Walkabout

Alison and Mike called by yesterday. We'd met them at a lock on our journey south, and they'd been reading the blog. Turned out they were coming to look at a boat in the marina where we're holed up for the weekend. Great to see you, guys – and good to chat about boats and music and Stratford. If ever I need a bassoon player, I'll know where to come!

You'd think a hook-up would mean not having to run the engine. Unfortunately, the very reason we're here in the first place is because the diesel central heating is not functioning (split header tank), so we're running the engine for hot water as I write. But I think I've got the timing wrong. We could use a kettle for washing up now, and if I ran the engine later there'd be enough left in the morning for showers without running it again. Brain addled, I think. Must be all the excitement of having bought tickets for the theatre in Stratford on Thursday.

We walked into Evesham this morning. The market square was charming, in parts, though the market itself was having something of a day off, I think.

Not all the odd angles on this building are due to the photo being taken at the equivalent of 28 mm. The town hall was suitably townhallish…

while the abbey-alley was notable both for its share of the charm and the filter coffee served in The Gateway Tearooms.

"Charming" is not the right adjective for the Abbey itself.

Up close, the puzzles posed by our glimpses from the river yesterday were resolved. Most of the Abbey no longer exists, but in close proximity are a couple of churches, built by the monks for the people of the town, and the splendid bell tower.

So, taking all these photos, what do you do with your sunglasses? They're polarised, which does funny things through a camera's viewfinder (still not used to the LCD screen). Answer: hang one of the arms through the very small space below the bottom button of the polo shirt. Consequence: (a) somewhere in the grounds of the Abbey is a perfectly usable pair of Boots sunglasses; (b) on a shelf in Erin Mae is a new pair of Foster Grant sunglasses; (c) my Mastercard account is £20 worse off than it should be. Evesham is getting expensive…

We'll probably walk into town again tomorrow, now the rain has stopped. We hooked up with Alison and Mike yesterday. Who knows who we might hook up with tomorrow, after all? That's the adventure.