Quite a few boats were moving along the canal today and we even had some paddle boarders pass by. They were chatty and obviously really enjoyed their watersport – think it was keeping them sane in lockdown. The weather is so much warmer, it makes for a much easier life on the water and we aren’t having to forage for so much wood as the stove isn’t lit until nearer to 6pm.
We walked up and down the towpath, constantly checking signal on our phones, to find some good internet access. Where we are currently moored, it is very weak and only available at one end of the boat. Even then if we walk around too much it goes in and out of reception. Eventually we found what we hoped would be a suitable mooring, not too far from Waitrose as tomorrow we need to do the weekly shop and carry everything back to the boat. There’s a river between us and Waitrose with only a couple of bridges intermittently placed so we need to be able to walk in an almost straight line from our boat to the supermarket, across the intervening park and houses. An added complication is that although the signal may appear good on the towpath it isn’t necessarily good in the boat. So I risked some impatience from R if this manoeuvre did not go smoothly! We returned to the boat, via Waitrose so we knew how far it actually was going to be from the new mooring and I then steered Wind Rose whilst R walked down the towpath and waited for me at the allotted space. Once there R held the mid rope whilst I checked signal strength throughout the boat. Thankfully all looked good so we could properly moor up. Sometimes mooring involves hammering pegs into the ground so you don’t want to do it unnecessarily. Infact we’ve found a place where we just chain ourselves to the towpath edge so we were quickly settled in.
A phone call from my brother informed me that my mum’s oldest friend, Aunty Dobby to us, but Jeannie to most, had just died at the age of 98! Their friendship had spanned over 95 years and we thought of her as our aunt as she had no children and both my parents were only children so we have no directly related uncles and aunts. She and mum had a wicked sense of fun when they were together and made up some very ribald limericks! I was born three weeks early at home in The Vicarage, after mum and dad had attended a party with a good deal of champagne on offer! My granny had taken all the baby clothes away to wash and so with nothing to wear I was snuggled in the bed. Aunty Dobby was due to visit the day I was born and entering mum’s bedroom couldn’t understand why mum was in bed having totally overlooked me as I was such a scrap of a thing! When both mum and Aunty Dobby were in their nineties mum was with us one Christmas and Aunty Dobby’s carer bought her to us as a surprise. The look of joy on mum’s face and the fun they both had that day will stay with me forever. An end of an era now they are both gone.
We had a Zoom quiz at 5pm but I had another meeting so R was on his own answering the fiendish questions. We normally come last and this time he was second from the bottom so obviously it isn’t much of an advantage having me on the team!
Supper was left over curry from our takeaway Indian meal and it tasted even better reheated! There’s still enough sauce left from the lamb curry to mix with some of the batch mince I cooked and froze a few weeks ago. So supper tomorrow will be curry again!
NarrowboatTLC 