A relief to hear from James that he hopes to be with us tomorrow or Thursday to help solve the problem of the leak in the boat’s water system. He assures us we can still have a shower and do the washing up without a flood and meanwhile we are enjoying sleeping at the far end of the boat with the woodburner keeping us warm. Infact it is increasingly difficult to motivate myself out of bed in the morning as it is so comfy. However a call from my elder brother got me going – he actually had read my blog and was more concerned than I about the water situation. He does know a lot about boats than me having enjoyed sailing all his life and rightly, takes a leak far more seriously than I am inclined to do. Ignorance is bliss and all that. I have every faith that between them R and James will get it all sorted. Let’s hope that’s the case or we will be home before we know it.
My other brother rang too, but not because he had seen my blog – he didn’t even know it existed. He just was wondering at my silence as I haven’t contacted him since embarking on this trip. That made me feel pretty bad but also incredulous that we have been on here now more than a month. Not quite the progress we were expecting to make but staying put in one town has been interesting and good to compare with our home town (which was recently voted the snootiest town in Surrey!). The traffic in Berko is certainly on a par but even on the canal we are getting pretty crowded. There’s a widebeam boat that has parked up by the water point and should really move on once the water is topped up. He’s been there three days now and in addition I am quite surprised that a double narrowboat has parked almost directly opposite him!
I find myself talking to strangers, in a way I never do at home, and engaging in many more conversations. Reminds me of a verse in Hebrews Ch 13 v 2 ‘Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing so some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it’. Somehow it is far easier to be bold in a place where no-one knows you but perhaps it is also due to this different pace of life that we are experiencing and enjoying.
The pictures below of the sunset arose because as I was sitting enjoying a cup of tea on the bow of the boat, a lady passed by and told me there was a beautiful sunset which I actually couldn’t see until I walked along the towpath. What surprised me was the difference in colour with the two photo’s taken minutes apart.
NarrowboatTLC 