Hardly back long and she leaves me – stranded!!

Friday 30^th October to Sunday 8^th November 2015

It has been a “funny” 10 days since the last blog and the delay hasn’t been due to nothing to write about.

The most important thing to happen is the Diane made it back to the boat, all the way from LA.

She even had to catch the express from Heathrow to Paddington all by herself.

There have been a few times whilst she was away that we have both said that we will not be doing this travelling alone thing again for so long – 2 months has just been too long – well that’s what we are saying now but who knows what circumstances may arise in the future.

Anyway she is glad to be back and I am glad that she is back – I can now save some money on the cleaning, not to mention the cooking.

But mostly I have missed her gentle persuasive ways – some may call it nagging – I myself would never mention that word – especially anyway near where she could whack me.

We are currently moored in Paddington Basin after a week directly outside the Paddington tube entrance; we will be moving back to there sometime during this coming week for another week - it is all to do with the filming schedule.

The basin at night - so brightly lit that we have had to put
up "black-out"curtains in the bedroom

Have not seen this before - the pedestrian bridge
at the end of the basin open.

Every Thursday - a small international food market - we will
be back next Thursday

By arrangement with CRT we have some priority moorings allocated to us for this period of time and making full use of them as well.

 

Our moorings had something to do with filming taking place
around here - the boat is in the film - we are not - the big guy
in the centre is the director Paul Greengrass

Just a small part of the crew and equipment

There has been plenty of chance for us to do a lot of walking and a bit more exploring around this part of London and also seeing sights that we have previously discovered.

We have “endured” Halloween and wandered around to see the decorated houses and strange people walking around like living dead.

 

Wisely, to avoid any confusion, she left her broom back on the boat

Saturday mornings have taken on a new adventure as we seem to have ended up down in Kensington Gardens each time, but we have really enjoyed the feel and the lack of too many people – that can easily be destroyed if we venture too far near to Oxford Street.

The Italian Gardens in Kensngton Gardens

 

Xmas decorations have gone up in Oxford Street

Outside the British Museum...

...and inside too

The Sunday roasts have been variable to say the least – the first at The Sawyers Arms just near Paddington Station left a lot to be desired – quality-wise and price-wise; whereas the Weatherspoons (The Tyburn) at Marble Arch was incredibly good and at about half the price.

We found ourselves with some time on our hands so off on the tube we went to Kings Cross, a bit of a walk to The London Canal Museum – for Diane to buy a pen to replace the one that she liked a lot but gave to her Dad when she saw him.

After this we took a walk along the towpath to Camden Markets where, despite the rain, we had a good look around.

On our way to Camden Town tube station, we spotted these in a shop

 

Star Wars boots...

...and shoes

a tribute to Star Wars – not sure that they would be used as intended – at least not at £195-£250 per pair.

Further on we boarded the train to return us to Kings Cross; Diane noticed it was going the wrong way (Northern line heading south) so quickly said to get off – which I did – well trained that I am.

I turned around to see this figure still inside the train with doors closed and train moving, waving goodbye – only back a few days and she was deserting me – it must have been something more than what I said.

Anyway at Euston I got off the train and found her immediately so we could get back on and with no more problems we made it back to the boat.