Return to Stalybridge

---

On a day that had dawned grey and drizzly it was time to leave Shrewsbury and head back to Stalybridge. On the way to retrieve the car from the long stay car park we popped into a shop around in the Dogpole area of Shrewsbury to price some ‘Solar Pal’ novelty characters that we saw in the window of the local tattoo and body piercing parlour yesterday. You know, the silly toys that have a small solar panel so that they jiggle around when the sun (or artificial) light falls on it?Kerry is a big fan of these particular characters, and they weren’t very expensive, so we bought all three in the set for Kerry to put on her desk at work. I can’t name them here in the (albeit unlikely) event that Kerry actually reads this blog post!

We had an uneventful journey back to Stalybridge. I think? I have to admit to dozing a fair bit in the back seat of the car. Relieved of any navigational duties, thanks to Siri and Albert the back-up navigator in the front seat I could doze off without feeling guilty. After we crossed the interchange for the M6/M56 Siri warned that there was congestion ahead on the M56 between junctions 5 - 7. Very helpfully she suggested an alternate route via Altrincham and, before the back-up navigator could speak up, Bernie had turned off the motorway. Of course, once you commit to the alternate route you have no way of knowing whether you would have been better to stick with the original??! Albert was not convinced that we had saved any time at all by going with Siri’s suggestion.

Back at home in Stalybridge, Kath and Albert found water on the kitchen bench and a puddle on the floor. It seems the boiler decided to spring a leak while we were away. Why do things have such an uncanny knack for breaking down when you are about to go away or while you are away? A plumber came out almost straight away, but couldn’t fix it on the spot because he didn’t have the necessary spare parts in his van. Fortunately the boiler only heats the water for the central heating (not currently needed) and the hot water for everything except for the shower. What a relief!

There were no card games played tonight because there was a football match on Sky that Albert wanted to watch.



Steps: 9,920 (8.09 kms)

---