A final hard-working day in Horning, breaking up the ice in the dyke to take the Paxton Princess to Barnes in Wroxham where I had located the Range Rover to be able to return to Heronshaw. The tiring task of draining the house water system to avoid burst pipes next time and then driving back home to Paxton for a quick turnround for a S.W. Cambs Executive meeting of the constituency Liberal Democrats in to Cambridge. We were still waiting for Saddam Hussein's response to the Soviet peace plan.
This was yet another full hard-working day, the last of my "working" holiday. I had stayed up late the day before to tidy up the boat and bungalow and so was reluctantly up early to start work this morning. The ice in the dyke was remaining stubbornly and so I had a major ice-breaking job ahead of me. I first loaded up the car with excess items that were not needed before starting the job. By use of a large timber for the thicker ice and an old oar for the thinner stuff, I first broke up the ice within reach of the boat and then started the boat engines to edge out backwards breaking the ice as I went. This was a very slow and ponderous business, and I enjoyed a welcome break when Jack came by and offered to give me a lift back from Wroxham after I had located the Range Rover there.
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Back to Horning where I continued the endeavour until I finally broke through, exhausted, into the main river. There then followed a quite pleasant trip up to Wroxham on a quiet and tranquil river with only the occasional ice flow to avoid. The Broads were still frozen, but the river was clear. I ate up some stale crisps and drank a can of shandy as I proceeded which was the nearest I came to getting lunch. Once I had arrived, I left the boat at Barnes quite satisfactorily and then drove back in my waiting Range Rover to pack up Heronshaw. I decided this time to completely drain the water system and switch off all of the heating. I also moved Daniel's speedboat out of sight behind the fence for security reasons now the site is so open. These jobs done, I sank into the driving seat and drove back home, arriving just in time for a late tea. I then had a S.W. Executive meeting of the constituency Liberal Democrats in the evening and so had to drive out again to Cambridge. The world was still waiting for Saddam Hussein's response to the Soviet peace plan.