Piper at the Gates of Dawn

I know there are other “gate” related titles I could use, but I happen to like that album!
I haven’t seen this much of these particular gates since we were lucky enough to be allowed access to the bottom of the Shropshire Union canal at Northgate Locks, whilst they were being installed. I should emphasise that the locks were drained and access was all official, thanks to the volunteers of the Canal and River Trust who arranged for the general public to be allowed down into the lock one weekend during the installation of the new gates. It was fascinating to see pick axe marks still visible on the rocks at the bottom of the lock - made you realise what a massive undertaking it was digging everything out by hand.
A trouble free drive down to Chester this morning meant we were able to go for a wander up into town before lunch. Which meant I was able to treat myself to a pork pie and a fruit danish from Chatwins. A damn sight tastier than yesterday’s vegan porridge!
We are only here for a short time, basically to go to the theatre tonight. It’s a show we should have seen in April 2020, that has been rescheduled many times over the past two years due to you know what! It’s going ahead tonight but we have to head home in the morning as I am playing with the band tomorrow night. I will try and squeeze in a visit to mother this afternoon, though I’ve heard from other sources that she is being very difficult at the moment. I shall pretend I know nothing of this and see what transpires.
We finally met the people who have the flat opposite ours, even though they moved in over a year ago! Mostly due to our lack of visits because of covid but partly because although the flat is their main home, they really only use it as a base in between holidays and other trips away. Sadly, they did confirm that one of our elderly neighbours we’d not seen for a while had passed away. A great shame, because she was always great fun to speak to and a terrible gossip when it came to telling us all about the other residents of the block! I wonder what she told our neighbours about us?