Halloween

 At the moment we are moored in St. Mary’s Marina, which means we have electric hook up and a tap at the end of the pontoon, absolute luxury. Last evening we attended the bonfire party at the marina, it was nice to meet some of the other boaters.

 

Magnus and Lance came to stay a couple of weekends ago as Nikita was at Brownie pack holiday. Lance wasn’t walking last time he went for a cruise on the boat, as when they visited us in the south we didn’t actually move. We cruised the 4 miles up to Tarleton with the plan of staying there for a couple of weeks. Magnus is an excellent crew member and can hold the boat by the centre line really well. However, the evening of 30^th October the youngsters in Tarleton caused havoc in the village, we could hear the commotion and emergency service sirens from the canal. Then we heard a lot of banging & shouting outside the boat and some of the hoodlums had spilled down the lane to the canal, jumped on our boat & ran off with our life ring. We got a crime reference number, but I think it was the least of the police’s worries as the yobs set fire to bins, threw eggs & fireworks at cars and people. Quite shocking for a lovely little village. There was very little antisocial behaviour in our area of Luton, as the police nipped it in the bud & issued certain areas with an ASBO.

Jason had planned to walk the children down to the boat on Halloween and do some trick & treating on the way and then have hot dogs. But our plans changed, we went back to Rufford and they stayed at home. We got the bus to their house for a get together, which was great fun as Ada & Dale came too.

I got an extra hour of birthday when we went back to GMT. I SO used to hate it when I worked  nights and having to work an extra hour on my birthday. But work seems a distant memory now we’ve been off for 3 years. Once again we had a full boat as everyone came around. We all took a stroll over Tarleton Lock and onto the bank of the River Douglas, it was odd seeing the boat from a different angle.

 

Last Friday we caught the train to Blackpool to see the lights. I’d been several years ago when Heather & Jason first moved to the north west but John hadn’t. It was a beautifully still & sunny day, just perfect for walking along the beach and taking a ride the whole length of the tram route to Fleetwood Ferry. We spend a good while looking in the artificial rock pools that had formed on the sea wall. On the way back we got off of the unicorn tram above the cliffs to look at the static light displays which were brilliant. I loved the Daleks and I think John would make a good Dr Who. The old trams were running in the evening along with the illuminated ones.