Wheaton Aston to Penkridge
Tuesday 18th June
Yesterday morning, rather than enter anything into the blog,
I attempted to start another pastel. I had already tried passing a sheet of A4
watercolour paper through the printer, but without success, so I was trying to
trace the picture through with graphite paper. This was OK, but I fear it may
show through in the finished picture.
There was a time when, having laid a grid on my paper, I
could copy a picture with some success but, having tried this over the weekend,
the result was somewhat disappointing.
We moved on from Wheaton Aston yesterday and spent the night
between bridges 7 and 8 and were intending to stay for two nights. However, it
seems that the new Canals and Rivers Trust have overlooked this area; and much
more of the Shroppie; where mowing and strimming are concerned; because the
grass is so overgrown that, if we let Rusty loose she would disappear! So,
instead of staying here for two nights, we’ll be moving on to Cross Green.
Sadly, even though the forecast was for bright and warm,
this area of the country is building up some quite heavy clouds, so I wouldn’t
be surprised to find us cruising in the rain this morning. The wind seems to be
picking up too, and the combination of both is not something I look forward to.
Wednesday 19th June
Cross Green has a pub close to the canal, a Co-op, a butcher
and a baker but, aside from the pub the rest are about a mile away as the crow
flies, more like a mile and a half by pavement. So, having arrived here at
about 10 am, we moseyed on down to the Co-op for the paper and milk. We then
moseyed on back to the boat. Simple!
We’ve decided to stay for two days because Wifey wants to be
a Penkridge in order to pay for our next instalment of the car tax, which she
will do online and, since they the DVLA will not send to an address other than
where the car is registered, I will have to send an envelope to Alan, with the
address of the person who’s looking after the car, then he’ll have to send it on.
Isn’t bureaucracy marvellous?
Mother Nature too is rather marvellous and in some cases
pretty weird. Yesterday evening, as is my wont on most evenings after seven, I
was relaxing in my armchair listening to Radio 2. It was pretty warm at the
time and as I was gazing out of the window, I saw something I had never seen
before. I saw pairs of tiny flies rising up, apparently from the canal. Had it
been just one pair I would have put it down to coincidence, but this phenomenon
happened time and time again. I’m no expert in things of a wildlife nature but,
if I had my druthers, I would look upon this behaviour as a mating ritual.
There are, after all, certain species of bird that behave in this manner. Most
odd, and I’m completely flummoxed by it all!!
Now, a few days ago Wifey received an email from Yahoo, that
told her that her account had been showing suspicious behaviour and they
advised her to change her password, which she immediately did. It seem that
someone had hacked into her account and sent messages to people on her contact
list, which puzzled the two people who actually received these message, before
Yahoo spotted what was going on.
One of these messages went to an old colleague of hers from
Pitney-Bowes, whilst the other went to Cooper’s of Stortford. The one from
Cooper’s was replied to and suggested that they would look into whatever it was
she had supposedly asked about. The question is, why would anybody want to send
messages to her contacts, especially as it doesn’t appear to have been of a criminal
nature? Most odd!
Obviously there’s lots of odd stuff going on around the
Chamberlain household, or should that be boathold?
So, today we will spend at Cross Green and, if the
forecasters are right about tomorrow, we’ll stay here for another day too.
Thursday 20th June
Oh boy, the rain is coming down with a vengeance, so it
might be a good idea to stay at Cross Green for another day. It’s much cooler
too, so it might mean lighting the fire again.
Sadly, nothing of note happened yesterday, except perhaps
another walk into Coven, for the paper and some milk. How exciting, eh?
Today, if this rain stops and the wind holds off, we could
make our way to Gailey but, since we want to be at Penkridge for the weekend,
Gailey can wait until tomorrow.
Meanwhile, another walk into Coven for the paper, then play
it by ear.
Friday 21st June
Well, so much for summer! So far this week we have had 2
days of sun and 2 days of rain, with this morning showing heavy cloud. But at
least it is dry, which bodes well for a 5 mile run to gailey.
After 3 attempts this morning, I finally managed to renew my
Road Tax for the Alfa. Even though I correctly entered all necessary details,
my details could not be located until the 3rd attempt. So much for
modern technology!
Now, having spent 3 days here at Cross Green, come hell or
high water, we’re off to Gailey. Must get to Penkridge for Saturday, if only to
do some shopping, although the pub beckons for Sunday.
Sunday 23rd June
It’s raining again, with a fairly strong wind.
We’ve been at the Penkridge top moorings since Friday, which
is only 48 hour, so we really should move down the lock where the mooring do
not have a time limit. But, if this rain persists, we might just stay here an
extra day.
Yesterday we walked into town to visit the Saturday market,
but came away from there without buying anything. When we came through here a
few weeks ago, we snapped up some pretty good deals in cheese and bacon joints,
but these items were priced no better than Sainsbury’s and the Co-op yesterday,
so we did our shopping at Sainsbury’s.
Lunchtime today, if this rain persists, we’ll just walk to
the nearest pub, otherwise we’ll traipse along the towpath behind us to the
Cross Keys.
Monday 24th June
Well, after all the rain yesterday; which stopped before we
went to the pub, then started again after we got back to the boat; it’s looking
much better this morning. Although there’s quite a bit of cloud about and a
light wind, it doesn’t look too threatening, so we’ll be off to Acton Trussel
this morning.
The Cross Keys pub, which always has a friendly atmosphere,
is quite a walk away but, as it looked like rain and we didn’t fancy a walk
into town, that’s where we went. This time, unlike our visit on the way
through, it was much busier and had a group of middle-aged guys standing at the
bar laughing and joking. A much merrier atmosphere all round.
The Cross Keys is the only pub we have come across in all
our travels, where they have metered delivery of draught beer. On our last pass
through here, and not realising that the Guinness was being served in oversized
glasses, I actually questioned the ‘short’ measure, but immediately realised
what was going on. Despite my advanced years I did actually remember to keep my
mouth shut.
So, off to Acton Trussel and, since I have no idea if I’ll
be able to get online there, I’ll post this edition now.
Take care and have a good week.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
No comments:
Post a Comment