Up early for the Marine Power engineer who soon had the Paxton Princess coupling installed and connected and then the builder David Collier arrived to examine Heronshaw and quote for jacking up and restoring it. I then took Freda and Chris to Norwich to visit the two specialist trophy suppliers to choose Dad’s memorial trophy and then collected Freda's younger daughter Stacey and her grand-daughter, Sharne, off the 4.20pm train and drove then around Wroxham and Horning to show Stacey the area and shops.
I then took the whole party (apart from Alf who will hardly go anywhere) for an hour's cruise up the river to see Horning from its best vantage. My cough has developed further into quite a bad cold, but I stayed in the boat and sorted out my Heronshaw and Paxton Princess files and phoned home to find Daniel all right but Debbie still suffering.
I was up early at 6.30am to be ready for the Marine Power engineer. The only things that I had in the boat for breakfast were apple juice and cake, but they sufficed. In the end he did not arrive too early but came at 8.00am and stayed until 10.00am whilst I helped him to fit the coupling. Funny thing was that the reason he had so much trouble getting the old coupling out was that he had overlooked a shaft bearing and had not loosened it off to release the shaft! We were just having a coffee in celebration of a satisfactory repair when builder David Collier arrived and began to look around Heronshaw. He stayed a while and said that he would be able to quote for jacking it up and restoring it but it would take him a week or two to work out his figures which I did not mind. I had a meat and salad sandwich lunch with Freda and then cleaned the boat properly, vacuuming it out and wiping oily marks off of here, there and everywhere.
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This afternoon I took Freda and Chris to Norwich and we first visited the two specialist trophy suppliers to get some catalogues and see what type of memorial trophy we could get in Dad's memory for the British Ambulance Preservation Society. The choice boils down to either a large salver that would have space for a suitable engraving and the winners' names for some time to come, or a large wooden plaque with a specially-designed painting of an old ambulance upon it and screw-on shields to hold the winners names. In both cases we would have some small badges made for the winners to keep as a permanent memento. This done, we went on to Norwich Railway Station and there collected Freda's younger daughter Stacey and her grand-daughter, Sharne, off the 4.20pm train. They had come all the way up from Holsworthy to stay for a few days and they had left at 7.15am. I drove them back to Heronshaw via Wroxham and Horning to show Stacey the area and shops.
Then we had a nice meat and three-vegetable dinner courtesy of Freda and I took the whole party (apart from Alf who will hardly go anywhere) for an hour's cruise up the river to see Horning from its best vantage. We also cruised around Hoveton Little Broad on what was its first day open this year. It was a nice sunny and dry day again, though the breeze was a little chill when out of the sun. Later it became still and clear and a frost developed as the temperature dropped to only 3degC. My cough has developed further into quite a bad cold and I wondered whether I could carry on or must go back home. This evening I stayed in the boat and sorted out my Heronshaw and Paxton Princess files which needed it as they are getting very scrappy. I telephoned home to find Debbie similarly afflicted and having to rest at home rather than go horse-riding or to party discotheques which is sad. Daniel is playing hard enough but Di wonders whether he is also working hard enough as well as the days speed by to his first "A"-level GCE examination!