Sunday 10th November
Sunday was a lovely day so we went for a walk along the river in the opposite direction to what we went last week. Unfortunately, as there has been a lot of rain lately, we were thwarted quite soon by mud and standing water on the path. We turned round and came back and went for a walk round the town instead.
Sunday is a good day to walk round the town as it is a bit quieter. I took a few photos of the nicer buildings including a rather oddly named pub and the Beatrix Potter shop near the cathedral, allegedly the ‘home’ of the Tailor of Gloucester.
After going home to change my mud spattered trousers we went back down to town to the New Inn to watch the football. The bar was really quiet with only a couple of other people apart from us in there. Then just as the match was coming to an end all Hell broke loose as a group of ex-servicemen arrived from the memorial service. I say that, they had probably already had more than a sniff of the barmaid’s apron somewhere else before they got to the New Inn.
This group of chaps were really enjoying themselves, a couple in particular were the life and soul of the party. They were Scottish and kept swearing then apologising in case there were ladies in there. Well, there were, two of their wives who didn’t count as ladies and me – who apparently didn’t count as a lady either! One of them told Ken it was nice to see him taking his daughter (meaning me) out!
The chaps who were already in the pub were mostly Army so when another group of mostly Navy turned up they serenaded them with the Captain Pugwash theme! There was a lot of good natured banter going on and we thoroughly enjoyed it. After a couple of drinks they all went off to the next pub.
Monday 11th November
Today we had to get up at about 6-15 am because the delivery slot for the washing machine was 7 am – 11 am. We had to clear out the back room for the various manouvres to take place. We got a phone call 8-15 am to say they would be 45 minutes and sure enough at 9 am we got another call to say they were near by. We went out and directed them to the nearest spot which wasn’t actually very near but was the best we could do as the code we had been given for the rising bollard didn’t work!
The delivery men were Afro Caribbean and really efficient, cheerful and helpful. We had a laugh with them, one wanted us to take him to the Carribean on the boat! Ken gave them a tenner for a drink because it wasn’t their usual sort of delivery being quite a long way from the van to the marina and then quite a long way along the pontoon when they got there!
With the washing machine plumbed in and the tumble dryer installed we had a mega sort out of the back room while putting everything back in. It is now better organised and seems more roomy. I have since done my first load of washing and the machine is working well. My buckets have now been consigned to the gas locker, hoorah!
During this sort out of the back room Ken located the waterproof hat we thought he had left in the Bell so that was a bonus.
Also today Ken has replaced the piece of wood which had to be removed to reveal the whereabouts of the gas test point on the hob when we had our safety test. This was easier said than done as we had to practically dismantle the kitchen cabinet and Ken had to take up yoga to get it back in!
Tomorrow we are going to Go Outdoors for some new portable water containers and some pink flush for the loo. The excitement just keeps coming!
