Saturday 13th August to Thursday 18th
August 2016
There was the little matter
of some important date to begin with. It seems that yet another year has ticked
by since Diane made an honest man of me – 33 now and still counting.
We have long since giving away
the idea of presents and new cards, although this year we even forgot to get
out the old ones, but nothing changes as far as my love for her is concerned.
What did we do to celebrate?
The old fashioned way – we
went out to see a movie and then for a meal.
We had a couple of free
tickets in my wallet waiting to be used and thought seeing the new Star Trek
movie would be nice, as well as having a late lunch at the nearby Frankie and Benny’s – so that was it for another year.
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| an anniversary drink.. |
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| ...or two |
But wait, there is more –
the final part of the special day was devoted to – wait for it…..
…..getting the first coat of
topcoat onto the roof of the boat – good conditions meant that it was a
priority.
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| If it's not bad enough that the panting has to get done, there is always someone around wanting to get a picture |
In between the going out bit
and the painting bit we also managed to hand-back the house to Nikki and Phil –
they had had a great couple of weeks away and happy that the house was being
looked after, took their minds off that.
Two weeks had been enough
for us sitting still, so almost at first light on Sunday morning we headed off
southwards, stopping only at Batchworth lock for the essentials. We shared the
locks after this with another boat – listening to them talk about their desire
to be able to spend more time on their boat but not being able to because of
other comittments made us both appreciate more the lifestyle that we have –
they have the desire but simple cannot do it.
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| Cruising along and came across this sad sight - we truly hope that all concerned got out safely |
Eventually we moored up just
above Denham Deep Lock, which is lovely and quiet (there is a distant hum of
traffic on the busy A40.
The following morning disaster
struck – as I was taking down the pram-hood covers at the back, one of the
sides struck my face and whipped off my glasses – naturally it was the canal
side of the boat and the specs met a watery end – with all of the weed around
and the water being quite cold it was unlikely that they would be found.
Out came another pair – all
be it a pair with old prescription lens’ – but I could see enough with them to
steer the boat, couldn’t make any details of anyone more than 3 metres away,
but other boats I could see well emough to miss.
Carry on we did then.
Diane went down to set the
lock, I continued to ready the boat and set off.
I was just underway when a
chap with a couple of dogs on the towpath slowed right down to say hello – he
seemed as though he was determined to do just that, so naturally I replied and
that was about that – he could have had two noses and three eyes for all I
knew, such was my vision.
It wasn’t until we were
through the lock and Diane had got back aboard that she related the story of
this guy.
He was jogging along the
towpath with his dogs, when another dog barked and engaged his two, which
caused him to stop at the lock and have a bit of a chat with Diane.
He asked about where her
boat was and she pointed me out a bit further up the canal, just pulling out.
She had recognised who he
was, but didn’t think quick enough to get a selfie with him, and so it seems he
wanted to say hello to me as well after chatting up Diane.
Who was he?
We film people value our
privacy tremendously and so it is with great reluctance that I share the name
of a fellow thespian (well the boat did the acting part) – Robert Lindsay – we have only ever seen him
in My Family and the Hornblower series.
We filled with diesel at
Denham Marina (58 ppl self declare) and then made it to Cowley Peachey to moor
up – more famous people we know were waiting for us – Dot and Gordon on nb Ewn
Ha Cul – the boat was there, they had nicked off again – something to do with a
hospital visit.
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| Nobody on board but Diane still managed to capture a shot of nb Ewn Ha Cul |
Later on we found them and
had a good chat; the following day we got some shopping in and Gordon and I did
some taste testing at the establishment across from Aldi – the girls just left
us there after they had finished shopping and we caught up with them on the
towpath.
Again, it is lovely and
peaceful here.
Wednesday proved to be a
real scorcher and whilst I worked in relative comfort inside the boat, Diane
busied herself with cleaning the front cratch area and the back deck – as well
as making a dozen Welsh cakes and about the some number of flatbreads for
afternoon tea with Dot and Gordon.
We did manage to find a bit
of shade and that along with a very light coolish breeze took some of the edge
off the heat – we sat out “enjoying” the very good conditions.
That was until we spotted a
(irresponsible) dog owner walking about 50 metres in front of her dog,
completely oblivious to it’s calling card.
I pulled her up on it and
copped a mouthful, including the comment that she didn’t have anything to clear
it up – no bloody excuse – and when she returned a few minutes later with an
old container, to her credit she did clean it up, but not without more words,
suggesting that she wouldn’t want to live with me – well I am quite happy in my
current domestic relationship, thank you – and I think the dog would be more
friendly anyway!
One of the pleasing things
about English hot summer days is that after the sun has gone down, so does the
heat (not like hot Australian summer nights) and sleep is definitely a lot
easier.
14 Miles, 11 Locks
YTD: 496
Miles (799 km) , 322 Locks, 4 Tunnels, 14 Lift
Bridges , 3 Swing Bridges
Total: 4291 Miles (6906 km), 3021 Locks, 116 Tunnels, 59 Lift Bridges ,
170 Swing Bridges
