According to you, Gunit, despite knowing Mr Pike you claim he knew sweet FA about telephones. In which case, he may have assumed the Statesman was a GPO one (which, actually, it was!)
Surprised Nevill asked Mr Pike to come round and fix the phone if he was clueless: and surprised Mr Pike took it back to his workshop to see if he could fix it.
It maybe that some have no idea of how things were/are still done. It's highly likely that June never bought groceries which couldn't be bought locally at the village shop. They'd have created employment and a living for 'locals' on the farm and in the house. Personal recommendation counted for a lot and a big plus was that 'locals', out of deference, probably didn't charge the same prices of them, as did outsiders, nor were they as quick to present their bills. On the whole, though, the Bambers had a better reputation, locally, than did some. A sorry tale from my own village had it that many small, local businesses failed because of the unpaid bills run up with them by a 'grand' family who lived there.
