A daily ritual.

 Sound carries, that we all know. Opposite this mooring and quite a distance away is the school/ college, or could it be a sports centre, well whatever the building was, there was loud music, screaming and shouting heard and continued into the wee hours of the morning. And to top it all, there was something rattling on the roof right above my head with the wind. And what of Ian, earplugs in, he never heard a bloody thing! Typical!

Our plan was to stay at Branston and not leave until Sunday, but it was the lack of internet that made the decision for us to move. Dire was the word to use. Took well over an hour to upload my photos for yesterday's blog, and the fact that I stream ITV to see 'I'm a celeb get me out of here' which continually stopped with that annoying buffering circle going round and round, it was me then that really insisted we move. Okay, yes, I could have watched it on TV, but Ian hates, no detests and cannot abide Ant and Dec, so to keep the peace he gets to chose which program he watches, and I sit with the computor and headphones listening to my program.  Worked a treat until last night!

 Gosh, today was cold. Temperature showed 0 degrees and the first slight frost of winter lay on the solar panels. The ritual of changing chimneys needed to be done before we left, and Ian was disappointed to see tar running down the cabin side. Blast, he obviously hadn't pushed down hard enough yesterday to seal it.

Blue crosses had been sprayed right by FS. We did think this most strange. It was only as we set off this morning that the reason was revealed. The towpath was being changed into a racetrack! Do I need to say any more?

One lock only today, Branston, and we were beaten to it by a boater setting off the same time as us.

 

 In a way, they did me a favour because I managed to get some photos of a Buzzard whilst waiting. In fact, look at this photo closely, and what do you see?

 

With a photo crop, this was revealed.

What amazing camouflage.

 Beautifully camouflaged, and I wouldn't have seen it if it hadn't flown from the tree to land. Ian had the lock ready and everything, and stood waiting for me to bring FS in. Well, so engrossed in taking those photos, he was completely ignored!

 

The mooring by Morrisons had room for us to squeeze in. Great because I wanted to take up the offer of two McGuigan's Black Label red wine for £11 at the supermarket.  This is one of my favourites and the price was excellent. 4 bottles purchased plus two McGuigan's Chardonnay white for Ian, hmm, there appears to be a discrepancy in numbers! Nah...you can tell who's the alcoholic in this relationship!

And the chimney ritual again as soon as we stopped.

 

So we stayed, TV good and internet excellent. I wont have any trouble watching Ant and Dec tonight!