The last day for Steve and I in Norfolk, as I first took Steve over to The Swan at Horning and treated him to a fine traditional English breakfast, which he loves, and we then spent the day replacing fencing panels until John Coulling arrived to fix the Paxton Princess hydraulic system. A very late departure and journey home, arriving tired and weary after midnight.
We were awake quite early again this morning and, feeling that I had been a bit harsh and ungrateful with Steve, I offered to take him for a traditional English breakfast for which they are very good. To Steve, Norfolk is all about food and nice breakfasts and my meagre rations of toast were a bit thin for him! We dressed smartly and had a nice meal and then I used the telephone there to call home and the to call John Coulling to seek his help in repairing and commissioning the hydraulic steering on the Paxton Princess. He could only come later on at the end of the day and so, that arranged, we went into Wroxham and ordered some fence panels and went back and started ripping down the old ones so as to be able to replace them after lunch.
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This was quite a job as they were oak posts and the nails quite difficult to remove but, by lunchtime, we had the panels off and just about all of the posts were sound for re-use. The young chap from Wroxham fencing delivered the new panels and we then spent most of the rest of the day getting all of them up. Another visitor was Mr Smith(jnr) who came to estimate the work necessary in building up the drive to my garage and the rest of the forward part of Heronshaw's plot. John Coulling arrived in late afternoon and then spent several hours repairing the hydraulics and bleeding them of any air pockets etc. His job was made the more difficult by the lack of the correct parts but he managed in the end and we were pleased that the boat was repaired again at last.
This done, we then spent a long time finishing the process of clearing out the shed and garage for the woodworm treatment to be done and then moved on to clear up the boat and put it to bed so as to be safe to leave for a while. lastly, Heronshaw itself was the target of our attentions as we packed and cleared up and prepared to leave. We eventually got away around 9.30pm and so we both telephoned home and warned our wives to expect us to be home quite late. It was a fairly clear journey back and we just picked up take-away food to sustain us for the journey. Home at midnight and to bed, physically tired after so many physical tasks and early mornings. It had been raining again today between periods of hot sun and the long-awaited summer has yet to arrive.