New Routines

Friday 24^th January to Sunday 26^th January 2014

Now that things were back to normal, we started getting back to normal – as you can imagine, with the time apart, Diane had fallen into a routine which suited the needs that she had and there were routines that developed as time went by, so it was just natural to continue these – one of these was an early doors coming together at The Exchange on a Friday afternoon.
Very pleased to say that definitely needs to continue – we walked into Stone with Dot and Gordon and after a bit of shopping, the table in the front window at The Exchange was then occupied by us – not long after we were joined by Lynn and Phil and then by Sue and Andy - pleasant times – only Elaine and Paul were MIA.

Eventually we made it back to the marina and home, thanks to Sue whose sacrifice of a drink is muchly appreciated.

There is one thing that happened whilst I was away which I have not yet mentioned.
For quite a while we thought (and knew) that the inside of the boat was in need of taking on a lighter appearance – to some extent we resolved this with the insulated lining paper, but the darker curtains a still detracted from this.
Whilst I was away, Diane was coaxed to spend some of the hard earned on fabric to be eventually made into new curtains for the boat – I think that Joan and Lynn may have been accomplices in this, but with Joan’s expertise, we now have a lovely new set of curtains throughout the boat and it definitely looks much brighter and a special set of matching cushion covers as well – so very special thanks to Joan.

This little fellow has found a home on the side of the toaster - now named Claude (clawed)

Saturday came and with the BBC showing the Ladies Final of The Australian Open there would be no other place for Diane than perched in front of the TV in the warmth of the front room and so she assumed that position.
Breakfast served up for her,  I headed off to Aldi with Dot to pick up the items that we needed.
After returning we all headed up to the café for coffee – not long after we joined by Elaine and Paul and the boys.
Very shortly after that Paul and Elaine were greeted by three people – Keith, Anne and grandson Sam – bearing camping information – turns out they have bought nb Rock’n’Roll – and will take possession 1^st March – previously they had nb Forever More.

Around the table in the usual boaters mode

We all had a chat about boat things and camping in England and Europe – very lovely people and we look forward to meeting up again with them sometime.
I must say we were all pretty impressed with Sam (the grandson) -a very nice young lad.
After all of that Paul and I needed to urgently return to our boats – the football was on TV, and you know that you cannot miss that, so we were off.

The remnants of the hail storm

Sunday was a pretty miserable day in itself and the mens final was on, so Diane was in her usual position – it was a bit unfortunate for Nadal to get an injury, but Wawrinka deserved the victory and a first Grand Slam.
Walk the dog and get the paper in between downpours and then settle in again for more football on TV and dinner after all of that – but by 8:30 I was asleep in front of the TV – the boat was just too comfy and cosy – I don’t think it was from doing too much that made me so tired.