A challenging day with meetings concerning the future of Redgrave and then working on the shop finances, taking lunch at the pub and contacting Sarah about joining us as manager.
Then driving on to Norfolk, having dinner at The New Inn and settling down to sleep on The Paxton Princess.
Although we had set the alarm clock for 7.00am and then got the tea then, it was after 7.30am by the time we had woken up and planned our day and this already meant that we were going to be quite late for our plans in Redgrave.
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We got up, showered, dressed and breakfasted quickly and then loaded up Sam and our bags so as to get away.
When stopping at Barton Mills to exercise and feed him, my organiser reminded me of my meeting with Mr & Mrs Brookes, the Redgrave correspondent and his councillor wife, and so we had to hurry on so as not to be too late to see them.
I telephoned ahead for directions and then Wiggly dropped me of at their house and went on to meet our tradesmen. I found the couple very interested in what I had to say and very supportive of what I was trying to do.
Mrs Brookes was a member of the Ladies Club, the WRVS meals-on-wheels service and Parish Council and would enlist the help of the people she knew and Mr Brookes would be pleased to lay out a poster by computer publicising a village meeting about the shop if the Parish Chairman agreed to have it on the agenda.
I felt the meeting was well worthwhile. When I joined Wiggly and the Butterfields, we had visits from Eastern Electricity to lay on a separate supply for the Old Post Office Cottage, then the electrical contractors, Knights, to do the internal wiring changes and finally the EEB meter inspector to test the installation and allow the new supply to be connected so that, by the end of the day, the cottage was being separately supplied.
The plumber also came, but due to delays in getting the new water supply connected, he dug up the floor in the back flat and put the pipes in ready for the installation of the separate hot water system there later.
Wiggly and I worked on whilst all this was happening and had lunch across at the pub opposite. We were both put out by the Butterfields having given away the business photocopier to their son Chris and his girlfriend without consulting us, particularly a it was needed by us to prepare our work today.
In the afternoon, we typed up a letter for Sarah and copied out some enclosures that told her about what we had in mind and suggested that she joined us as a manager in the first instance with a view to taking over the shop and post office later when its future was more certain.
We made contact with her and drove over to see her and Mark on our way to Norfolk and found her very keen and receptive again but still insisting on talking to her parents during the coming weekend when they got back from a fortnight's holiday.
Then on to Horning where we unpacked, loaded the things on to the boat and somewhat despaired of the task of getting it ready for our holiday. In the end, I let Wiggly take Sam for a walk whilst I put the things away in The Paxton Princess and then, we chatted until the sun went down.
Later, over to The New Inn where we persuaded the proprietors to serve us meals even though it was after 9.00pm and we enjoyed these and a few drinks before going back to sleep on the boat for the night.