Writing up my history on the development of Riversfield, retrieving a duck from an owner’s dog’s mouth and struggling with mole-catching as I maintain the new games lawn in the absence of Di’s help and interest. A huge train explosion kills scores, injures hundreds and leaves 600 people homeless and the UK refuses to negotiate with Iran on hostage release.
Awoke early this morning and Di was upset that I made her get up and make the drinks, even though it was her turn. Showered and shaved before breakfast, then enjoyed my meal of eggs, bacon, mushrooms & tomato on fried bread. This morning I worked away on analysing the Samuel Jones files on expansion into Riversfield. Interesting to see how the negotiation went, but it took a long time. Out to see the ducks and doves. A dog ran into our garden and ran around with one of my ducks in its mouth and I extracted an apology from its owner and assurance that it would be kept on a lead in our vicinity in future. No more luck in catching moles today. The ground is still very muddy and the callipers seem to clog when striking – which they have done three times. Lunch, after persuading Daniel to vacuum and then clean the Range Rover. Back to work all afternoon and my task was about half complete by tea time.
This evening, I decided it was time I mowed the games lawn but, seeing how it was being invaded by couch grass, clover and annual meadow grass, I gave it a very hard raking to get all the stuff on end and then used the rotary mower to remove all this rubbish, so that it is much healthier now. In at about dusk after re-setting my mole traps, but I do not know if I will catch any moles overnight. Di sloped off to bed early tonight, leaving me to get my own drink and write up my journal. The main news is of a train explosion in Russia, killing 68 people and injuring 232 others. It was carrying explosives on board. Hundreds of houses, the station, and a gas pipeline were destroyed, and 600 people left homeless. Another Spanish air traffic controller dispute led to delays of 18 hours in Barcelona of flights to and from Britain. After the latest French election – the first round of the General Election – the Socialist Party is forecast to win an outright majority. Three Britons have died off the French coast when their cruiser ran aground and sank. A fourth survived. Despite the fact of other western nations negotiating with Iran for the release of the hostages, there will be no such talks as Britain and Iranian officials meet to talk about diplomatic property compensation this week. Tomorrow is forecast dry and so Pete can cut the lawns, which are overdue his attention.