Back on board

You pile everything in the car and clean one abode from top to bottom, with a good toxic spray to keep the carpet moths at bay. Then it's a sizeable journey before unpacking the car again and cleaning the floating abode from front to back. We bought a ready-to-cook lasagne from M&S on the way, but by the time we were half-settled in we were in no mood even for that simplest of tasks, and drove to the Ash Tree on the outskirts of Rugeley. It's canalside, and they do a permanent 2 for 1 offer on main courses. We weren't in the mood for experimenting, so had the same as last time – lamb shoulder for my best beloved and a chicken, blue cheese and wild mushroom pappardelle for me. We'd got the Squirrel going shortly before deciding to go out, so kept our eyes open for flames on the horizon as we returned, but just found a nice toasty boat.

Today we joined our occasional friends at Stafford's Wildwood church, and found that most of the people who were meant to be leading the service had gone down with the flu. The result was something very different, impromptu and spontaneous. That's something they're quite good at – we've enjoyed our periodic contacts with this group of nice people.

Back on board, I had to ring AutoGlass. Over the last couple of days the car has acquired a large / long crack in the windscreen. They can't do it until the middle of next week, just when we're planning to be away with Erin Mae getting one of her windows fixed. So I had to put it off until a day when I think we might have returned.

We came away for a break, but so far it's felt like pretty hard work!