Killing time till the Big Summer Adventure

Hello again,

We're just killing time at the moment, waiting for the other 2 boats in our party to catch up ready for our Big Summer Adventure which could happen as early as next weekend but is purely dependent on the weather.  This year we're doing the Severn Crossing, going out at Sharpness with a pilot or two and in at Portishead followed by another hop the next day into Bristol. I can't wait!

In the meantime we've moved down the canal a couple of miles to Patch Bridge. There are some lovely big boats about and I've got to say I'm quite green with envy at all the big Dutch barges that keep going past us.  Dreams of moving to France have surfaced again. Having built Fizzical Attraction ourselves we're finding it very hard to contemplate selling up and buy something someone else has built to their ideas rather than designed around how we actually live and use our boat.
If only I could wave a magic wand and transform Fizzy into a bigger version of herself........... for now I'll just keep dreaming and maybe I'll buy an extra lottery ticket "just in case"

For me killing time means more time for crochet.  David is a real "tea belly" and loves sitting out on the bank for his breakfast with a large pot of tea.  A few months ago I saw a crocheted tea cosy in John Lewis for the outrageous sum of £60. I took a sneaky photograph for my ideas file and forgot about it.  Trolling through the file the other day and coming across the photo gave me the inspiration for this.  I "borrowed" his tea pot and took the measurements and this morning I hooked my version. What do you think?  Judging by his smile when I gave it to him today I think he was rather chuffed with it!

After our 6 mile walk yesterday afternoon Chico went straight to bed and refused to get out again last night when I suggested "walkies" but he was OK again this morning.  The three of us were all a bit stiff and creaky though so we just had a short wander around the area this afternoon.  There's not a great deal here, unless you want to go to the bird sanctuary at Slimbridge that is, but at over a tenner each we didn't bother.

Wandering down one of the lanes we came across these beautiful flowers outside Sunset Cottage.  Their back garden was lovely too, with a veg patch to die for.

After dropping Chico off back at the boat we headed for the one and only pub.  The Tudor Arms was doing a roaring trade, especially with people who had been to Slimbridge.

Their cream teas are heavenly

I wonder if Chico would sit in a bike trailer like these two little dogs? I can just picture him wearing a seat belt and crash helmet.

Tomorrow we're heading back towards Gloucester to meet up with our other two cruising partners but first we'll be stopping for a cheap pump-out.

We used this one the last time we were on the G&S and it's possibly the best one we've come across anywhere. Unfortunately we're having real problems with our toilet tank at the moment.  It STINKS!!!!!   We don't usually have problems, apart from the odd wiff when it's almost full, so I reckon this smell is the result of me having just had a course of extra strong antibiotics for a tooth abscess. I think the antibiotics have also killed off the good bacteria in the tank which is why it's so smelly.  Hopefully a really good flushing out (pardon the pun) will sort it out.

Bye for now, take care and see you soon