Congleton

Before the journey to Congleton, Vicky had looked ahead to see that there was a vets less than a mile from the canal. We've been keeping an eye on some growths on Mr Whiskers' gums and felt it was time to get them checked again. Wright and Morten Vets had good online reviews and the added bonus of another branch close to our route through Macclesfield, should further appointments be needed. An evening phonecall managed to get Whiskers registered and booked in for the following morning.

The journey wasn't an easy one to take in the wheelchair, with narrow, sloping pavements and too few drop kerbs, but we got there in one piece. Jo the receptionist offered to pop the rained on fleece we'd used to cover Whiskers' carrier in the dryer, very kind! Olivia the vet had already reviewed Whiskers' medical records and the photos of the growths Vicky had emailed through the previous day. Whiskers made himself very at home in the surgery, soon spying the packet of Dreamies and giving Olivia 'the eyes' until she did her duty and fed him 😻 He even jumped up on the counter and stole a gravy bone from the dog treat jar. Cheeky puss!

The oral masses didn't bring up any red flags in their appearance but they had grown and become inflamed. The longer they were left the greater the risk there was of them causing infection and damage to his teeth, so it was decided to give him a dental and have them removed. Jo was able to get him booked in on Tuesday, just four days away, with Olivia, who he'd taken a shine to. All in all we were very happy with this.

Saturday was market day so we repeated the journey in to Congleton. Joining the main street at the impressive Town Hall, we saw it was buzzing with activity. Cafés were full to bursting and footfall was high in and out of the many independent shops. The market seemed deserted in comparison. There were a few indoor and outdoor stalls selling books, phone cases, veg, eggs, meat and dairy. Will found some organic cheese but the offerings in general weren't very inspiring. What did look exciting was Congleton Market Quarter; a 'container village' that opened just over 2 years ago to help breathe new life into the town centre. This too was strangely quiet but held an exciting range of eateries and bars with shared seating. We chose Thai dishes from Nam Ploy, which we ate in R&Gs Tap House with their lagers 👌

Knowing Whiskers would need some soft food after his procedure we went a little off the beaten track (difficult in the chair) to find a pet shop using Maps.Me. If it had ever existed it had shut down a long time ago because there wasn't any sign of it. (There was plenty of provision for dogs and even a pet fish shop in town but nothing for cats 😿). We headed back towards the Town Hall and the nearby North Rode Timber Company in the hope of getting plywood for replacement 'Boat Cat' signs and a plank for a bathroom shelf. We arrived to find it had closed at noon 😭

We didn't fare any better the following day when we walked a mile to a small garden centre, where Vicky had high hopes of getting some replacement snowdrop and crocus bulbs, only to find its gate padlocked. The hours on both google and facebook said it should be open but there was nobody around so we had no option but to turn around and head home. Vicky picked some broken stemmed daffodils on the way back and Will bought some alcohol free bubbly from a Spar to cheer us up. Feeling slightly better we decided to swing by the closest pub to the boat; The Wharf Inn. This was also closed, despite google stating otherwise 😕

Monday saw us catching the 91 Beartown Bus into Congleton. With services every half hour and only costing £1.50 it's a good community service that we felt happy supporting while saving our feet. The wood yard was open, friendly and very helpful in cutting us the pieces we needed. In search of a café lunch we found Congleton high street wasn't a good place for vegans. FEAST, the first independent we visited didn't have anything and Sienna's, the second, turned out to have a 'carnivore based menu' 😳 They did however make everything fresh and were keen to veganise their avocado on toast by subbing spinach for the egg, so we dined here, then asked at the Tourist Information for a source of vegan cake. After recommending the two places we'd already tried, the helpful advisor pointed us towards Orso Lounge. The Lounges are a chain but one that we like and Vicky found herself in heaven sitting on a comfy sofa amongst the quirky interior tucking into carrot cake and sampling Will's raspberry torte 🥳

On our way to the bus station Will, who was wearing his rainbow scarf, was accosted by a street preacher asking him if he believed he was created by a higher intelligence. Will had seen the chalk board listing LGBTIQ as a 'perverted practice' alongside abortion and Islam. 'Not by a higher intelligence that wants to ban LGBTIQ!' he retorted angrily. The preacher sought to explain that they didn't want to ban those with 'sexual deviancy' but save them from hell. Oh dear. After doing some digging, Vicky found the guy had been arrested back in August for harassing people and 'preaching' against abortion even when conception happened under the most terrible of circumstances. She wtote to the town council who got back to her straight away thanking her for relaying the experience, which was useful to add to the body of evidence. The police had been called by several shopkeepers who were also accumulating evidence and a Code of Conduct had been implemented which limited expressions of free speech such as this to 30 minutes. It was good to know.

The wheelchair came in handy for transporting Mr Whiskers into Wright and Morten for 08:45 the next morning. It would have been a real struggle to carry his nearly 6kg weight for the 20 minutes it took to walk otherwise. We weren't too worried about the anaesthetic and minor procedure but it was still a relief when Olivia called that afternoon to say everything had gone well. They'd offered him some soft food when he came round and apparently he'd been so enthusiastic he gave himself a gravy bath! There was just one small extraction needed of a tiny front incisor, all the previously visible growths had been removed as well as some small flaps further back on his gums and everything had been scaled and polished. Pupils huge in his green eyes, he made it known he was very happy to see us and didn't seem at all phased by the taxi ride back. The drugs had hyped him up and he bolted later on when we took the dogs out. Luckily he came back so we put his harness on and all sat out on the stern in the evening sunshine while Will fished and Whiskers looked on excitedly whenever the rod twitched.Read more