Progress on my slipway on a cold and increasingly windy day but poorer family news as Debbie, tired after last night’s disco, fluffs her horse riding and then cries when there is no time for a bedtime story, Daniel causes mayhem at dinner and I hear from Dad that Mum has had another all and broken her wrist. Jordanian Nezar Hindawi is convicted of the El Al airliner bombing and his links with the Syrian Embassy have led to mutual cessation of diplomatic relations with Syria and another shooting takes place in Ulster as a man is shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle
A chilly night, but we were warm in our cosy bed and slept well. Sound asleep still when woken to my morning tea and was soon washing to the sound of the World Service. Breakfast of wheat flakes and then out at 8.00am again to the slipway. I had decided to repair the side section today and this involved chipping away at the mass of collapsed earth behind the paving stones and removing them carefully one by one. Also took out the old rotten timbers that were supposed to hold the paving slaps in place, and shaped the new angle to give the repairs a fighting chance. It was lunchtime by the time I had taken it apart and, as I had let Diana go with Della this morning and do the Christmas shopping,
I had to make my own salad of ham and lettuce etc. We are still keeping the barrier up across the drive to protect the asphalt from heels etc., and so I had to get the Range Rover out for Di and replace the contraption afterwards, which is a bit of a bore. Back to work this afternoon, seating in new slabs and securing them at the end and across the top with some angle iron I had come across. Then scaffold tubes to pin the irons in place and, with the steeper angles, it should hold off a collapse this time. At 3.00pm, I was called in for a cup of tea and to get ready to take Debbie for her riding lesson. She ate biscuits and took a drink as we drove there and it was her first trip in the Range Rover. Once there, she was given Patchy and it was the worst effort I have seen for months. Admittedly this pony is rather difficult and lazy, but Debbie did not do as the lady asked and try hard enough. Also she has developed a silly ‘phobia’ about being nibbled and will not handle the ponies nicely. Home in a bad mood, with Debbie asking why she has to go horse riding and I fear it will soon be given up. Tea of grilled trout and Daniel excelled himself by dropping a half-pound slab of butter into his mug of tea, whilst grabbing at it across the table. Fed up with these children’s antics, I went out again after tea and cleared up after the work on the slipway – relaying the paths around the lawn, removing a mound of excess earth, and driving home a number of securing ties. Worked out in the cold, wind and fast-arriving dusk and then came in, when I could see no more, and sat in my office and updated today’s journal. Pete was asking me today whether there would be any work for him in the winter, as I think he is concerned about the time I am spending outdoors. The considerable news today is of the conviction of the Jordanian, Nezar Hindawi, of the crime of trying to blow up the El Al Airliner and with it, his girlfriend. Because of evidence linking the man and crime with the Syrian Embassy and Ambassador, the government now calls off all diplomatic relations with Syria and the entire delegation has to leave within two weeks. The British Embassy in Damascus is also closing in similar fashion and also Syria closes its airspace and sea ports to British airliners and ships. More terrorism in Ulster, as a man is shot dead by a motorcycle gunman and two men have been convicted in the US of planning to ship more weapons in. Tonight, the wind got up even more and rain fell on a wild night. Poor Debbie went crying to bed, as there was no time for her Country Companion before an early bedtime. She had been very tired today, after a late night with yesterday’s disco. My father phoned tonight and gave me the bad news. Mum fell again yesterday and broke her wrist and is still in hospital with it. It does seem, however, that they are running some tests on her leg and that they might be able to do something for it to compensate.