It's been a glorious weekend here Ely where the weather has been so kind to us with sunshine every day so far. The sun has brought many boaters out for the weekend and both the wharf and park moorings have been full, with many others cruising up and down trying to get a space. Visitors to the city have been flocking in to see the sites and the wharf has been like Blackpool with folk promenading and sitting on the grass to enjoy a well-earned pint of beer.

 Ballet group in the Cathedral

Our visitors arrived on Friday as arranged with Julia bringing Sally’s Mum (Linda) and Dad (Ron) to see the city and spend time with us.

Linda, Ron and Julia

 On their arrival we walked up to the Cathedral to meet them and spent some time looking around, before returning to the boat for lunch and coffee, followed by some fresh strawberries and cream. We spent most of the visit having some fun times and laughing as Julia seems to have the same sense of hummer as I do, and between us we finished off the strawberries (they were for tomorrow Julia). The girls went off into to town to do some shopping leaving Ron and myself at the boat where we chatted and sampled a glass of banana liqueur, before they returned and with a final coffee headed back home.

Saturday; I got some bad news today as my good friend of nearly 40 years, Brian (Bop) Roberts passed away last night leaving a big hole in my life, and our thoughts and prayers are with Lorna, Andrew, Simon and family. God Bless you all, but the good news from this is that he is now with Pamela and all of his old friends, away from pain and trouble.

Bop and Lorna with us on our wedding day

The rest of the day was for Sally and I to visit the charity shops and chilling by the river people watching. The only other thing to say about the day was that I contacted a local tackle shop and ordered my replacement fishing rod which is being delivered after close of business on Sunday. A company who are prepared to go that extra mile called “Carping On” based in Mildenhall, so thank you Steve and Carol.

It was also my Mum’s birthday, so once again; Happy Birthday Mother.