Prolog
Regular readers may have noticed that I have had a couple of weeks off from writing my column. This was due to the considerable effort required to prepare myself for the Village Show on 6th September. Now that things are back to normal at the Manor, and the children are back at school I am returning to writing my weekly missive.
Before I get round to telling you what I have been up to, I must just mention the success of the Village Show, with both the attendance and entries being higher than in previous years. My chocolate brownies seemed to go down well with the judges, receiving first place for the second year in a row, and surprisingly my potatoes won too, possibly because Jeff Owen didn’t enter the same class. As you may have gleaned, my long term aim is to beat Jeff (just once) in one of the vegetable classes- preferably the carrots, and I already have a ten year plan in operation to succeed in this endeavour. This plan has seven years remaining, and to divulge any further details would be to give the advantage away.
12th September
This evening the family split up, with Spencer and Marcus attending a wonderful concert held at St Mary’s by the Basingstoke Amateur Operatic Society. The theme was “popular songs from the War years”, and I understand that the event was well attended by local residents.
I rather felt that I had drawn the shorter straw as I was required to attend a dance show at the Haymarket with Violet-Elizabeth. Don’t get me wrong - the dancing and costumes were just wonderful, it is just that the music was so loud. I must be getting old!
16th September
Looking ahead in my diary, I see that the next social event in my calendar will be on 3rd October when I have been invited to the Mayor’s Charity Concert at the Anvil where a number of residents from the Parish will be performing. I shall have to dust off my hat as no doubt I shall be sitting near the Mayor. I met Councillor Gurden in Morrison’s car park last week and reminded him that I would be attending. Tickets for this event are still available from the Anvil Box office.
Just a final word of warning. Marcus has his first driving lesson on Saturday afternoon, so you might want to stay at home and watch the football on TV for a couple of hours. Spencer and I have taken him out a couple of times in the 4X4, just to learn the basics, but this time he is hoping to get out of second gear with a “proper” instructor. As usual, my efforts in explaining the rudimentary elements of driving didn’t seem to be greatly appreciated. I have never been very good at distinguishing between left and right, (especially when under pressure) and unfortunately it was noticed when we ended up on someone else’s drive.