A day in Brewood

I was going to make a pun about brooding, but decided it would be beneath me, just like the eggs of a broody hen…

/wahaha

Oh dear, sorry, seems to be one of those days, mainly because it's all gone reasonably well. We walked into the village this morning, taking the footpath route from Bridge 13 for a change, as described in the First Mate Guide. You turn left off the path at the green garage door and come out opposite the church. If you then turn right and then walk round the side of the churchyard you'll get lost, so don't do that, turn left instead and come out in Market Place.

We visited the butcher, stopping outside for a natter with Polly and Steve(?) from Dances with Dragons first, then went into the bakers where we got a rather ordinary wholemeal loaf. A visit to the Co-op got various other items and we finished up in Cooper's, the deli, to get creamed coconut block. As luck would have it, they had a much nicer looking loaf, and cheaper, so we must remember to call in there first next time.

Polly and Steve told us of some hassles they'd had with the surgeries at both Gnosall and Brewood, trying to get repeat medications. It looks like both places weren't used to the needs of travelling folk with long term medical conditions, which just makes us all the more grateful for the helpfulness of Alrewas and Willington surgeries.

After lunch Sheila went and had a very good hairdo at Salon Brewood and for a reasonable price too, it being a day when they had a discount for OAPs. Whilst she was away I had a quick check over the engine and found yet another weep in the coolant system, this time at one of the joints to the skin tank. It hadn't lost a lot of coolant, so I topped up the header tank and nipped up the clip on the joint. We'll see how it does over the next few days.

I also took a walk along to the Countrywide Cruisers base to make sure that they were still trading, not having seen any of their boats about since we got onto the Four Counties Ring. We need to get a pump out tomorrow. I had a shouted conversation with a guy working on a boat over there and then, on his advice, rang the yard and spoke to the boss. He was happy to confirm that we could get done tomorrow morning, so I'll take the opportunity then to suss out whether they've just changed hands or what.

They may just be having a quiet start to the season, I guess. This time between Easter and May Day Bank holiday is often a bit slow.