Could this be the most ridiculous excuse ever heard!

I have never seen a sunset like it. The sky was red...almost blood red, not the pink this photo is showing. And to the naked eye, no yellow was seen but the photo shows yellow so if anyone can enlighten me to why camera does this, I would be interested to know.

We had a bit of a mishap this morning. Both of us decided on just toast for breakfast and as our grill needs lighting the day before just to get any colour and crispness to the bread, Ian decided to fire the engine up so he could do the toast in the electric toaster. So imagine this...Bread goes in, lever down and then a smell...a really really horrible smell! He whips the lever up quickly and finds to his horror the toaster had ingested his bus pass! How it had fallen in the toaster was a mystery until he suddenly realised his wallet had lain on top for a while and the bus pass must have dropped out of the wallet.

 
Went shopping to the Londis the only food store in Lechlade. My goodness, this store was not cheap but as this was the only grocery store around, there was not much we could do. Bringing our expensive items back to FS, I noticed swimmers in the water. "Rather them than me", I thought, "Water must be freezing". 4 out of the 5 were wearing wetsuits but one seemed more hardier than the others choosing to swim in just a cossie instead. They swam to St Johns Lock and then back toward us. A lady on the bank was keeping her eye on them and as she passed by I asked the question if this was for charity. "No", she replies. "These are open water swimmers who normally swim in the lakes and rivers of the Cotswolds". She goes on to tell me that the lady without the wetsuit (Sally) was one of the 6 relay swimmers that crossed the channel from England to France in 2016. Each swimmer did an hour each so her swim was the 6th and the 12th etc. I was mightily impressed by their stamina and lack of fear. This would not do for me as, although a good swimmer, the fear of not knowing what is lurking below makes me hyperventilate!

That's Sally

This afternoon we walked to the Roundhouse. This is actually the furthest point of navigation by any boats other than canoes, rowing boats etc. I thought I knew of every canal in the UK but I had never heard of the Thames and Severn canal. 28 miles in length it starts at Inglesham Lock near Lechlade and connects to the Stroudwater Navigation at Wallbridge near Stroud and from there to the River Severn. A notice board told all about it and how the Cotswold Trust had hoped to start the restoration. There didn't look to be much progress as far as I could see at this end but reading the IWA website it appears work has been started. To read about it click here

Roundhouse

 On our return, Ian phoned the Derbyshire County Council about ordering his new bus pass. Well, you should have heard the hilarity and disbelieve from the lady who took the call. I'm sure this must be one of the most original and ridiculous excuses to date! I can't imagine how she would tell her fellow colleques. Probably thought there was a crackpot at the end of the phone! Anyway a fee of £5 for the replacement and a new one in the post to arrive in 5 days at our daughter's.

We are still all alone on the meadow, another first for us.

And seen from this mooring,