Much of this month was a working holiday in Horning, supervising the construction of my new Harnser boathouse but I also found time to enjoy boating and other holiday pursuits with my family. I was now the chairman of the RHDRA residents AGM and we agreed a comprehensive plan for upgrading and maintaining the access road.
The weather varied from starting drizzly to turning hot and humid followed with a huge thunderstorm but was mainly overnight and at weekends so did not stop the building work and much of the timber framework was completed. I still had to find time to return to The Hayling View to deal with overdue administration and got back for Della’s 8th birthday and school prize-giving as a joyous landmark after her recovery from a life-threatening accident. Debbie was enjoying sailing and using her new electronics building set to catch up with the boys at science.
Our boating and leisure took us to Great Yarmouth and Winterton for the seaside, twice to Pleasurewood Hills for entertainment and then shopping, reading and watching theatrical and cinematic productions in Norwich, Yarmouth and Stalham and the odd visit to Potter Heigham, South Walsham and Ranworth. When at Horning, the family enjoyed. The Old Tea Shoppe in Horning, re-visited The Norska Centre and went twice to Wroxham Barns.
Daniel would join us for visits and have his scrambled eggs at the same place. Diana and I also had splendid meals at The Swan, Hotel Wroxham and Mr Chan's Chinese Restaurant where we were to become regular customers. Daniel and Angela had made our home at Paxton their love-nest for each weekend.
Elsewhere, the 25th Olympic Games opened in Barcelona, Spain and sporting records were tumbling. An Around World Air Race began in Paris but this month continued with more air fatalities as a Vickers Viscount crashed, 70 dying and then a Thai Airbus crashed into the mountain at Kathmandu, with 113 more deaths; but US Space Shuttle STS 50 (Columbia 13) landed safely.
In South Africa, a tripartite mass action plan against apartheid was being organised for August and Iraq was indulging in brinkmanship with the U.S. and U.N. over inspection of government offices.
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For most of this mid-summer month I was sharing my time between building the new boathouse and looking after the family who had joined me in Horning for the summer. I was first exchanging visits with them until they joined me in the middle of the month. Settling into Horning, I chaired a Ropes Hill Dyke Residents Meeting at Romany and we agreed a comprehensive plan for upgrading and maintaining the access road.
The weather had started the month quite drizzly and then turned very hot and humid until there was a huge thunderstorm that, not only produced nearly an inch of rain, but also lit up the night sky with lightening in a way that reminded caretaker Jack Edwards of wartime. Sun and showers then ensued until the month ended warm and sunny. Luckily, and as usual for East Anglian, most of the rain fell overnight or at weekends and, apart from a couple of soaking-wet days when I had few people working anyway, the building work was not seriously affected. The bulk of the ground preparation and structural building work was completed this month and the shape of the boatshed established but it was hard work for me, keeping the family amused, the materials flowing and the workmen pressing on as the building time kept extending.
Though at Horning most of the time I returned to The Hayling View to deal with overdue administration and tackled a stack of paperwork as a rest from the hard physical work I had been undertaking in Horning. I struggled to get to the various offices for my building society and post office transactions on my brief visits but made it and also renewed my motor insurance. Before all this, I had managed to get back to Cambridgeshire for Della's actual birthday and to photograph her collecting her form prize for Art. Diana and I were really proud of her and grateful that she had safely reached her 8th birthday when it seemed her road accident could have threatened to shorten her life.
She had also earned three Brownie badges and later caught her first fish - a roach - at Ranworth Broad and learnt to cycle on tarmac at Roys car park as her other landmarks. I bought her a very comprehensive coloured pencil set for her to use having saved her equivalent school prize for our trophy cupboard. The bad news was the development of her ear infection that gave her a constant ear-ache and she had to see a local doctor twice in Wroxham to get help and advice. Debbie had thoroughly enjoyed her week's course at Paxton Lakes Sailing Club and had been very pleased when I had got her an electronics building set to enable her to catch up with the boys in school physics. She had also been fine but got an upset tummy after one seaside trip.
Earlier in the month, the family visits took the form of shopping expeditions, as Di and I chose the kitchen and bathroom fittings but then, once they were in Horning for good, we tended to used Heronshaw as a base during the week and then cast off in The Paxton Princess at the weekend to have the toilet tanks pumped out and to take trips to such places as Great Yarmouth, Stalham, Ludham, and Stokesby. We found the volume of river traffic amazing this month, with day-boats, cruisers and yachts everywhere. In particular, we "found" Ranworth Broad and enjoyed a routine of Sunday lunch at The Maltster's Arms and the circular walk around the common where the area teamed with colourful butterflies that we were able to identify from a specimen case in the pub.
Wildlife featured in our Norfolk summer as the Moorhens continued to use the building site as their crossing between Dyke and ditch to feed several broods of young and Della was fascinated with the baby mice or voles living in holes in the lawn. In the end, a Lynx-like cat came and killed the mice mother but the babies seemed to survive.
The mid-week and shore-based trips also included days at Great Yarmouth and Winterton for the seaside, twice to Pleasurewood Hills for entertainment and then shopping, reading and watching theatrical and cinematic productions in Norwich, Yarmouth and Stalham and the odd visit to Potter Heigham, South Walsham and Ranworth. We got into quite a routine at other times by having morning coffee at The Riverside Restaurant in Wroxham, shopping for building materials in Norwich and then having a MacDonalds meal on the way back to Horning.
We also found The Old Tea Shoppe in Horning, re-visited The Norska Centre and went twice to Wroxham Barns. Daniel would join us for visits and have his scrambled eggs at the same place. Diana and I also had splendid meals at The Swan, Hotel Wroxham and Mr Chan's Chinese Restaurant where we were to become regular customers. The Bloom family came to stay for a week and enjoyed the base as a welcome break from Mary's radiation treatment for breast cancer. Not much news from home where Daniel and Angela had made their love-nest for each weekend but the news from Di's Mum was that her hospital tests had shown that she had a type of asthma and an infection that had been causing her congestion and she is now on courses of antibiotics.
Both the Second Test Match and Wimbledon were rained off for a day with no play at either but the 25th Olympic Games opened in Barcelona, Spain and sporting records were tumbling. An Around World Air Race began in Paris but this month continued with more air fatalities as a Vickers Viscount crashed, 70 dying and then a Thai Airbus crashed into the mountain at Kathmandu, with 113 more deaths; but US Space Shuttle STS 50 (Columbia 13) lands safely. The Security Council of the UN examine violence in South Africa as the Tripartite Alliance, consisting of the African National Congress, South African Communist Party and Congress of South African Trade Union, outlines a mass action plan against apartheid for August. Iraq was indulging in brinkmanship with the U.S. and U.N. over inspection of government offices.