Gabby the motorhome is parked up on the drive . She is not going anywhere today. We go inside her now and again and she feels deserted and unloved. Everything about her feels cold now that Autumn is about us . The bedding feels chilly and the a quick glance at the solar panel control shows the leisure battery is at 99% and the engine battery 12.7. Despite the heavy rain over the last few days she does remain topped up sufficiently to run the alarms and the locking systems . Her boots are firmly planted on the ground . Instead I am out in Ziggy . Ziggy who needs a service . I set the sat nag for Shrewsbury and bless the fact that is light at 7.30. A week ago it would have been dark . Since then the clocks have gone back and we have daylight an hour earlier in the morning . The down side is darkness an hour earlier and the long long nights . The road is empty and Sally Sat Nag tells me to turn round . I have just driven out and gone onto autopilot . She however has different ideas . I
wonder why she wants me to go to Overton . That seems the long way round . I continue with my route which is a straight road where I can put my foot down as there are few cars out and about . A voice in the back starts to talk to me . Are we meeting my friend Woolly today ? I guessed that Sion had sneaked into my bag and as we were heading for Shrewsbury there was every chance we would meet up with Jo and Woolly . Sion knew that we had something in the pipeline . Sadly he was to find out that today was not going to be a meet up with Woolly day .
We had been to Shrewsbury many times in the preceding years. I bought my third new car from Wadham Kennings . What has Clay Cross and Wadham Kennings got ? What is the connection ? Kennings lived in Clay Cross . There is a street called Kenning Street and a park too. They ran called John Bull Tyres . Wadham must have bought them out . I passed the old Showroom and drove
down Featherbed Lane . A Road rather than a Lane and one full of car showrooms . After parking up I booked Ziggy in and was told she did not need a full service just a brake fluid change . That should be done pretty quick I thought . Will that give us much time in Shrewsbury ? my little friend asked . Plenty of time Sion . Plenty . We picked up a free ticket for the park and ride and set off walking to the bus station . It was pretty cold and damp and a slight drizzle started to fall . Good thing my little friend was tucked up warmly in my bag and was being carried to the bus stop. The bus was partly full with many unmasked passengers . We drove into town and I found myself thinking of other visits and rides on this bus. A town I had worked in and visited on courses . A place we visited often in Gabby. What was different was the buildings along the way . So many new houses but there were still things I remembered . The Sentinel Factory, the Morris and the
Maltings now being turned into housing . We passed under the railway bridge and passed the Victorian railway station and the Castle . Up the hill we passed the Darwin statue and the large school . Around the back the Records Office . Sadly closed today Monday .
I climbed off the bus in the Square . I had a plan . Yep I have heard her plans before . Remember last time - you and Jo tried to organise something and look what happened to that plan. Yes Sion was right on that one . We had made plans and they never materialised . Today was different as Shrewsbury is one of those places that there were things to do . I carried my friend in my bag past the new market Hall . Well it was new at some point . I was heading for the park where I could walk along the River Severn to the Frankwell Bridge . I could see the river in the distance and the massive gates newly painted blue which surrounded the parkland . The symbol of Shrewsbury depicting the three Loggerheads - the leopards were gilded and emblazoned the
blue railings. The war memorial was the first thing I could see .
