It was a very disappointing sight looking from the window first thing: the mist was back. The wind had gone to the northwest again, which gave us all the trouble before. Radio Pasty and other commentators had told me that it would clear in the afternoon, but it was still hanging about at gone one o’clock. There was a fair amount of mizzle with the low cloud, too. That came and went and in between, it seemed awfully warm although the breeze took the edge off it a bit.

We were a little busier a little earlier today. Our visitors still shunned the early morning but closing in on the middle of the day, we started to see, couples mainly, buying going home presents. At one point there was a bit of a crowd developing across the road on the benches, but it came to nothing in the end. I think that many people were trying to guess whether the mist would clear or not before deciding what they would do today. It would seem that in the end, they all beggered off somewhere else.

One of our neighbours from a way up the hill discovered our Sea Sisters canned pilchards and hake as she made one of her random visits. She told me that they were visiting friends abroad next week and wanted something different to take as gifts. I had been very surprised how quickly these premium cans of fish had sold, given the price. I think that I have explained before, expensive they may be, but the quality is exemplary and very much value for money as a special treat.  

The display had been thinning out quite quickly and I had been planning to order some more over the last few days. Our neighbour’s purchase of three, pushed me to place the order immediately after she left. I had a reply almost immediately. The only stock they had was for one of the pilchards and a cuttlefish, which I did not think would sell all that well. The rest was Norfolk whelks which was pushing the boundaries of local produce a little too far. 

Reluctantly, I decided against buying just the one line as I think that the tins work well as a range. I did ask if we could have a conversation about their production cycle so that I could plan when we might purchase replacements, but I think, given the timing, it will have to wait until next year. I had a reply to my query a little later in the afternoon and was given one of the founding partners’ telephone numbers. I will pick the best time and give her a call.

A little way into the afternoon, our new railing arrived. This was a surprise. It was a surprise on two counts. First, it arrived far more quickly than I might have imagined because I was almost certain that it was custom made; the length of it was not a standard size. The biggest surprise, however, was the weight and construction of the thing. 

It rather exceeded my expectations and was something probably more likely seen attached to brick-built outhouses or perhaps outside military establishments aimed at deterring enemy tanks. During ordering, I had at the last moment shortened the run to make an allowance for the elliptical feet. Even so, I now feared that due to their chunkiness, it would not fit. I put the feet in place and measured again and, in theory, it just about works. We also appear to have an extra handrail, which I cannot quite fathom, there being two lengths for the legs but two extra poles of handrail length. Ah, I just fathomed it. We have a mid-height rail as well - for small people.

The expected afternoon rush never happened. This, of course, was a huge disappointment because the morning quiet, though not as quiet as previous days, did happen. It means that we will have far too many pasties (sorry, MS) for the weekend. We perambulated slowly through the rest of the afternoon until I had made my sandwich ahead of Lifeboat training in the evening. Then we got busy.

Having been quiet all afternoon until that point, it took me more than an hour to eat my sandwich. I just about finished before I had to close up and head over to the Lifeboat station. 

The day had transformed after my last complaint about the mist not clearing. The skies were cloudless and the sun was truly in command. I should really have worn my Top Gun aviator sunglasses as I drove the Tooktrak down to a fairly busy beach. There were some young ladies gathered on the old slipway to my right as I drove down, waiting on a bit of wall jumping as soon as I was out of the way. There was not a great deal of room to position the boat as the tide was almost fully in and we waited there until the big boat launched.

There was still enough swell in the bay to push a bit of water over the Harbour wall, much to the delight of the aforementioned young ladies. There were some kayaks afloat in the Harbour as well, messing about, so the swell was not severe. It was enough, however, for our young lady helm to complain that her knees had taken a battering during their hour and a half training. I am surprised that the Institution has not issued some mandate on how to knee to avoid the long-term effects as they are usually quite hot on such things.

We hung about in the crew room and discussed matters of great import while drinking cups of tea and consuming flapjacks that our sole lady member of the very excellent Shore Crew thought to provide. She is a prolific baker and nearly always brings a cake of some sort on a Thursday when she attends. Some ungrateful bounder did suggest that the flapjacks were a little lacklustre as they had no chocolate in them. I will have words with myself later.

We were called to the boat hall by an enthusiastic member of the team who thought to ring the bell when he saw the big boat come back into the bay. It had only arrived to continue it exercise plan and we had to wait another half an hour in the sunshine until it had finished.

I saw the Inshore boat heading back to the Harbour and went to attend to the Tooktrak. I was in the throes of my preparations when the same crew member who had prematurely rung the attendance bell asked that the Inshore return to the bay so that he could photograph both boats doing a ‘fly-past’. He is not only an avid and accomplished photographer but also the pseudo-official station photographer and also is used by the Institute on occasion to attend and photograph events. It added another half an hour to our proceedings which, of course, we did not mind at all [it says here].

While I attended to bringing the Inshore boat back onto the trailer with a rolling swell not making the job any easier, the big boat was coming back onto the slipway. I had a very clear view and can attest to the fact that it was indeed a textbook recovery up the shop slip. The rest of the procedure, I had to assume because I was engaged in taking the Inshore boat up the Harbour slipway for a wash down and putting away. 

We returned to assist with the big boat’s recovery when we had finished and saw to the securing of the boat and the turning on the cradle to make the boat ready for its next service. We are, after all, a very fastidious, very excellent Shore Crew.