A loud morning chorus today as I continue to try and train the house-martins and then work with Pete on the mud pile, before Larkin resumes dredging along our frontage and I install better water supplies. Thatcher’s opinion poll lead over Kinnock is still narrowing, the Foreign office is flying home British nationals from Iran, eight die in gold-mine clashes in South Africa but the 17,000 rail workers sacked for striking are re-instated but more strikes are planned
A little late to bed last night, but was still woken up at 6.00am by the tremendous noise that the birds make at this time of year. Di brought me my morning tea early and I sat in bed and watched the bright day outside whilst I drank it. Up and ready a good half hour before breakfast and so I went out to do a few chores. First I got out the ladder and got up to the eaves where the house martins are trying to build a nest. Cleared the mud away and then took the ladder round the house to look at the dovecote. The eldest chick is fine, but the smaller one is dead and so I turfed its body out. Checked the pool and had to put some more chlorine in it. Poor thing is being rather ignored at the moment and I decided to switch off the heating for a few days.
Breakfast with the others. A nice melon slice and then toast to follow. Out to start work on the earth mound in the riverside garden. Whilst Pete did the lawns, I used a spade and heavy rubber gloves to hack away at this pile of clay. The technique was to cut out cubes and then throw them into the pit, using the spade to also contour the land by pushing down the smaller stuff. Mr Larkin did not arrive until 9.30-10.00am and then came with acetylene and oxygen cylinders for his torches. He finished off Eddie and Stella’s quay-heading today, painting the outside in a red oxide paint that finished it off nicely. Once the dredger opposite had called it a day, he then brought his workboat along and dredged the area adjacent to the bank (that the dredger opposite could not reach) and quite filled up the area behind the upstream moorings. He hopes to finish off our boat harbour tomorrow, but I found one or two small problems this evening that might hold him up. Once I had got Pete to take over the mud shifting, I had lunch and then went into St Neots to get some supplies; insulation for the hoses, couplings and a ‘strimmer’ to replace the old one that has worn out. For lunch, I took Di and Della to the Little Chef and it was a nice enough meal. Once back, I repaired the water hose and installed two standpipes and repositioned the old stone sink as an aid to filling watering cans etc. Tea with the family, then more work this evening, installing and switching on the electricity to the summerhouse. As the day wore on the sun gave way to cloud and then to rain. By late evening it was pouring and due to become stormy and windy overnight, with a deep depression tracking across the country. At the start of the last week of the election campaign, Neil Kinnock of Labour attacks Thatcherism for selfish social policies for the privileged, whilst industry declines. He calls for Alliance voters to vote Labour, so that the anti-Thatcher majority can remove her from office. Mrs Thatcher addresses her faithful in her normal aloof manner, but still leads in the opinion polls, though the lead is steadily reducing. The Foreign Office has flown home 10 Britons, including three diplomats, from Iran due to the mounting trouble there. In South Africa, 8 people die in a clash between miners and security officials at a gold mine. It seems that the 17,000 black rail workers, summarily dismissed for striking, have been reinstated. A series of civil service strikes are called for next week – Monday/Tuesday for civil servants in general and a 24-hour strike for air traffic control assistants on Monday.