Meeting Some Of The Locals

Although I am writing this in Rochester, we have had three consecutive days in Framlingham this week and it gave us time to get involved in a little activity locally.

On Wednesday I was invited to give a talk on my metal detecting hobby to the members of the Rotary Club Of High Suffolk at The Old Mill House pub in Saxtead Green. I prepared a power point presentation and took along a wide selection of finds as well as all the equipment. There was a bit of a technical hitch with the projector which meant that I had to give the talk without my notes but I managed to remember most of what I had intended to say and the talk seemed to go down well - plenty of questions were asked and there was a good response to a short competition that I ended the talk with. The pub put on a good meal and, it was an enjoyable evening with a very friendly bunch of people.

Last night we were invited to make up the numbers for a team in a pub quiz. Things didn't go too smoothly when we turned up at The Station instead of The Railway (a forgivable mistake don't you think?). Fortunately as the two pubs are only separated by a few hundred yards we made it to the right venue with plenty of time to spare. Unfortunately the couple we were originally teaming up with sent us a message earlier in the day to say that they were unable to come but encouraging us to go anyway. The quiz master put us in with another team and we made a respectable showing although I am not sure that my answer to "who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" in the "answers beginning with F" round endeared me to my teammates. It turns out it wasn't Fonzie but Pope Francis (although I would contend that Pope Francis begins with P rather than F). Our contribution helped us to third place. The quiz is held every fourth Thursday and it's great fun. We'll be back for the next one which is in October due to refurbishments planned for the pub in September.

I also continued with the business mentoring that I am doing for Suffolk Chamber Of Commerce this week. I have been teamed up with a businesswoman in Newmarket who needed help in interpreting her financial figures. We started in May and I have set up a number of reports and budgets for her and she is now able to financially forecast and plan and fully interpret her balance sheet. Five meetings on and the project has been extended to cover trying to grow the business. It has been good to be able to share some of my experience with her and I hope that my help will make a difference to her success.

Sadly not all of the locals are as friendly as those from the quiz and the Rotary Club and one crept up my trouser leg at some time on Wednesday evening (perhaps it was bored by the talk) and left its mark. I didn't see what bit me but it left these two enormous blood filled lumps on my leg - ouch. I've gone all summer without being bitten once while Marion has been targeted scores of times.

We've got almost a week in Framlingham ahead of us now. We're hoping for some good weather so we can relax and enjoy the town and the garden and maybe even a couple of hours out with the detector or on the bikes.