Gloucester Quays Food Festival.

Hi Folks.

A quiet night was spent opposite the Waterways Museum. We both slept very well and were then woken up by the darling Seagulls. With little chance of going back to sleep, I made a cuppa, which we sat drinking whilst watching breakfast TV, for once there was no mention of the phone hacking yippee.

Paddy got his walk and I managed to find him a piece of grass to wee on, which I think pleased him no end. There were already people scurrying here and there putting up stalls for the Food Festival.

9.30am Keith and I locked up the boat and headed off to see the lock keeper to find out what the situation was with Diglis Locks, because there had been problems with the locks and they had been closed. Thankfully we were told that the problem should be sorted out today, because divers were going into the water to move cables which were jamming the gates. So good news for us because we want to set off tomorrow.

10am we had a meeting with our trading manager Susie Mercer at the BW office. We sat and drank coffee with her, whilst we discussed our trading options now that we are not trading coal. It was great to catch up with her, we came out feeling much more positive. I took Susie some small Lemon Drizzle Cakes, because I had promised her a cake should she ever come to the boat.

Having left Susie we walked a couple of hundred yards to the

Food Festival.

Sadly we did not see either James Martin or Gino D'Acampo, both of them are dishes don't you think?

We had a wander around the stalls, which were pretty quiet as it was early.

Later on it did get much busier.

There was some lovely cheese and meats to be had. Having seen everything we wanted to see, we walked down to Hobbycraft and bought a few items. Lunch was then eaten at the Angel Chef buffet, which was very nice. After a lovely lunch we then walked into the city to do some shopping. I needed new batteries in my wrist watch and my watch on a chain. Unfortunately my wrist watch was dead, because there was a piece broken inside, so that got binned, but I did get a battery put in my other watch. Feet aching and shopping done, we plodded back to the boat where we were pleased to see Joy and Roy on NB Jubilee moored behind us. We spent an age chatting away to them and eating ice cream. I think I could spend many a happy hour chatting to them both, they are a wonderful couple.

We are now finally back on board our boat and I need to put my aching feet up for the evening. We plan to leave Gloucester tomorrow morning, the first locking down is 8.45am and then every two hours after that, so we can take our pick.

Off to make a coffee and some dinner, so chat soon xx