A Redgrave visit for the electrical contractor and survey of other shops in the area then a better LibDem evening Branch Meeting
Wiggly had arranged our first meeting quite early at Redgrave and so it put us under a little pressure to get up and out in time.
**"Read More" BELOW for the complete story**
Sam had a shorter run than normal and, after breakfast, we set off in heavy traffic as it was the time Cambridge workers drove along the A45.
To make matters worse, we were diverted off of the main road due to a serious accident and had to drive fast across country to avoid being too late.
I was hoping to do more work but then took over the wheel to keep our speed up as I was more familiar with the car. I called ahead to Alf to warn him of our late arrival but we need not have worried as the Eastern Electricity man was late also.
He was a linesman diverted from Sizewell and had driven two hours to see us which is another weird aspect of the way the "Board" are organising things these days.
Poor chap did not know the business of internal wiring but was willing to wait until the electrical contractor arrived to analyse our needs.
We opted for a new supply and meter position for the cottage which we would install first and then a private sub-meter for the back flat from the shop supply in view of the cost and complication.
All this took us through lunch and we just managed to get the village pub to serve us lasagne after we left. The weather was duller and we left Sam in the car this time and could sit in and discuss things with the landlord and his wife and they had quite a few suggestions to make.
There was a ready market for bed-and-breakfast from the hikers all the year round, the shop lost business from its lack of fresh vegetables and not being open in the evenings.
It would not seem to matter whether it was branded as a Spar or Londis but just whether it served local needs. We drove round after, surveying the area and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of other shops.
We discovered that that none of them fully addressed the role of a convenience store nor had a lottery terminal, but many of them had lottery scratch cards.
The County Garden was the best run but in a very confined space. Then home to a rush to have dinner and walk the dog before going to the evening LibDem Branch meeting.
This, though long, was a very good meeting in that John Roscoe and both Chris's attended and tried hard not to allow their marital arguments to interfere with their being councillors and party affairs.
There were valuable reports from Mike Pope on behalf of the county and Terry Clough as District leader and some good decisions reached such as, for one, delaying the next FOCUS until September to allow for more ads to be obtained with August 31st deadlines for FOCUS copy.
John Roscoe accepted the continuing responsibility for Press Officer and FOCUS layout. Outside the meeting, I helped smooth over problems between Terry Clough on the one hand and Derek Giles and Wiggly on the other.
Terry is making a poor fist of his group leadership at the moment, even if he is relatively new to the job. Back to Monty for a nice shag and bed, quite tired after a long day.