Wednesday 7th August
Today was our last day in Gloucester as we are leaving the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal tomorrow and going back down the Severn. We have really enjoyed our 3 weeks on here. So much so that we are planning to return for the winter.
We had a lazy kind of day really. We walked over High Orchard Bridge and found a quicker way to the fishing tackle shop (very important) then came back via Sainsbury’s and did a last minute perishables shop. We put the shopping away then had a chat with the chap with the proper Dutch barge (designed in Norwich) about various things, mostly local pubs actually!
Talking of pubs, we went to the Water Poet again today and as usual the service was diabolically slow! The staff in there are pleasant enough but they all only have 2 speeds, dead slow and stop! I missed the first round as I had popped into a couple of shops on the way and Ken went in on his own. When it came to our second he went to the bar and waited, and waited, and waited. Finally he came back, drank what I had left and said we were off!
Apparently the barman had served several young girls before Ken when they had arrived at the bar after him! He hates that sort of thing and got the hump. So we went round the corner and found The Regal, the other Wetherspoons. It is a nicer pub, larger having once been a cinema, with more efficient staff, a nice outside area, huge windows meaning it’s not dark and toilets on the ground floor, it’s miles to the toilets in The Water poet! We should have gone there before.
The garden at The Water Poet, although nice, was infested with wasps yesterday as they were very lax about clearing the tables as well as everything else. The garden at The Regal today had a bit of a seagull problem. They lined up on the nearby buildings and if the plates were left on the tables for more than a minute they were there eating everything that had been left! A Black Backed Gull came to the table next to ours and swallowed a whole jacket potato skin which someone hadn’t eaten. The gulls also tried to roost on the umbrellas but couldn’t get a grip and you could see the shadows of their feet sliding down the canvas!
This afternoon I did a bit of washing then we did seagull poo patrol and cleaned the recent deposits off the roof, a down side of mooring in Gloucester is the seagull crap. Actually I forgot to mention, the other day we were sitting in the cratch having a pre prandial when a seagull flew over and crapped right in Ken’s drink! He was not amused.
Another downside is that the very considerate chap moored opposite us is running his generator again. Last night he ran it until midnight!
