Whitchurch Arm

There was certainly the sound of sleet last night hitting the roof of Oleanna, but this morning it had turned to just cold rain and quite a lot of it. Tilly was allowed out to explore whilst we stayed inside by the warmth of the stove, Mick braving the elements for a newspaper. The dry stone wall by our mooring was very soon scaled (this is the cat who managed to climb the high wall in Marple last year) and the vista on the other side was heaven to Tilly. She was gone for hours only to return during a particularly heavy down pour.

The day gradually brightened up, so with some mince, onions and other things gradually cooking on the stove top we ventured back into Whitchurch. Sadly my thought of going to the Heritage Centre was thwarted by it being closed on Saturdays! So we decided to have a wonder around and loiter to see the Christmas lights get turned on.

Today we walked along Chemistry into town and through Jubilee Park. We then had a good look around the town finding the Heritage Centre that we’d missed yesterday (when it was open!). Whitchurch is the oldest continuously inhabited town in Shropshire.

Town was packed, today the Christmas lights would be turned on. There was a small fun fair. The local Rotary club had a wagon with a queue right across the street for people to visit Santa. I usually insist on calling him Father Christmas but when someone dresses up as him with a bad plastic wig and beard they become Santa. Being born on Christmas day Father Christmas used to make two visits to my house, one at the usual time when we were all asleep and an earlier one, to my birthday party. So I can tell a fake when I see one.

We soon found a charity shop that had some towels, so we now have a full complement for when Tilly comes in covered in mud. She refuses to wipe her paws on the mats provided and just jumps over them instead! Then we wondered away from the throngs to see what we could see. Some wonderful buildings and others not so wonderful. This is the first time I’ve seen a half pebble dashed house, I’m hoping it will be the last.

Wonderful windows of all shapes styles and sizes.

If you fancy a project there is an old pub that stands at the back of the church, currently it is unsafe so would most probably need pulling down, but what a great site. We stopped off to look in a couple of shops and un-secretly bought invisible things for in a months time.

Back onto the High Street we looked at stalls all showing their Christmassy wares. People were now starting to congregate for the lights. Looking around us we decided that we were unlikely to be amazed at the display, it wasn’t going to be anything like Newarks market square, that was special. Even the mulled wine didn’t entice us to stay another half hour. Instead we headed back to the boat leaving everyone else to have a good time and get chilblains.

More of my goods went on sale today on my friends Etsy shop. Two have already sold, so maybe we’ll be able to afford a duck for Christmas.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 cold wet sunny wet day, 1 dripping cat, 2 extra towels, 1 secret present, 7 hours cooking for mince, 1 crumble, 1 near ruin, 3 days a week, 11 snowflakes, 1 cardie, 2 pairs socks finished, 1 cosy boat.