Friday, March 11, 1994 - Haulout, Norfolk, VA

Beautiful day! Sunny and clear, but windy and brisk. It feels so good to be out in the fresh air instead of cooped up in an office with no windows.
West Marine has the most incredible customer service policy. Years ago, Roy bought 300 feet of anchor rode (line) at a West Marine in Oakland. He had it on a spool and never used it. A few weeks ago, he unwound it and found a poorly spliced section in the middle. Since this line would only be used in storm conditions, we certainly didn't want something that might pull apart. This morning, we took it back to West Marine in Hampton. Roy didn't have a receipt, he wasn't even certain he'd bought it at West Marine, he wasn't sure if it was 250 or 300 feet long, and it's been years since he bought it in another part of the country, yet the manager unhesitatingly gave Roy 300 feet of brand new rode, no questions asked! Now that's real service. That's the kind of service that keeps customers going back to West Marine year after year. No wonder the company's growing. Originally, they were just in California, then they opened some stores in Florida, and now they're expanding up and down the East Coast. Their policy is obviously paying off. Roy alone has spent tens of thousands of dollars at various West Marine stores.
In order to get to West Marine, which is across the bay, we needed a car. This marina's brochure said they had a loaner car, so I went to the office to see if we could borrow it. Unfortunately, the loaner car is defunct, so Mrs. Cobb loaned us her personal car! She is so nice. And she kept insisting we use her shower, so we finally did so.
It's a very nice shower, and we feel a lot better.
In the afternoon, I walked around and got acquainted with the neighborhood, as I'd been wanting to do all week. There's a small shopping center a block from here, but no grocery store. I bought a new pair of shoes at a bargain price and then walked to the Food Lion a mile or so away. Grabbed some vegetables, checked out, and got to the bus stop in plenty of time to catch the bus back.
What a pleasure it is walking in these new shoes! My old ones were half a size too small, so my poor toes kept bumping against the end. Now my toesies have plenty of room, so they're happy.