Atherstone to Handsacre
Saturday 21st
September (Crumpet Day)
Well, we got through the four
locks without incident yesterday, and dry too. We moored up between locks, so
to speak, although the next lock can’t be seen from here.
Today we have just two more
locks to do, and then we’ll be in Polesworth. This is the place where we spent
Sunday lunchtime in a local pub, only to discover that it was the manager’s
last day there, and it showed. The walls had been virtually stripped of pictures
and there were no ornaments or other items on display. Hopefully the new owners
have made substantial changes because, despite there being another pub closer
to the canal, we do prefer this one. Watch this space!
Sunday 22nd
September
It only took just over an
hour to reach Polesworth and, much to our surprise there were no other boats
moored there. We didn’t give that much thought until later in the afternoon,
when another boat pulled in, stopped long enough to do some shopping and then
moved on, leaving us the only ones there.
Now, we love the peace and
quiet of being on our own, but not in a town the size of Polesworth, and
especially not on a Saturday night, and definitely not when two ne pathways
have been constructed to allow foot traffic onto the canal from the nearby
park. So, around about 4pm Sheila took a walk through the next three bridges,
to see if there was room at the other end, which there was, so we moved the
boat and joined three boats already there.
It’s strange the way the mind
works, you know there’s nothing to worry about, but your instinct tells you
otherwise, and we tend to run with our instincts in these matters. Better safe
than sorry, eh?
Now, a matter of some
importance to eBay users. The following comes from an American lady called
Debbie Henry who, as anybody who has seen her blogs will know, is a
stay-at-home-mom who earns her living mostly on eBay and is recognised as an
expert in all things eBay.
===========================================
“Updates to listing conditions.
To further create a marketplace where buyers find what they want and drive
positive user experience, we updated the provision regarding listing conditions
to recognise the appearance and
placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on a variety of
factors. So, in some situations a listing may not appear in some search and
browse results of sort order.”
Deb: But wait, there’s more!!
“We strive to create a
marketplace where buyers find what they are looking for. Therefore, the
appearance or placement of listings in search and browse results will depend on
a variety of factors, including, but not limited to:
1/ buyer’s location, search query, browsing site, and history;
2/ item’s location, listing
format, price and shipping cost, terms of service, end time, history,
and relevance to the user query;
3/ seller’s history, Detailed
Seller Ratings, and Feedback; and
4/ number of listings matching the buyer’s query
Accordingly, to drive a positive user experience, a
listing may not appear in some search and browse results regardless of the sort
order chosen by the buyer.”
Deb: Did they
just do what you think they did???
Yep.
They just gave themselves permission to STEAL from their sellers –
outright.
Make of this what
you will, but I for one am now rather cagey about selling on eBay. They seem to
be suggesting that, regardless of the fact that you are paying listing fees,
your item may not even show up anywhere on their listings!! In fact, depending
on eBay’s discretionary powers, your listing may not appear at all, and yet you
still pay fees. Way to go!!
Today we’ll be staying here
at Polesworth and using a different pub to the one we would have used. This is
because another pub, one that we didn’t know even existed, has come to our
attention. When we were moored at the other end of town yesterday, Wifey
noticed so writing on the side of the nearby bridge that read, ‘Pub’, with an
arrow pointing left. So, after lunch we took a walk in that direction and, sure
enough there’s a pub a short way up the road, called The Royal Oak. It’s not
even listed in the Nicholson’s Guide, despite being so close to the canal,
which would account for us not noticing it before.
Monday 23rd
September
The Royal Oak pub at
Polesworth is a man’s pub, well, it is at Sunday Lunchtime. We arrived there at
about 12.15 and there were a few blokes standing at the bar. Within half an
hour several more came in, still no females. Towards about 1pm a few
footballers came in, accompanied by one girl, and that was it.
Obviously this pub does like
to look after its regulars because, on the bar was a tray of snacks; lumps of
cheese, slices of pork pies, cocktail sausage rolls and biscuits; that kind of
thing. On a separate table sat an electrically powered, stainless steel cooker
which, when opened by one of the footballers, appeared to contain chicken stew,
or some such.
The pub will be under
refurbishment from this morning and will be closed for two weeks. It will be
interesting to see what they do to the place by the time we return.
And that was our excitement
for Sunday. This morning we’ll be off to Fazeley Junction, where we’ll catch
the bus to Ventura Park, an out-of-town shopping precinct, where I’ll be able
to get some more art materials.
Tuesday 24th
September
Rusty had us up at 1am this
morning. She was obviously busting to go out and this is the 2nd
time in just a few days. We’re assuming that she’s either picked something up
on her walks, or it’s just old age, We’re scrupulous with the cleanliness of
her bowls and her food is always from fresh sachets or tubs and, more
importantly, we never give her our scraps. We really don’t know what to make of
it.
Autumn is here, though you
wouldn’t think so with this warm spell. We lit the fire again just a few days
ago, but only because it was chilly in the mornings. Right now, despite having
the side hatch and the front doors open, I’m fairly sweltering.
Yesterday, more in hope than
expectation, we visited that arts and crafts shop in Ventura Park again and,
would you believe it, they didn’t have any of the white watercolour paper that
I bought last time. I did find a pad of lightweight pastel paper though, this
time in 3 shades of white. Well, they’re supposed to be white, but all I see is
3 shades of pale yellow. But, it will do until we get to Crick Marina, when
I’ll be able to shop online at Turner’s in Stockport. This is a family business
and, if they don’t stock what you need, they’ll order it in.
I’ve been gradually
persevering with pastels and, despite a few that I’ve thrown out, I do believe
I’m slowly improving. When I finish one that I’m ‘really’ happy with, I’ll see
what I can do about posting it, along with the original photo.
This morning we’ll be off to
Whittington.
Wednesday 25th
September
We had a really good day
yesterday. After Wifey walked off for the paper and milk, we disposed of
rubbish and topped up with water, then took a slow meander to Whittington,
passing right through the village and mooring up between two open fields. After
the initial drabness of the morning, the sun eventually came out and gave us a
pretty warm day.
The temperature remained
quite high throughout the day and way into the evening, so much so that we
decided to let the fire go out, rather than suffer the heat first thing this
morning.
In actual fact, when I got up
at about 5.30 it was quite chilly in here, so, having first checked that we had
sufficient voltage in the batteries; 12.5 as it happens; I switched the heating
on and, nothing, zilch, nada!!
Now, back at the end of last
month – was it really only a month ago? – we called into a Marina,
initially to take a look to see if we wanted to winter over there, but also to
have our heater checked out. We had to call back a few days later for this, but
their engineer assured us that, contrary to what we thought, the burner only
needed cleaning out, rather than replacing. This was excellent news to us and
so was the £50 bill. We suspect now that we met with an engineer who didn’t
want to go through the process of ordering a new burner and settled for the
easy option. Needless to say I have complained to the marina people, but I’m
not holding my breath for a refund. Equally needless to say, as you already
know, we won’t be going there for the winter and, although our decision had
nothing to do with our present heater situation, we’re even happier that we’re
going to Crick, where they have more than one engineer to call upon, should we
have problems during the winter months.
Today has dawned misty and
drizzly, but it’s not windy and so we’ll probably go on to Fradley Junction
this morning.
Thursday 26th
September
Just a small amount of rain
on the way to Fradley, but nothing to worry about or get us soaked. We were
pretty lucky to find a big enough spot to moor in but, soon after we did so the
boat in front moved off.
Later on, after lunch we took
a walk to buy our pudding, which came in the shape of a chocolate lolly,
followed by a pint of Murphy’s at the White Swan. The amount of boat traffic
passing through was quite amazing, considering the time of year. At one point
there were four boats queuing up to go through one of the locks, only one of
which was a holiday boat.
I received an email from
the marina re-the repair to our heater. Of course, as I expected, they have placed
the onus on us, either to take the boat back for another look; as if; or give
them a call, and also suggested we may have other electrical problems, which we
don’t believe for one minute, considering the fact that we now have six new
batteries and the new Alternator to battery Charger. As far as we are
concerned, all that really needed doing in the first place, was to replace the
burner.
Friday 27th
September
I think I may have stirred up
a hornets nest with my email to the marina yesterday, although not in a bad way. I
received another email back from them this morning, this time from the owner of
the marina, who has asked me to give him a call because he thinks he knows what
the problem is. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, because we really don’t want to
be buying a new burner every time we have a problem.
We moved on to Handsacre
yesterday morning and managed to keep dry whilst doing so. What with this being
the tail end of our annual cruise, we now spend most of our time simply lazing
around and taking short walks. Today will be similar in that respect, as we’ll
be moving on to Rugely for shopping and then, since we don’t feel comfortable
staying there overnight, we’ll move a couple of miles further on and spend the
night opposite the pig farm.
So, let’s get this thing
posted. Have a good weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
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