A Tuesday tale

Yesterday, Mum was excited because she had found someone who could service her sewing machine. This is her very special and rather elderly Singer. It was one of the first, or perhaps the first, to have a swing needle for zigzag stitch and the machine was used for countless dressmaking and other projects over the years.

It is too heavy. A few years ago, Mum bought a light weight replacement but has never liked it.

Today we drove east to find the repair man. I punched the postcode into the satnav and off we went. Part way along the journey we discovered that we thought we were going to different places. I thought it was Westerhope and Mum knew is was  Wide Open. We stopped the car and phoned the 2 numbers we had. No answer on either. Then I checked the firm on Safari and found I had the wrong postcode.

A few minutes later we were at the shop in Wide Open. (Yes, she was right all the time.) It's a hardware and DIY shop but they repair machines.

We had planned to wait in the next door coffee shop but it was closed for holidays. From Seaton Burn we came to a large roundabout with a Little Chef. By now it was lunchtime.

I haven't been in a Little Chef for years. This was very run down, with fading and damaged upholstery. We had a warm welcome. I had a bacon butty with a cup of tea. Mum opted for the pancake with banana and toffee sauce. (It was very thick, but she managed to eat half of it and all the ice cream.)

I don't often photograph other people eating: this is 2 days running!

The machine is serviced and new rubber feet were found and screwed in.

I've spent the rest of the afternoon revising our Walk Leaders' Handbook for our next training session. What fun!

Next time I'll try to find somewhere more salubrious for our lunch.

PS When I checked my original postcode it was for the home of the company owner not the shop. However, it was in Woolsington not Westerhope or Wide Open. All very near to each other as it happens!