Rolls Royce Enthusiast Club day trip to Mill Farm, Happisburgh, for a barbeque and beach party in the heat without air-conditioning as diplomatic efforts to free Iranian hostages grow, as does the row about British soldiers number-plates making them vulnerable in Germany with Sein Fein applauding the recent attacks
Awoken this morning with Della on one side, bouncing around, and my morning tea and Diana on the other. The process of getting up, washed, dressed and to the breakfast table, then we loaded up the Rolls Royce and prepared for our day trip to Happisburgh. We had intended to leave at 8.30am, but it was 9.00am before we were ready. Even then, the journey to the farm on the Norfolk coast took us 3 ¼ hrs. We started with the hood down and dressed up in warm clothes (at Diana’s insistence) and then used a number of back roads through the Gransdens to make the slower travel more interesting. Short of Cambridge, we put the roof up to make further progress and quite sweltered with the lack of air-conditioning. It was unfortunate that it had failed before this trip. Then, at Wroxham, we had the hood down again and arrived in style. Mill Farm (named after a windmill that was once there) is nicely situated and the owners were very hospitable and friendly for this Rolls Royce Enthusiasts Club outing.
They keep Gloucester cattle (an ancient breed) which are supposed to be the rarest in England, with only 100 head and a half dozen bulls. We went to see them, the ducks and geese, the doves, and the empty house and cereal fodder of wheat and barley; though the daffodil harvest was obviously over. They welcomed us with white wine and we sat and ate our picnic with the fare supplemented by drumsticks from their barbeque. Then, after our tour, we drove down to the beach and had two hours with Debbie swimming and Della paddling in the sea. The weather was windy, but hot, sunny and humid and it was quite like being on holiday. Then back to Mill Farm for tea and cakes on the lawn, where we chatted with many of the other Rolls Royce enthusiasts. We were given a ride in an old 1912 Renault, almost a coach, with a grand old farmer (owner of 30+ vehicles) as our chauffeur. Eventually, the longish trip home in the heat and we arrived back to see the Law family newly back from holiday. The ‘news’ stories tonight are the same as yesterday. A new appeal from the Archbishop of Canterbury’s advisor for the release of Western hostages, in his conversations with Iranian church leaders at Lambeth Palace. The UK government has also been separately talking to Iranian Diplomats, via a special emissary visiting Tehran. The row over the ‘white-on-black’ number plates of the British soldiers in West Germany continues, as the men travel back and forth to Britain as sitting targets. At an anti-internment rally in Belfast, the political wing of the IRA, Sinn Fein, applauded the recent attacks in Europe. Over the other side of ‘the pond’, the US presidential campaign is warming up, with Bush, supported by Reagan, making the running at the convention and catching up the Democrat, Mike Dukakis, in the opinion polls