Sorry For the Break in Transmission
July 19th--Sept. 18thSo many kind friends have been in touch to ask if we're OK and what has happened to the website, that my conscience has pricked me in to doing something about it. I was precipitated into action when friend Alan 'phoned from Scotland and asked if we were OK, as there hadn't been any postings for so long. Thank you, Alan and Peggy, you've got me going again. And also to Diana and Peter from Cyprus who emailed to see if all was well.
I've had a rather low couple of months, brought on by a number of events, which eventually conspired to take the wind out of my sails. (Isn't it surprising how many nautical terms we use?) However, I'm trying hard to rekindle my enthusiasm, and, if I try hard enough, maybe I'll convince myself that it's back!
We've had a rather disastrous summer, for a variety of reasons with which I won't bore you, and sometimes it's been difficult for me to remember the original reasons for choosing our current way of life. But one has to take the rough with the smooth, and wherever one is living, things are not always easy.
As I write, we're about to put the boat in to a marina whilst we spend a week with my brother and sister-in-law on the Costa del Sol. We're looking forward to seeing them both again, and their three grandsons. The weather out there sounds glorious, and we hope to be able to swim in their pool, as long as it's not too cold--I don't do cold pools! We're flying from Coventry--that's a first. I have a vision of a Nissen hut (does that show my age?) and a man with a little rubber stamp checking us all out.
That reminds me of when Trev and I flew to Guernsey from Brum some years ago. When we arrived in Guernsey, we all walked across the tarmac and in to a hut. Then a tractor with a trailer arrived at the hut with the cases. A window was opened and the cases were put through the window and they slid down what could best be described as a wooden chute and we picked them up and left.
However, as usual, I digress...or ramble.
I can't write this webpage in my usual format of a daily record, because I can't recall everything in order. But I can remember some of the things which happened, such as this dog having a ride on a raft!
A few weeks ago I bought a new computer, and needed to get a security programme to ensure that no one could hack in to it or send me viruses. I had paid for a year's subscription to McAfee for this, but had been unable to download the programme. My mobile 'phone connection kept cutting out, and I only had thirty days to download the programme. Also whenever I tried to download it, a message on the screen said that it would take two and a half hours to do it....... I was getting very frustrated as I couldn't use my new computer until I had downloaded the security programme. We had friends coming for the day and I had decided that the only way I was going to be able to download this programme was to go back with them on the train to Warwick and use their home connection. I was going to stay overnight and come back the next day.
However, when I was connected to the internet courtesy of a kind householder in Osney who hadn't put a password on his/her wifi connection, I downloaded the whole thing in 1.5 mins!!!!! So I could use my new computer at last.
We had our bicycle stolen in Oxford. We were moored opposite Christchurch Meadow, and the bike was on the top of the boat. Sadly it wasn't locked or chained. Normally we keep the bike on the back of the boat, and at night it's under a cover, but we'd we had our friends visiting from Warwick and had put the bike on the roof to make more space at the back. We actually heard it go. Someone just lifted it off the roof. By the time we got out there, it had disappeared. It had no value, it was given to us by a friend. But its use to us was immeasurable. Trev used it to fetch shopping if we were a distance from the shops and also to cycle between the locks when we were on a flight. We shall buy another, but this one will be kept under lock and key.
Whilst we were in Oxford, I took the opportunity to do a little family history research. I have a gt gt gt grandmother who was born in Oxford, and I was hoping to find something out about her. I went to the Records Office at Cowley but sadly couldn't get any further back.
After we left Oxford we went on down the Thames. We saw a punch up at Abingdon, where two boaters had an argument over who was next in line for the water point! We meandered along the Thames, as it executes extravagant bends and loops. There are no big towns along here, just a few interesting market towns such as Dorchester and Wallingford. We moored in delightful countryside all on our own.There was quite a bit of traffic on the river as it was the school holiday, but not too much.
We moored one night at Goring, which is a pretty town almost like Pleasantville, everyone speaks and seems happy, with a smile on their faces. (That's bad grammar, isn't it?) Eventually we arrived at Reading and moored outside Tesco. It's one of those lovely big Tesco Extras. Now I know that's not the most exciting of tourist spots, but to a canal girl like me, it's Paradise! I hardly ever get to 'proper' shops. I bought a new frying pan, though after using it, I'm not sure I made a good choice. It has a metal handle as opposed to a plastic one, and it gets very hot. When I use an oven glove with it, it just slips in my hand and I can't tip it out.
We moored up in Henley-on-Thames where we were delighted to see that the man who comes to collect the mooring fee has not lost any of his speed. He arrives in a motor boat shortly after one moors up. Trev and I had bets on how long it would take him to arrive. I thought it would be about five to ten minutes, but in the event I was wrong. He was there in two minutes. The mooring rope was still warm! He was thrilled to hear that he'd achieved such fame on my website last year!!!
Then on through Marlow and Cookham, and eventually Eton and Windsor, where I had a very bad fall. It was Saturday, and Saturday is my newspaper day. I like the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, as there are lots of interesting supplements and a General Knowledge crossword. We pulled in to a small pontoon, and I broke one of my rules and jumped off on to the pontoon. It had green mould on it which was damp and like a sheet of glass, My right foot shot straight out in front of me. The worst bit was that my left leg bent out at right angles from the knee and I heard it click, as though I had broken it. I just sat there, I couldn't move. Trev couldn't get to me he was at the back of the boat. A woman came to help me and kindly rubbed my knee. The odd thing was, my voice went, I could hardly talk. Eventually Trev got off the boat whilst a passerby held on to the rope and between him and the woman I got up. I was quite sure I wouldn't be able to stand. But I could and it seemed that the only damage was bruising and strain. I thanked the person who had come to help and went to fetch the paper, to prove that I could still walk.
I got back on the boat, and we set off downstream. I was so sore, I could hardly move. But we still had locks to do, and, even though there are lock keepers to do the locks, one still has to get off and hold the rope. I was in agony. A kind woman on a boat in front in gave me some witch hazel to rub in to it. It took a couple of weeks before I could move without pain.
Our friend Cherry arrived for a stay. Whilst she was with us we had a busy time. We went to Hampton Court Palace, Eton College and Windsor Castle, and enjoyed it all. Whilst we were moored in Windsor, we were very close to a rat hole! Yes, a rat hole. They were running along the towpath and very brazen. When Cherry left, she'd got us going on this visiting thing and we went to the theatre in Windsor and saw an Agatha Christie play, The Shadow, with Tony Britton.
On down the Thames through Egham, past Runnymede and we moored up to visit a restaurant we'd visited and enjoyed last time we were this way. However, the restaurant had changed hands and was even better. Now it is a Cypriot restaurant and is called "The Cypriot Donkey". We had a delicious meal, and there's a great atmosphere. One could almost imagine one was in Cyprus.
Then we came to Shepperton, and turned right on to the Wey and Godalming Navigations. This stretch of canal/river belongs to the National Trust and one has to buy a special licence to do it. We were delighted to meet up with our old friends Jen and Bill on 'Sweet William' and did the trip with them. The Wey is beautiful and is the most southerly inland waterway in the UK. We spent a lovely week, and a special highlight for me was to meet Helen, a relation I have found through Genes Reunited. She and I share a grandfather from the early 1800's. It was so good to meet her and her husband. It's not often one finds a new relation at my age! Thank you Helen, for being such a lovely new cousin!
Then I could put it off no longer. The white knuckle ride on the tidal Thames. God must have been smiling on me though, as a new ruling meant we couldn't do the run right down to Limehouse, and only did five miles as far as Brentford. The new ruling is that all boats doing the run down to/up from Limehouse have to have a VHF radio and an operator's licence. So we couldn't do it. Trev was disappointed, but I was not! However, my panic level increased one hundred fold when the lockie at Teddingtom told me that the tide we were going on was the highest for twenty years!
We moored up and waited for the tide to change. Then we were off. The tide was so high that the lock gates were open at each end and we just sailed straight through! The Thames was so high that it reached the same level below the lock as the river behind the lock gates, and out we went. I've never seen that before. When we got on to the tidal Thames, it was hard work for the engine, as the tide was still coming in, but after about half an hour it turned and we gathered speed. What was so amazing was that, as it was such a high tide, cars along the towpaths were up to their axles in water, bicycles chained to the railings just had their handlebars showing, the towpath was under several feet of water, people's patios were under water, and, all in all, it was very exciting. But there was no apparent difference in the actual river, we weren't swept along nor did we ever feel worried by the situation. We reached Brentford within an hour or so and the lockie was waiting for us. Then we were back on the canal system and my morale instantly took a turn for the better. I feel safe and at home on the canals. I feel that narrowboats are really only bathtubs and were never designed for currents or tides.This theory is born out by a story I heard of a boat which was doing the Severn Estuary earlier this year. There is a group of boaters--all old enough to know better!--which, every year, looks for something exciting to do. One year they did the Wash, going out at Boston and coming in at King's Lynn. On the way, they moored on a sandbank about seven miles out whilst they waited for the tide to turn and had a game of rounders and a barbecue, an obligatory requisite for people doing this 'trip' apparently. However, this time they decided to 'do' the Severn Estuary. I don't know whether they were going from Sharpness to Bristol or vice versa. There was quite a large group of boats wanting to go, and the pilot said he would take two of them.
So they set off, the pilot on the first boat, the other following. It was a Force 3 wind when they set off, but, as they got nearer the Channel it turned into a Force 6. At some point in the journey, the woman on the second boat 'went below' and found that there was six inches of water in the boat. She went forward and found that the cratch window had blown out and the water was pouring in. They tried to 'phone the boat ahead to tell the pilot, but the boaters had left their mobile 'phone in the boat, and they didn't have the pilot's number. So they rang the police who rang the coastguards who rang the pilots' office who rang the pilot who rang the people on the waterlogged boat and said "Go for it, it's all you can do." So they went as fast as they could and got in to land with just forty-five minutes to go before they would have sunk.
We moored up at Brentford for two nights and then went in to Little Venice, in London, for five nights. We went to see a show, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers' which was brilliant. Dave Willetts took the lead and all I can say is that he can take me off to his log cabin any time he's ready! Friends Pete and Jane came to stay for two nights and we went to see the new film "The Queen" with Helen Mirren which was excellent.Then we moved off out of London for the marina to leave the boat ready for our trip to Spain. When we come back, we shall make our way to the Llangollen Canal for the winter. It will be a long trip and we shall have about five weeks to do it, so will have to get a move on. Do come back, around Oct 10th and, hopefully, there will be more for you to read.
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