A glorious day of weather working on The Lady repairing an engine water leak, as Di takes the children to Cambridge and The French girls take a coach to Norwich before we get together later to tidy up the boat, fit the curtains and run the heating and lighting in preparation for our forthcoming Easter boat trip. The UK will still retain The Trident nuclear deterrent after any successful Nuclear Arms limitation talks and more letter bombs plague senior civil servants but are intercepted
Slept well, even though it was a warm and mild night and was woken by Daniella coming in to try to find ‘her mummy’. Showered and shaved a little late, but just managed to get down in time for breakfast. After another quiet meal, the two French girls left for a coach to Norwich, Di took Daniel and the girls to the shops and I stayed in. Avoiding distractions for too long, I went out and started work on The Lady. Found the bilges full of water and oil and started a painstaking morning pumping her out and using bags of detergent to disperse the oil slick everywhere. A long job wiping and washing the internals and it took me easily up to lunchtime. After a quick lunch, I returned and filled up The Lady’s drinking water system and ensured that it was working properly with no leak. I had secured the water hose to a post and added a length of hose to the end and it is very convenient having fresh water right alongside the moorings. Started the engine then and found out the cause of the trouble. The ‘core plug’ near the heat exchanger had been popped out by the winter frosts and coolant was pumping out into the bilges.
Came inside and started phoning Perkins, the engine manufacturers, for advice and then Buckden Marina for service, but in the end it was down to me. I sifted around in the bilges, found two core plugs and spent a long time trying to knock the thing back in before eventually managing it. Another unpleasant job mopping out the bilges again and then put on the boat heating, started the engine, and used the vacuum cleaner to clear the boat up. Time for tea and so went inside. No sign of the French girls (who were late again) and so went swimming with Debbie and Della – Daniel had already swam for hours. Out and tea, with Natalie & Catherine joining us during the meal. This evening, I cleared up the inside of the boat and Di joined me and put up the boat curtains, well after dark. With the boat heating and lighting on, it was quite convenient. Late in and collapsed in the lounge settee to watch the TV. Then found further strength to lock up the house and make my way to my room to write up my journal. The news today was of Shultz optimistic on the chances of an Est/West deal on intermediate range nuclear missiles (Cruise & Pershing). Geoffrey Howe, of the UK, went out of his way to point out that this would still leave Britain with a nuclear deterrent in Trident – and he was berated for this stance by David Steel of the Liberals. More IRA postal bombs are intercepted on their way to two more of Thatcher’s civil servants – this time officials in the Policy Unit and N Ireland Office. More violent crimes and long sentences, so that our jails are even more full. The weather has been glorious today and Di and I have decided to go away for Easter in the boat and make our arrangements accordingly. We should have a couple more fine days, which is not too bad.