Big Shop Day

Well, for us a big shop, anyway! Much of what we will use tomorrow we had already bought so it was mainly fresh goods that we wished to re-stock and it is only one day - Christmas Day - and then the shops re-open. Those who are nostalgic for 'the good old days' might remember back when we stocked up for several days, especially if Christmas Day and Boxing Day fell next to a weekend!

In the morning we stayed on board with a smoked gammon joint to be cooked that took most of the morning. We roasted it through fairly slowly before applying a honey glaze. Once it was all finished the outside looked a tasty dark shade.

The day generally was very pleasant but the view around the marina in the middle of the day was quite splendid.

By the way, nb Astraea, which lies on the opposite side of the long pontoon from where we are, is a 2014 're-make' by Brinklow Boat Services and is based on the design of an older Woolwich boat. The original Astraea was actually a butty, paired with a motor named Mercury. that worked for British Waterways and was eventually broken up in 1978. The name means 'Star'.

After lunch - and day two of Christine's latest soup - we drove into Droitwich. After picking up a couple of items from Boots we wheeled our trolley around Morrisons. Surprisingly, we found that some basic items - swede, onions, celery, lemons and even stollen - were awaiting being replenished. A young lad did manage to find some boxed of lemons in the back store. However, we did find everything else and avoided falling temptation to too many seasonal extras!

So, we then went out to Aldi on the edge of town - at least parking is free! We managed all the remaining items apart from mincemeat but we did track some down at B&M across the road although we shall have to see what quality it is.

Back to the marina and it took a couple of trips to and from the car to unload everything and we could batten down the hatches for the evening (not that tv was much cop tonight) and a salad based around slices from the gammon joint which by now had cooled down and was suitably tasty.