After carrying on sorting the garage and adjusting its doors etc, we had a shopping trip to Norwich, buying £400-worth of ‘Harvest’ melamine ware for the boat and then registered at the local library. The UN Security Council orders a world-wide embargo on trade with Iraq.
I was up early with Diana on and washed and shaved in Heronshaw before carrying on sorting out the garage whilst the rest of the family were getting up and dressed. We had our breakfast inside Heronshaw, and it was very pleasant too. Then I returned to the boat and used my bleeper to remotely interrogate my answering machine for the messages that had been left during the last few days. Joan had left a total of hours on the machine for paying the gardener and Daniel's friend, Steve, had left a couple of messages about wanting to buy one of our trailers. By 10.00am, I had to stop work to take the family to Norwich. We dropped Diana off at an optician for new contact lenses and then, after parking the car, met her again for morning drinks and snacks at Oliver’s. a favourite watering hole of ours. Once this was over, I took the girls to the children’s library in Norwich where they are always content to stay and I went with Diana on a shopping expedition in search of some break-proof crockery for the boat. We thought that we were going to fail in this mission when we found out that the most likely shop was closed on Mondays. At my insistence, we took a look in Marks and Spencer's and found the ideal range called "Harvest" which Diana immediately fell in love with. The UN Security Council orders a world-wide embargo on trade with Iraq.
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We assembled a mini-mountain of items into a complete set which comprised all sizes of plates, bowls, cups, saucers, trays, condiments sets, tea towels aprons etc etc which came to nearly £400. We had to get the assistance of the supervisor in the end to get them to the check-out (and they opened another till especially for us) before the whole consignment was taken downstairs for us to collect by car later after we had eaten another nice lunch at Oliver’s. We then came "home" via Wroxham where we bought some essentials and, once back, Diana stowed all of the new stuff on the Paxton Princess and removed all of the previous items to Heronshaw so that they will not be wasted. I arranged for Jeckells to come and see me in Horning tomorrow morning about a new boat cover and so we stayed on at our moorings this evening, allowing me to complete the job of clearing out the garage. I have transferred all of the useful items either to the shed or the boat-house and dumped the rest in the enclosed corner of the garden that once housed the septic tank in the hope that this rubbish will sink away out of sight. I then swept the garage out, adjusted the doors again so that they could be secured before putting the Range Rover away in there ready for the next leg of the cruise that starts tomorrow. I then went to bed quite tired and satisfied and pleased that Diana is happy with her new boat utensils and with the improved state of Heronshaw. I got a library ticket for Norfolk County Libraries today (as we have an address here now) and we each took out a book on the strength of it.