Final Cruise for 2012 :-(

Its nice to blog again ... the severe case of MANFLU really buggered me up!  I would have to say I havn't had a bad cold in Oz for years yet alone MANFLU - it even made me pine for the warmer climes but feeling a lot better now!  Of course Elaine now has the women's version, ie,  the common cold ... which we all know is a very mild version of the debilitating MANFLU!  At this point I think Elaine may add a few comments........(can't 'cos I am feeling too crappy to think of any comments ... not that he would know I am feeling crappy because I don't whinge and whine and moan and groan with every little sniffle and snuffle .... Elaine x)

So to get up to date, we left Wolseley last Wednesday in pretty crap conditions as in wet windy and a tad cold.  Just as we left the mooring we passed NB Valerie going the other way ... only time for a quick "how ya going" though !

We only had 4 locks to do and they were quite spread out ...



It was Geoffrey's turn for the life ring ...

The canal runs parallel with the River Trent, which as you can see was pretty flooded. These poor cows were stranded on an island ...

 

We're going to the potteries ...

River Trent in your back yard ...

The canal was very high!

a very full lock !

  

Over flowing onto the towpath ...

We arrived at the marina quite late and in pouring rain so we parked up on the visitors' mooring for the night.

We could see fire engines by the canal so went to have a look - they were rescuing sheep caught in the floods; they were all there - cops, fire water rescue units etc.  I just love the compassion shown to the animals here.

It was very dark when I took this pic, you can just about make out the fireman rounding up the sheep - God bless him.

So here we are all moored up safely for the next few months!
Caxton is just about in the middle.

 

One of the first priorities was to buy a small car to get around in for the next 5 months. We decided to hire a car from Enterprise for 5 days so we could get around and have a look at a few motors. I love Enterprise - they pick you up, and drop you off etc, - and a 5 day hire for 90 quid is a bargain I reckon.

We drove to Macclesfield on Friday morning as I had a doctor's appointment at 9.00 am - we had to get up at 6.00 am!!!!! It was very, very bloody hard especially as MANFLU still had a violent grip on me and Elaine still couldn't shrug off the very mild common cold!!!!

The reason for going to the quack was for me to get some blood pressure medication as my Aussie 6 month supply had run out.  It all went rather well for my first visit to a pommie GP - a bit too easy Elaine reckons as she didn't get a blood test done.  I didn't have a problem with that at all as I go bit wobbly with needles.  She did check my blood pressure, which was off the richter scale as I suffer from 'White Coat Syndrome', but she took my word for it that it is fine when I check it on my home monitor.

We went to Boots in Macc to get the drugs but they had run out so have to go back next Monday. Whilst we were at the quacks etc. the dogs were being looked after by Elaine's dad who lives in Macc; they had a great time.....they just slept.......they also hate early mornings!

Whilst we were there Elaine's brother, Trevor, dropped in for a visit plus, for some strange reason, a shelf in Elaine's Dad's china cabinet decided to fall apart resulting in an almighty crash and a very slow rescue operation to remove the rest of the valuable china and ornaments without further damage!  Result ... only one smashed wine glass!

We left Macc at lunchtime and went looking at a few cars we had checked out on the net.  After looking at a lot of crap we ended up buying a 2003 Citreon C3, with 45000 miles on the clock. We pick it up from Crewe next Thursday after they have fixed up a few small problems with it; it's a bit of a gamble - buying a 9 year old car, but hopefully it will be OK.  Elaine liked it which is the main thing :)

So to today - Saturday - we are both still feeling a bit lethargic but as we still have the hire car till next Tuesday we went out for a bit of an explore. We checked out the dry dock in Stone which looks pretty good; we will probably put Caxton in it next March and anti-foul it before we cruise off again.

Stone looks pretty good and I am sure we will appreciate it when we are both 100%  - the pubs look great but I don't fancy a drink waaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.

We also went to a large pet store in Stoke to get some supplies.

As neither of us could be bothered to cook I went down to Stone and bought a fantastic hot Thai take away - this would for sure kill the MANFLU and Elaine's mild Common cold!

As I type this at 10.00 pm I am drinking a glass of wine and enjoying alcohol again!  Thank you, Thai take away THANKYOU XXX