Hole in the Ground

Our last day in Chester today and we thought we’d go for a short walk after lunch before heading home, just to get a bit of fresh air and exercise prior to being cooped up in the car. We must have had a slight premonition of trouble ahead as there were 30 minute delays around Lancaster due to an accident. Rather than sit in the queue we took to the A6 at Preston and then went via Garstang to rejoin the motorway at the next junction. I suspect that the overall journey time would have been the same if we’d stayed on the M6, but it always feels better to be actually moving, albeit at a slower pace.
There has been all sorts of upheaval around Chester for over a year now as they have been replacing drains. In theory the work is almost complete, but it sure doesn’t look that way! I’m assuming it is the big iron pipe that is being replaced but I was more intrigued by how close to the surface the other pipes and cables are - I always thought things like gas, electric and telephone cables were buried pretty deep to keep them safe. Anyway, always interesting to look in a big hole, even if nothing is actually happening down there!
We took advantage of being in Chester by doing a shop at Waitrose this morning. Kendal is far too provincial for us to warrant a posh shop like that but our fridge now has a few tasty meals in it that we wouldn’t normally be able to eat. Mind you, my wallet is considerably lighter than it would be after an M&S shop, so perhaps it’s a good thing there isn’t a Waitrose near us!
Popped round to see mum at lunchtime as we won’t be back in Chester for a fortnight or so. She is looking and feeling considerably better than she was after the operation on Wednesday and I am quietly confident that she will be able to have a pretty reasonable quality of life with the new care programme we have agreed with her over the past couple of days. I’m sure there will be a few issues to deal with in the coming weeks but I think we have the basics sorted so it will just be fine tuning until everyone is happy.