Marking time

Friday 14^th April: staying put in Droitwich

The weather forecast today is for light rain this morning and heavy rain all afternoon.  We checked the CRT strong stream warnings page and saw that the Severn was amber, rising between Worcester and Stourport, so we decided to stay put today in case the navigation is closed and we have to turn round. 

Since 7 this morning dredging work has been going on about 50 yards behind us, with push tug James patiently going back and forth in the rain to empty the sludge.

As you can see, they were coping with some miserable weather.  The mud was being scooped into lorries that reversed part-way down the slipway next to the moorings of NB Pamela May 2, the Droitwich Community boat that takes residents of residential and nursing homes for trips.  When James returned empty, we could see the barge without moving from our seats, but it was too low down when it was full.

Unloading

The blue boat, Pamela May 2, was out on a crew training trip, and normally moors to the right of the digger.

During a dryish spell, we took Meg down to the football pitches for a play.  Droitwich has an impressive array of outdoor pitches for various sports, but today there were just two damp lads having a kick-about. There is a lot of mistletoe around this area, but you rarely see it growing so close to the ground.

There was another dry spell just after lunch so we went to find the Lido Park, which turned out to be extensive grounds beyond the swimming pool, well maintained and with tarmac paths for prams and wheelchairs.

A small part of the park

And another

 We walked back through the town.  A new shopping centre was built some time ago and it has an interesting mural on one of the walls.  It’s made of tiles, slate and other materials.

We hadn’t been back long when James went by pushing the dredger – work finished for the week.  I called Lincomb lock to ask about the river levels and with the river still running very fast was advised to ring again tomorrow.  I spent the rest of the afternoon stitching up the covers of the porthole bungs.  I had made them over the winter, but didn’t realise till we brought them back last time that the foam shop had cut them too big – 37 cm instead of 30.7 cm.  So Dave trimmed them to the right size and I had to re-make the covers.  Three down, one still to be done.

Quite a difference in size!

By 7.30 the sun was visible above the western horizon, though it was still raining, and there was a rainbow on the other side of the boat.  The evening was very cold and we were glad of the fire.

I have got rather behind with the blog - as well as issues with getting a strong enough signal, we have had something unwanted to be coping with - but that's for tomorrow!