Wednesday 18th April
The first thing I did this morning when I got up was walk straight into the wall! Yes, we were still at a jaunty angle and I had forgotten about it. George was finding it difficult to walk on the wooden floor as he couldn’t get a grip and slid sideways, bless.
It was raining quite hard and was a bit windy too but we had decided to go into Hemel Hempstead so it didn’t matter. The bus fare for me was £5-40 (Arriva) and the trip took about 30 mins. Hemel Hempstead is a nice town with all the usual shops in the high street and the Marlowe’s Shopping Mall. We once more cornered the market in Wilko’s mats, I don’t know how come we need so many but we always seem to be buying them!
B and B came to town with us and after we had gone off and done our various bits of business we met them later on in The Full House, the Wetherspoon’s (obviously) which used to be a cinema and bingo hall. The ladies loos are a sight to behold – think mini Sistine Chapel (sort of)! One of the staff behind the bar must have been a little hard of hearing because Barry asked for a pint of Adnams (Broadside) and a brandy and coke but got a pint of Ruddles and a double brandy and coke!
When we got to the bus station for our return journey there were quite a few people waiting in the shelter so we stood outside. Then it poured with rain so we squeezed under the shelter with everyone else – at the end of the shelter where the bus would stop when it came.
What is it with people who have been waiting for a bus before you get there, they suddenly get all aggressive when the bus arrives? We have experienced this sort of thing before. It was still raining when the bus came so we were still under the shelter and although we had no intention of getting on the bus before anyone who had been waiting there before we arrived, there was a surge past us towards it. One silly cow said, as she shoved past us, ‘I’ve been waiting half an hour.’ So what? If we did get on first the bus would not have been full so she couldn’t sit down, nor would the driver have gone without her. Ken nearly said if she had a timetable she wouldn’t have got there so soon!
We returned to the boats to find they were actually floating, deep joy! The water level had gone up enough to lift us off the bottom. Hopefully it will stay that way so we can get off easily tomorrow.
