Steve joining me for the slow trip to Heronshaw with the trailer, stopping off at Jewson’s to negotiate timber prices. Upon arrival moving many tons of dredged mud around after the dredging in 90min spells until Daniel and Angela arrived after completing their exams. Arranging the work with carpenter David and the barge with Sonny Amis and dining at the Wroxham Bridge Hotel
I was up early and got my packing done and the Range Rover and trailer ready to leave by 7.30am as arranged with Steve but it was after 8.00am by the time that he arrived, telling of a plumbing leak that had developed in the night at his house. We had a pleasant-enough journey, but the trailer was a bit of a limitation on speed and kept us down to around 65mph for safety. On the way, I had called one of the timber bidders to get them to quote for some more items and we called in later on Jewsons and I went over the cost comparison and they agreed to improve their prices to nearly match the others. They also said that they would be competitive on all of the things that we should need - meeting the other prices if necessary.
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Our work pattern for the rest of the day was the old-fashioned use of a shovel and barrow whilst we moved many tons of dredged mud around the plot to level it. We worked in ninety-minute spells with rest periods in between and could keep going well. We had lunch of sandwiches and tea of seafood and these made welcome breaks in the work pattern. Daniel and Angela came by later in the day and we gave them a cup of tea and had a chat together. They have now both finished their examinations and have a couple of weeks free to relax. They will be coming home this weekend to stay which will be nice. In the evening, the carpenter David Goodman came by appointment and we ran over all of the points that we needed to discuss. He will be supervising the job and will have the assistance of Alan ("Giddy") Gidding from Horning and also of Steven with me running around ensuring that all of the materials etc are to hand.
A phone call later to Sonny Amis established that we should have the barge in about a week's time after it has finished being used to put some posts into Hickling Broad. We finished the day with a nice meal at the Bridge Hotel, Wroxham, after being refused one due to the late hour at The Swan Hotel. Nice service and food was capped by an interesting spectacle as we were leaving. The rather drunk male companion of a pretty girl in a long white dress lifted her skirts right up as we drove past to reveal all which was most amusing and arousing at the same time. It is nice to be amongst holiday-makers again who are always fun to be about.