Life Continues, but Diane misses the football

Friday 19^th August to Thursday 25^th August 2016

It has been a particularly tough week just gone – not too many moments have drifted by without at least one of us thinking about Elaine and of course Paul, but there have been so many wonderful memories of times spent together with them and with so many friends that you cannot help but smile at what has happened over the time that we have known them.

Our plans now are for getting together with Paul and saying our goodbyes to Elaine – just such a wonderful lady – Paul, you certainly were punching above your weight there!

But as we all know, the sun comes up the following morning and we have things that we have to get on with.

We stayed at Willow Tree Open Space until Monday, with a few longer walks to different areas that we hadn’t seen before and just generally relaxing a bit -  a bit of rain accompanied our time, but it didn’t give away the change in weather that we were about to face.

Cruising on Monday was very pleasant to begin with – a bit of a chill in the air until the clouds let some blue show through and that yellow thing in the sky and after filling the water tank at Black Horse we decided to head into Paddington in the hope of a mooring in the basin.

Sadly, all moorings were full, but we had made a mental note of possible other mooring points on the way in. Surprisingly, there were at least 3 available out in the stretch of Little Venice, very few boats were breasted up, so we knew we could get in along there; Diane in her infinite wisdom surmised that the set of rings closest to Bridge 2 were in fact for a public mooring – she had seen other non-permanent moorers there; there were no signs saying otherwise; and most importantly, there wasn’t a boat there.

So after cruising into the basin and then winding we pulled into the aforementioned spot and we have been here since.

OK, it is a little noisy in the early evening, but actually we have got a bit used to some of it and during the night it is not too bad.

The only problem that we have encountered is that infernal sun shining just too brightly and the temperature that goes along with it.

We came here to escape the heat and here it is with us again.

Careful management of the boat – closing curtains to keep the heat out; open windows on the shaded side to allow cooling breezes in has meant that it has not been too hot inside, except when we have had it closed up whilst we have been out.

Tuesday was time for a stroll through Regent’s Park day – which is not very far away at all.

We had never been there and it never ceases to amaze at the vast areas of public parks that are set aside for the benefit of the people of the capital.

Never-the-less, if you were a boy (or girl) between the ages of 8 and 15 and you wanted to kick a football around, then forget it in here. The land we saw was all reserved for organised games (with a fee payable).

Anyway we had a stroll around (I kept the football safely in the bag and out of sight) – I had to placate Diane and divert her attention away from wanting to have a bit of a kick.

 

Ornamental Gates for Regent's Park - these for George V

The large parkland - obviously this was before I told Diane that she couldn't
kick the football - she is still smiling

I couldn't believe this - hourly hire of the deck chairs was
one thing, but a season ticket ?? and 110 pounds at that.
I am sure I could buy my own fleet of chairs for that!

Diane overcame her football disappointment by sneakily
using one of the chairs without paying

On Wednesday we took the No.46 bus from Warwick Avenue up to Hampstead Heath and viewed two National Trust properties.

The first at 2 Willow Road and was a creation of the architect Erno Goldfinger in the late 1930’s.

It showed off the use of concrete as a medium for building houses and how great use of space could be made by careful planning – of course, the concrete allowed greater strength in the structure which meant more flexibility with placement of internal partitions.

We couldn’t take any photos inside the building, but you could certainly see the effect that this would have had on people at that time – some would marvel, others would be horrified.

 

2 Willow Road - not much by our standards today, but in 1939, it was ground-breaking

Our second property was in Fenton House, a little way up the hill – just the thing to do on a bloody hot day, but it was very much in the style of the 17^th century, with some changes down the years.

The more traditional entrance - this time to Fenton House

the backyard - bet you wouldn't have been allowed to kick a football here either.

The view from the top-floor balcony - that is St Paul's there in the middle

A traditional garden, orchard and plot of land for a vegetable patch were part of the property.

 

lovely pattern-cut lawn - but no goal posts

She's a brave girl - getting over the disappointment

At first I though this might have been a barn - but later I think it was stables
on the bottom and servants quarters on the top

The lovely flower shot!!

There seemed to be an incredible collection of pianos and harpsichords in the house, although these were not necessarily part of the original furniture with the property.

 

Did I say that there were a few pianos and harpsichords...

...and some more...

...not the last, just the last you will see

A chinese foo - a guardian over the property

Being a mighty warm day, a couple of quick icy cold pints seemed to be appropriate – at the pub, literally just around the corner, before we faced the bus trip back – no air conditioning and coming onto later afternoon traffic.

 

Watford on her mind even in Hampstead Heath

Spot the mistake with this picture....

....that's right, the car is in the garage - that doesn't happen in this country

On advice from Dot (nb Ewn Ha Cul) we took Thursday to track down a 24-hour bagel salon called the Beigel Bake in Brick Lane, Shoreditch.

We were catching the first train, but heaven knows where the third one was going,
I couldn't see that station on any of the lines.

Took the Underground to Liverpool Street Station and then legged it onto the establishment concerned – yes it is open 24 hours a day, but it wasn’t a service that we needed – although it might have been a bit cooler at 3 am instead of 3 pm.

The bagels were very good – Diane had the Salted Beef and I had the Tuna, mayo and sweetcorn, all washed down at the pub on the next corner with a couple of cold drinks.

Would we go back again – probably, but I think we would need to be moored a bit closer – by the time you add the cost of getting there, the bagels became a lot more than they were priced on the board.

 

Salted Beef Bagel with dill pickles - wrap your
laughing gear around that one

Whilst wandering around there were so many people handing out free samples
- mainly food items - just some of the spoils of the trip

We have been a bit of the centre of attention during these days moored here - on Tuesday, Diane was chatting away to a couple from New Zealand – Shona and Joe – who have been over in this general part of the world for a few weeks but have managed to buy a yacht in Greece which Joe will be sailing back to NZ with his mates; and just this evening, she was at it again, talking with a couple – Sophie and Peter – from Melbourne – who are flying back tomorrow night.

Shona and Joe - there seemed to be a bit of checking it all out for a future adventure,
- a very heppy couple

Peter and Sophie - very surprised about the invitation to look aboard.

Both couples were busy asking questions about life on the boat and everything else that goes with it; they were both delighted when we offered to show them the inside of the boat.

Just nothing like that first look inside a narrowboat – I mean the very first look inside – and seeing how much is in there and how much space perhaps there isn’t or is, depending on how you view it.

Anyway, four people pleased to get a peek inside and have a chat about a way of life that is a bit different to most people.

18 Miles

YTD:  514 Miles (827 km) , 322 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4309 Miles (6935 km), 3021 Locks, 116 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

Old Man on the boat!!

Monday 16^th November to Friday 20^th November 2015

Although we have officially finished our requirements we decided that we would stay a bit longer around the basin area – the primary reason being that the threatening winds up to 80 mph suggested that travelling would be the least sensible thing to do.

Once that decision was made we thought about things that we still wanted to do whilst we were here.

We had seen, during our regular walks, Kensington Palace and thought that it would be worth seeing, but only on a 2 for 1 offer which we duly instigated on Monday.

It contains four exhibitions in the one location and coupled with a lot of other things that we had already learned from other loctaions and visits, it helped to fill in a few more of the missing pieces in our knowledge of the royals.

On it’s own it is still well worth the visit.

my very own princess

The long Gallery

A most interesting piece - at first I thought it was a clock
but appears to be just a map

A representation of the working desk for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
- notice the two pictures on the left and in particular the one on the right of these two

The Lord Melbourne after whom Melbourne is named

Outside the gates which show the private apartments in the background where
some of the lesser royals now live

Tuesday was a pretty much a lost day – we had rain in the morning.

We did however wander down to Wetherspoons for breakfast and to use their wifi to download the new Windows 10 – rather than use up our Myfi allowance. It took a bit longer than usual, but the staff were very good – and obviously in a sign of things to come, looked kindly upon the old couple sitting there quietly for 3 hours.

in Wetherspoons waiting for our downloads to finish

Later we ventured out for the afternoon and evening in Watford.

My follow-up to some x-rays on my back and neck – it is a bit of a reality check when you go and see the doctor about these things and he sums it all up with the statement

“I can see some wear and tear in the vertebrae but that all seems quite normal for a man of your age”

That’s it then – I am officially old – I guess that the future holds that same statement over and over again whenever I visit the doctor.

You can just hear it all

“You have to expect that your joints will creak a bit for….”

“Your flexibility is just as I would expect for…”

“You are quite fit for….”

…a man of your age.

Anyway a man of my age still enjoyed a night out with Diane, Maggie and Paddy and  I managed to negotiate the train system on our way home with the wind ever-increasing and line disruptions due to trees fallen down.

When I say the “I managed” I did need some help from my much younger wife who in no way has had said to her “for a woman of her age” – perhaps she should apply for a carer’s allowance.

 

Maggie and Paddy - still looking good (for their age!!!)

On the way back we traveled past Wembley and managed to get this shot
from the train.

Wednesday was a little better with regards to the rain but still the wind was around but today we decided to do some walking a bit further afield.

On many of the British TV shows that we have seen over the years there are regular mentions of “whilst walking out on Hampstead Heath…” so I thought that it might actually be nice to go and see it in person.

After changing trains just the once we made it to Hampstead Heath station – right on the edge of the heath.

Luckily we had a map already printed on the iPad so it was easy to find our way around – because we found precious little of any signs to say where anything was.

The views across to London were just as we had seen on the TV; you can see how easy it would be to find a remote location to leave the evidence of a crime; it was in many ways quite different to how I had pictured it in my mind’s eye – but we did have a good walk around – not quite finding the conveniences which we knew were there (somewhere).

 

Looking over one of the lakes at Hampstead Heath

A brave soul using the swimming area - I felt cold just looking on

The shot we wanted - from Parliament Hill - looking out over London

The weather did deteriorate later on, so we were quite happy to be snuggled down in the warmth of the boat as the rain came down and the wind stayed blustery.

Thursday was to be our last day moored here in Paddington.

A few things were still to be done.

1. We wanted to send some more things home so off we went to the Doddle store at the station for a box

2. We visited the Charles Street Markets for fruit and vegetables – so that Diane could try out her new blender – we are going in for the pureed vegetable/fruit drink meal replacements.

3. We wanted to visit the lunchtime food market in Market Place

4. We had arranged to have a drink with Caroline and Gary from nb Inca

We did get a little wet with the shopping expedition but all was achieved satisfactorily.

The food market offered a few more varieties to those that we had already seen and we caught up with Caroline and Gary there as well whilst we all ate.

That made it pretty simple to then wander off to The Dickens in London Street where we enjoyed a few hours together discussing – well discussing what boaters always seem to talk about – our travels and people that we have each met and other that we have yet to meet.

Enjoying a lovely afternoon with Caroline and Gary

Oh and we also did mention toilets as well.

It was a very good afternoon and very glad to have met them both – we will be crossing paths with them over winter and into next year I am sure.

The knowledge was with us for Friday – well it was with the young woman sharing the boat with me – she knows how to read all those apps that we old men don’t know anything about, so I was informed that the rain would be disappearing and the wind would be dropping.

It was as it was told it would be.

Firstly though we had to drop off our package at Doddle to send back to Melbourne – really a fair bit easier than with the Post Office and substantially cheaper – for the same price as a package I had sent back just a week or so ago, we managed to send back 4 times the weight.

After that and a last coffee at our regular Costa, we untied the ropes and pushed away – heading around to the basin to wind; saying a last goodbye to Gary (Caroline was out walking Hamish) and we drifted slowing past the boats that we knew by memory (still moored in the same places from 3 weeks ago) and around to the services at Little Venice – the water tap is so slow that we were there over 90 minutes to fill the tank, but after that we were able to be on our way.

On the move again - Wembley seems to be everywhere

and quite like the look of this smallish dutch barge

Mooring up at Alperton outside Sainsbury’s in a spot exactly the right length for the boat – marvellous.

The feel of winter was certainly upon us and really the thermals will be getting a bit of wear when next we cruise – I was freezing most of the way and still cold for quite some time after.

The Reflecs was working well and the boat was very cosy for the rest of the day – I doubt that it will be turned off for a while yet – the forecast for the next few days is for low single digit temperatures over night and higher single digit maximums – yep, winter is fast approaching – this is just the start.

7 Miles

YTD: 855 Miles (1376 km) , 527 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3749 Miles (6033 km) , 2648 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 Swing Bridges