A working day trip to Norfolk with Bill and the family to dismantle the greenhouse there and bring it back on a trailer. We arrived around 9am after an early start and the day was very warm and the sun hot and so it was hard work for both of us.
The news is of more former Soviet Republics declaring their independence from the USSR and of John Major visiting George Bush at his US holiday home to compare notes on the developments in Eastern Europe
It was an early start as Di woke me with my morning tea at 6.00am to get ready to leave for 7.00am. Bill had arrived ten minutes early and I got him to feed the doves and backflush the filters while we got ready. We loaded up with tools and supplies and got going by the time we intended. There was still lots of traffic, despite it being early in the morning, with lorries being quite common on the route to the East Coast. I drove the entire distance without a refreshment stop and we arrived at Heronshaw just after 9.00am. Diana took Della into Wroxham to launder the sleeping bags after our summer holiday whilst Bill and I got down to work.
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Bill's job was to dismantle the greenhouse and I worked first on the trailer that was to carry it back to The Hayling View. I cut some Formica to size to cover the holes in the trailer floor and then also pumped up the tyres which were looking rather poor for the journey ahead. Bill had removed all of the glass before lunchtime and then I joined him in disassembling the frame which was made more difficult by not wanting to kill the huge grape vine growing inside. The day was very warm and the sun hot and so it was hard work for both of us. Bill was very impressed by the location and pronounced himself willing to go on other occasions to work on the gardens there.
As we got to grips with the greenhouse in the afternoon, Diana then took Della off in The Jolly to the Horning Leisure Centre for a swim to cool off. I then spent a little time getting the things that I needed from The Paxton Princess and also glued a couple of emergency lights to two lifejackets. We also had time for Bill to mow the main lawn which gives access to the boat and for Della and I to pick half a bucket of blackberries from the brambles that form one boundary to Heronshaw's garden. Towards the end of the afternoon, Bill started loading the parts of the greenhouse on to the trailer as I cleared everything away and then we shut everything up and loaded the car for the journey home, leaving at about 6.00pm.
We had trouble turning out of Ropes Hill Dyke, with the load overhanging the front of the trailer and catching on the Range Rover paintwork and then the load started bouncing about and we had to stop to adjust it. The problem was that Bill had not tied the load down properly and so I got everything off and started again, lashing things down so that the rest of the journey was without incident, even though we did stop a half dozen times just to check and make sure.
We got back just after dark at 8.30pm and left the greenhouse and trailer in the drive and just unloaded our personal things before going in and unpacking. It was a satisfactory day's work as we had brought back the greenhouse and also the trailer to use here. The news is of more former Soviet Republics declaring their independence from the USSR and of John Major visiting George Bush at his US holiday home to compare notes on the developments in Eastern Europe.