An easier day of weather for cruising and enjoying time aboard The Lady with just the off shower as Dan and Tom joined us on board for breakfast and then the children played on the swings until I cruised to St Neots Town Quay for some shopping, lunch at the Cross Keys and the long walk to swimming at Ernulf pool after. Then the cruise back downstream to moor at our own Little Paxton moorings to collect some forgotten items and on Buckden marina for water and fuel before on to Godmanchester for the night. Texan Red Adair is now on site at the stricken Piper Alpha trying to plug the leaking oil wells and Reagan announces compensation for Iranian victims of the downed airliner
After retiring at 9.00pm, the whole family slept deep and long until the next morning. The air had become fresher and cooler during the evening, which made it much more easy to sleep in the sleeping bags. We all lay in and I awoke to find the sky blue and the sun shining. I put on the kettle and tried out the central heating to make it more comfortable for Di to make the morning drinks. We all got washed and dressed and, Daniel and Tom joining us for breakfast, all ate together on The Lady. Then I took the girls for a play on the swings whilst Di cleared up and then it was all off by boat to St Neots. We moored at the Town Quay and did some shopping between coffee at Tooks and lunch at the new Cross Keys hamburger restaurant. We managed to find Daniel’s friends, Steven Hicks and Gary Skinner, who I treated to lunch, as they had been on the boat for a few days and had ran out of money. Then the long walk to the Ernulf swimming pool, where we enjoyed our swim together.
I took a reluctant Daniella down the water shute and then she could not go down often enough. Back to The Lady and off down river, through the Paper Mill Lock, to moor at our garden in Little Paxton. There were very few things that we had forgotten, but I also checked the answering machine and mail, without finding anything of real urgency to deal with. A shower or two then followed, but cleared to give a fine sunny evening and end to the day. We cruised down towards Buckden and some maniac in a 260BAP Bayliner, called Lady Patricia, planed past us at about 30 knots. We caught up with him at the next lock and in his anxiety to get away he scraped and damaged his cover on Offord Lock bridge, to my amusement. He went into Carters Marina and, having taken his details, I was resolved to report his antics to Anglia Water Authority. We filled up with water, diesel and petrol at Buckden Marina and then cruised on to Godmanchester to moor for the night. I got the lads to play a game of cricket, which I enjoyed, and then I sat up and wrote my journal. TV news tonight still features the Piper Alpha oil rig disaster, with TV pictures revealing the extent of the damage. The focus is on safety procedures, with warnings of leaking gas 48 hours earlier going unheeded. Texan Red Adair is on site trying to extinguish the fires and plug the leaking wells. US President Reagan has announced financial compensation for the Iranian victims of the downed airbus, which is an interesting concession.