First day of waking up on the boat alone and after a restless night. I was surprisingly cold overnight with quite severe muscle ache in my inner thighs which could be the result of my jab or my long walk yesterday. Or just old age creeping into my creaking bones! I got up too late for breakfast so a quick cup of tea sufficed as I washed my hair in bowlfuls of cold water with the chill taken off by adding hot water from the kettle! It was far too warm a day to justify turning on the heating, or the engine for that matter, just so that I could wash my hair! I then took the opportunity of giving the boat, especially the bathroom, a very good clean which left me feeling virtuous! Having emptied nearly all our water bottles I set off to the nearby water tap to refill about 15 litres which were quite a weight on the return journey! Arriving at the tap I realised I would have to wait as another boater was filling his tank. He suggested I disconnect his hose, fill my bottles and then reconnect his hose, as he was expecting his fillup to take over an hour! Apparently this water tap is one of the slowest on record. We fell into a lengthy chat as had been living aboard over a decade (must have taken very early retirement!) and at this longterm mooring for five years. His idea of a holiday was pootling to Leighton Buzzard or some such! His boat was so full of LPs and books that it listed to one side until he took an ‘essential’ journey to Thrupp, where they have an outside book bank under a shelter and he managed to offload a quantity of books. I quizzed him about taking the boat into Oxford, which he thought a very bad idea as absolutely no mooring spaces available. They all got filled up during lockdown, as noone should be moving unnecessarily and moorings that are usually, in Oxford, for 24hrs have had the same boats on for months on end. He felt Banbury was a far better option. Less likelihood of drunks walking over your boat late at night! He also gave me suggestions of where my internet might be improved which was helpful of him. By the time we finished chatting it was almost time for my sister and husband to arrive. Great excitement for me to have family visiting – think I last saw C in early October, sorting out mum’s belongings. As the weather was so glorious we had arranged to have a picnic beside the boat and it was lovely to do something that felt so normal and a relief not to feel we were breaking any rules. We took the opportunity to walk around the village after lunch and it really is very picture postcard pretty.
One of the suggestions for internet signal was a few boats along from my mooring so I wandered along and stopped alongside a boat where a man was in his bow. We got chatting and it took me about 20minutes to extricate myself. I think my sister must have thought I’d got lost or fallen in the canal! The man came along the towpath as we were indulging in hot cross buns and tea, so another long chat ensued. I really like hearing the stories of the other boaters. He then recommend I stand in the middle of the railway bridge for signal so after C and N left, I did just that, to no avail. Eventually arriving back on the boat I found stronger signal there than anywhere else, although not strong enough to upload any pictures onto my blog. Enough to watch episode 1 of the new Line of Duty. Not R’s Cup of tea so am indulging whilst home alone! Spoke to R who had found all my online purchases and will bring them with him at the weekend. He didn’t seem too fazed! Having mowed the lawn he was exhausted and ready for an early night. I cobbled together something to eat and retired to bed, hopeful of a better night.
NarrowboatTLC 