Cheshire 10 - Ellesmere Port / a closed boat museum / a house on the market again/ It's too hilly / Harry Ramsdens fish and chips at Cheshire Oaks

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Life goes on after the house sale fell through . We were disappointed , angry , frustrated and very annoyed in equal measures. That eventually wore off but we were still left with a nasty taste and didn't know whether or not to put the house back on the market again. It was all a faff. Everything was in boxes . The house looked empty . We needed to put everything back in its place and that would take time. Do we want the timewasters again? Taking them round the house has been a version of purgatory. How can you make a hall interesting? It is what it is - the first place you come to when you come into our home. This is the lounge - I can explain the new blinds , the rewiring, the new boiler and the new radiators . I get fed up as I walk from room to room pointing out what I consider to be interesting things. Then they leave and we hear nothing or that the area is too hilly or the garden is too terraced. There is either too much garden or not enough. There is sometimes too much parking or not enough. It is a wearing time and one that we were not sure we wanted to go through again. It was another one of those Dalai Lama times when the saying on my desk calendar rings true . "Look at life from all angles and you will become more open". We look at it from one angle - no we are not putting ourselves through it all again. Five minutes later we have changed our minds. Why not try it for a week or two and see what happens?

We get our first bite after a few days. Mrs wants to move . Her son wants her to move . Husband however is not keen . They make the appointment to view but cancel ten minutes before the time saying the husband does not like the area. That's a new one and yet another disappointment. Or is it ? There is nothing worth looking at in Wales at the moment.

The months are drifting by. Winter has been kind to us. We can count on one hand the number of days that we have suffered snow. It takes two hands to count the number of days we have scraped ice off the car windscreen. Very few mornings have temperatures dipping below freezing. Our Azaleas are in full bloom creating a pale lilac palette of colour in the corner of the garden. I wash the garden walls removing green winter mould from them. I make a start on the jobs that have piled up over the winter months. Spring makes you feel like doing those jobs, Sweeping away the last vestiges of Winter. The days are getting longer . The nights are getting lighter. We need to start picking away at jobs that need to be done before we go on holiday. Haircuts booked , dentists appointments made . we are starting to count down days before we head for our first trip of 2019 to Europe.

So what did we do today? A trip to North Wales and a plan to visit somewhere on the way back. Boat Museum - closed . Ness gardens - a bit too far up the Wirral. Lady Lever Art Gallery - been before . We were going to get my hair chopped. One more before we leave for sunny weather in Croatia. There is something pleasant sitting in the chair, the scissors clicking and a hairstyle emerging as we put the world to rights. Our next stop - Cheshire Oaks . That huge extremely busy shopping mall full of designer shops. Not our favourite pastime here or abroad but it needs to be done. Needless to say we don't find what we came for and settle for lunch in Harry Ramsdens Chip shop. The business was started by Harry in 1928 in a wooden hut in Guiseley West Yorkshire . The story of Harry and his fish and chip empire is told on the plates which pretend to be newspapers. Snippets tell of its inception, its sale in the 1950's, the fish it uses and the way it fries its chips. The walls are adorned with more black and white stories about Harry and the company. It is not cheap by any means. The chips were average. The fish however although thin was extremely tasty. Washed down by a reasonable espresso and capaccino.

On the way home we pondered stopping off at Jodrell Bank- closed on Mondays. Capesthorne Hall - very expensive and finally Gawsworth Hall - closed until May. Not a very successful day but it is still one day nearer our holiday and we have another couple lined up to view the house . I wonder if that will fare any better.

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