Car Shuffle Day

The weather returned its previous 'normal' - chilly, sometimes windy, overcast and occasionally damp. So  that's all folks - we have had summer now.

Not a problem here as we taking this as car shuffle day and Christine had a Zoom meeting most of the afternoon.

A taxi was booked for 10 to collect Mike from the nearby bridge - luckily Mike walked up ear;y as he found that the driver was already This meant that he was able - with two minutes to spare - to catch a train an hour earlier than planned. This one took him to Smethwick Galton Bridge (not the most obvious place but it is the interchange at two levels alongside the BCN Main Line. One line runs between Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street whilst the other is on one of the lines that runs down to Droitwich, this one via Kidderminster) The travel plan indicated almost half an hour wait here but Mike knew that there was an earlier service leaving just a few minutes after he was due to arrive. He quickly made his way up to the higher level where that train was already waiting and as he jumped - almost literally - aboard, the doors closed behind him! Talk about cutting it fine, he was nearly cut in two.

Once at Droitwich, Mike opted to walk to the marina - sometimes a taxi is booked but this time a walk was decided.

Although there should have been enough charge in the car to make the journey back to the boat, The safer option was to top up now. So it was over to Lidl where the only public charger we have ever used is situated. As he pulled into the car park, Mike could see that there was a car already there but luck was on side once again as it was just leaving. Leaving the car to do its charging, Mike went into Lidl to pick up a sandwich for lunch and then sat out the rest of the half hour and a bit that the charging took.

Setting up the return route on the Sat Nav, the system reported that it had selected an alternative route to the motorway as there had been a crash and hence a serious delay. Hence Mike had the chance to take in the sights of Kidderminster, Bridgnorth, Telford and almost Market Drayton. In the first there were temporary four way traffic lights at a crucial intersection which added at least 15 minutes to ghe journey time.

From there the route was straightforward if all on typical single carriageway A roads with the occasional tractor or towed caravan. Eventually it was just after 4 when Mike reached the destination and was met at the bridge by Christine who had finished her meeting and put the kettle on ready.