Although The US has been ‘experiencing the worst weather in the United States for 50 years’, we set off as a family for the Earls Court Boat Show on a milder, showery day and took the train from St Neots station and then arrived by underground. Apart from Debbie being too old for the play area, we had a useful day and everything went well and we found several equipment suppliers that could help us with our new boat equipment and bought a RIB.
USSR President Gorbachev cancelled political visits from overseas ‘to have time to deal with his domestic problems’ and this news sent shock waves through the Tokyo and Wall Street stock exchanges. Lithuania wants to break away from the Soviet Communist party providing his biggest political crisis yet. Thousands of demonstrators have been attacking the border fences and installations in the southern republic of Azerbaijan. At home the TUC are supporting the ambulancemen with a 15mins strike on January 30th and the government is upsetting the teachers again
Another early start, this time for us all to get ready to go to the Earls Court Boat Show. We had breakfast together (even though I was in my dressing gown at the time) and then left the house in time to catch the 9.07am train from St Neots station to Kings Cross. Funny thing was that the car-parking fee reduces from £1.50 to just 10p after 9.00am and so Daniel "volunteered" to wait at the car parking ticket machine until the appointed hour in which case he was allowed to pocket the £1.40 difference! The train journey was quite satisfactory. We could get a cheap ticket that included the underground and we managed to get seats although the train was quite full.
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On arrival at the show, we had our only problem. They would only take Della into the play area and not Debbie (because they said she was too old). Even speaking to their Managing Director on the telephone would not shake them in their resolve and so Debbie had to sit outside the play place for two hours to keep Della happy. We found the NavStar stand and they confirmed that our problem on automatic plotting was an old release of software which can be changed on an EPROM if we send the unit back. Then we tracked down Cetek as a supplier of charging units and diode splitters that have the kit to solve our power problems. We bought a rigid-hulled inflatable for use as a tender for the new boat and a sturdy ring for the girls to use in the pool. In fact, we dealt with all of our outstanding problems and had a productive day - even if I would have preferred to have had more time there. We had lunch there and then left at 3.00pm, to catch a train from Kings Cross at 3.40pm. Home by 5.00pm, with time to drop by at Waitrose for Daniel's Goat's milk. I was disappointed to find a package from Heffers book shop of Cambridge when I got home, returning 12 of the 18 books that we delivered earlier in the year as they could not sell them. Perhaps Cambridge is too far from Paxton fans. Did not do too much this evening, apart from some reading. The main news was of USSR President Gorbachev cancelling political visits from overseas to have time to deal with his domestic problems. This sent shock waves through the Tokyo and Wall Street stock exchanges. He is to make an urgent visit to Lithuania where they are planning to break away from the Soviet Communist party and are providing the biggest political crisis that he has had to face. Also in the southern republic of Azerbaijan, thousands of demonstrators have been attacking the border fences and installations, wanting closer contacts with fellow Shi-ite Moslems in neighbouring Iran. Back here, The TUC are backing the ambulancemen’s' call for everyone to stop working for 15mins at noon on January 30th. The government has upset the teachers again by imposing a new requirement for school reports on every child for the national curriculum subjects, without providing the necessary resources to do the job. Petrol prices have gone up by 5p "due to the worst weather in the United States for 50 years". Here, the weather has turned mild again with rain showers.