The weather was a much kinder on us this morning. There was enough light not to need further illumination on the beach when we went down, and we only needed to go there the once. The tide was further out than yesterday and there was plenty of room for us and the blanket of weed that had been delivered on the previous tide. Again, on the western side there was also a field of shingle, which I am convinced is connected with the arrival of the weed. 

There were only a couple of deliveries to the shop this morning and they were of little concern apart from the usual Laurel and Hardy Newspaper Company issues that will seemingly be with us forever. Some of our bread was not delivered because the baker had problems of his own with a broken down oven to contend with.

I was very happy to know that I was not suffering alone, especially when the network failed again this morning. The first card payment did not go through and even attached to our secondary wireless access point, I could not get it to work. It sent me scurrying around for a fix and I discovered that there were two problems working in harmony to fox me.

We have a cable that runs from the router upstairs to the switch in the shop. It is a single point of failure and if it is not working, near enough everything stops. I noticed soon after our building work was completed that the upstairs end had a dickie connection and had to be treated with care. I had obviously moved it when I pulled the matrix unit away yesterday evening to see what was wrong with it. Jiggling the wire got it working again. 

The root cause problem took a little longer to resolve as it was far more elusive. I had thought it to be the dodgy wire but when it was not just that, I was a bit dumbfounded. It took a while but when all that is impossible is eliminated, it only leaves the improbable, which was turning off the broken matrix unit which I did this morning. It seems that although the unit was not serving up the Internet, it was still talking with the other units in the matrix and by turning it off, the others went on strike in sympathy. Plugging it back it fixed the problem.

I will leave it until we do not need the downstairs network so earnestly to remove the unit via the software option before turning it off again. I will also get our friendly local electrician in to help me wire a backup cable between the floor and to fix the existing one. I have the tools to do it myself but there are around eight wires of subtly different colours which confound me rather.

Did I mention that it was sunny. We had largely clear skies above us and big white fluffy clouds out to the east. The breeze, such as it was, started in the northwest, and veered northerly before backing all the way around to the southwest and then on to the southeast later in the day. There was a fearsome ground sea running that kept the fishing fleet on the slip and the hardier of surfers out on the water. There were some very good waves either side of high water at eleven o’clock and I spotted more than a few have a good run in from quite far out the back.

Just into the afternoon, the Missus arrived and told me that I was going off to The Farm. She entreated me to go hence and hook up the flail mower to the tractor so that she could take it to her farmer pal so that he could have a look at it. If you recall, dear reader, the offer to have a look at the flail mower was extended before the commencement of the season. I could not hook the flail up then because the jack on the tipping trailer was broken and thus, I could not remove the tractor from it.

Since then, the Missus had propped up the trailer on blocks and moved the tractor to be close by the flail. We will have to be sharp about putting the trailer on some firmer footing as the wood is likely to rot and collapse if we leave it too long. That aside, the tractor was free to hook up to the flail – my job, apparently.

On the face of it, attaching the flail mower should be fairly straightforward and in the world of farmers and the average Joe, it probably would be. We, however, are talking about The Boathouse Farm and the grumpy shopkeeper doing it. It was never going to be easy, now was it. 

For starters, which is a very appropriate phrase, there is an issue with the ignition switch. It needs a bit of love, care and a fair bit of jiggling to get it to start the engine. We have both become reasonably adept at it, but it can still take multiple goes at getting the tractor to start. Multiple goes at getting it to start tend to be a bit harsh on the battery and since the tractor had been barely used over the summer, the battery was not in the best condition to start with. It was not long before it became very apparent that the battery was not up to the job and the needed a bit of help.

I had taken the girls with me. It was not the best move when I had intended to move the tractor around a bit, but they needed to get out, so it was a compromise. With them hacking about here and there, I was loathe to move the truck, so in the first instance I went and fetched a spare battery from the cabin. It was not one that we keep on charge, so I was dubious about its effectiveness, but it was worth a try. Actually, it was not, because it did not help one iota.

There was nothing for it but to move the truck into position to jump start the tractor off it. This meant moving the girls, well, ABH anyway who had decided to rest in the shade under the truck by the back wheel. I managed to coax her out and with BB already deciding she had enough and was back in the truck while I laboured, I moved it into position. 

In short order, I got the tractor started then had to move the truck out of the way again. With enough room now to manoeuvre the tractor into position, I set about lining the lifting arms up with the corresponding docking bars on the flail. That part was easy enough after some fine tuning, but the problem then was that the flail was too low for the arms which would go no lower. It was high enough when I left it there on a wooden pallet but that was six months ago or more. Time and weather had weakened the pallet which collapsed under the weight of the flail. 

Not to be defeated so early in the game, I thought to push the flail back so that the back end slipped off the pallet a bit and the front therefore would rise. Unbelievably, that worked and I was able to slip the lifting arms under the bars and slot them into place. Having attached the top bar all that was left was to fit the PTO shaft that drives mechanism – when it is working. 

Given that the flail was sitting in amongst a bed of nettles I thought to move the ensemble to somewhere rather less nettlely. The easiest solution was to put the tractor nose first back into its shed, leaving the back end out and accessible for the fitting operation. The PTO shaft is heavy and needs to be held level with one hand while the other slides it onto the shaft. It is a practised skill to make it work and one I still need to practise. It took longer than attaching the arms.

Last, I felt it sensible to test the PTO drive to see if after leaving the equipment alone for six months had somehow fixed it. For this the tractor engine needs to be running, so I turned the key and discovered that despite the engine running for half an hour, the battery was still flat.

Since the tractor was now nose first into the shed, no amount of positioning the truck would allow our jump leads to span the gap between the batteries. I understood that the battery would need to be charged, so I thought to remove it from the tractor and take it up to the cabin where I could attach it to the solar panel array. That would work very well if only I could have found the spanner that we use to move the batteries around. It was in none of the usual places, although I just remembered that I did not look under the sink in the cabin where the charging batteries are kept.

Time was marching on a bit, so I called the Missus and we agreed that I would leave everything and come back to the shop. She would be able to start the tractor from our booster pack – probably – when she needed to move it. 

Typically, the girls had decided that sitting in and around the truck was not so much fun anymore and that running about the place and hiding from me was much more entertaining. Once I had started the truck, they magically reappeared and we saddled up and made to go home. If I had any notion that my tribulations were finished with, I was of course mistaken. As I went to close the gate behind us it occurred to me that I was still wearing my steel toecap wellies which, during the summer, are kept in the barn, which was exactly where I had left my shoes when I changed earlier. Cue, go and unlock the barn again to change footwear.

It had been very warm and gloriously sunny for all the time we were up at The Farm. I had, naturally for such a venture, changed into DIYman winter overalls – which proved sensible in as much as otherwise I would have been nursing nettle stings all weekend. However, I was uncomfortably warm, with my exertions making me hotter still, and was very pleased to change back into grumpy shopkeeper shorts and shirt when I got back.

We had been busy, I was told, and we remained busy thorough what was left of the afternoon, which was most gratifying. In fact, we were busier than we had been all week selling goods from across the spectrum of our stock.

Many people are amazed by just how wide that spectrum is and feel it necessary to comment upon it when they arrive at the counter. This happens with some frequency so it was with some bewilderment that one of the five minutes to closing rushers earlier in the week told me that he expected to see more “nick-knacks” in the shop. 

I had observed his progress down the grocery aisle and a brief dalliance at the posh food section by the drinks fridge, so I enquired has he looked down the gift aisle, perhaps. He expressed surprise that there was a gift aisle, telling me he had not seen it and promptly wandered off in the direction of the newspapers and surf jewellery, narrowing missing the top of the gift aisle by mere feet. He left without making a purchase, which included the energy drink he had in his hand which, in fairness, I could not vouch that he had not brought in with him.

We closed the shop on a very successful out of season day with the bay still looking splendid in its glorious coat of slowing setting sunshine and blue sky. It was still dark when I took the girls out last thing but at least it was not raining and nor were we shrouded in mist. I say that on balance, that was a good day for grumpy shopkeeping and Boathouse Farming.