We’ve reached The Shroppie

We have just moored up on the outskirts of Brewood (between bridges 7 & 8) on the Shroppie and we got the last available space.  We’ve only been on the Shroppie once before and we remember mooring being difficult due to there being a hard shelf along much of the bank.
We stayed at Penkridge over the weekend.  We mooched around the large outdoor market on Saturday and, in the evening, had that promised take-away.  Ray joined us late in the evening having driven from Staines to Bridlington transporting the ‘in her 80’s’ Ethel and spent the night with us on his way back.  So …….. we now ‘sort-of’ know what he’s been up to here in England for the last month!  He flies back to Cypress tomorrow.  It was good to see him.               
                    The popular Cross Keys pub at Penkridge

Apparently, this pub used to be very isolated but today there’s a massive housing estate behind it.

Something I really find hard to accept.                                                                      
Also whilst at Penkridge we took Maisie to the vet for her annual booster jab.  Since we’ve been travelling around we have had to use a variety of vets for this purpose.  We’ve visited vets in:- Burton-on-Trent, Banbury, Staines, Ramsey, Hillmorton and now, Penkridge.  How can it be that for exactly the same thing prices have ranged from £26.00 to £46.00?!  Surely there ought to be a standard fee for standard treatments?  It hardly encourages ‘responsible pet ownership’!  No prizes for guessing where the most expensive vet was but you might be surprised to know where the least expensive was.
John has obviously got fed up with flowers!  He’s changed to painting geometric shapes.
‘Posh’ Fender brackets or what!!
Anyway, tomorrow our very good friends, Mick & Lynn (Mick was our Best Man bless ‘im so they are also ‘old’ friends!) are coming to find us and the plan is that we spend the next couple of days together.  Time to dust off the BBQ and …………… await the rain!!  (It always seems to rain when we have a BBQ together!)  Lynn and I just hand the ‘boys’ a big umbrella ……..SIMPLES!