A small and gentle walk this morning during which Sam seemed fine even though he was on a fast & strict diet. An agreement with NNDC on property Council Tax before organising sewage pump repairs in Norwich and then to Yarmouth for our first visit of the season to Pleasurebeach. Later with Di to The Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant in the Price of Wales Road. The night began wild, windy and wet
Sam settled and slept well last night considering he had been sent to bed with no food for the first time. A small and gentle walk this morning during which he seemed fine. It was chilly and windy and, once Diana and Debbie had gone off to Norwich to do some shopping, I got on with some telephone calls and administration.
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The first was a call to the council and their valuers responding to the latest addition of Harnser to their valuation list. After some long discussion, I persuaded them to continue to class Heronshaw as uninhabitable (to be exempt from Council Tax entirely) and Harnser as a second home so as to qualify for a 50% relief. This all meant that we have their recognition of the existence of two separate properties and yet our financial liabilities are the same as we had previously paid.
Then some calls to T.W.Page and their recommended electrical motor repairer, Thomas Wilch and High, where I arranged for our faulty sewage pump to go back for repair. Realising that this day was the last working one before the Easter break, I got Della ready and hurried over to Swardeston on the other side of Norwich to drop it off. I found the repair and winding works a fascinating place with stacks of old and reconditioned motors everywhere and trucks coming and going.
It seems that they have quite a niche in this business and I felt that our pump was in good hands when left with them. Off to the centre of Norwich where Della and I successfully located Diana's car in the multi-storey car park so that we could drive together to the outer ring road and enjoy our lunch at McDonalds. This was something that Della had been belly-aching about since we arrived. Hearing of the forecast of gales and rain for the next few days, we made the decision on the spur of the moment to drive on to Great Yarmouth for our first visit to Pleasurebeach of the season.
The girls got their wristbands there and were undaunted by the chilly wind as it least it was dry. A few of the old rides had gone, sold off to allow the operators to buy the site from the council, but new ones had replaced them and it was a shame to see so few people there to enjoy the experience. For Diana and I, it also seemed sad that Sam was not with us but we drove up to the harbour entrance, indulged ourselves in an ice cream and then walked over to see the pilot bring in an Oceantech rig support vessel through the choppy water at the harbour entrance.
Back to join the girls and to watch Della as she fed well over £5-worth of 2p's into the sweeping machines. In the end, with her money running out, I had to help her by banging on the machine to loosen the overhanging coins and win-token and she ended up happy getting a box of Quality Street chocolates! Home to walk Sam gently and feed him his first meal, a mixture of boiled white rice and cooked chicken pieces, which he was very pleased to get.
The evening driving back to Norwich where we picked up Di's car where we had left it and went on to The Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant in the Price of Wales Road. The place was expensive but good and we enjoyed it. The rain had started and the night began wild, windy and wet.