Friday 11th October
Today we had a day in Gloucester and Ken started off the day by taking the flush pump out of the loo and connecting it to the wire which goes to the tunnel light (we know that works) to see if the pump is actually still working. It turns out that it is still working so we now have to find out why the loo won’t flush! It may be the fuse has gone, it may be the wiring is dodgy, may be an act of God! Meanwhile we are persevering with the squeezy bottle.
During this I was trying to start the computer to look something up but it was configuring one of about 500 updates (as it does) so mostly I was just sitting there shouting at the screen. Eventually it came on by which time I had forgotten what I had switched it on for!
After our various tasks were completed we went into town and did our shopping then we had a look round the indoor market which revealed the prescence of a butchers (sausages), a hardware stall (spanners and cable ties) and a fish stall where we bought some very good (as it turned out) haddock.
After this we had a look at the bus station and the railway station to find out the various destinations we may be able to get to for future reference. Of course our immediate next destination was already decided! While Ken was buying our first pint in The Regal he over heard a chap saying they had Broadside on at the New Inn. As Broadside is one of our favourites and we don’t get it very often we decided just to have the one in The Regal and go to the New Inn next.
The purchase of the haddock meant we had to get some chips to go with it so on the way to the New Inn we went in to Iceland. We had already been in to Tesco Express but they didn’t have any chips we liked. We were queuing at the till when there was bit of a kerfuffle and a woman started shouting and swearing at one of the checkout assistants. She called the security guard to escort this woman from the premises. She had, meanwhile, disappeared towards the back of the shop but we could all still hear her!
The security guard came flying over, vaulted a row of freezers and located this woman. She was very verbal by this time and he was having a job persuading her to leave. She kept telling him to f*** off and leave her alone and various other things. So he said, ‘Who do you think you are talking to?’ To which she replied, ‘You, you f***ing wanker!’
With that he grabbed her by the arm and frog marched her out the door. She took exception to this and still shouting, started bashing him round the head with her bag! She kept this up even after her jeans fell down round her ankles revealing a lovely pair of baggy pink drawers! It was quite a spectacle and we have resolved to go to M&S Food Hall next time we need chips. I’m sure you get a better class of incident there!
We were glad to get to the New Inn and have our pint of Broadside in peace. After this we spent the rest of the afternoon holed up by the fire as the weather took a turn for the worse and wind and rain lashed the boat. Hope it’s better tomorrow because we have to move.
