Synchronicity!

Elaine here ...

A definition of synchronicity is 'the synchronized occurrence or coincidence of events in life that have special meaning...' (more on that later !)

We decided to stay put in Wootton Wawen (I just love saying that name !!) today as the weather forecast was for hot weather; I'm glad we did - it appears that today was the hottest day of the year so far !  It actually wasn't hot-hot here but very pleasant, none-the-less !

Last night we took the dogs for a walk to the pub down the road - on the way, we saw this cheeky peacock ... must have been waiting for his dinner !



Got fed up with waiting !


It was a pretty walk and gave us a few photo opportunities !

River Alne flowing over a spectacular weir ...



St Peter's (a very old) Saxon Church !  It is also known as
'The Saxon Sanctuary'.


Next door to Wootton Hall ... we had a walk down the grand entrance to it to have a 'sticky beak' - it seems to be comprised of residential park homes to the side of it - not sure what goes on in the actual hall now though.  It was quite cute really - it was like a little private community down there - even had it's own post office and 'country club' !

Wootton Hall and resident sheep

This guy reminded me of a lonesome sheep herder (mind you, he was just getting his mobile out of his pocket, so a modern-day sheep herder maybe !)



After our little walk down the road and found the Bull's Head, which was a lovely old pub - loads of character, oozing history, nice and clean and tidy and good service inside, but yet hardly anyone in it - shame :(  Apparently it has been through a few hands and has fairly recently re-opened again - I hope it works out for them.


We had a drink there and as it was Friday night, we thought we would 'go crazy' and go to the other pub in the village for another one - a canalside pub called (yes, you guessed it) the Navigation Inn !

We sat outside this pub as we had the dogs with us and it seemed to be a mainly 'restauranty-type' pub.  Here I am posing with Paul's drink which I stole from him because it tasted so nice !  Could be my new tipple - it is 'Ruddles' ! 

Now - here is the wierd bit of my tale !  The picture below was taken back in June in Bugsworth Basin, when we first met Mike and Sue who own 'NB Ta-Jo' - which, by coincidence, is Barn-Owl No. 6 (we are Barn-Owl No.9) !  We also met them again when we went up the Caldon Canal - and again on the way out of the Caldon ...

We knew they lived in Wilmcote - which is the next village down the canal, and we had passed their boat on its moorings twice. We hoped we might have bumped into them in Wilmcote - on the two visits to the Mary Arden pub there - but hadn't :(



 But then, just as we were finishing our drinks, who should come out of the pub - yes, you guessed it !!  So, it was hugs all round and we all sat down for another drink !

Now - what are the chances of us meeting them there (in the next village to where they live) and that moment .... synchronicity I tell ya !

Anyway, it was another photo opp for us ... here we all are ...

 

Well, after all the excitement of that chance encounter, we strolled back to the boat (in the near dark by now - and we hadn't had dinner yet!).  When we got back we discovered we didn't have any power - so Paul got his investigative head on and found that we had blown a ' 200amp DC fuse' - oops !  We had experimented earlier in the day with having the drier runnng and turning on my hair straighteners at the same time.  The straighteners had stated on them that they only drew 30 watts - in hindsight - it is probably a big typo and is probably something more like 300 watts !  Anyway, it was obviously enough to have caused a ruckus with the electrics !

I made a quick Gnocchi for dinner and Paul fixed the fuse with a spare that, luckily, Joe and Lesley had left on the boat (Thankyou!).  Phew - I am so glad it was fixable and not requiring a new inverter (which was Paul's first guess !)

We had a late night again and this morning got up and went for a walk down the local Yew Tree Farm Shop - there were actually a few lovely retail/craft shops there - which had been created within an old farmyard.  We also went to buy some more oil as Paul had the urge to change it (it was due again, apparently !). He also checked the fuel filters and checked for water in the fuel plus the dreaded bug, he said there was not one drop  of water or any sign of the black gunk, apparently the additive is doing its job!

Here is a picture of him in his engine hole --- looking hot!  He did say he was hot but not as hot as he would have been when he was working 'on the tools' in Sydney - he said they used to have to stand their spanners upright - because if they laid them down they would get too hot to pick up again !!

Tomorrow we will move again !