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Trying to sail this morning and giving up and then some shopping with Debbie and refreshment with the family before cruising from Huntingdon to Godmanchester in a near gale and then a walk around the town before bedtime. Murdoch’s battle with the print unions continues, Thatcher has naively not given up hope of an Israeli/Palestinian compromise, The Boers are opposing apartheid relaxation in South Africa and British holidaymakers and our sports teams abroad are heavily protected from Libyan terrorists
A sound night and the heating was on when my morning drink arrived. Washed in the confines of The Lady’s bathroom and then a breakfast of cereal and toast with the girls. As we were finishing, the boys came in for the toilet and a mug of hot drinking chocolate. There was a high, near gale force, wind this morning that had chilled them a lot. Dan took the girls to the children’s playground to earn himself 40p and Steven was to help me sail Blue Peter again. But, with the wind so high and gusty and the river water cold, we did not want to chance it, so I sailed alone.
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Bank Holiday Monday – Some early sailing on a breezy morning and then around the market trader’s pitches before meeting up back on Lady Martina at Waits Quay for lunch and over to L. H. Jones for some supplies and a new sleeping bag for Daniel before cruising back upstream to moor at Huntingdon Riverside Park for the night. Thatcher now meets Palestinian civilians in Israel and is calling for compromise talks as an all-party delegation meets Gorbachev, more than £60m Band Aid total is to be raised by Sports Aid and Gower helps England to win the second test against Pakistan to even the series so far
I woke up and put the boat heating on at 5am, but Di would not get up and make the drinks when the kettle boiled and so we both went back to sleep until 7.00am. Di brought me my morning tea then and I lay in more as a protest, reading the last two day’s papers until I had finished them. A toast and cereal breakfast and then I went out to sail again in the Blue Peter. Steven was going to go with me, but he and Dan overslept and did not wake up until past nine, when Di took them both some hot chocolate drink. The breeze had got up again and it made very good sailing – I went up and down the river, but with the sail reefed to avoid the risk of overturning. Back to The Lady and, all others being gone, I went on to the St Ives Bank Holiday Market. First found Daniel and Steve staring in wonderment at the market trader’s pitches, selling first wonder carpet cleaner and then jewelry.
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Very enjoyable day moored in St Ives, appreciating the boat heating, swimming in the St Ivo pool, shopping at LH Jones and then sailing on the Blue Peter, as two jets collide at the Mildenhall air show, many people are rescued from a London flats blaze and Nigel Mansell wins the Belgian Grand Prix
I sleep whilst Di puts on the heating and gets the morning tea. A nice start to the day with the boat cabin so warm! Our normal routine and I just get out of the bathroom in time before a nice toast breakfast. The boys join us to warm up and drink a hot chocolate and then I start The Lady’s engine up and recharge the batteries/heat up the hot water supply. Di washes up and I get and start reading the Observer newspaper. Everyone off to St Ivo swimming pool and, whilst I was a bit weak and shivery to start with, I enjoyed the exercise – wrestling and ducking the boys until they were weak instead!
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Awake at Huntingdon on a chilly morning but soon warm with the boat heating as the girls played on the adventure playground, the boys played in the dinghies and I scrubbed the decks before on through Houghton Lock to the GOBA meadow for a barbecue before mooring at The Waits Quay in St Ives. Thatcher visits Israel, vetoes a UN move (with the USA) for South African sanctions and falls foul of Commonwealth colleagues.
Woke early and heard the girls chatting and romping in the front cabin from 5.00am onwards. We are trying Della in the bunks for the first time, but still have a folding cot in reserve. I put the heating on and it was quite necessary to bring the cabin temperature from below 50degF to nearly 70degF, when the morning sun took over. The boys seem to have managed OK, but come over to The Lady for a hot drink and use of our sea toilet. Breakfast of toast, and we gradually calmed down our agitated Della. Then the girls played on the riverside adventure playground, the boys went on their dinghies and I scrubbed The Lady’s decks, roofs and hull for the first time this season. Di went shopping as I finished off in the warm sunshine.