Staying put

Sunday 12th August; Banbury

We have had several moorings on the trot with little or no internet coverage, so once again I am all behind like a cow’s tail, as my old Mum would say.

We were tired after yesterday’s efforts – some of the paddle gear on the bottom gates was very stiff – and we felt like a rest on a day forecast to be very wet. It turned out to be mostly just drizzle, but so what. 

I needed a new pair of shorts.  On our last trip, my boating shorts went the way of the previous pair – they wore through the backside just where I push the lock beam to open gates!  I went to two outdoor shops and M&S, but of course it’s August now, when retail bosses decree we should be buying our autumn wardrobe.  Luckily there is a Gap outlet shop in the Castle Quays centre, and of course they had the summer clothes their high street stores have finished with, and I got a 30% discount too!

The other thing I did, apart from get a paper, was look for somewhere to get a roast Sunday lunch.  This place – J.T.Davies, an odd name for a pub - did.  It’s just off the market place.

The meal wasn’t as good as the one we had at the Gardener’s Arms in Droitwich, but was perfectly acceptable, even if the young waiter got our order muddled with the next table’s.  We strolled back to the boat through the bus station and past the facilities mooring, where a boat had overstayed while someone went shopping.  Naughty. 

Tooley’s Yard has salvaged an elderly boat, but when we saw it yesterday we were sure it wasn’t quite this low in the water.

The social club opposite had a Beach Party and Barbecue planned for today, with a table-top sale and a DJ from Banbury FM.  The weather had pretty much ruined it.  I went in for a look but although people were sitting round drinking, the few table-tops with items for sale were very low key and not much different from a jumble sale, just tidier, and with no customers.  It was a shame, as they had taken the trouble to decorate the outside tables with sea-shells, buckets and spades, etc.

While we were having a cup of tea, NB Tyseley, the Mikron Theatre’s boat, went past.  Unfortunately we haven’t managed to synchronise our trips with any of their performances this year – just 24 hours out for one of them.  Very annoying.

The DJ’s music at the social club was quite loud, competing with that from the children’s rides outside the shopping centre.  Along with a couple of boat engines running it was quite noisy so we went off for a stroll round Spiceball Park.  Good, said Meg, playtime again!

Not much else happened.  We read the paper, did the crossword …. lads in the car park were skateboarding, but that wasn’t a problem.  We did hear a few screechy-tyre noises, so we wondered whose car was being played with!  Meg got a fourth walk in the park before bed-time, but without a ball this time.  She would prefer to moor nearer the park, but we find the factories along there much too noisy.