A challenging first day down at the harbour

IT could not have been a more perfect Easter Sunday. The sun was shining as I drove into Exmouth for my first duty of the year as a volunteer with the Harbour Master's crew, and Blondie’s The Tide Is High was blaring out of the radio... tuned to Boom, obviously.

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Actually, she was a little early - high tide wasn’t until an hour or so later, but I forgave her.

I was an hour early for my call time - after all, you can’t be too sure what the traffic is going to be like on an Easter Sunday. But no, it was fairly quiet as I pulled into Camperdown Terrace, where our wonderful old buoy store is situated next to a small slipway.

I got out of the car feeling proud that I had remembered the code for the padlock for the yard gates for parking. So why couldn’t I open them? Someone - no names - had decided, to be doubly sure all was secure, to use another padlock... that required a key which I didn’t have! I made the relevant phone calls and was assured that someone was on her way. No problem, this wasn’t going to this sour my mood.