Watching Hotel Boats cruise The Great Ouse from my vantage point painting my bedroom French Doors before a fair lunch of roast lamb served in style before welcoming Daniel back after his cycle ride to see Steve and reading Country Companion to Debbie. This as 45,000 across Scotland link arms to oppose nuclear weapons as a Russian nuclear sub is forced to surface after a fire, more prison trouble occurs due to overcrowding, the re-enacted Jarrow Crusade uses the old banner now that the jobless total is up to 22%
A lay in this morning and I seemed to wake first and had to rub Di all over to get her out of bed and to get my drink! Just a wash and shave (as I showered last night) and then down to a nice fried breakfast in the kitchen. This morning’s chore was the painting of the bedroom doors and I managed to get an undercoat on before lunch. Also found time to clean out the ducks, whose straw was getting very soiled. The gardens are so much more open now and the view from the balcony, as I worked, so good. It is the nearest the house is to the river, which was very busy with boats, the lock working them through all day. Also saw a pair of hotel boats going downstream.
Di took Debbie to the church for me, as I was working. Then I prepared the table for Sunday lunch, even though Daniel cycled over to spend the day with his friend Steve. After a fair lunch of lamb, Di helped me wash up and then I put a coat of gloss on the bedroom French doors. Later, tea of the rest of my shrimps and then I took my mug of tea and bowl of ice cream into the playroom to watch some exciting snooker. Put a coat of Sadolin onto the doorsteps that needed it after and then put away the ducks in a fresh hutch of straw. Read Debbie a Country Companion after, then Dan came home safely. The main news today has been nuclear, with 45,000 people across Scotland linking arms to protest against nuclear weapons. In the West Atlantic, a Russian nuclear submarine has surfaced after a fire, which killed 3 crew and injured others. The USSR informed the Americans, who have ‘offered all assistance’ but of course the help was refused and it is being attended by Soviet ships. No release of radioactivity or explosion will take place. As the last piece of the East/West swap sage, the two Orlovs, Soviet dissidents, have been released and will make their way to the West. More prison trouble (at H M Prison Wymott this time) as they suffer from gross overcrowding and riot as a consequence. As the Sealink trouble continues to spread, talks between management and unions end with no progress and the seamen now vote for an indefinite strike. 50 years to the day after the famous Jarrow Crusade march to Parliament over unemployment, another march re-enacts the event, now that the jobless total is again up to 25%. They are using the same banner. The weather is forecast to stay fine, if foggy, for some days to come, as an anticyclone centred over the channel is deflecting depression after depression northwards. Late tonight I watched the second half of a drama on South Africa that ended with a mixture of tragedy and hope for the future, as a number of people fought against the oppression of apartheid.