Away Day

We were up early. The Gorse Fox had explained to the chap from water softener company that we had to go out at midday, so arranged for the installation to start at 08:30. As the water would need to be turned off, this meant that we had to be washed, showered, and breakfasted before he arrived.

We needn't have panicked. He didn't arrive until 09:30, and then he began to chat as he surveyed the task ahead. He soon understood the pipework and the requirements and got to work. By 11:30 he was still drilling and brazing so the Gorse Fox checked. He would be another hour. We helped him re-assess his timescale. He hadn't been told we were going out. To be fair, he finished in about 45 minutes and we were only 30 minutes late leaving.

As we left, we waved to our neighbours who were also leaving home at the same time. We made our way up through Boxgrove and Petworth and were lucky to find a parking spot right outside The Crown at Chiddingfold. We were meeting with the Gorse Fox's sister and brother-in-law for some lunch. We sat down and started to chat. There was a tap on the shoulder. Looking up we found our neighbours had just arrived and were being seated at the next table to us.

We had a lovely lunch, catching up on all the family news and sharing photos of the latest events on our respective lives. Trevor, asking about our new car, also revealed that he had changed his car. He has swapped from the Avensis to a new Corolla. We had a look at it later and it really does look like a lovely car. It's a very sleek looking hybrid, and as you would expect, loaded with technology.

The Silver Vixen and Jane disappeared off to the ladies. When they came they were chuckling over the fact that yet another pair of our neighbours were in the restaurant. What's more they, like us, were there to meet with their sister from Wokingham. We agreed that next time it would make sense to run minibuses in each direction.