A Housekeeping Day.

Wednesday 3rd August at Aston Marina.
Awoke to a very pretty morning.

In May, at the Crick Boat Show, M had purchased two flower pots decorated in traditional narrowboat style with hand-painted roses.She was keen to plant these up and so we set off for nearby Trentham Gardens, which has a huge garden centre. Usually it is very busy and impossible to find a free parking space but we went early and enjoyed having the place to ourselves, as it was blissfully quiet.
We were amused by this "Hansel and Gretal" playhouse, which we photographed and sent to Charles as a possible place to store (and play!) all his games!

Back on MM, we cruised the short distance to the service bay to fill up with diesel, then, as the marina has a one-way system, we went out of the "exit" on to the canal and back in through the "entrance", where we returned to our mooring, backing MM in as usual - although the very gusty wind made it awkward (note from M: - R did brilliantly, as ever!).

Finally, we filled MM up with water and M happily started her usual "spring clean".
We had arranged to meet our friends Bridgett and Peter for lunch at the Bistro. It was lovely to see them again and, as ever, the conversation was very lively. We ate inside but, as the wind had died down and the sun came out, we decided to have our coffee outside.

Big mistake! Soon after, the black clouds returned, the heavens opened and it started to sheet down with rain. The rain was so heavy that we daren't leave the shelter of the huge parasols and for some time we were trapped underneath, huddled together in the centre to avoid the water pouring off the edges of the parasol.

Eventually, there was a lull in the rain and we were able to wave Bridgett and Peter off. We needed to pick up a few things from the car but, as we reached it, the rain returned even more heavily than before and we were forced to take shelter in the car for half an hour, listening to the rain on the roof and Classic FM on the radio.

The picture is not out of focus and your eyes have not gone funny, it is just the rain flowing down the windscreen!
When the rain stopped, the rest of the day was spent doing odd jobs on MM including potting up M's new flower pots.