Not much for gardener Pete to do as the riverside gardens were still flooded but I worked hard on my manuscript and then walked up to the lock to see the cars no longer trying to pass through the flooded road. A major strike is planned for Ford on Monday, Independent journalist Jeremy Warner was fined 320k for not revealing his sources and Leeds lorry driver Paul Guest, was cleared of murdering PC John Speed due to ‘lack of evidence’
Awoke with a start today, having been up and down a bit in the night and quite tired as a result. Got showered and dressed more quickly than usual and actually made the breakfast table with the children, if a little late. Read the morning paper, but not much of interest. Pete turned up this morning, even though the river is still in full flood and the rain was falling again. I went out to show him some jobs to do in the garage – cleaning off our lawn mowers and sweeping up – and he managed to make a 3 hour job out of that. Worked hard at my manuscript, noting down the major information from each source, under each building/heading. The work continued all day, but I broke off at lunchtime to make myself the customary egg and pork pie salad. By tea time I had just about had enough and so went out to feed the ducks and doves and then took a walk up to the lock and watched the floodwater rushing by.
Most cars were not attempting to ford the flood water, but the busses, vans and lorries were. Home for tea. Debbie’s friend Amy had come round from school and played with Daniella until Debbie arrived to go to ballet. This evening I decided to use the word processor to merge the files and it was hard going. Only managed to do the overview for ‘Little Paxton Before the War’ and the section on the Post Office for the most part. Broke off at 9.30 and wrote up my journal. Spotlight on Northern Ireland today, as a big car bomb explodes outside a police station. This followed the attack last night on a police vehicle by a new type of contact grenade that can blast through a steel vehicle. There is to be a major strike at Fords Car Works on Monday – the first large industrial strike in a long while. A lorry driver from Leeds, Paul Guest, has been cleared at Leeds Crown Court of murdering Police Sergeant John Speed, due to lack of evidence and of attempted murder of PC John Thorpe outside Leeds Parish Church in 1984. All due to lack of evidence, which is a strange thing. A journalist on the Independent newspaper, Jeremy Warner, has been fined £20,000 for contempt of court. He had refused to reveal his sources in true journalistic tradition and is martyred in the process (though the newspaper has agreed to pay the fine on his behalf).