The usual round of shopping, eating, defecating. Repeat. There must be more to life. At least I manage to make the eating part reasonably varied.
I do manage to do other things but cannot always remember what they were when I come to write up the diary. I really should do it on a daily basis, but on a daily basis it seems so repetitive.

Made good use of the facilities on the way out of Ellesmere. I do tend to include that expression quite often in my diary entries and it is probably because it is an important part of our lives. 'Normal' people, if there are such things, take running water waste sanitation, rubbish disposal as an everyday fact of life that doesn't need thinking of but us 'poor' boaters have to consider when and where we have the next opportunity to renew our living environment.
On the up side, us 'poor' boaters don't have to cater for the monthly standing charge for water or electricity or gas, nor do we (continuous cruisers) have to think about council tax, although we are excluded from using Amenity Tips for getting rid of bulky items because we cannot show evidence of a local address.
Ellesmere is just one mile from our mooring so walking in to town to catch a bus to the wider world is comparatively easy, so took a trip to Oswestry on Thursday. Friday and Saturday was just shopping locally in Ellesmere.

Took a walk in to Ellesmere to do a little fresh veg shopping and spotted this on the way. Just thought it was a neat way of securing a hatch opening.

Iowner

Fairly close to Frankton Junction, not sure how accessible shops are from here but I will find out.

Took a walk to Whittington Wharf where I can catch a bus into Oswestry. Not a very pleasant walk as the tow path is extremely narrow and almost falling into the canal in places. I don't think I will moor here for shopping again. There was an interesting tree on the way though.

Picked up paint from Whittington Wharf Narrowboats (I had pre-arranged a delivery there.)
Moored between the two locks at New Marton as it is relatively secluded with good edging to moor against and the hire boats want to continue on the the next lock either above or below so we are not impinged upon by their presence.

Delivery of paint today. I placed the order with Ruth, who sourced everything I wanted and passed it on to Sven for delivery, so chandlery orders work.

Iowner.

Paint and sundries.

From here I can catch the No2 and the No53 into Oswestry or the No53 to Ellesmere or the No2 to Wrexham so shopping should be fairly easy. Both the No2 and the No53 go to Gobowen where there is a train station that has a manned ticket office.
Took pictures of my broken window inside and out in preparation for getting a replacement, I've only waited about 8 years for it.
Shopping in Oswestry on Thursday.

Almost opposite a house on the opposite side of the canal but not so close as to intrude on their privacy. Chose this spot as there is a big old tree with a turning area around it big enough to cater for a car to park without disrupting traffic flow. A convenient place for Hermione to park when she gets here and so that she can keep an eye on her car for the duration.
Saturday, shopping in Oswestry.

Tried to catch the No2 bus into Oswestry today. The ticket machine buzzed and refused to accept my bus pass and the driver said I would have to pay for my ticket. I explained that I had an English bus pass and that I was in England catching a bus to a destination in England. He still refused (in an eastern European accent) to let me travel without paying. After several minutes of discussion one of the passengers paid for my ticket.
So as not to cause any more disruption I took the ticket and sat down and completed my journey into Oswestry. For the return journey I caught the No53 and had no problems with ticketing.
In the mean time my No2 had a very similar experience when catching the bus to Gobowen.
Filled with indignation I penned an email to CONCESSIONARYFARES@dft.gov.uk expressing my concern over this incident.

Hermione managed to get to the post office at Ellesmere and rang to say she had arrived. I gave her directions to get to the Church in Moors Lane. I was stood on the Bridge at St Martins Moors Lane when I spotted Hermione turning into Moors Lane. Wandered along to meet her and then got her to follow me along the tow path road to the big old tree.
All settled in. Mable, Hermione's dog was not too keen on the boat.

Trip to Chirk and back. To give Hermione some experience of helming we decided to take a trip from St Martins to Chirk and back, turning at the winding hole between Chirk Tunnel and Whitehouse Tunnel. I got quite stressed particularly through the tunnel as I had forgotten that the flow of the canal is against us but I coped.
Set off in brilliant sunshine but before long it started raining and for most of the journey we were being slowly drenched by the mizzling rain. Nearly missed the winding hole but spotted it just in time. Hermione negotiated the turn competently and we eventually got back to the mooring late in the afternoon. Quite an interesting start to narrow boating, but it didn't seem to put Hermione off.'

Hermione returned home today. I got some fish at Iceland in Oswestry.