has been made against the RAF intelligence base at Akrotiri, Cyprus. The USSR has given permission for Anatoly Shcharansky’s family to leave the Soviet Union in what appears to be an attempt to improve relationships with Israel. More wet and unsettled weather is forecast until the middle of the week. A couple of stories also about diabolically violent attacks on women, which seems to be the concern of the moment.