I was up early with the children for breakfast and then loading up with luggage to take Daniel and his friend Steven Hicks to Kimbolton school to join their school narrow boating holiday before taking Helen Cranston home to West Perry. Home for coffee with the girls, looking after the doves, before visiting Mr Ramply to collect his Little Paxton Scrapbook and then taking my computer to Cambridge for upgrading and meeting Diana’s Australian cousin and family. Late tonight scanning drawings on my computer as my Koi carp recovers.
I was up early and ready with the children for breakfast and then dressed to go out with them. I loaded the Range Rover with luggage galore and set off the Kimbolton School where Daniel was due to leave at 10am for a school narrow boating holiday. Supervised by two teachers, and accompanied by 16 boys, Daniel and his friend, Steven Hicks, were the ‘senior members’ who were to assist the leaders and skipper the boats. Fortunately for Mr Corner and Mr Watson, Daniel and his friend, were fully experienced in boats and waterways due to having their own craft and swimming daily in our pool in the summer months. They loaded up a large minibus with the pupils and the trailer with the baggage and set off exactly at 10:30am. We then had to drive to Perry to take Helen Cranston home. She had enjoyed her stay with Debbie, but I must say that they had been very lively and was pleased to see the end of the stay for now.
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Whilst in West Perry, Diana spoke to Mrs Cranston and they jointly arranged a trip for the girls to a ‘Pony Plus’ adventure riding and sporting holiday in Wales for a week in the summer together. Then home with just our girls for morning coffee and a rest. I fed the doves, which seem to be in good condition (despite their dirty dovecotes) and then phoned and visited Mr Ramply senior to collect his Little Paxton Scrapbook which had been with his grandson for a school project on ‘Agricultural Land in Little Paxton’. Then home to collect the girls, load up the computer, and set off for Brian Wills’ house in Cambridge to get my computer upgraded with an accelerator card. I spent a good part of the day in Cambridge, shopping and looking after Debbie who was a bit tearful and tired after two late nights in succession. I bought a foliage plant – Croton – ‘Joseph’s Coat’ – from Woolworths and Debbie a Mars bar. We found our favourite lunch place, The Copper Kettle, closed for months for “extensive renovation’ and so went to the Arts Theatre Cafeteria for lunch. To our surprise, we were found by Diana’s long-lost cousin from Australia with her daughters and so (although we could not get to Old Warden) we met them after all. After our lunch, Della shared her colouring book (and Debbie’s colouring pens) with her cousin Robert and liked him. Eventually, went back to Goldestone Road for my Apple Mac and found they were having trouble with it. The original machine had been diagnosed with a timing fault (the probable reason for errors I’ve been having) and will have to go back for further repair and upgrade which is a blow. Home at dusk and the rest of the day (and late into the night) working on the computer to scan some drawings for my Roman chapter, checking out both the functioning and operation of the machine. By 2:30am in the morning, I seemed to be getting the right idea. I left my journal and other things until the morning, as a consequence. My Ohgon Hari-Wake carp seems to have recovered from its ‘over-eating’ and I, too, have lost a few pounds now that I’m returning to my normal non-Christmas diet