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A fine breakfast and lunch as a reward for some earth shifting this morning with Daniel painting the sheet steel piling until thunderstorms stopped us both and allowed me to resume paperwork. The Liberals and SDP are seriously considering a merger, Labour who dominate the seats in Scotland call on the Tory government to scrap the Poll Tax as they have no mandate North of the Border, Ford plan to pull out of South Africa and John Paul IInd visits the grave of the murdered priest Father Popieluszko, Derek Bell winds the Le Man race and a US jet beats the word circumnavigation record in just less than two days with four re-fuelling stops
The first awake and up this morning, having recovered from my recent late night. I got the morning drinks and found Diana in the small spare bedroom, having retreated there with her trouble* overnight. I got her a coffee, myself and Daniel some tea, and the girls orange squash. I was dressed and ready by now, so I went out to start work earth moving, working up an even better appetite for my Sunday fried breakfast. Di called me in and I enjoyed the food very much. All morning shifting earth, getting the remaining owners to remove their boats from the frontage, so that we could work on. Came in at 12.30 pm and got out the best china and silver, so that we could have Sunday lunch in the dining room for a change. A nice meal of roast beef, but I had to smack both of the girls, who had been naughty all morning and had been trying Diana’s patience. Daniel dried as I did the washing up, then we both went back out to the river frontage. Dan was painting the front of the sheet piling with Tractol, red paint and did the entire job today. I hope that his fingers and arm will not be stiff for part II of his mathematics ‘O’ level exam tomorrow.
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Shifting earth this morning, taking the family to lunch and then on to Little Paxton School Fete when we were joined by Mum and Dad Fred and Grace Broad. Thatcher shuffles her cabinet to demote and expel her more moderate colleagues and her Queen’s Birthday Honours list includes its bevy of senior awards for Tory industrialists and supporters of the Thatcher cause, who are helping the privatisation programme. The Liberal vice-leader, Alan Beith, calls for a merger of the Liberal and SDP Parties
Slept well enough and was awoken groggily due to my hangover from lack of sleep the other night. Sat in bed for a long while, drinking my tea and letting Daniella play in bed with me. She is quite a cheery person first thing, but a bit demanding. Then a shower & shave before dressing for breakfast. Ate wheat flakes, milk and fruit juice. Cleaned my teeth and then quickly out to the riverside to do some more earth shifting. Worked all morning at this tiring exercise, letting Di take the girls shopping to St Neots and pick up Daniel from his school bus. Changed and then locked & alarmed the house and took the family to the local Little Chef for lunch. After, we went to Little Paxton School for the annual Fete, which had many stalls, pony & steam engine rides and bands and folk dancers for entertainment. At the end of the programme, Debbie and her school friends did some dancing and it was a joy to watch.
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Working on my storm drain sump as Diana hosts a playgroup BBQ at the Hayling View and Thatcher wins a 100+ majority and claims that her priorities are for Inner Cities, Education & Housing. Labour gain 20 seats but The Alliance get very little success for their 23% share of the vote. Reagan is visiting The Berlin Wall as anti-US demonstrations take place and Pope Paul prays at the Gdansk shipyard, the birth place of Solidarity.
Did not get to bed until 3.00 am and then slept in until 8.00 o’clock this morning, when Di had to wake me with my breakfast in bed. A late effort to get dressed and showered and rather groggily got ready to do something useful. I went out to measure the storm drain sump for a piece of ply shuttering and then drove into St Neots to get this and do some other shopping. Could not find the waders that I required and drove on to Godmanchester and bought them there. Also got a couple of fishing licenses, valid for the Norfolk Broads as well as this area. There was quite a storm in that village and I feared for the playgroup barbecue that Diana was hosting. When I got back, I could see that there was a sharp shower in progress, but Little Paxton fortunately missed the worst of the rain. Just as well, because over 60 servings and guests were there, spilling into the front and back garden and inside the house as well. I joined the queue at the barbecue as well and they gave us a hamburger and sausage salad each for letting the Playgroup use The Hayling View. Several children tried out the swimming pool and enjoyed it.
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Cutting, winching and fitting the storm drainage pipes on Election Day after which I stayed up to witness the re-election of Thatcher with a large majority and the end of many other respected politicians and the emergence of a large North/South divide
Slept well and got ready for breakfast in good time. A fine day to start with, but rain forecast for later. Out to the riverside and began moving the earth around to backfill the quay-heading downstream of the boat harbour, whilst watching for Mr Larkin to come to lay the pipes. He took some time finishing off at Marilyn’s plot and then painted her quay-heading in the normal colour. By this time Pete had managed to mow the lawns before the showers started breaking out. He then joined me and Mr Larkin when the latter arrived on his workboat to lay the pipes. He started to cut out a large circular section in the steel sheeting, but was thwarted by the rise in the river levels.