A panic with the pool this morning being under temperature with the playgroup due to arrive later but they seemed happy enough and then some video editing of Thormaid and Debbie to horse-riding on a warm and humid day as US President Reagan is revealed as having approved an ‘arms for hostages’ deal with Iran and three police as attackers of five boys but main news is of scores of campers being killed by floods in the Haute-Savoie French camp site whilst at home British Rail axes 9,000 jobs.
A sound night’s sleep and awoke to my morning tea. The normal routine and times up to breakfast before popping out to see Pete the gardener. There had been some rain overnight and we hoped it would do some good after the garden has had three weeks without rain. I settled into the lounge to archive yesterday’s video films of Thormaid and then wrote up yesterday’s journal that fell victim to the late night. A panic broke out as we found the pool boiler had stopped working due to a clogged filter whilst I was away. The temperature was down to 74degF with the ‘Rising 5s’ playgroup due to visit us after lunch.
A hectic session cleaning and back-flushing the filter, then emptying both hot water tanks of the house via buckets to help the boiler raise the temperature. We got it up to 76 ½degC by the time they had come after lunch and all was well, as the youngsters seemed to swim willingly enough for the low temperature. This afternoon I finished my journals and ventured out after drinking afternoon tea on a rapidly improving day. Daniel had friends Jason and Steve around today, who helped him with Aquabean before going swimming. I had to stop their worst excesses in the pool as they were making maximum waves and displacing volumes of warm chlorinated water to waste. The pool was up to its normal 81degF by the end of the day and it was a shame the youngsters had to make do with temperatures of so much less. A dull, but warm and humid day today, but it showered again in the evening to do the garden some good. I took Debbie horse riding after an early tea and she rode well on Patchy after I had given her a talking to about really trying. She walked her up the road into the field after and we then drove home in the shower. I showed Di and Debbie the latest Thormaid film tonight, before we put Debbie to bed. Some time cleaning up before I settled down with the TV news and journal on what seemed to be a very unproductive day. The US Irangate hearings see the key testimony of Admiral Poindexter, who first cleared President Reagan of knowing anything about the funds for the Contras from the Iranian arms deals. He did, however, approve an ‘Arms for Hostages’ deal with Iran, contradicting the Presidents statements at the time. Three police have been found guilty of the 1985 attack on 5 school boys, after the breach of a conspiracy that kept the identities of the patrol van’s men quiet for so long. An appalling flood disaster in a French Alps camp site, where a camp site of caravans was swamped by a deluge of floodwater after a storm. 14 bodies have been found and up to 50 may have been killed. In the Geoffrey Archer libel case, Adam Raphael of the Guardian newspaper testified that Archer had met the prostitute ‘very casually,’ in contradiction to Archer’s evidence. The Appeal Court has overruled a High Court decision that three newspapers could not be in breach of restrictions on other papers, but the Sunday Times will publish more on Sunday and take the case to the House of Lords if necessary. The MOD has confirmed that nuclear materials have been used in decontamination exercises, after a former employee has revealed that radioactivity had spread outside the former test area in Shropshire. British Rail is to axe 9000 jobs over the next three years – 2000 clerical jobs will go in the next 12 months and then more engines will be bought abroad rather than made in the BR Engineering Workshops. More rain and showers are forecast for the next few days.