Bartimaeus

Although neither of us is actually feeling ill, we both felt a bit tired and neither had enthusiasm for setting off down the Locks and the Severn, and I thought it possible we might get more washed out as the day progressed and so we had a quiet morning, but I had some wildlife observations to keep me entertained. There were some squirrels across the canal that chased each other in the trees and have occasionally jumped around the roof too. Swans are displaying and flapping from time to time on the water.

There were several bluetits in the thin plant cover, against the wall -hardly a hedge – by the towpath and a robin there too as well as sitting on the path.

I have also seen what I assume is a young rat. It is bigger than a mouse but like a small hamster and peeps its head out occasionally and once I saw it run along the top of the walI and another time make a mad dash along the towpath to hide. I cannot tell if it is one or several, but I only see one at a time. I don’t think they can get into the boat as it is all metal so I feel safe from infestation. I saw one similar run across our path in Manchester and I have seen many more and much larger in Paris. They like cities.

After lunch Shane was feeling more  like getting on with investigating the tunnel light and went to look in the engine space, where some of the wiring is.

I took a photo then set off to the shops, prompting a fisherman to remark that I was leaving him to work while I went off ( presumably he thought I was going to enjoy myself) I laughed that he had chosen to do that task and given me a shopping list. Nothing exciting in the supermarket but I got everything in the list and did enjoy the mural at the end of a row of houses, on the way back.

When I got back I thought Shane had fixed the problem by the excited look on his face…but no ..” you’ll never guess what I saw!” Spot on – I didn’t guess. I didn’t know otters were even on the canal at all. The eel looked huge and that fisherman was impressed that the otter was having more luck than him!

We have had a bit of success with working out the issues with the light but it isn’t resolved yet. I left Shane puzzling over it to look at the sunset over the cathedral. Certainly it’s not been a complete wipe out of a day… Unless you were that eel.