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Preparing The Paxton Princess for her first sea strip and my RYA Day Skipper Course in the company of Freda, Alf and Chris at Heronshaw and catching up with Freda on family memories whilst being fascinated by our old family furniture she had kept. Tom Phillips, the Royal Yachting Association instructor from Wroxham came round and we planned in outline the trip to the Wash and back, stopping off at Blakeney.
Poor news from home about Daniel skipping school and nationally about a growing rift over the possibility of British clubs being allowed back into European Club competitions. The British lorry driver caught up in the Iraqi Supergun shipment is still being held in Greece and capital is flowing out of Hong Kong at ten times the historical rate due to the colony's uncertain future.
I slept well enough on the boat and then most of this day preparing it for a sea voyage. It was nice that Freda, Alf and Chris were there as I could alternate my working sessions with a further opportunity to get to know them again. Freda kept on making me meals and cups of tea etc which made up for the working time that I was losing as a result of our socialising and so the arrangement was perfect. We chatted about our childhood days and the problems of being brought up under the neurotic influence of Mum and the passive and escapist influence of Dad who was always working shifts and overtime to get away from it all.
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A morning recovering from Debbie’s party the day before, hosting some girl guests in our borrowed tent and serving them breakfast, with young bright Teresa Clough my concern at her health news. Then, feeling very guilty at not having gone earlier, I went to tend my late father’s grave. After taking down and returning the ten to the Youngs, I firstly realised, too late, to attend the Scout’s Kite flying that I was supposed to be judging.
I then packed and set off for Norfolk, calling in on Mum at Stanton for an hour and then arriving at Horning to find the need for help from Alf and Chris to pull The Paxton Princess off of the mud before getting supplies and settling down aboard.
The girls seemed to manage in their tent last night. I kept our windows closed on that side of the house and restricted them to the garden and pool-room toilet so that they could not run around the house and disturb us in the night. I awoke at 6.00am, stirred by the chill of the breeze from our open bedroom French Windows, and I had to get up and get myself a morning drink. I made a mug of tea and went and sat in the conservatory and fed the fish until I had finished it. The girls had first bite at the breakfast and then they all went swimming again in the pool as Di cooked Daniel and I some fried egg, bacon etc.
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Up early for my household chores before helping with Debbie's 12th Birthday Celebrations, which involved using the sunny weather to best advantage a trip to The Wickstead Park open-air recreational centre.
Then home for a swim in our pool to cool off and then they had a birthday tea before tidying up my desk and office after the last few tiring days and thinking about getting over to Norfolk and preparing for my voyages
I have decided to try to get up as early as possible now that I did not have a gardener. It is also an advantage during this very hot weather as it is the only time you can do any physical work without getting too hot and bothered. I tended the conservatory, ducks and doves and then settled down at my desk and tried to sort out all of the election information, discarding the papers that need not be kept and filing the rest in some sort of organised state. There was much mail to look at and quite a deal of cheques that needed to be sorted out and paid in.
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Recovering my voice and myself from the elections on a seemingly even hotter day, taking phone calls from Radio stations and local papers as I sorted my office, my fish and conservatory out. Saying goodbye to our gardener Pete and hosting Sally and Percy this evening to brief them on their new HDC roles.
US President George Bush is proposing a full NATO review of strategy resulting in the minimum level of US nuclear forces remaining in Europe as a deterrent. An attempted bombing of a British military barracks in West Germany was foiled and, 1,000 Hong Kong police raid a Vietnamese Boat People camp. The process of reconciliation and political reform begins in South Africa
Yet another warm night and a hot day to follow, with the sun seemingly hotter than ever. My voice and chest were pretty bad this morning after doing so much talking and I am also wondering whether all this pollen and heat is bringing out some asthmatic tendency in me as well. I have found so many people who are being affected for the first time due to these unusually hot conditions for May. I took some time to wash, shower, shave and shampoo my hair and it took this long to clear my chest and be able to breathe and speak properly. Then I had a couple of phone calls from the radio stations and I also tried to phone others. Late last night I had an interview with Chiltern Radio that went out live and excerpts of it were being broadcast at news times this morning.
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