Day 22: Oldbury and West Bromwich.

Hello Friends and Followers.

It would be nice to say I woke this morning to sunlight beaming through the porthole, but sadly that would be a lie. The sky was the colour of Pewter and yes it was raining again. But rain does not stop this woman, so it was up and out with Paddy for his walk. We let ourselves out of the Titford Pumphouse gate and strolled up the towpath towards the pools. I was all for walking a good way, but Paddy was having none of it. He did his business and stood there looking at me. The expression on his face, said it all really, he wanted to go home and get in the dry.
Animals fed, fire stoked up, showers had in the sanitary block, we were ready to go out for the day. Now the sanitary block at the Pumphouse is very good, but the shower does need attention. More water comes out of the pipe than the shower head. So I feel a report coming on to C&RT. Anyway we closed the boat up and walked down into Oldbury.

Oldbury Council building.

The Court of Requests, Wetherspoons where we had a nice cup of tea.
Oldbury is part of the Black Country and like a lot of towns and cities it has shops closed down and some parts looking a little sad, but the people are very friendly.

This memorial interested me. Theodore was only 16 when he died.

Our next destination was West Bromwich, which neither of us had visited before. So we climbed aboard the 4 H Diamond Bus. I had a return ticket for £2.80 and of course Keith used his bus pass. Most of the busses do not take cash anymore, you have to use your card to pay. It is all very new to me, because cash is king in Warwickshire. Anyway we arrived in West Bromwich and headed off around the shopping centre.

Lunch was an early breakfast at the Wetherspoons Billiard Room. I had my usual Vegetarian Breakfast and Keith had a Traditional Breakfast. Both of them had raw Tomatoes on them, which according to a letter by Tom the owner in the Spring magazine should not be happening. So I spoke to the young woman serving us and pointed out the letter in the magazine on our table. She took the magazine to the chef and then came back to let me know that they would be making sure the Tomatoes are cooked in future. This is the second time I have bought up this problem. I have also now written to Tim Martin the owner of Wetherspoons, asking that he makes sure that his chefs know the Tomatoes should be cooked in his opinion. So we will see if I get a reply.

Having enjoyed a nice time out in the dreary weather, we caught the bus back to Oldbury and then walked home to the boat.
That is two more places to cross off the places visited.

Pop back soon xx