Another productive day

Sheila went into the village at nine this morning and was able to get her haircut straight away. It's a tricky business finding a hairdresser when cruising, especially for the women. Us men can either get a standard cut from a barber or do what we do and use a set of clippers on board. But ladies hairdressers need training to deliver the best outcome for a particular customer, and if you are moving around that's not possible.

Still, this style isn't a million miles from what she wanted, so a result.

Meantime, I had pottered about on board doing chores like tidying the recycling away and refilling the hand wash dispenser in the bathroom. The weather forecast suggested rain in the middle of the day, so almost as soon as Sheila was back we set out again.

This time we investigated the Co-op further up the road in the High Street before going back to get a supply of meat from the butcher. We won't bother with the Co-op again; less choice than most and not even in the same bunch as most of the Midlands, instead it's a specifically Tamworth society, so my divi card wasn't any use.

The butcher, on the other hand, was as good as ever. It's not quite at the standard of Coates in Alrewas, but does a decent range of stuff and they are always friendly.

Back at the boat we had coffee and took it easy until lunch, enjoying the sun when it was there and retreating below when it clouded over.

After lunch we opened out the cratch cover and cleaned the bird poo off it, mementoes of our stay under the trees at Sutton Road Bridge. Whilst it was drying off in the now strong sun, we did the year's first clothing swap since the may is out (that is, the hawthorn is in blossom).

Thermal underwear and heavy jumpers were stowed and polo shirts and shorts unpacked.

Once that was done, we rolled the offside cratch cover, doing it neatly with the outside surface outwards. The near side one, having been in the shade, was thrown over to get the sun and rolled after we'd had a cup of tea.

We also did some cleaning of the roof and solar panel, removing yet more guano.

According to CRT, they had to cancel the two hour stoppage at Atherstone, but the top lock was closed for a while to remove an obstruction. So lock 10 will still be slow tomorrow; an early start is indicated, methinks.