16th March
With the roads of Basingstoke gridlocked again due to the overrun of work on the replacing the expansion joints on the ring road flyover I felt compelled to get in touch with the Highways Authority to vent my displeasure. Imagine my surprise therefore to receive a call mid afternoon from the Head of Hampshire roads at Winchester apologising for the inconvenience and explaining the problem. I graciously accepted his apology whilst offering a few suggestions of my own on how things could be managed better.
17th March
Today I had an interesting telephone call from someone who is, shall we say, very close to the Village Show organising committee. Apparently a meeting has been held to arrange the show classes for the show in September, and there is some suggestion that long pointed carrots won’t feature. Instead more than a passing consideration is being given to the current trend to grow patio vegetables, thus making short miniature crops more desirable. This explains a lot! Jeff obviously had wind of this new departure.
18th March
With my giant crops already planted, immediate action was obviously required, so I contacted the Chairman of the Village Show Committee demanding to know if these rumours were true, and in particular whether my 10 year plan to overhaul Jeff Owen in the long and pointed carrot class was to be abandoned. Chris Beadle was very reassuring, and advised me that although there were some amendments to the show schedule for this year, based on feedback from the judges last year, the long and pointed carrot class would remain for the foreseeable future. Panic over for the time being.
19th March
Marcus tells me that he has had a look at Google My Street and reports that the Manor is clearly shown in all its glory. Maybe you won’t be surprised to hear that Pablo also features heavily in the views, appearing at four other doors along the street, as well as being visible asleep on the hall table inside the Manor itself, no doubt after dining at all the other establishments!