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Successful day’s cruising along The Old West River to Ely for the day and then, with The Lady dressed overall for the Royal Wedding, up The River Cam to The Bridge at Clayhythe through rain and showers to stop, catch fish and dine at the inn. The news was of the Prince Andrew marrying Sarah Fergusson and HM The Queen dubbing them The Duke and Duchess of York
Slept better still as we get used to the boat regime, but woke at 3.00am and found the night so cool as to need to close one of our cabin windows. Breakfast as normal, then cast off The Lady’s mooring ropes from the rond anchors and set off down the remainder of the Old West River and then the main river to Ely. A bright, but breezy and cool morning, but it came on to shower with rain as we got to Ely.
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After our St Ives shopping and snacks, our cruise goes well through St Ives lock with lunch at Holywell and then through Brownshill and Hermitage to Twenty Pence Bridge to moor for the night and more fishing and eating out. Thatcher’s audience with HM The Queen today was fraught as the Commonwealth mayhem comes on the eve of Prince Andrew’s wedding
Slept reasonably well, even though the night was quite stuffy and the cabin ill-ventilated. Morning tea from Di and then well prepared today for breakfast of wheat flakes with the others. All ready after and then a short walk and shop around St Ives to get a few things. As Di finished off her shopping, I treated Debbie and Daniel to a drink and cream cake at Tooks and we met back at The Lady to start today’s cruise. We stopped off at L H Jones for water and ice creams, but they had no diesel fuel. Through St Ives lock and then we stopped at Holywell for lunch of ploughman’s at the pub, which was very nice.
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A quick visit to St Ives Monday market after a family breakfast revealed very little of interest and so I tackled the repairs to The Lady as Di took the children to the St Ivo Pool swimming. I fixed all three problems and then helped Debbie and Daniel to catch some fish and then took Di to Flood’s Wine bar tonight. Reports are emerging of conflict between The Palace and Downing Street now that a third of the Games competitors are out with the boycott.Back in South Africa, Tuto meets Botha without agreement and Boesak’s car is tear-gassed after his church service
Awoken at dawn by Debbie coming into our room, having had a bedtime dream. Then awoken at 7.00am by the girls again and Di had a scramble to get everything ready for breakfast. I took a long while in the bathroom and by the time I had got to the saloon, the others had already started their breakfast. Helped Di clean up The Lady afterwards and then set off to see the St Ives Monday market and the antique auction viewing. Not much of interest at either and so came back and started the repairs to The Lady, whilst the others continued to shop and swim at the St Ivo.
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More problems on The Lady to fix but we survive overnight heavy rain and so leaks are not amongst them after my recent varnishing. Watching Frank Bruno knocked out on TV after a good fight and then back through Houghton and Hemmingford to arrive at The Waits in St Ives where we bought a new fridge but a family swim in St Ivo delayed its installation. Now India have withdrawn from The Commonwealth Games due to Thatcher’s obduracy.
Awoke at 4.00am to the sound of falling rain and went round the boat with a torch checking for leaks. There were remarkably few and so this first test of the season went well. Back to sleep again and then Di woke me with my morning tea much later. Up, washed and shaved in the confines of our small toilet and then joined the family for a breakfast of cereal in the saloon. At 9.30am Dan and I watched the Frank Bruno fight on TV, as the girls went shopping. A good fight, but he went down and out in the 11th round of 15.