1990 Mid Staffordshire by-election
1990 Mid Staffordshire by-election

My first day of several on the boat, getting out early whilst hearing of the stunning defeat of the Tories in the overnight by-election result. Then to unload the car and fit all of the new items on The Paxton Princess before and after starting work jacking up the old shed and replacing its lower walls.

The Tories really have their backs to the wall now whilst Gorbachev and the Soviet government do everything they can to prevent Lithuania from seceding unilaterally without negotiation.

I was quite slow to get to sleep and was then awake at 6.30am and out working by 7.30am this morning. The radio was full of the stunning defeat of the Tories in what was one of their safest constituencies with a majority of 14,654 in the 1987 general Election. The result was Labour 27,649 Conservative 18,200 and Liberal Democrats 6,315 with the other parties losing their deposits. I unloaded the rest of the things from the car this morning and then put the new outboard, anchor, chains etc in their correct places. The main anchor was joined to a lengthened chain and now works well with the electric winch. I put the large mud-weight in the permanent position and the two anchors in the fender baskets on the rails.

** PRESS "Read More" BELOW for the complete story **

I then started in earnest on the shed; jacking up the ends and bolting on the lower pieces onto the sides. In late morning, I made the trip to Jewsons to get more timber and bolts and also a new fluorescent light fitting for the boat-shed as I was determined to clear it out this trip. Then I came back to Heronshaw to prepare the flooring joists as a structure for inserting under the shed tomorrow. This evening, I worked on in the Paxton Princess to remove the old and faulty macerator, to install the water filter & accumulator  into the ships water supply and then to insulate and suppress the fridge which took me until quite late to do.

The news tonight is still full of the election result and Tories really have their backs to the wall. In Lithuania, western diplomats are ordered to leave amidst rising political anticipation as Gorbachev and the Soviet government ramp up the pressure for them not to secede unilaterally without negotiation.