First morning we have woken to a frost. Beautiful but freezing so my solution now is not to get out of bed until at least 0930! Although today we were up at 8am for our weekly prayers with our Filling Station team. It helps to still feel connected and there is something comforting about the regularity of our meeting and praying, especially in these unprecedented times. We pray about all sorts of issues from national to local and personal, both friends and family.
Weekly trip to clean our clothes got me thinking how expensive it is for those who have no choice but to use the laundrette. One large load washed and dried is £10 – over £500 pa if you just go weekly! We will miss the cheery face of the manager – R wants to leave Birko before our next laundry date. Just as the shops open. I think he’s going on purpose as the shops look far too tempting. Imagine a whole month of window shopping and then not having free rein!
Found a coffee shop selling turmeric lattes – like marmite you either love em or hate em. Good thing we didn’t discover them earlier in lockdown as it was an exorbitant price but worth every penny! En route home we chatted to a boater going towards Tring, away from the crowds for a Christmas on his own. He usually spends it with his elderly mum but both think it too risky so are content to be apart, but it sounded rather sad. Then we passed the Rising Sun pub just as one of the owner’s, Nigel, was coming on to the towpath. Our friend Ben Boat Train, had recommended the RS to us but sadly for us it was too full to enter the night before the second lockdown began, so we only know it by reputation. Nigel recalls serving BBT and was chuffed that his was the main pub in Berko Ben had rated! It’s a sorry time for pubs like the RS (known in the trade as wet-leg pubs because they only serve bar snacks) as they can’t reopen unless they start serving substantial meals. A cornish pasty only becomes substantial if served with chips, or a salad. So you can’t just have a pasty – not sure what that’s going to do for the obesity crisis! Nigel told us canal-side pubs usually collect the bulk of their takings in the summer months thus enabling them to survive the leaner winter months. However this year lockdown 1 seriously depleted their takings. Now they can’t reopen until possibly March so he was feeling rather deflated about his prospects. He has over 60 different gins so R asked if that included his favourite, Jensen. Nigel went into the pub and came out with the tail end of a bottle and gave it to R refusing any payment. It reminded us of the widow’s mite. We’ve promised to visit his pub should we return in less restricted times and meanwhile we are more than happy to extol his hostelry on our blog!
Back at the boat we had a visitor on the towpath – Clive with the offer of a generator! He had taken our lack of power to heart and done something about it which was very thoughtful – going the extra mile. Then my regular weekly Zoom with a handful of very good friends cheered me further, all topped off with a delicious burger from The Meating Place. A treat before we leave, as this restaurant came highly recommended – well worth a visit should you ever be in Berko and fancy a burger!
NarrowboatTLC 