Einstein, Gorbachev and Glasnost.

Having an insomniac in the family has its uses, yesterday for instance, we were to leave home in the morning to return to Wal, we have got the departure of a home down to almost an art.  David gets up,  empties the fridges (There are two of us at home and two freezers and three fridges which I just can't manage without.... but it does drive David demented.)  He packs the car,  washes out the fridges, makes the tea and delivers it to me.  I on the other hand, drink my tea, get showered, dress pick up my handbag and get in the car.  Easy.

The M25 for once wasn't bad and after enjoying Sushi and flat whites (A taste we developed in NZ last year) we arrived back at Overwater Marina just north of Audlem on the Shropshire Union Canal in a little over four hours.

We have found that staying in the marina an extra night very worthwhile, as having loaded up the freezer and fridge, we use the leckkie overnight to chill them properly, to save hammering the batteries.

Supper was D's fav again, avocado toast but this time with giant prawns on top, yes more fish!

A most pleasant night was spent at Overwater and we departed today for the long trip all of two miles or so to visit The Hack Green Secret Bunker.  We had been told of this place and decided to call in.  It was built as a radar station during WW2, there are some old radar equipment outside and a small jet aircraft.  Inside after WW2 and for the Cold War it was converted to be a Regional Gov' Centre.  Inside there are rooms and rooms of communication machines linking this bunker to others and in the case of a bomb going off, to plot the fallout out and to warn the general public.

According to the map there, where I live, there weren't any Soviet targets or bunkers.  But you lot in the midlands and the north would certainly have copped it.  Sorry.  But don't worry as this sign would have helped with vital information for your safety.  

Well the sign said a nuclear missile....? Lets hope its an empty casing.

Machines like this were for plotting the radioactive fallout.

You might be able to read this sign, a Soviet Enigma Machine.

This was pathetic, these suits showed how the population could be suckered in.  The Nuclear protection suits.  Made of no more than that of a "Pac-a-Mac" fabric.

  

This was a Soviet Suit, it was for workers post blast to wear for rescues etc, thought that no worker would have survived for longer than a few days.  Didn't say where they got it from.

Damage from the epicentre outwards.

Love these colossal sized tele-printers.  Vintage now but spaced aged back then.

Ooooo trendy red computers and über modern chairs.

The bunker had a television studio for a possible broadcast and also a BBC radio studio to broadcast to the nation.

It was quite a chilling visit, sometimes I laughed at the futility of surviving.
  
I can remember oh so clearly cuddling my new baby when Margaret Thatcher met with President Gorbachev and afterwards declared "I like him, I can do business with him"  I for one felt the very real threat of nuclear war lifted that day.
Glasnost arrived and then The Wall came down.  Hurrah.


Supper WILL be tonight, Lesley's leek and fennel seed risotto.


Our mooring tonight...

Is that sun....?  Yes but it didn't last.  Heating will be going on again tonight.