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On the banks of the Trent & Mersey canal, just outside Sandon, there was a meeting of t'planning committee. Very few decisions were made, but alcohol was consumed, Muttley had a cuddle and a nice family on a hire boat were rescued from the consequences of trying to wind a 70ft boat with the blunt end where the pointy bit should have been. Altogether a reasonable outcome by our PC meeting standards - however, the unusual thing about it was that Joe attended instead of his apologies (bribed with the promise of alcohol I suspect)!
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As always, Daisy put in her 4 penn'orth & was the only one that made any sense - she suggested that we stop in Stone for a quick look round & then moor in the countryside above the town.
En route to Stone, Floyd rolled (& rolled & rolled) in a disgustingly stinky fish. The battle to keep our distance from (& definitely upwind of) him resulted in unseemly scrabbling - see how Baxter & Muttley are trying to disown him and Fletcher has that, "why me?" expression & not a human in sight.
We tried losing him but, in the end, Lesley hosed him down with shampoo.
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Stone was so lovely that we stayed overnight (Daisy was over ruled & shut in-that went down well; not). The town really encourages visitors & embraces it's canal heritage. There was a lovely plaque saying how the celebrations were so great when the first canal boats reached the town that, "there were muchly firings of cannons" and that 2 locks and a bridge were so badly damaged that the boats were unable to leave - sounds like my kind of a party.
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The old boatyards and brewery buildings as you leave the town to the North.
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We tried to give little Muttley to these guys, but we think they were deaf or something.
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Anyway, time to start walking back from Barlaston towards Stone to find NB Caxton. We couldn't get the lazy b's out of bed this a.m., so we left without them - I expect Lesley will come up with some excuse.
I really lost my rag with people at locks this morning - lock manners are disappearing (& I was hungry!).