I had a visit at the weekend from a guy who I am lucky to call a friend and thoroughly enjoyable it was at that. This visit brought with it an opportunity to reflect since this visitor is a ‘long time listener first time caller’ as they say.
It was fantastic to see my old mate but I was also a little nervous at showing the Plough to such a close friend. I found that my pride for the old girl was tempered by my embarrassment at the long list of tasks that I have not yet started. For some reason this seemed a little like introducing the girlfriend to the parents (something I managed to avoid) so I could be found variously tidying and organising over the preceding days.
The good news is that the pub was warmly received and praised, this despite it being a relatively quiet March Sunday. I know, of course, that I would only get support from these quarters but it was nice to hear positive words about the place that is my home and my entire life. I also thank Paul for reinvigorating my seasonal preparedness with a kick-start of jet washing the deck. I am once again a flurry of cleaning/filling/painting in preparation for the new season.
In other news I have discovered that not all electricity companies supply the island. As contract renewal approaches I contracted a new (better value) supplier and all appeared well until they realised that not every PO post code is in Portsmouth. When they called me to explain that they do not supply the island I did my utmost to discover the reason but to no avail. I explained that I was not some early adopter and we had electricity on the island for some time, we even use square pin plugs! The sales girl was not budging they simply do not supply the island.
Was it postage I enquired? Some surcharge for shipping a box of sparks across the Solent or even the environmental risk of shipping electricity over water? The answer was steadfast they simply do not supply the island. In the end I had to concede defeat and move to an alternative supplier who, it would seem, is capable of posting an invoice to Shanklin.