After a nice dry and sunny morning walking Sam to the village for some shopping and then continuing to clear my Horning gardens, building up the dyke-side verge, Steven visits to review hydraulics and spend some leisure time with me.
I slept well and awoke to the sound of my Teasmade for the second day running. I was ready and out soon after 7.30am but Sam was already awake and active and must have roused himself at dawn. A good long walk with him into Horning village to buy more milk and bread against the expected arrival of Steven this morning, when I would not have enough time for walking him thereafter. It was a nice dry and sunny morning and so I went out to continue clearing the grounds, completely clearing the area behind Sam's kennel and then removing the compost heap. I made a bed of branches alongside the drainage dyke and then piled the material from the compost heap on top; thus building up an even wider base alongside the road.
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I was hourly expecting Steven to interrupt me by his arrival and was looking forward to a social coffee break but, by 11.30am, I gave him up and went in for a rest and to get some administrative work done. The postman had brought the draft of the Ekins planning appeal document and I studied it and called them to authorise its submission. Steve arrived as I was preparing lunch and so I invited him to join me for some ham sandwiches and then a walk with Sam afterwards. He has a good rapport with the dog and would dearly love one if his circumstances allowed it. We took a good look at the hydraulics of the Paxton Princess afterwards and Steve estimated a half days' work to strengthen the system and add a relief valve.
The rest of the day being free, we took The Jolly and went for a long trip around the backwaters of Horning with Sam as a passenger who is continually growing more confident on the water. The sun had kept shining and it was not until dusk after we had made ourselves some tea and set off for the pub that it started raining. We popped in to see Alan first and found him working away on yet another mini in his garage. It seems that the old .22 rifle that Steve had found amongst his late father's possessions is now being put to good use in killing foxes and so Steve should get some money for it. We had a nice drink together in Coltishall and then Steve left for home and I relaxed with relief before a hot bath and a reasonably early night.