Yesterday did happen, it just didn't get blogged...

OK, OK, I know, I forgot to blog yesterday. Well, it was my birthday, and in all the excitement, I just didn’t get round to it. It was a really pleasant day, with pressies from the offspring (others had arrived in advance, like my Kindle), and a visit from Elanor and Sally. We had home made chicken and sweetcorn soup with Diablo toasties for lunch, then went for a walk for a couple of hours.

Sally has really come on since Elanor had her, and is beginning to be reliable enough to be run off the lead some of the time. She’s also stopped barking at other dogs and humans, and just takes a normal canine interest in them.

After they had gone, I bought myself a birthday present in the form of the Kindle version of Iain M. Banks’s latest, Surface Detail. We went to the Swan for dinner, and both of us pigged out on the tomato soup followed by the mixed grill.

The MGs are frankly a bit over the top, but you can’t say you’ve been shortchanged for your £11. The only downside is that the saloon bar of the Swan is unheated, and last night was seriously cold, so we didn’t stop for a second drink (I’m not sure I could have fitted another pint in on top, to be honest) and came back to the boat for a glass of wine.

There used to be a fireplace in that bar, but it’s been closed up, and they really need to do something about some heating in there.

This morning, we pushed across to the water point first thing, filled the tank to the ¾ mark and came on down to Alrewas, running a washload on the way. Worryingly, the washing machine chose to do the wash bit of the programme, and then stopped, but it did the rinses on the separate extra rinse prog OK, and then spun it down, so hopefully it was just a temporary glitch.

As I left the boat to go into the village, Granny Buttons arrived, crewed by Derek and Dot formerly of Gipsy Rover. We had a good natter whilst waiting for the lock to work; they’re taking Andrew Denny’s boat back to Willington for him.

We’ve had a quiet afternoon, sorting out the bow locker and the like and wandering along the towpath to the river to see who’s about and if there are any winter moorings specified (none that we can see.)

Tomorrow, we start the whole round of doctors and dentists, and later in the week we’ll make a quick break for Burton to get a pump out at Shobnall, unless the wind stays very light, in which case we might settle for Barton Marina.