Morning working outside attending a sick duck, removing the shuttering from my concrete sump extension and supervising Daniel anti-fouling his boat before we launch it in St Neots and bring it back. The Bloom family then arrive by boat and stay for a BBQ and swim in the pool until late. Nigel Mansell wins the French Grand Prix, Teesside social workers try to film families and there are unconfirmed reports of Terry Waite’s demise.
Awake to my morning tea and another sunny morning. Sat in bed thinking and dreaming for a while, then up to get showered and shaved, before dressing for breakfast. This morning, Daniel was being difficult and Di sent him up to his room so as to miss the meal. Poor Gary sat with us to eat and must have felt awkward as a result. Out then to try and tend one of my ducks that I noticed trailing some fishing line from its beak. I got Daniel and Gary to hold it and then tried to remove the hook, but found it way down its throat and so had to cut it instead. Its chances of survival are not good, as nylon and brass never really melt away. Then showed Daniel how to protect the trolley and paint the remainder of the underside of his boat with anti-foul, without getting the stuff everywhere. The day very hot by mid-morning and it was hard going to work outside.
Still, I took off the ply and frame shuttering from the sump extension and found the result to my satisfaction. Annoyed with Daniel again, as he fails to complete a second coat, but made him do it right up to lunch, as I took a cooling swim in the pool to refresh myself. A nice lunch of chicken, cooked well, and the children behaved for once. This afternoon I sat by the TV and watched CASH beat LENDL in the Wimbledon men’s singles final, but missed the following match, where a British couple won the mixed doubles for the first time in many years. Back out and opted to take the Little Lady back to St Neots for launching. A straightforward procedure, accomplished without difficulty. The anti-fouling had been done well. Once back, I got out the barbeque and had just started cooking when the Bloom family arrived by boat. We invited them to moor and to share our food and, with their drinks, we had a pleasant meal and conversation. Their son, Jonathan, was an old friend of Daniel’s and they looked at one another’s boats and then had a swim in our pool. All evening clearing up after, putting the launching trolley back in the garage and cleaning & gathering up the timber from the concrete shuttering for re-use. In at dusk after tending the doves, ducks and pool, then sat for two hours till 12.30 watching TV and writing my journal. A fascinating 3-leg challenge between our snooker champion, Steve Davis, and the US champion, Steve Westmark. News, apart from the tennis, was of Nigel Mansell winning the French Grand Prix. More controversy in Teesside, as social workers propose to make videos of parental reunions with allegedly abused children. An Ulster deadlock over display of Union Jacks vs Tricolours has been defused with agreement to have a neutral work area, free of bunting. Kuwaiti newspapers report the ‘death’ of Terry Waite in Lebanese captivity from ‘natural causes’, but there is no way of confirming or refuting the claim. More fine weather forecast for the next two days.