Cometh the train, cometh the woman!

Saturday 24th January to Sunday 25th January 2015

She did return as planned on the mid-afternoon train.

But before all of that Diane had a chance to visit Camden markets in London but judging by the weight of the case that she brought back she didn't add much to it of the pockets of stallholders there.
Looking forward to seeing these when we make it there at the end of the year.

Camden Locks 

inside the markets

Diane says this photo is for Paul

We had arranged that I would take the bus to the station and then we would come home the same way.

I was also thinking that there was a large market on in Macclesfield on Saturday, so that being the case I would go in early, have a good look around before the train was due and then be able to meet Diane and if the stalls were still around we could then have a look together.

Unknown to me Diane and Paul had been texting to each other, with Paul offering to take me in and then drive us both back - Diane arranged it all and forgot to tell me until I was already there.

It wasn't a problem and I met up with Paul at the station after I had dropped into Tesco for a chance to remove some items from the shopping list.

Whilst we both waited for the train, we had the chance to think that it would be a great job to drive the trains on these long distance journeys - say Manchester to Bournemouth or longer - a bit of a lapse to childhood when we might have thought that when we grow up we could become train drivers; probably not firemen - neither of us have the physique for the calendars.

Anyway the train duly arrived; Diane alighted from said train - very glad to see both of us there and Paul drove us back to the boat - this was such a lovely thing to do.

Oh, the market was not on for Saturday - it was scheduled for Sunday.

Next morning (Sunday) we paid a visit to the new Bollington services block for a lovely hot shower - no facilities for emptying cassettes, but the toilet was lovely and clean.
After this we did catch the bus back into Macclesfield and wandered around the outdoor market stalls - rather more extensive than those we were used to in Stone and Stafford - probably more of the size that I have seen in Nuneaton.

There were a couple of things that we purchased from them; more so we took in the Aldi store and cleaned up the remainder of the shopping list.

A coffee each and Diane couldn't go past The Silktrail Fryer - chips and gravy - back on the bus to Bollington and onto the boat to watch the FA Cup match being televised.

The weather for the weekend has been pretty good - no snow; little rain; sun was out; air was coldish - hardly seems like winter - more like mid-late April.

One consequence of Diane returning is that the radio has been returned to Smooth FM after a brief renaissance on Classic FM.

The skipper has returned; the weather is good; sun onto the solar panels and all is right with the world again.