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8. Life long friend Derek Bowers is fighting an appeal
at Haddenham in respect of a refusal by the District Council to grant his application
to build forty houses and eight shops on five acres in the middle of the village.
He is cross examined by bumptious Johnathan Fairn for the Council who says "Mr
Bower you see yourself as the entrepreneur of Haddenham, "I'm sorry sir
I do not understand that word". Mr Bowers you're going to build houses
here, you're going to build houses there, you're going to build houses everywhere".
"Oh no sir", says Mr Bowers, "I think you mean Aylesbury Vale
District Council". Appeal won.
9. Philip Rowlinson, my boss, is in court regarding a boundary despute he is handling for a client. I have surveyed the offending boundary fence which is not quite straight and has a little blip in it. Questioned about the blip in the witness box, Mr Rowlinson explained that it is just a slip of the draughtsman's pen - I was outraged.
10. I had a new experience at Stoke Mandeville, in one of the mid 1970's heat waves. I was called to this year old bungalow, which was suffering heavy fracturing of the walls and various stresses causing windows and doors to seize. By constructing a cardboard model the only way I could get the cracks to open in the same way was to push the model from below. My first experience of clay heave caused by dried out clay beneath pear and apple trees taking on moisture once the trees were removed. The first movement breaks the drains and more moisture is introduced. Over three months I took level readings and whilst the front of the dwelling was stable the rear wall rose one whole course of brickwork.