Attending the Diddington fete as VIP guests and judging the ‘dressed bicycle competition’, clearing out and adjusting alarm contacts in the garages and then an evening in to hear the appalling news of the The Ramstein Air Crash Show disaster killing 70 people and injuring 500 when the Italian Air Force ‘Piercing Heart’ went fatally wrong. Back home in Belfast, they have now been 60 vehicles hijacked and 200 attacks on the security forces in the worst violence for a long time and The Post Office strike seems set to go ahead soon
Slept better last night and was left to lay in a while this Sunday morning before I had a nice fried breakfast. Debbie had Helen Thurston to stay overnight and she joined us for the meal as well. Strange how small girls of nine or so vary between one another. They have such varied spans of accomplishment. One may be good at music, or swimming, or horse riding and another radically different. It all seems to depend on their family priorities and background. Later, they all even up to a certain level, with their special accomplishments on top. This morning, I went out and replace the outer garage door alarm contact, then rewired the bypass switch on the inner garage so that it only influences the door to the swimming pool boiler. This afternoon, all of us (except Daniel) went along to the Diddington Mini Fete. Although the weather has been very poor this last few days, it cheered up a bit this afternoon and the sun came out as well.
I was fascinated with the antique skittles and balls that they had. They seem truly ancient to me. Evidently, they had been found in a cupboard in the old village hall. There were lots of village games and things including pony rides and I would say this village did itself proud. As we were there and neutral, as District Councillor and wife, Di and I were invited to judge the ‘dressed bicycle ‘competition to choose one out of the five as the winner. It had been dressed entirely with real flowers and it was a pretty sight. Second was a bicycle covered in cuddlies. Home before tea and we ate a lovely cake that had cost £1. I invited Catherine as well as Amy Law to tea, creating a stir between Di and Pat as they do not usually do that! This evening, I completed the task of cleaning out the outer garage and throwing away lots of rubbish. We propped the aluminium ladder and boat trailer up better and rearrange the bikes and other things to give very much more space. Katie (from Debbie’s Church) came round as well and I answered a number of questions for her on her GCSE geography project about Little Paxton. I came inside at 8:30 PM, by which time it is already dark these days. I popped out again once more to see if I could find Colin Howard at home, but I do not think he has showed up this weekend by the look of the place. Just time to write up my journal and my press cuttings will have to wait until tomorrow. News tonight is of an appalling accident as three Italian planes crashed into one another and crashed onto a crowd of people killing 38 outright and injuring hundreds more; some of them will not survive their terrible burns. The irony is that the German authorities had bad doubts that the display should go ahead, and the American organisers are accused of arrogance. It was at Ramstein, Germany, and the local people had also called for the event to be cancelled and were upset that the dangers involved in low-level flying. British diplomat, Reddaway, sees another British prisoner in Iran and an Anglian bishop, Rev John Brown, has expressed optimism about the chances of getting the hostages released. In Belfast, they have now been 60 vehicles hijacked and 200 attacks on the security forces in the worst violence for a long time. The battle for ascendancy and propaganda is underway. The Holloway prison staff are refusing to go back to work until has been a full search for weapons as they say interim security is not been good enough. The USSR has gone ahead and scrapped three SS 20 nuclear missiles as their start to the treaty implementation. The Notting Hill Carnival got off to a poor start with the damp weather and heavy policing making more than half of last year’s visitors stay away. The Post Office strike seems set to go ahead soon despite management threatening to use private contractors next Wednesday. The number of seals around the British coast is escalating with The Wash the worst affected. The North Sea is being used by Britain as a rubbish tip and we will yet reap the whirlwind.