Nothing if not Eventful ….

It’s a well known thing that you can be waiting, waiting, waiting for a bus and then ………… three come along together!  Well, events have been like that over the last 24 hours:-

• Yesterday afternoon I sort-of fell in.  Well, 1/2 of 1/2 of me fell in at any rate.  Usually pretty sure-footed, my foot slipped between the bank and the gunnel and down I tumbled.  Not fully IN you understand because my bum was not able to follow the rest of me down the available space but ……… I hurt myself all the same.  I am now sporting some magnificent bruises – some to my thigh and others to my ego!!  Yes, there was an audience!

 

• Lunchtime today – we arrived at the lovely little town of Northwich – bustling with shops and shoppers.  John has been having withdrawal symptoms for a Big Mac and ……. there was a MacDonalds!  So, he was a happy bunny.  I know, noses tend to get turned up when MacDonalds is mentioned but he likes them, OK?  And my treat?  WELL!  “Blow me down”, “knock me over with a feather” – I was presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers because it’s our 39th wedding anniversary tomorrow.  I’ve not had any for numbers 1-38 so???????  Now, Derek, I know you will be as gob-smacked as me but these have not been foraged from the hedgerows – they really have been bought and paid for and they are simply gorgeous.    I even had to get my one-and-only good vase out of hibernation!

 

• After lunch we headed on upstream.  Hunt’s Lock – no problem.  I’ll have to put my flower pots under close guard on the way back tomorrow, however, as the Lock Keeper has threatened to nab them!!

           

Getting into Vale Royal Locks was a bit of a Magical Mystery Tour – not this way, not that way, not that lock, this lock ……  Age-related memory problems have clearly kicked in already because neither of us could remember anything about this lock.  In actual fact, neither of us have remembered much at all about the entire river!!

Just upstream from the locks is the mooring spot we were heading for.  As we approached, one boat was already there and two others were just coming from further upstream and started to pull in.  John pulled over closer to the right bank and …………… there we stayed!!  It’s a common occurrence for us to get stuck on the canals but not on a river!!  Closely observed by the audience, (!) we struggled and struggled but to no avail.  Then, help came in the form of Adrian & Carol, the crew of one of the boats which had just tied up.  They very kindly pulled us off backwards!  Thank you so much, Adrian and Carol – we would probably still be there had you not come to the rescue!  It turned out that they were travelling with the boat behind – both being members of The Wolverhampton Boat Club.  And, we know the crew of the other boat – Elaine and Geoff – we met them at the last Les Allen Gathering we went to at Tardebigge.  What a small world!

• All it needs now to round off these events is for me to see that otter that Rob Pickard reckoned he saw five years ago from this very spot!  Trust me -he doesn’t ever touch a drop!!  Darkness can clearly play strange tricks on the eye sight!  I’ll still watch carefully though!                                                                               xxoo