Nantwich Embankment to Lockdown Mooring 4

Still no shore leave this morning! This Nantwich outside is worse than BUMingham!

After they finished their morning dingding, She asked me if I wanted to use my pooh box. Stupid question really, I didn’t want to use it! I wanted to use the shore based facilities but appeased her by having a wee. ‘Marvelous’ She said, I was then assisted into my escape pod. There was no urgency about this and we certainly hadn’t moved the outside to river conditions, so just what was going on? Then the door closed behind me! Here hang on there!!! She really needed to think about what she was doing here.

The door has closed in the past. One time we got in a big box which moved the outside very quickly, then we got to our new inside, Oleanna. Were we moving to a new inside? They hadn’t told me anything about it. In fact they’d been doing whispering since She made a phone call yesterday morning when She thought I was asleep!

The other times the door has closed I’ve been taken through the outside to visit an inside where woofers quiver and smell whilst waiting their turn. Oh blimey was that about to happen?!

Tom was waiting outside with his bicycle. The Escape Pod just fitted on top of the bag at the front, but it meant we had to go backwards and forwards for him to turn round. Why they didn’t take me and the Escape Pod off the bike to turn… well !

Maybe I was going for a pedicure? But She seemed to think I was doing a good enough job by myself trying to open the door.

No, I was going on a guided tour of Nantwich outside. Apparently I’m a touch too heavy to have just been walked round in my pod. Down a ramp to the bottom of the tall trees, they really are very tall! Then across a road. She moved to be between me and the cars, Tom protecting me from sideway trees. This was a touch better. I was told to look at the pretty houses then the black and white ones just like me. I was far more interested in trying to open the door and SHOUT to the world about not being allowed out to climb the big trees!

People knew I was coming and moved out of the way. One lady with a woofer apologised as her woofer stopped to do a necessary down an alleyway. More pretty houses, but I wasn’t interested anymore, I had something else on my mind and they just weren’t listening to me!

Then they stopped and talked to a She. She wondered where she was going to put us as we didn’t have a car. By the skip, unfortunately in a touch of shade so I couldn’t sunbath. Everyone else had cars all spaced out with woofers in the back. Every now and then a Tom would come out of the building and take a woofer away, they all had things on their faces, most probably so they didn’t have to smell the woofers.

Oh but then…. I’d done my best…..but simply couldn’t hold on any longer! Tom and She discussed what to do. Tom suggested that She should hold me whilst he disposed of my pooh. I really didn’t want to have to sit in there with it, She said I was too eager to get away from the smell for the Escape Pod to be opened up. Blimey it smelt! Even the She we’d checked in with moved to be up wind of me!

Then how embarrassing, That She radioed to get another She who had already protected herself from the smell to come and whisk me away. She was nice and cleaned out my escape pod, gave me something new to sit on whilst I waited. All my possessions put in a plastic bag and handed to Tom.

Whilst I was being sorted the Tom (who is Greek not Mexican like She thought!) I was meant to be seeing had come to collect me but I wasn’t there! So people hunted round for me and I called out to them. Eventually I got to see Greek Tom. He jabbed my neck wrote things down, looked at my teary eye and gave me a stroke and a chin rub. He was quite nice and decided to give me a towel.

Greek Tom chatted away and brought things that I know will end up on the top of the bathroom cupboard! She stayed to pay whilst Tom and I started to head back into town. Now I’d hoped we’d be coming back the same way as I wanted a better look at the pink trees, but Greek Tom’s towel covered my view, so I shouted just as loud, but nobody took any notice.

Back inside Oleanna I had to have a really good wash, I smelt of the stuff they use to mask woofer smell. Then it was time to have a good snooze whilst they had a cuppa, it had been an exhausting morning!

I’d been very surprised when I rang the vets for advice regarding Tilly’s booster that it was going to be possible and they’d booked her in straight away. I thought we’d be advised to wait a month or so. All their measures to keep everyone separate had been thought out very well, we were impressed. Nantwich Veterinary Hospital is possibly the biggest practice we’ve taken Tilly to. Under normal circumstances I would have deemed it too far away from the canal, Middlewich was a touch closer but I’d ear marked a practice in Lymm that I’d visited with Houdini six years ago for this years jabs. But it was far more important for Tilly to be kept up to date and for us to replenish wormer and flee treatments.

We came away with some of a years worth of medication, our wallet considerably lighter. A trip back will be needed to pick up the rest of Tilly’s flea treatments as they were out of stock. Hopefully it will arrive in the next three months!

We now had another load of washing to do, so whilst the machine turned I fed my sourdough starter which had turned a touch pink overnight and had lunch.

Then it was time for us to leave Nantwich behind. Whilst at the water point all the toilets on board (Tilly’s and ours) had a good clean and our waste was disposed of. Then back the two miles to Hurleston, passing NB AreandAre who were waiting for a booze delivery. We winded and resumed our position at the moorings.

Tilly by now had calmed down after her stressful morning so was given three hours of shore leave. When it came time for her to come home she showed her face quickly from the friendly cover. So glad she had forgiven us. A curl up on my knee in front of the stove was all she wanted this evening.

0 locks, 2.08 miles by boat, 2.08 miles for a cat on a bike, 644388 meows, 1 embarassing incident, 1 years vaccinations, 1 years wormer, 3 months (so far) fleaer, 1 passport stamped and approved for shore leave for another year, 1 new towel, Covid -19 compliant vet, 1 clean pooh box, 1 clean pooh bucket, 1 clean lot of cat bedding, 0.2 kg heavier than last year (it’s all those mice), Lockdown mooring 4 again.