A catch up blog, another meet and greet.and a hidden Gem

Walking towards the Hall in the afternoon we were a little dismayed to see that the actual house was closed and wouldn't reopen until March 2014. The gardens were open though, and with Jade being wet through cause she was allowed to go for a swim after all, we thought a good brisk walk would dry her off nicely.

The gardens were full of colour at this time of year so it was a real treat to walk around the grounds.

Having returned to the boat we found it wasn't such a great mooring by Shugborough Hall after all. Having arrived and moored at the end of a 48hour mooring with Nb Persis, who was already moored at the start of the moorings, another boat  turned up a while later and pulled back onto Persis. This left a decent 60ft gap between us and the second boat. Then Ian heard a boat go into reverse and when he stuck his head out of the back hatch, he was confronted by this bloke who had stopped, looked at the space and started muttering about inconsiderate boaters not sharing rings! Ian being Ian took one look at the length of their boat, smiled sweetly and said there was plenty of room for them to squeeze in . Still muttering to himself and not at all amused by Ians comment, he eventually got the boat moored up. Now I don't know if he wanted to get his own back but later that night (9pm) he turned on his engine and continued to run it for over an hour. If they hadn't switched off when they did Ian as all for going round and having words!  Having Mr Grumpy behind us wasn't the only reason why the mooring wasn't great.

Mr Grumpy second boat in.

I adore owls. I have tried and failed miserably to photograph them for ages so hearing an owl later over the sound of Mr Grumpy s engine I was all for going out to try and find it. Then another two owls started hooting loudly to each other. Abandoning the idea of trying to find them cause it was much to dark, the 3 owls constante hooting got louder and louder. It felt as if the tree opposite was one of the owls preferred perch as the loudest hoot came from there! They shut up for a while long enough for both of us to fall asleep then woke us up again at 3 am when they started screeching and hooting at the top of their voices again. So having finally got back to sleep we didn't wake until 8ish. Jade was crossing her legs and couldn't wait to get outside. With Mr Crumpy so close, not relishing another sleepless night and because TV and internet wasnt to good where we were we decided to move 100yds through the bridge and moor into the open.

Unfortunately the internet signal was no better in fact it seemed worse. The telly was okay though, so that was a bonus. I was outside on the back deck with my computer, the 3 broadband dongle plugged directly into one of the ports and was hoping to get some sort of signal when I heard someone asking if  I was trying to do the blog! Looking round I was flabbergasted to see James and Debbie Nb Lois Jane. What a surprise! So of course we invited them in for tea and biscuits and didn't stop chatting for nearly two hours. Isn't it great that blogs bring people together like that.  It's almost like were are all one big blogging family knowing the trials and tribulations, laughter and sadness of everyone of the blogging fraternity. Long may it continue.

Debbie, James and Ian

Having had an invite to return to Lois Jane later in the afternoon, I went off for a walk while Ian continued with moving our shore line plug from the outside back deck to the inside. Then it was off to admire Lois Jane. She is a fully electric boat. Not a gas burner in sight. So impressive and what I loved was that James just a pressed a button from somewhere in the galley and the engine roared into life. How good was that!!! No turning keys and waiting for the glow plugs to warm up! We had home made welsh cake baked by James's fair hand, tea, coffee and a winter warmer tipple (hic) to finish the afternoon. We loved spending time with them both but I really feel that they need to put their clocks right. Getting all rebellious James, and putting the clocks forward instead of back, will catch you out one day, mark my words! Mind you there is something to be said for putting the clocks 1 hour forwards instead one hour back. James and Debbie got up at when their clock read 8am. Really it was 6am. They upped and went for a 10 kilometer walk watching the sun rise and greeting the dawn. This is always a magical time of the day, one that most of us miss, so to be up and about at that hour instead of laying in bed must be wonderful. Just as we were about to set off for Rugeley they returned in time for us to say our farewells. For us the time was 9.30am. For them on their time of 11.30am lunch was only 30 minutes away. I wonder how long they will keep this up before they fall foul and arrive to early for an appointment?

 
So we have made the few miles to Rugeley, done all our shopping ( by the way a new Tesco has opened a month ago and is by bridge 66), relit the fire and we are now cosy and warm listening to the rain and wind howling outside.

Colwick lock

Most baffling. Anyone know what it's supposed to mean?

Oh and my hidden Gem................

And finally:-

This was the biggest wasp I have ever seen. Must have been nearly 2" long. I don't think kit was a hornet.