New Zealand “T” shirts.

Still moored at Braunston.
Total of 218 locks and 223¹/₂ miles and 8 Tunnels since 5th Nov 2006

It was amazing just how quiet it became around here after dusk. No boat movements, no towpath walkers, just dead silence. We even went for a walk up into the village about 8.30pm last night for a look around and there was not much stirring there either.
This morning we went back into the village to see what the butcher had on offer. He is more like a general store really as they sell homemade chutney’s, pickles and sauces, fresh veges although some looked past their best, home made pies and pasties, kebabs, specialty sausages, bacon as well as meat. We took home some Chinese style chicken kebab for tea which were delicious as well as Apricot chutney, mint sauce, bacon and a homemade pork pie for tomorrow.
I returned to the boat and Dot went off with the camera to photograph the church and a building that was once a windmill. At the church she found a wedding about to take place and the bride arrived in an old Bentley.
Checking out the history of the windmill it appears that a man was repairing the sails when wind caused the sails to move and he fell to his death. The building is 80 feet high and the domed roof is not the original roof and in the photo you can see the hole where the spindle would have once protruded for the sails. It is now a private residence.
Back at the boat it was time to don the overalls and pull the rear doors and hatch off to do some sanding and painting. Among the usual interruptions from gongoozlers came several very unexpected interruptions. The first was 2 couples who stopped to chat and one lady was wearing a “T” shirt emblazoned with the word “Wellington” across the top with the Wellington (NZ) cable car amongst other things pictured on the front.
It turned out that the first couple were from Dunedin (NZ) and lived in the next street to Dot’s Aunty Joan. If that wasn’t enough the second couples daughter lives with the first couples son in Wellington (NZ). Well that dispensed with a good half an hour of idle chat.
Later in the day while having a break another couple happened along and it was not hard to see the lady was wearing a “T” shirt emblazoned New Zealand. Me being my usual cheeky self said “And where did you pinch that T shirt from” and it turned out it was a present from a brother in law. After another half an hour of idle chat it was back to work. With the long daylight hours now I am really getting on top of the jobs that require attention which is good.