Here it is, Friday night, and the end of my first week acting as Harbour Master. Only five more to go! I can’t wait to be finished with it. Of course, since I can’t go boating and even working with my clay makes my ribs ache, I guess it is better to be doing something than nothing.

I’m expected to be in the office between nine and five, mostly for the telephone. I did know that, having had occasion to ring the Harbour in the past. Not that I have had very many callers, only a couple of people inquiring as to whether we might want to sell the land. Answering them was not difficult.

Jik rang yesterday, wanting to know how I was getting on. He has been Harbour Master and he knows me so he ought to understand just how uncongenial the job is.

The first thing I do when I get to the office is put on the heater. The administration building is bitterly cold and even with the door shut the office takes a while to warm up. I don’t think I’ve taken my coat off before ten o’clock any morning this week. Then I go along to the front door to see whether the post has arrived. It usually comes before I get here but Wednesday we had snow and that held things up a bit.

Dealing with the mail takes most of the morning since everything is new and I need to think about what needs to be done. I write cheques, Jik and Gilt arranged for me to be a signatory to the bank account, and enter expenditure in the account book. It all seems to be going out, the money, I can’t see where any comes in, but perhaps it doesn’t matter. Gilt can deal with that when he gets back. I’m really just keeping things ticking over.