A Family Visit

My sister and her family came over for the day. They'd been camping at Eastnor Castle, and decided it wasn't that much further to come to see me. Young James spent the journey acting as navigator, doing the "pace notes" like they do in a rally. He was quite disappointed that he had to wait until he was fourteen before he could do it in a proper car rally!

It was lovely to show them around.
We had lunch at The Old Electric Shop - Buddha bowls and guacamole on toast, with Vintage lemonade or coffee, with an extra plate for my nephew, who wasn't quite up to eating a full portion.
Then we went up to Salem Chapel to see the model railway, and the chap on duty gave us all sorts of details about how he made the trees (grape stalks with green stuff glued onto them) and how much the engines had cost, and how he'd adapted carriages so they didn't jump off the rails. He was very pleased that one of the local electricians had been in that morning, to fit new light bulbs for free. They've been getting quite a bit of help like that, which they very much appreciate. They were working on the electrical system for the points while we were there - they could hear the mechanism clicking, but the points weren't changing, so they weren't sure what had gone wrong.
Later in the afternoon we went down by the river, near the canoe landing stage (the car was parked down there), and were able to point out where the railway line had been, and the bridge, and the cottages that are on the model.
We went past the Buttermarket, too - I'd been in the morning, before they came, and seen the photos of the Woodland Group doing work on the riverside path, and the pictures of the steps that they want to renovate next. They also had examples of the tools they use, and of course Alan Powell's sign made out of twigs. Also there were the Lions and other local charities, with the usual range of bric-a-brac and clothes to sell, and a tombola stall.
We had sweet pastries, too, from the lady in the Cheesemarket - this week she wasn't surrounded by wasps like she had been the previous, more sunny, Saturday (she has nerves of steel!).
We went in the camping shop on Castle Street, too - now young James is in the Cubs, he's doing a lot of camping and canoeing, and has his silver swimming badge for survival and swimming a mile (the one where you start off by jumping in the pool fully clothed)! I never even got a 10 metre badge!