She's flown off again and I get hit!

Saturday 17^th September to Fiday 23^rd September 2016

A day that had been “ringed” on the calendar, but not a day that we especially had to be up early for.

The packing had been almost completed and the timetable set – we would be leaving latish in the morning but still plenty of time to relax before heading off – where to, you may ask.

Well it wasn’t a combined trip; Diane would be off on her own to meet up with our daughter, Sam. This time it would be in Barcelona, so now she only had to get there.

 

Ready to go.

I dropped her off at Victoria Station (we took the tube, I didn’t hire a car or anything like that) and after a coffee she caught the Gatwick Express and then a flight to Spain.

Luckily for her, Sam was there to meet her at the other end – Diane had only found out a day or so earlier where they were staying, but that then changed as well – so, mother and daughter let loose for fun and tapas.

All of the following I have, has come arrived in dribs and drabs.

Breakfast the following morning was a hearty one – well a well balanced meal was available, but Diane chose the churros and a couple of strawberries on the side – it was apparently the one to bulk up on before the walk with cases to the ship.

 

By adding a little fruit, it does not become healthy

They were off on a 7 day cruise around the Med – stopping at Naples, Rome, Livorno, Cannes, Marseilles and then back to Barcelona.

This one will do me - hurry back

The weather was slightly warmer than back in London; there was the mention of an alcohol-included package that had been arranged and apparently they were trying out the Black Russians (the drink, not well-tanned Cossacks).

Naples and Pompeii was quite exhausting; Rome much the same, but I suspect that the latter was due to some running by both to get back to the bus before it left without them; they decided to have a rest day in Livorno and get the spa treatment on board and today they have arrived in Cannes where disembarkation is via the tender – hope the sea is calm for them.

The weather has been wonderful for them – around 23-25C, sunny and no rain – gee, another summer for Diane.

Meanwhile, I have been trying my best to get enthused about the list that has been left – I know for sure that it won’t be finished.

I stayed on in Alperton for a few more days after Diane left – most of the boats that stop around here are now mooring on the new rings (west of Bridge 11A) and closer to the new elsan point, but I preferred the usual spot outside Sainsbury’s – it has been lovely and quiet.

I moved along on Tuesday to Old Oak Common (near Bridge 7B) and apart from the odd sound from the railway lines below, it has been very quiet and, of course, the sun has been out most of the time – along with a bit of rain.

It is easy to see the autumn is with us; the boat is a little colder in the mornings and the condensation is starting – before we know it there will be snow on the roof.

Now this is not the start of a joke but there was a Grenadian, a South African and an Australian talking about boats and being in Britain, and there was general agreement amongst us all about a lot of the same things that we had all seen, heard and experienced whilst we had been here - none of us had been born here, none of us were wealthy, but none of us were collecting any benefits either - we had been supporting ourselves all of the time - we concluded that we must not be true immigrants, but then none of us could recall meeting anyway who was from outside Britain and who was in this country and not employed and working.

And we all agreed that there were some strange practices here, that we wouldn't entertain or tolerate back home.

Had a bit if a nasty incident on Thursday morning - decided to take a walk down to the Sainsburys near Porta Bella bridge - the pathway is nice and wide - good width of concrete pavers have been laid and then a strip alongside - easy wide enough for pedestrians and bikes - and then grassy bits on each side - widest towpath I recall seeing.

It is used by a lot of cyclists - going both ways - many of them at speed as well, but with due care - no problems.

Anyway, I am on my way back to the boat - it is after 9am and the level of cyclists has dropped off a bit - about a hundred metres away I see a cyclist coming down the same side as I am on; a couple of cyclists appear from behind me and are on the concrete paver pathway. This lone cyclist is coming closer and I could tell that it was quite fast, so I stopped and waited for them to pass.

I had been talking to a cyclist just the previous day and commented about the number of bikes and he said that everyone is in a hurry and if you are walking and it gets a bit awkward, then just stand still, it is better than trying to move and the cyclist is not sure where or what you are doing or going.

So I did - closer and closer - until it became evident to me that I was the target, so harking back to me Aussie Rules days, and knowing that the hit is coming, I braced myself.

It was a hard glancing blow - my left arm was a little sore, but the cyclist got the worst of it.

Their was a lot of swearing from the bike and telling me I should have got out of the way - certainly not the way you would expect a young woman to behave - yes, a woman.

She was decidedly lucky to retain control of the bike and not crash - for me, I was fine - I have been hit harder by Diane.

Funny though, all of the guys have been good; in fact the vast majority of cyclists were great - bell ringing, slowing down - but there is always one and she was it!

I saw her again this morning as she passed the boat - I think she may have learned her lesson - going much slower and a bit more polite to other users - she didn't say anything; she may have recognised me.

Today it was a case of moving the boat along again, this time down to Little Venice and onto a mooring at Rembrandt Gardens for a week.

The two girls will be back on Monday, so there should just be enough time to get the boat back into shape and all tidy again.

It was a lovely slow cruise down to the Pond, then around into Paddington Basin, winded and back to the new water point - nice to have another one around, but it is flippin' slow - 350 lt in about 90 minutes.

Anyway, being a lovely sunny day and on the warm side I was happy just to wait for a bit - a lovely young girl (at my age they are all young) came up with her dog and wanted to talk about boats, so who am I to say no - nothing else to do - she had a small Tjalk (35') for a year and wanted to just know a bit more about things in general - nice day for some - well nice day for me then!

7 Miles

YTD:  609 Miles (980 km) , 358 Locks, 6 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4404 Miles (7088 km), 3057 Locks, 118 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

Summer not quite gone - well maybe it has!

Friday 9^th September to Friday 16^th September 2016

First job of the day was to return the hire car back to Enterprise – it is always a concern for me that something will be found wrong with the car, and until it is signed off by them I remain concerned – so, once again relieved that all was OK and after getting a lift back we (I) could relax.

There was the small matter of needing to refill the water tank and remove the ‘orrible waste, but with that all done we, in the end, moved less than a mile to some favourite mooring just north of Bridge 190.

Why is that a favourite spot? Well, it is close to the Paddington Packet Boat Inn, where we are now building a good relationship with the woman behind the bar – Sue ; it is also away from the random foot traffic and only the occasional car over the bridge – and none late at night.

It allowed us to have a lovely Happy Friday at the pub with Dot and Gordon – there was the discovery of some cut-price double spirits drinks and in particular Black Russians – which were consumed in numbers by Dot and Diane – now known as D and D, which almost described their condition later on.

It was a quiet weekend during which a lovely Sunday lunch – at the Paddo’ was consumed – the Uno cards made an appearance before and after, which added to the enjoyment of the afternoon. After we left the pub we took a wander around the Little Britain Lake just down the road.

Monday came along and we made a move into Uxbridge for two reasons – firstly Diane had a doctors appointment in Watford on Tuesday and the connection is good from Uxbridge and secondly, we would need diesel at some stage before our next cruising adventure and we do not miss the opportunity to fill at Denham Marina (still 60ppl and always self-declare).

We found a mooring outside the Swan and Bottle, which we were initially a bit apprehensive about, but it was a lovely quiet night with no noise outside at all – if there was any, then we were too tired to notice.

Early Tuesday, we moved to get the diesel tanks filled, before Diane headed off, after-which I cruised the boat back to virtually where we were before we left.

That evening, after Diane had returned and the heat had gone from the day – I hadn’t mentioned yet, that it seems that summer has returned – it has been particularly hot – with so many people having a hard time with the heat – for me, it was fine as long as the humidity was below 50% - anyway back to what I was about to say, we got a few nibbles from Tesco and sat down with Dot and Gordon who had drinks in their fridge and just enjoyed an absolutely lovely evening outside; the sunset, following by the rising moon, the coolness of the evening after the heat of the day was really quite wonderful – an absolutely perfect end to the day.

Our schedule now meant that more movement was necessary on Wednesday morning and so we used the services again, farewelled Dot and Gordon and gently cruised away – firstly in the morning cool which was delightful and then the increasing warmth of the sun – cruised as far as the park at Willow Tree, Yeading, where we have enjoyed a couple of days.

Diane even managed to get her prescriptions filled in full at the Tesco – a first for any of the pharmacies we have been to, to have it all.

Thursday afternoon ended with some rather heavy clouds appearing, a little bit of rain and some ominous noises overhead – almost like a Queen song (but without the lightning).

But Friday morning was completely different – thunderbolts and lightning and hard rain – bloody wonderful it was – a pity about the flooding that resulted and the disruption, damage and chaos that it caused.

The rain continued during the morning and we had a little problem – we needed to be moving and be at or around Alperton ready for tomorrow.

Around 9:30 it eased off and we thought that we may as well go for it – luckily the only rain that we did have on our cruising was of the light nature and neither of us got particularly wet – mooring up outside Sainsburys about 11:45am.

We decided to check out the new installation about a quarter mile along – a new elsan point – that we had seen previously – yes!!, we were correct, so a full cassette would be emptied later on.

Somehow or other Diane had engineered it yet again – in Alperton, in time for lunch at the Chinese restaurant that we both like – hands were held up in mock surrender – and so we enjoyed a lovely lunch and then back to the boat for Diane to pack and me to do some work.

The much cooler weather and a few more spots of rain meant that we were pleased to be inside.

Later on we caught the final set of the first rubber in the Davis Cup and watched most of the second.

17 Miles, 2 Locks

YTD:  602 Miles (969 km) , 358 Locks, 6 Tunnels, 14 Lift Bridges, 3 Swing Bridges

Total: 4397 Miles (7076 km), 3057 Locks, 118 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges, 170 Swing Bridges

It's not really Xmas (yet)!!

Saturday 21^st November to Sunday 29^th November 2015

We hung around in Alperton for another couple of days, mainly on account of the weather conditions before we finally headed off; we had wanted to spend a couple of days at Willow Tree Open Area but decided against it, opting to have a quite long cruising day by our recent standards and made it to Cowley Peachey where we found a lovely mooring just up from Tesco.

It is to be expected that at this time of the year the conditions will be a bit unpredictable and not the best for daily cruising, so we have got into the habit of mooring up for a number of days before finally moving.

With mooring restrictions relaxed, essentially they are all 14-day moorings (unless otherwise stated) it becomes a bit easier on the need to move-on quite so soon.

The Costa located in the Tesco store as well as the one a bit further down the High Street seemed to be a bit well frequented whilst we were around, and strangely on Thursday morning we found ourselves outside the freshly- reopened Aldi wating for it to open so that Diane could inspect and purchase her favourite Star Wars toys – really is a big kid (again!).

 

Crazy people - queuing up outside Aldi - and we were crazy
as well

Her spoils

It was just as well that it was open early because we had decided to move on up to Uxbridge after the shopping expedition and, of course, in the process, had to go through that locking process business for the first time in quite a while – that being with both of us there.

Luckily we managed to grab a perfectly sized mooring spot in a line of moored boats – it being virtually the last one available.

There were more through the bridge but didn’t fancy being moored outside a pub over the weekend, although we doubted that there would be much trouble.

It was quick work mooring up and a little later we walked up to the station – Diane was off to Watford for her annual diabetes MOT, but because of the early appointment time she spent the night with Maggie and Paddy – the Friday being Paddy’s birthday – cannot tell you how old he was but he was a war-time baby.

 

Looking fighting fit and ready to celebrate

Diane passed the testing and is now OK for another year – oil change and tyres all checked and in good working order.

We did a bit of follow-up work on some planning for a trip-away in the new year and that is now taken care of; we also went off to the movies here in Uxbridge to see “The Lady in the Van” with Maggie Smith, whom we admire as a wonderful actor – I didn’t think much of the story which, although true, showed up the gullibility of the author and also Social Service attitudes which I find condescending and in many ways blinkered.

Saturday was a milder yet quite windy day but I was coerced  suckered  persuaded to go shopping – oh how I love shopping especially when it involves Diane looking at clothes (NOT!!!) – but I survived got through it came out of my coma woke up from the nightmare.

We also ordered some tiles that we need for a new splashback in the kitchen and they are likely to arrive in another week, so we will need to come back – as we will have moved by then.

Without doubt the highlight of the week was a surprise phone call on Sunday morning from Sue (and Andy) – they had been at Twickenham for the double header the previous day and wondered if we were free for lunch.

It seems almost like years since we had last seen them both, but it was only the end of August – which in boating terms is about the same.

 

There is always somebody trying to photo-bomb - that big guy at
the back just wouldn't move

So we met them in the town centre and adjourned to The Three Tuns – the food was quite delicious and plenty of it; good value too; the Guinness was good and that was what counted for me; the football was on, but in the other bar area and rightly so as we wanted to talk to Sue and Andy and the football was not important (after all it was only Spurs v Chelsea).

 

Incredibly nice lunch but not as nice as the company - such
a lovely surprise

This was just such a good tonic for us – although we are in contact almost on an hourly basis with everyone via Viber, it was so good to catch up with them over a meal – we will of course be off to see the whole gang very soon anyway.

After we said our goodbyes it was back to the boat and out of the wind (which was still blowing quite strong) and also out of the cold – so we settled down and resisted a nanna nap.

It almost seemed dark outside at 3pm but we had only to wait another 90 minutes to really complete the process.

Just think, it is only another 23 days until the winter Solstice and then the days will be getting longer and we will be heading to summer – that season of the year with more daylight than not.

Diane is deeply “indebted” to the words of wisdom passed onto her by Gary (nb Inca) concerning the correct time to put up Xmas decorations.

In Gary’s “thesis” on the subject, he states quite clearly that any decorations put up before the beginning of December mean that an “elf is killing a baby reindeer”.

Diane is severely traumatised by all of this – walking around town with decorations clearly on display; seeing people wearing xmas clothing; avoiding even finding exactly where our decorations are currently stored.

She has however decided that we needed some battery powered timer lights to be put in place which are apparently our new security lights – on Tuesday they will be renamed decorations.

This one is by courtesy of Gary (nb Inca) and is from a couple
of weeks ago as we posed at one of these pop-up toilets.
No really we were only posing - it was too cold to expose anything

12 Miles, 1 Lock

YTD: 867 Miles (1395 km) , 528 Locks, 14 Tunnels, 11 Lift Bridges, 16 Swing Bridges

Total: 3761 Miles (6053 km) , 2649 Locks, 112 Tunnels, 45 Lift Bridges, 167 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

The Germans, beach towels and Wembley

Thursday 30th April 2015 to Friday 1st May 2015

Despite my previous statements, I let Diane loose again on an unsuspecting London, whilst I got on with more work.
 

ready to go

So off she went again on the train, on a new line (Central), and once in the centre decided that she would see more miles above ground by simply taking the bus and view everything from the elevated space of upstairs.

She was unable to take her preferred seat at the front upstairs, it had been taken by some other tourists whom she identified as being of German origin - just the two of them but they had laid their beach towels (coats and bags) out on the other seat next to them rather than sharing the same side.
 

Firstly the musical venues - research for later

Then the department stores - Debenhams

..then Selfridge's...

...another view...

...finally, a rather drab exterior for John Lewis

The views from a seat back were still quite good and she managed also to find quite a few interesting shots - she is now almost qualified to be a London guide.

Then some general London scenes
 

Trafalgar Square

St.Paul's (r) and the Shard (c)

The welsh dragon

just the tip of the 'Gherkin' - just looks a bit phallic

St.Paul's up a bit closer

Courts of Justice

more of the courts

Looks like the remains of the cloisters of an old church, but is in fact at the side
of the Courts of Justice

Not quite Parisienne but certainly better than some of the other architecture

A modernistic building of concrete exterior, but an oddly appealing look

She also found Hamley's toy store - the store of Tom's boyhood

Later on, when she was on foot, she came across these -

Marble Arch

A real bonus finding this small church 

a memory of where it all started

Up close and gherkinish

Shaun the sheep - American style

We have been on the Monoploy trail and Diane visited
King's Cross Station...

...for shots outside and inside

Friday being Friday, I got through my work early - my theory is that I have the weekend to finish anything still to be done; so we decided that we would take a visit to Wembley to enquire how we would go about buying tickets to any of the upcoming play-off matches.

So it was two trains to get there, but with the usual waiting times that occur it did take a little while to eventually arrive.
 

from the train station - still quite impressive

a bit closer 

Diane, of course, had eyes on the other venue(s) around

The stadium does look magnificent close up - a tribute to Australian design and building.

Our main thoughts were simply to find out how to purchase tickets, but the only entrance open was the one dedicated to Bobby Moore where the stadium tours started.

Larger than life, in real life and after

These 2 stone tablets were part of the Wembley Stadium before this new one
was built, but have been painstakingly restored...

...and list the gold medal winners of the 1948 Olympics

Fortunately, I was able to ask one of the assistants who advised me that really you have to contact the clubs that will be involved.
If it was an FA cup match then it is on-line.

We opted not to do the tour whilst there, Diane fore-saw that we would probably come back again and she was quite quick (just a little too quick, mind you) to point out that next year I will get a discounted price based on me being a lot older than her.

Seems that Diane's attention had been taken with the Outlet stores in the complex along side the stadium and so we were off to look at lots of things that she couldn't buy - remember, she has said she is not buying any new clothes this year (4 months down and only 8  to go).

She did however want to buy a pair of shoes for me - seems that I do not have enough shoes - just boots.
 

What a lovely pair of shoes that I bought - problem was that they
were not my size but luckily they fitted Diane really well.

Lunch beckoned and so a visit to Frankie and Benny's where we had just finished when the phone rang - "Can you work tonight?" - I can't afford not to from a demonstration of willingness to work aspect, so that necessitated our return back to the boat to move a mile back to Alperton and some rest - Diane had used a new app to find the best and quickest way to work from around where we were - it ended that Alperton was the best place to be.

Frankie and Benny's selfie

Look what else she found - we left a sizeable donation

In moving up to Alperton, just where Sainsburys is, there was a boat about to leave the moorings, and just about where we would have moored, but disaster struck. As they were moving away the prop picked up a push chair and there was considerable difficulty in getting it off - sometimes the luck is with you (well with us at least, for now).

So later that night it was off to work by bus and train - continuing to learn about the public transport system - it is all good.
Interestingly, where it took us quite sometime to get Wembley via 2 trains earlier in the day, if we had already been at Alperton and took the No.83 bus we could have got there in about 15 minutes - knowledge for next time


1 Mile
YTD: 313 Miles, 180 Locks, 6 Tunnels, 2 Lift Bridges, 11 Swing Bridges
Totals: 3207 Miles, 2301 Locks, 104 Tunnels, 36 Lift Bridges, 162 Swing Bridges