Taking the Paxton Princess through the Paper Mill Lock to White House marina and then back to Paxton to officiate at the Village Hall Fete on a windy and changeable day
I was up quite early doing the outside chores as the gardener away for the weekend and Daniel still in bed. Diana had been looking after the fish and plants reasonably well, but the swimming pool had been left while I was away and I had to get Daniel to maintain that. I prepared the boat for the trip to White House and drove down there to see if Michael Carrington, the engineer, had arrived but he was not yet there. A carpenter and other boat-owners were very helpful, and I established that the gantry was capable of handling the boat and that Michael was expected and so I decided to move the boat round on the strength of that. Driving back, I collected Daniel and Angela and we set off in the boat, locking up through the Paper Mill Lock and arriving at the White House service bay in a strong wind which made mooring tricky.
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As it happed, Michael Carrington was there to catch a rope and, with Daniel in attendance, we managed to get in quite easily. Michael promised to have a look at the boat on Monday morning and so I telephoned Diana to come and get us and we took the most important things and left. Diana had been ferrying Della around for her pony morning and then we all went to the playing field to help set up the Village Fete. The weather was still blustery with clouds, but it was not too chilly and at least the rain stayed at bay. I had thought of taking the Reliant down there and giving children rides, but the field was too soft and weather too uncertain. We had a barbecued lunch of sausages and burghers and drank tea under the marquee which had shown its use again. We helped set up the Brownie stall, but I also took an interest in all of the others and spent money at each of them as the fete progressed. There was no sign of the Chairman and so, as Vice-Chairman, I officiated with the raffle tickets and said a few words at the close of proceedings. It had not been as successful as last year because of the weather and lack of programme selling, but at least it stayed fine, and we actually made a profit to pay for the costs of running it. This evening, I attempted to sort out my office and then went to see that the boat was all right and got a few more things that were needed. Then very tired to bed.