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7 September 2003 A.D. My Ref: GENL0227

Dear Folk,

Sat 9th August. Staying in the camper-van in Southwold, a seaside resort in Suffolk. Hot and sunny, but the heat was mitigated by a sea-fret or scud or wrack or whatever is your local word for a mist from the sea. I got up and went and bought some postcards; then I saw that there was a Womens' Institute mercado going on in the Conservative Hall, so I went. Bought a quiche, some sausage-rolls and some cheese-straws. The lady behind the counter was a bit slow, poor old thing. I waited ages and ages for her attention, and then a woman pushed-in in front of me. Another lady-customer saw that, and told the lady behind the counter that I was before that woman. "No, Dear!" said the woman behind the counter, to which I promptly rejoined: "Yes, Dear!" We all had a laugh and there was no unpleasantness.

Had some of those goodies for lunch and wrote postcards. Had a wander around the Town and the sea-mist rolled-in and kept the place cool. Maggie saw a sign that suggested that we really weren't supposed to stay there overnight in a camper-van. We had got away with it for one night, but we shouldn't push our luck. And so we decid to push-on. We had heard of a bookshop which had some sheet-music in a village called Westleton, so we druv there with the intention of staying overnight until the shop opened at noon on Sunday.

Arruv at Westleton about 7.15 p.m. to find that the bookshop was still open! Inland, it was hotterer than by the coast. Went into the shop, which is a disused chapel, to discover the bookseller clad in nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist! I apologised and said I hoped we hadn't disturbed his bath, to which his reply was that he was still working and that it was too hot for conventional clothes.

Had a look around and bought some dots, including a copy of a number from 1964 called "All I want for Christmas is a Beatle", which both Maggie and I think is a very rare piece. I am afraid that it cost me £2, but I dare say I could sell it tomorrow for more than that. Surprisingly-enough, the artiste featured on the front cover of that number is Dora Bryan!

The bookseller closed at 8.00 p.m. and we set off on our travels through Suffolk once more. We eventually ended-up at a camp-site in East Bergholt, which is the village where John Constable was born. Settled-down for the night once again, and had another quiet night.

Sun 10th Aug. Hotterer still. I got up about nine a.m. and went to the camp shop. I paid the man £12 for our stay and looked at the loos, the hot showers and the open-air piscina. Laterer in the morning I tried all those facilities for no more money than I had already paid.

Just after noon we then druv into Essex, and parked at a place called Mistley near the town of Manningtree. We were beside a large estuary, with boats moored in the water and seabirds (mostly gulls) swimming around, flying around, and walking over the muddy shore looking for (I suppose) insects for food. Here we had a picnic lunch. There was an ice-cream van parked nearby, and I went and bought an ice-cream for sobremesa. It looked delicious, but it tasted very powdery. Then Maggie had a sesta while I read a book.

Then we set off again, this time South-Westwards, towards Stock, South of Chelmsford, where the nice Doe Family lives. Luckily most of the journey was dual-carriageway, and we arruv at Stock in the late afternoon.

Nice to see the Does again. Very nice indeed. Anne had made a delicious meal of roast- chicken with parsnips and bread-sauce, etc. Everything was really delicious and I ate everything on my plate. Guru Cristopher came in from work, and we had a chat with him and he played us his melodeon. He is quite good for a beginnerer, and we suggested he should ask Gladys please to give him a lesson or two. Christopher's good news is that they are making him the manager at the place where he works, which is a factory where they do upholstery for the seats of (new) motor-cars.

Christopher will be in charge of two depôts; one at Tilbury (Essex) and one at Sheerness (Kent). Christopher will have to oversee both places and go from one to the other by road in a van taking things from one to the other. I suggested that Christopher should have a word with his boss, and that he should put forward the idea of travelling between the two premises by water. A quick glance at the map will show what a sensible idea this is.

After our lovely meal we had a nice chat with Stephen and Anne, and then it was time to retire. It began to pour with rain, which cooled the place down a bit. We had intended to stay yet another night after tonight in the van, but I suggested that we had had enough, and so this will be our last night for this trip.

On the tele tonight they said that the hottest place in Britain was once again Gpavesend-on- Thames. I forget what the temperature there was, but this time it broke all records (since records began to be kept 140 years ago or so) and was more than 100º Fahrenheit.

Monday 11th August. Dry and sunny again. Not quite so hot, I think. I got out my plumbing things and replaced a leaking valve-washer on one of Anne's kitchen taps. Anne was delighted! She had to go off to work (her menfolk had already gone by then) so we packed-up and said goodbye and druv Northwards. We arruv in Burysaintedmunds at about one o'clock and went to Peggotty's Carvery, where we hoped to have lunch. But it closes on Mondays. So we went across the road to the Black Boy pub and had a very nice home-cooked lunch there instead. We sat out in the pub yard and it was most pleasant.

Then Maggie (who had done all of the driving) had a sesta in the van, while I went to a book- shop and bought some more dots. After which we went on our travels again to a place called Risby, which is West of Bury, where they have an Antiques Barn. Had a look around, but nothing of interest for us. A local man told us a quick way to get to the road to Norwich, which was by using the A 134 road between Bury and Thetford. A mostly straight road with not all that much traffic. At Thetford we took the A 11 which is the road from Norwich to London, and we were in Hellesdon by 6.30 p.m. Rang Mamma and Aunt Joan. Laterer Anne Doe rang us to see if we were home safely. She said that her tap with the new washer is behaving well.

Tuesday 12th August. Still hot and dry. Got up and had a nice bath. Then did some work repairing some individual Vitórian dots which had been bound together into one volume, bought from the man in the towel (please see Page One above). Unfortunately, some vandal has torn the top right-hand corner off a lot of the items. That would have been because the name of the original owner was written there; and for reasons of pride or privacy the family name was removed. However the vandal was not alert enough; the name of the original owner appears on the impression of a rubber-stamp on one or two of the pages; but it looks like printing, so the vandal didn't notice it. So, in case you are all wondering, the name of the original owner of the music was E A Allnutt. I have had to replace the torn-out bits with new pieces of paper, and I have had to fill-in one or two lost bits of musical notation. I have a good mind to write "E A Allnutt" on each of the replaced corners! According to a small label stuck inside the cover, the individual items were bound together into a book by a bookbinder in Dartmouth.

During the morning Jean Crisfield rang from Edimburgo. It seems that Alex Salter has just died. Poor Alex, and poor Pat! Alex used to enjoy these letters, which was nice to know.

Laterer, Maggie popped down to the roundabout and bought some things for lunch. I got a tin of lunch-tongues out of the fridge and carved it into slices. Maggie and I had lunch-tongue slices in a french baguette for lunch, followed by a confection made by Maggie out of real bananas, etc. Very nice. Carried-on repairing the Vitórian dots. In the evening Maggie rang Pat Salter, who says that Alex's funeral is to be on Friday at Rochester Cathedral. Maggie also rang Alice Brazil, who says that Gladys is in hospital; it seems that Gladys went to Sidmouth for the Folk Festival Week and became ill on the journey home.

In the evening I spoke to Aunt Joan, who had arruv back safely at Eastbourne from Huns'ton. Tried to speak to Mamma, but the line engaged. At 6.30 in the evening I druv into Norwich and parked at J's F S. Walked to the Erpingham Gate to the (Anglican) Cathedral Close and met a group of tourists, 16 or 18 of them. Took them round on a tour which we call "Tales of the Riverside". I took exactly the 90 minutes allotted and returned them to the Close again at 8.30 p.m. Came home, but too late to ring Mamma.

Wed 13th August. Still hot and dry. I went into Norwich by 'bus, leaving Maggie at home. I called at the Collector's Fair in St Andrew's Cloisters, but there was nothing of interest there. Returned before lunch, and after lunch I had a short sesta.

In today's paper it states that Keith The Media has been ennobled as Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Norfolk. I am not sure what rank in the Peerage he has achieved, nor what title he will take ("Lord Media" doesn't have a very traditional ring to it, does it?). But I am already practising my curtsey. However, as I don't move in the highest circles of County Society, I dare say I shall never get to make my curtsey in front of Keith and Diane. But I am sure you will all join Maggie and me in congratulating them and wishing them all the best.

Laterer Maggie and I druv off in convoy to Wymondham. Maggie druv the camper-van and I druv my Wagon-R. We had a look in Wymondham, but found that it was early-closing- day. When I was young, every town and city had an early-closing-day: one day in the week (the actual day varied from town to town) when the shops closed for the afternoon. But these days it is only one-horse-towns that still have an early-closing-day. So we must remember for the future, that Wednesday is early-closing-day in Wymondham.

So then we druv on to the village of Hethel, home of the Lotus motor-car factory. We took the camper-van to Paul Riches's premises and left it with him, for him to install power- steering. Maggie and I both came home to Hellesdon in the Wagon-R. Stopped at the Travel Agent on the roundabout and enquired about visits to Portugal in November this year and in Jan/Feb of 2004. The Travel Agent will have to ring the Tour Operators. Had a nice meal of a Pickering's pork-pie, and then Maggie packed-up ready to return to the hottest place in the kingdom. Rang Mamma. At 8.30 p.m. Maggie druv off to Gpavesend, and at about 11.30 p.m. she rang to say that she had arruv safely.

Thurs 14th August. Sunny yet again. Got up early and had a bath and then presented myself at the Dentista for my appointment at 8.45 a.m. Mr Moolman did three fillings, although he was only going to do two. I had to pay £21.20, not too bad, I suppose. Then I went to the Travel Agent and he sorted things out and guv me some quotes which I shall have to discuss with Maggie.

In the afternoon I decid to file-away "All I want for Christmas is a Beatle" in the easily- accessed part of my filing-system. So I did, expecting to find it taking its place right next- door to an item with a very similar title. But, no, the other one was not there. Calamity! And then I thought I remembered that the other item was filed-away under the letter "M". So to the letter "M" I went, and there was that other piece, which was called on its title page "My Two Front Teeth", although we all know it as "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". So I set-up a cross-reference, with an item labelled "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth", and saying that it was filed under "M" for "My Two Front Teeth". The cross-reference was put immediately behind the "Beatle" number in the filing-system.

Laterer I telephoned Maggie and we sorted-out dates. I returned to the Travel Agent and made definite bookings.

After lunch I went into Norwich by 'bus and did another guided tour. This time there were but two tourists. It didn't go too badly, and I was able to finish in time to catch my 'bus back to Hellesdon. Sat down and fell asleep. In the evening I spoke to Mamma, and to Cousin Lowenna and also to Michael Hurst, who is in Norwich at the moment. Laterer I spoke to Maggie. She had been to the evening Collectors' Fair at Orpington and found some nice things. But on the return journey she got stuck in some terrible traffic on the M 25. It was due to the traffic-lights being out-of-order, it seems.

Fri 15th Aug. Dry and Sunny -- so what's new? Tidied-up the house and packed my things. Telephoned to the Estalagem do Cerro in Albufeira and asked (in Portuguese) if we could have our favourite quarters in the hotel, quarto número 320. The girl on the reception-counter remembered me and said she would do her best for us. Not too strange that I should be remembered, as I think I am their only guest ever, who spoke even a bit of the language.

Put everything into the Wagon-R and druv off to Fakenham. Stopped at the Safeway supermercado and bought a hot roast chicken. Druv on to Huns'ton and had the chicken for lunch with Mamma. At three o'clock Mamma, Lowenna and I went to see Doctor Machin, who is Mamma's médico. The Doctor agreed to sign a form for Mamma to drive for another year, which is good. Lowenna and Keith came down to tea.

The new curtains in Mamma's living-room, done recently by Aunt Joan who has been staying with her, are very superior and elegant. Mamma shue us her new swimsuit which she bought with the help of Aunt Joan. The idea is that Mamma and I go down to the Oasis Leisure Centre on Monday morning and swim at what they call their "Evergreen Session".

In the evening I spoke to Maggie, who had been to Alex's funeral at Rochester Cathedral.

Sat 16th August. Dry again. Got up quite late. Had leftover chicken for lunch. Had a sesta after lunch and at teatime Joan Sykes came over and had some tea with Mamma. Joan brought their doggie Ratty with her. Ratty has just had an operation to remove from her throat a bone which she ate and it stuck in her throat; normally she has those bones but doesn't try and eat them, but she did do this one. Anyway, the operation went well and Ratty is recovering well. Telephoned the Club and ordered lunch for two on Sunday. Laterer Jeanne Owens rang and said that we were invit to Pentney Abbey/Priory for lunch on Sunday, but we had already booked to go to the Club.

Spoke to Maggie again in the evening.

Sun 17th Aug. Dry yet again. Nigel rang during the monring, but I was still asleep and so didn't get to speak to him or to Jennie. We went to the Club for lunch and spoke to Harry and Ivy Fowler at the next table. While I went to get some drinks, Harry and Ivy vanished. They never returned and didn't have lunch in the Club. After lunch Mamma and I went down to the Town Hall to see an Antiques Fair. Bought a button-hook for Maggie. Then we went back to the Car Park and then decid to go down to Alice's Nephew to see what sort of tinned things he had going cheap.

Whom [accusative] should we see in the Car Park, but Harry and Ivy Fowler? So we asked them where they had gone? They told us that they had had lunch at the fairly nearby United Services Club. It seems that the lunch is betterer there, but a pound dearer. However, Harry and Ivy prefer the atmosphere at the Conservative club, so they firstly have a pre-prandial drink at the Con Club, then they go and have lunch at the United Services Club, then they return to the Con Club for coffee! What a palaver! Anyway, mystery solved.

We then went down to Alice's Nephew and bought some tinned things, but he told us that in three weeks' time he will be closing-up or closing-down and that will be that. Nobody will be taking-over, and the premises will be used for some other sort of business. We wished him well.

Returned home and I had another sesta. Spoke to Maggie in the evening again. She is not feeling quite the ticket at the moment.

Monday 18th Aug. Sunny as usual. Got up and got ready to go swimming. Mamma even had her costume on under her things. But then she decid that she was feeling a bit "fluttery" and didn't want to go. Well, I didn't force her, and we didn't go. Instead we went shopping in Huns'ton Town and then came home for lunch. I had a sesta in the afternoon, and then Prudence Sykes (Joan's daughter) came round and spent an hour or two with us.

Spoke to Maggie again in the evening.

Tues 19th Aug. Sunny yet again. Got up early and packed my things. At nine-thirty I set-off for Hellesdon in the Wagon-R. When I arruv in Hellesdon I drew two weeks' pension, because next Monday is a Bank Holiday. Then druv home. Lots to attend-to; letters to answer and laundry to be done. Also, in the late morning I had a bath after I had turned-on the hot-water system.

Had a quiet afternoon and laterer I telephoned Mamma, who now has Gail staying with her. It seems that they went paddling in the sea this afternoon. Also rang Maggie, who is feeling betterer, and had got some quite good dots from a local dealer at a quite good price.

Wed 20th Aug. Sunny and warm once more. I really should have gone swimming this morning, but I didn't. Went into Norwich on the 'bus and called in at the Antiques Fair in St Andrew's Hall. Found a few dots. Saw Peter Screen the Dealer and had a chat with him. Returned on the 'bus. After lunch I had a sesta until the telephone rang. It was Teresa, who has just returned from a holiday in Portugal. I booked a lesson with her in September. Poor Teresa has been made redundant from her morning job as Librarian in a local school, and so is lookinng for another job.

Laterer I spoke to Mamma and to Maggie and also to Cousin Keith, who said that Lowenna is not well, so I sent love and best wishes from Maggie and me.

At about a-quarter-past-eleven in the evening Maggie arruv from Gpavesend; she didn't have too bad a journey. I had a look at the dots she had brung with her and then we went to bed.

Thurs 21st August. Cloudierer and coolerer. I walked to the roundabout and bought a Daily Telegraph; then I went to the farmácia and got my prescription (Guv me by Doctor Tolley last week, please see GENL0226 Page Eight) made-up. The farmácia had run-out of 300 mg Allopurinol tablets, but they will be delivered this evening. Luckily I have enough to last me for another fortnight; but as we are going down to Dorset shortly, I wanted to make sure I was well-provided-for.

It is an awful nuisance, but I have to take 400 mg of Allpurinol per diem. But they don't do 400 mg tablets; they only do 300 mg tablets and 100 mg tablets, so I have to take one each of those every day. However, I can take them both at the same time (with breakfast) so I get it over with once a day.

During the morning Paul Riches rang. It seems that Messrs Duff Morgan, the local Citroën dealers, had not provided the correct parts for the power-steering for the camper-van. Paul has been in touch with Duff M, but they will not be able to send the correct parts this week. So Maggie thinks we may go down to Dorset in the van as it is, without the power-steering. Maggie says that the firm should drop the word "Morgan" from its name!

So laterer we both set off in the Wagon-R and collected the van back from Paul, of course without the power-steering, and we will use it like that to go to Dorset in. While we were out my outstanding pills were delivered. Spoke to Mamma in the evening, and Cousin Keith had been to tea with her.

Fri 22nd Aug. Cloudy and coolerer at last! Prepared the van for our visit to Dorset. Lots of little jobs to be done. One of the tasks, a long task, was for me to alter an old silver-screen to fit the van. A silver-screen is a sort of cover made of padded silver-coloured material, which is tailored to fit over the windscreen and front side-windows of a particular vehicle. The idea is to keep the vehicle cool in the sunshine and also to keep the vehicle warm at night. Also it adds to privacy within. But this screen was tailored to fit some other van of Maggie's years ago, and of course it doesn't fit this van. So I had to re-tailor the screen and take-in tucks and things, using the sewing-machine. The result now fits betterer than it did, but I do wish I had had Aunt Joan here to give me advice about doing it!

Had a sesta after lunch, then we worked on the van again. Finished about four o'clock p.m. Very tired! At 6.30 in the evening some Kleen-eze stuff was supposed to be delivered. It was 40 minutes late and then they brought the wrong items! Of course all that made us about an hour late setting-off. But eventually we left Hellesdon in the van at about 8.00 p.m. Not too bad a journey and we arruv at Gpavesend about 11.00 p.m. All well in Maggie's house and we soon went to bed.

Sat 23rd Aug. Dry and sunny. Had a nice hot bath, and laterer Maggie and I went round to see her Dad, and then Maggie and I went by 'bus into Gpavesend Town. Luckily we took with us a large shopping-trolley, because during the day we filled it with shopping. Came home by 'bus and Sylvia next-door cut my hair and trimmed my beard.

Sun 24 Aug. Dry. At about 11.00 a.m. Maggie and I set-off in the van for Dorset. After the M25 we went on the M3 and stopped at Fleet for a break. Michael Hurst and Keith the Sapper and I were stationed near there in the Army in the 1950s, but of course it is quite unrecogniseaable to me now. Eventually we arruv at Tarrant Hinton about 5.00 p.m. An enormous city almost, of tents and caravans and camper-vans. Maggie says that for this week in the year the population of the village increases by about 500,000!

The occasion being the Great Dorset Steam Fair. Apart from caravans, etc., there are traction-engines, organs, a fariground, hot-dog, etc., stands, beer-tents, an enormous car-boot fair, stall and shops and things, lots of portaloos and some public showers, etc. All this surrounded by fences and hedges, etc., so ingress and egress carefully monitored and limited. Within this area there is a network of rough tracks which serve for roads, and there is always a lot of traffic on them. Luckily as exhibitors we got in for free. The Steam Fair doesn't officially begin until Wednesday, but a lot of attractions are open already.

We found a nice place to park and camp, next-door to a home-made caravan which looked just like a very large bathing-machine. We met our old friend the Pettifers, the John Smiths, etc. Tried to put-up our loo-tent, but no hammer or mallet to drive the pegs into that hard old ground. Maggie and I invit by the John Smiths to attend an evening "do" to celebrate their Ruby Wedding. So laterer we went to the "do" and had a very nice time chatting and consuming fizzy wine and fruit-cake. The John Smiths had their son and their nora++ and a couple of grandchildren along as well. I slept quite well, but Maggie said I snored rather a lot.

Mon 25th Aug. Dry. Got up and went to the car-boot fair, where I bought quite a large heavy hammer for a pound. Second-hand of course, with a great split in the handle, but I whipped it with string, and it isn't too bad now. Maggie and I then used it to erect the loo-tent and it behaved perfectly. Had a very nice lunch which Maggie rustled-up out of practically nothing. Had a bit of a walk and a sesta after lunch. We are camped near the Pettifer Family: Tina and John, and Mo the doggie. They pop over and have a chat with us which is nice.

I was able to buy some gas from an itinerant gas-seller. What happened is this: we have two gas-bottles in the van, and the spare one was empty. A van druv slowly past in the evening, loaded with gas-cylinders of all kinds, and I bought a new bottle which I exchanged for the empty one. We also have a grocery-van once-a-day, etc. Laterer in the evening I rang Mamma. A bit of a panic as her freezer has tripped the new RCD switchboard. COusin Keith managed to get the rest of the power going, and Mamma is not going to open the freezer until it is going again. Listened to "Victory": a brand-new Verbeek organ. It is all right, I suppose, but very loud with lots of pipes and lots of registers. In my opinion it is too loud. Very tired and went to bed about nine.

Tues 26th Aug. A bit overcast in parts of the day. Got up and bought some postais++. No stamps for sale, but luckily I had some with me. Wrote four postais but didn't know where to post them. But the nice Pettifer family going out to visit the gardens of a local stately home called Kingston Lacy, and they said that they would very kindly post them for me in the outside world. Mid-morning I went to see if John Smith wanted anything done? He said No, I can turn-up at ten a.m. tomorrow. He shue me a neat little electric-powered moped or scooter. I had a go on it -- it was great fun. They are selling them for £150 each. I thought of getting one myself, but Maggie said no room for it in the campervan.

Just before lunch young Richard, Maggie's nephew, rang us mobile-to-mobile. He was on his way from Gpavesend and wanted us to explain where to find us among that great concourse of caravans, etc. So both Maggie and I explained to him very carefully where he could find us. Maggie and I had pâté sandwiches for lunch. The pâté was from a jar bought from Alice's nephew. They tasted a bit ooh-aah, but we ate them. Laterer Richard rang again. He had reached the place we had descrub, but where were we? So Maggie stepped out of the van to find Richard -- he was just the other side of the bathing-machine, about four or five yards away from us! Richard was annoyed that he had wasted the telephone-call unnecessarily. But ten-out-of-ten to Maggie and me, who had told him where to find us!

Anyway, nice to see Richard. He parked his car beside our van and pitched his tent. I offered to help, but he gets on much betterer on his own. Maggie made a very nice evening meal for the three of us. Then we had a nice walk around the main attractions area. We had some (English) wine and liqueurs at the Fonthill Winery and then met lots of organ friends like Stephen Simpson, the Goslings, Trevor Taylor, etc. The we felt peckish and went and had a pork spare-rib in a bun at a food-stall. Saw the Pettifers again, who had posted my cards and had enjoyed the gardens at Kingston Lacy. We thanked them and said goodbye and then retired.

Wed 27th Aug. The Fair opens today. Sunny. Got up and prepared to "earn my keep" in the John Smith organ-tent. At ten a.m. I was with my John Smith organ in the JS tent. Six "John Smith"-type organs on show. John told me that he has an idea for next year. The Fair is open for five days. In 2004 they will build an organ during the five days, so that people can see how it is done. At the end of the five days they will auction it off or raffle it off for charity. During the same five days somebody (guess who?) will be arranging some music for that organ to play. But somebody else while have to punch-out that music. I don;t know whether we will be able to get 5 pieces done during the five days. John is going to arrange for me to have the use of a "composer's plank".

Life in our organ-tent is very dusty and gritty. We are open to the unmade-up roadway, which is gritty enough; but on the other side of the road there are steam-druv traction-engines threshing corn in the old-fashioned way: even dustier and grittier and smuttier. And the wind blows it all into our tent; it really does a bit of no-good to the internal workings of the organs, which are sucking-in air all the time. Oh well!

It had been arranged for Richard to help-out Christine Barker with running her organ, but we couldn't find her or her organ. We were told that she was near the Folk Music tent, but she wasn't. So after lunch I left Richard in charge of my organ and I set off to find Christine. I spent ages walking miles, and finally I found her near the Country & Western tent, ever so far from the JS tent! Came back to my own organ exhausted and flopped into a chair!

Meanwhile Maggie had had an upset stomach, probably due to that funny pâté we had for lunch yesterday. She didn't want to think about food, so Richard and I went and had a spare-rib again. Laterer Maggie felt betterer, so she and Richard went off in his car to see Christine Barker. It is only a two-seater, so I couldn't go with them. I explained to them how to get there, and they found the place, but Christine was not there. When Maggie and Richard returned, they said that they were amazed to think how far I must have walked! Maggie feeling so much betterer that she and Richard went off to listen to some organs, while I was so tired after all that walking that I went to bed.

Thur 28th Aug. Cloudy with very occasional very light showers. Walked to the camp shop and bought a Daily Telegraph. By the end of the day I had finished the crossword -- something that I don't do very often these days. Spent the day in the John Smith organ tent. At lunch I had a walk and listened to a Gavvy++ playing. Got talking to the operator, who turned out to be Jory (sic) Bennett, a very well-known arranger of music for organs. Of course I had heard of him, but I was amazed to find that he had actually heard of me!

In the afternoon I continued in the JS tent, Richard crewed for Christine Barker, and Maggie went round the Fair. After a very nice evening meal Maggie, Richard and I went to a concert played by the Wells Gavioli (not the same organ as the one with Jory Bennett). I was recognised and invit behind the scenes. It must have been quite late when we thanked the Wellses and said goodbye.

With best wishes to you and yours

Organ-grinder, Noteur, Dowser, Registered Blue Badge Guide, Computer Consultant By Appointment to the Nobility, Tax-Efficient Businessman, Advanced Motorist, Landlord, Carpet-Bagger, Coastal Navigator, Inventor, 1950s Film Actor, Amateur Plumber, Amateur Electrician, Scissors-Mender; and had a nice time (mostly) in Dorset.