Sat 14th and Sun 15th May.
It’s been a funny old weekend. Saturday we all went in to Wigan on the bus again (£3-60 for us payers) and had a not wholly successful shopping expedition. Ken wanted a warmer sweatshirt type thing for when he’s driving the boat but with a collar not a round neck and a quilted shirt to replace the disgusting effort he currently wears for fishing. In the absence of either (wrong time of year I expect) we ended up buying him a new black fleece (£10 reduced from £35 in Greenwood’s, bargain!) to replace the red Cotton Traders one, which he doesn’t really like (too bright). He will compromise and wear the red one for fishing and we have got rid of the disgusting shirt! He still needs a sweatshirt though but I could only find hooded ones with logos on which he doesn’t want.
After this we had to get some sustenance, so we headed for the Pound Bakery and partook of the 2 for £1 cornish pasties again, yum. Then the chaps went off to the fishing tackle shop and Barbara and I went in search of a few items for ourselves. I wanted a thinner gilet and a pair of mid season boots for locking etc (wrong time of year again!) but I only ended up getting a belt and Barbara got a belt and a make up bag (hers fell foul of the gas ring last week!)
I inadvertently indulged in a spot of shoplifting at Peacock’s when I walked out with a vest top trailing behind me, attatched to my rucksack! The assistant came running out trying to attract my attention. Of course I couldn’t see the top because everytime I turned round it dissappeared behind me with the rucksack! The assistant recovered it and I said it wasn’t my size anyway.
The weather took a turn for the worst when we got back to the boat becoming very wet and windy. Ken decided not to fish again.
Today we have come back in to Wigan, by boat this time. We were going to moor down the Leigh Branch but by the time we had done 6 miles, 6 locks, 1 swing bridge and gone to B and Q, all in the pouring rain, we decided to moor up as soon as possible, which turned out to be near the rubbish tip again like the last time we were here. Barbara and I decided to take advantage of the situation and threw our rubbish bags over the fence on to the pile already there! There is a distinct lack of places to get rid of rubbish and dog poo, it has to be said, in Wigan so we’re hoping no one will mind!
Ken and I went off to the shop for a paper (it was shut) and to a really nice pub behind the BW offices, the name of which escapes me. The first thing anyone said to me was ‘Are you going to the match?’ What you need to know here is that Wigan Athletic were at home to West Ham today and would be relegated if they lost. We were trying to keep a low profile just in case, well you never know in a strange pub. Anyway, I said we weren’t going to the match but we had come past the ground earlier on the boat, trying to change the subject. This couple said they thought we may be West Ham fans because of our accents! I tried to be really broad Norfolk and started burbling on about Norwich City, it was hilarious! As it happened there were some West Ham fans in there and Ken confessed to an interest in the end. Of course we emerged unscathed!
Back at the boat we could hear the cheering and booing from the D W stadium but obviously couldn’t really work out what was going on. As I type West Ham are winning 2-0!
