Monday 9 February 2015

Crew defects - nicer life on the other side...

Sunday 8th February to Monday 9th February 2015

Diane and I were looking at something in the paper - I cannot recall exactly what it was, when suddenly looked up and there were people right up close to the window looking in - but not just any old souls - Elaine and Paul out for a walk.

A cuppa later and we were talking about various things but eventually got around to visiting the pub later that day - why? - West Ham v Man United - 4 pm kick-off - perfect.

Not that long after they left and my stomach was churning over and the rest of the morning and most of the early afternoon I was good friends with the inside of the bathroom - not a pleasant sight.
Surely too unwell to contemplate venturing to the pub for the match.

Diane, apparently, was pretty keen to go down and watch the match and encouraged me to feel a bit better - she even gave me some sympathy - not sure if that word is in her knowledge bank.
"You might even feel better just having a tonic water or a coke" said she - some people will say anything to go down to the pub.

Anyway we ventured down there, picking up Paul along the way and lo and behold I did start to feel a lot better -  two reasons for that.
Firstly, the coke did help to settle the stomach, and
Secondly, Paul had been feeling just as bad as I had - a shared complaint.
 
I opted for the coke, Paul with a stronger disposition went for the Bass




Anyway the match was looking lost for most of the second half until a late equaliser and we snared a point - better than nothing.

Monday was dog-minding day for us and Bombo and Sammie were dropped off pretty early in the morning - 7:15am - and they had been already taken for a walk - what time must their cruel masters have taken them out of their nice warm and cosy beds for all this to happen.

Paul and Elaine had an early morning meeting so we volunteered our services.

We got them inside, dried off and warmed up.

Poor puppies were so tired that they literally dropped straight off to sleep as their heads touched down on the bed.
 
Two very tired puppies - what mean parents getting them up so
early!!!

We let them sleep for as long as we could. The ice had started to melt and disappear and we decided that sometime we would need to wind the boat - we were going to be heading the other way later in the week - the nearest place was close to Macclesfield so we headed down to the town intending to fill the water tank and perhaps moor overnight.
 
They sleep just about anywhere...

The boys were awake and wanted to help out as best they could, so we found spaces for them topside and they took it all in.
 
...but wide awake when on the job - here keeping a lookout
as we pull away from the mooring


Bombo was the eagle eye in the crow's nest and Sammie was keeping everything under control on deck.
Now in their assumed roles,but with
plenty of time for a photo-op

We did the round trip to Macclesfield including filling the water tank and getting a couple of extra showers in to boot, in 3 hrs 45minutes.
 
With home in sight, Bombo had a chance to catch on some more
of early morning lost sleep

We decided against mooring overnight in Macclesfield as we just didn't feel completely comfortable about the moorings between the water point (at Sweetenham Wharf) and Bridge 36, so we headed back.

There were patches of ice which we had to do a bit more than just move out of the way, but nothing of any great problem.

We moored back in the same spot, facing the other way.

Bombo and Sammie were picked up about 7pm by Paul and Elaine - neither of the dogs were that fussed about leaving us - I think that they found life on the other side just a bit more interesting and nicer - but we cannot tell Paul and Elaine that.

7 miles
YTD: 58 Miles, 25 Locks, 1 Tunnel, 1 Swing Bridge
Totals: 2952 Miles, 2146 Locks, 99 Tunnels, 34 Lift Bridges, 153 Swing Bridges

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