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I took a walking tour of Paxton Pits today, to see how the nature Reserve designation would affect them, after a slow start and chance to read the financial papers, and managed to complete it before another downpour this afternoon. I found places and paths that I did not realise existed. A concerted campaign of IRA bomb attacks is growing in effectiveness with the UDR sustaining deaths and injuries, The Iraq/Iran war peace talks founder as Iraq is in the ascendency and sees no need to compromise, UK gold and currency reserves were up $910m, as the Bank of England sold sterling heavily to try to hold the pound’s rise and violent floods have killed more than 250 in China, after a lengthy drought, and leaving more than 100,000 homeless. 18ins of rain fell in 12 hours – the most severe for centuries and this follows other extremes of weather in the USA and Greece
Slept well enough after a late bedtime and then lingered in bed this morning, reading yesterday’s paper and had to come to breakfast in my dressing gown. Slow to get showered and shaved as well and came down to find Joan already working away in the house. I instructed Pete on how to wash the windows and got him going, before settling down in my office to read today’s Financial Times. The publishers of this newspaper have split it into two sections and it is difficult to find all the items that I normally read. In mid-morning, I decided that, as the weather was dry, still and dull, I would go for a walk around Little Paxton gravel pits to see how the plans for a Nature Reserve affect them. I took a bag with maps, drinks and binoculars and my umbrella and set off for a walk that lasted four hours. Skirted all the pits and f. I had to leave for another day, the walk through Boughton to Diddington and stayed mostly in Little Paxton Parish. The sun came out for a while, then dark clouds gathered, but I was home before we had a downpour later in the afternoon.
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I dropped off Debbie at the riding stables today, where she was present for the whole day riding twice grooming and cleaning stables and tack and then I managed to get my lawnmower into repair and bought a heavy duty electric strimmer before joining Diana and Della in St Neots for morning coffee. Some work in my office and some fishing later and then to Alec Norman in Bedford with money for a used steering box for the Rolls-Royce. I attended the Pathfinder House planning meeting and observe their proceedings. And IRA bomb attack on London’s Mill Hill barracks in Thatchers Finchley constituency as the soviet union destroys missiles under the INF treaty.
A better night’s sleep and awoken to my morning tea a little earlier than we would have liked, because we had to get Debbie off to her day at the riding stables. Breakfast of wheat flakes and, after scanning the morning’s mail, I set off to Offord to drop Debbie off. I was a bit irritated as I drove having received a refusal from the Technical Director of HDC to change the name of Rampley Lane. I then also saw, at the Buckden Marina, a boat on the crane hoist where the straps had slipped and the boat had nearly fallen over. It did not give me much confidence in the boatyard for next time we have to move The Lady. I then dropped into the agricultural merchants, Ibbotts, in Great Paxton and managed to get my lawn mower in for repair on a turnaround of a few days.