Heck it's cold here in Kent...
I know March can be pretty variable weather-wise, but this lot is coming at a time when we really do need a few days off to start to get better times in view...
Years ago, we had a national off licence client, and we used to do several surveys of shop sites in one day. They would phone us up in the office about 4:00pm, and tell us to be on a new site at 9:00am the following day, and some weren't that close either! Ivybridge springs to mind, and Torquay and Plymouth.
One day, we had to survey three sites in East Anglia. I can't remember the first two, but I do recall that the last one, at 3:30pm was in Sheringham, on the North coast... When I arrived and met the others, we did the work - it wasn't a lot really, just a look around, several notes, and some measurements, then a decision on the specification as to which brand they were going to apply to the property, like Peter Dominic, Bottoms Up etc. We all got on pretty well, and I actually enjoyed the travel, the friendship, and of course, they always paid on time, being a decent national firm.
I'd never been to the place, but one thing which always stuck in this old grey head (it was brown back then...), was that the North Wind always blew like hell there, as my dear Uncle and Aunt often went on holiday to the place.
I still have a small blotter, one of those chaps which look like a lemon wedge, and you used to roll them over the wet ink. When they popped off, we all took a few momentos of the lovely couple, and I finished up with the little blotter, which still bears a mirror image of their handwriting - which was down to the innumerable letters and cards they always wrote to everyone.
It's a treasure, and I've never forgotten my Uncle Ken telling me that 'It always blew like hell up there'!
14 comments:
We've been to Sheringham in March and it wasn't only cold - it snowed. We well remember sitting in a cafe with a glass of wine, looking out at pounding waves while the wind rattled the cafe windows. Strangely enjoyable it was too.
Damn.
I can just hear the clank of the filing cabinets and the smell of the architect's drawings...
... a pint of wheaty ale in a smokey pub of a Friday afternoon. The company Ford Escort parked outside.
It's a delightful place, Mr H, I loved it and the site was just in a small row of shops too!
Never been back sadly, but I believe you know E.Anglia well, so give the place my regards...
Senora O'Blene was at school in Bury, so we occasionally have a pilgrimage back...
You're dead right, Elecs, they were heady days, and usually a lot of fun too, as we all got on well. The fees were OK, and the work was never onerous so we all won out there!
You probably know Ivybridge, and I'll try and find the map one day soon...
When Grand Met sold out, the shops were taken over by Whitbread, and I spent months driving between here and Welwyn, before we got the whole lot again for re-branding...
Great days those!
Indeed I do know Ivybridge - done a bit of wild water swimming there and some decent walks.
A continuous wind blows over the fields here from the Irish sea, I think its my ancestors punishing me for becoming an Englishman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEQuDyuQFKE&feature=emb_logo
And I bet you can't jig as well as this bird either, Thud.
Scrobs... The Escort parked outside of a pub in LONDON. Imagine that !!!
Do you ever keep in touch with your namesake, Kev?
I've sadly lost touch with the whole lot, bar a chum in The New Forest, and my old partners!
Back then, I was allowed a pocket-rocket, a white 2000cc Maestro MG, and while I was nowhere near grandparents' ages,(:0) it was a damn good car, lasting for 185,000 miles, and never a problem either! The last pub in London I parked outside back then, was 'The Stag' in Victoria...
But you have got a lot of trees around you, Thud!
Is Vinogirl still OK?
Yes vino is ok thasnk you, she has bread flour, chickens and several thousand bottles of wine. I have less trees every storm but on the plus side lots more firewood.
Ha! cheers Kev.
Scrobs. Sorry to hack your post but my PC showed a little box on the bottom right-hand side to say that my BT Internet settings for my account are out of date. After checking with BT I'm fully paid up so don't have a clue where to go from here. I can't send any emails, the gardening forum wants me to log in and god knows where my password is because I was always stayed logged-in. Mea Culpa but can't find anyone else to help me to sort it out.
Goosey, never fear, here's a click I got just now...
Try the links and let me know what I can do!
https://community.bt.com/t5/Email/Windows-10-Btinternet-settings-out-of-date/td-p/1834689
Post a Comment