Debbie's 8th Birthday – Starting the day with Debbie opening her presents and ending with her birthday tea and swimming session whilst Larkin and Pete worked on the river frontage and me on The Lady’s lower rubbing strakes. White supremist conservative parties triumph in South Africa to grim warnings from black leaders, Ernest Saunders of Guinness and top jockey Lester Piggott are arrested in separate fraud enquiries, the Rolls Royce privatisation is hugely over-subscribed, more violence in Ulster and the Tories hold their own in Local Elections
Slept well and was awoken not only to my morning tea, but also with the girls coming in to my room to open Debbie's birthday presents. A wide range of gifts, which Debbie opened and Di listed, so that subsequent ‘thank you’ notes can be written with accuracy. Included amongst them was the Easter egg, previously due for my Mother and the sight of it was too much for Della, who demanded it and had to be sent to her bedroom until she cheered up. Then showered, shaved and dressed, but rather late down to breakfast, due to the disruption. Was very angry to find all the milk gone, so that I could not have my cereal. This due to Di’s lack of planning and Dan’s greediness, so I stomped out, drove to the local shops, and bought a couple of bottles and brought them back so that I could have my meal. Thus relieved, I could get started for the day and went out into the sunshine of another fine day to start work on the boat.
It was chilly to start with, but soon got warmer with the sun, with only a slight and variable breeze. As last night’s varnishing was hardening, I decided to scrape off and sand the lower rubbing strakes, just six inches above the water line, and apply an initial and dilute coat of varnish to protect them. As the day progressed, I managed three coats on each and a further two coats on the gunwale ones, which was quite tiring to work so low down, but so satisfying to see the results. Pete moved more earth and clay clods to the base of the piling, and also mowed the lawns, staying the full day to accomplish both. Mr Larkin turned the work-boat round to pile the upstream side of the boat dock, but cannot do the end until he has a Kango hammer, as they are out of reach of the piling hammer. I also contacted Ely Boat Chandlers to inform them of the trouble we have now been having with Daniel’s tachometer and later on I got Mr Larkin to take it back for me. A birthday tea tonight for Debbie, who blew out 8 candles on her birthday cake. The children used the pool tonight with Debbie’s new inflatable boat and later Claire and her friend also came round to swim. No prep done by Daniel tonight and I fear for his application and progress, but will wait for his assessment at half term in two weeks’ time. There are rumours and mutterings today from those speaking to Anglian Water Authority, who say they are unhappy with our river work, but they have yet to make any contact with us and our work is continuing. News today was first of the results of the South African elections. The ruling National Party was returned with a large majority; there was a dramatic rise in votes for the right wing Conservative opposition, and the Progressive and Independent candidates were decimated. This is greeted with great disappointment and pessimism by black South African leaders (Allan Boesak, Chief Bultalese and Bishop Tutu) who say the whites have chosen a course of continued apartheid and elitism. In the UK, former Chairman & Chief Executive of Guinness, Mr Ernest Saunders, has been arrested, held overnight and now temporarily released so that he can raise bail to keep his freedom. He is charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice and destroying and falsifying documents. Lester Piggott has been committed for trial at the Old Bailey on 12 counts of evading tax and VAT. He was released from Newmarket Court on his bail of £200,000. In the US, the temperature of the Irangate hearings rises, with more hostile questioning of General Sicard by a range of politicians. In further controversy, the leading Democratic presidential candidate, Gary Hart, has suspended his campaign and arranged a news conference for tomorrow, after the allegations of his spending a night with an actress whilst his wife was away. The Rolls Royce (aero engine) share offer for privatisation has been vastly oversubscribed today, with a 20-30% premium expected on the opening price when share trading starts. There has been a day of violence in Northern Ireland, with crowds of rioting youths being dispersed with police volleys of rubber bullets. A 17 year old youth was shot three times in the stomach by a gunman and died in one incident, and in West Belfast police and gunmen exchanged shots. I stayed up late tonight to hear the initial results from the Local Government Elections, which showed that the Conservatives are holding their 1983 position, whilst Labour have lost a number of seats and The Alliance have made a similar number of gains. These results would equate to a Tory win in a General Election, with a reduced, though comfortable, majority.