Wash day today, including ourselves! R ran the engine from 8am, when it’s considered polite to do so. 8pm – 8am is verboten! Enough hot water after a couple of hours for a really hot bath and R washed his hair using my very special shampoo and personally I think he looks very dashing! He’s wearing the jumper youngest son P gave him for Christmas – plenty big enough, even if he tries to shrink it and a lovely colour!
Stripped the bed and collected everything that can possibly be washed ready for a trip to the laundrette later in the day. Decided to wash my silk thermals by hand and the tiller handle became an impromptu drying line, as the weather was windy enough to blow the clothes dry.
Had two lengthy conversations with friends who whatsapped to say they were still reading and enjoying the blog. So often these messages arrive just as I feel I am writing to myself! Which in a way I am, as this blog will be a reminder of so much I have already forgotten. Midday saw the arrival of a great friend who moved away from our home town 5 years ago and now lives 45 minutes from Thrupp. She watched and took pictures as we attempted to reverse the boat 75yds back to the electric swing bridge and around the corner to fill up with water. It was rather a tricky manoeuvre due to the wind and the four moored boats that we had to pass. Just as we thought we could relax, the stern rope, carelessly strewn on the back deck by myself, got caught in the propellor. Rookie error and one R has been warning me about all the trip. It took quite a bit of patience and skill for R to carefully untangle the rope, which I was most impressed that he did without ruining it. Meanwhile I filled the boat tank with water and then we reversed back to our mooring which proved far easier on the return trip. We wanted the boat to face in the opposite direction, ready for our departure from Thrupp towards Banbury. I would like R to be on the boat as we travel up the River Cherwell and face the two hexagonal locks which I don’t feel quite confident enough to attempt alone. Returning along a part of the canal you have already navigated is good and bad depending on what you consider to be the hazards ahead. Ignorance is sometimes bliss!
A lady stopped to chat outside our boat. It transpired she owns a boat that they are thinking of selling next year, including the mooring they have here at Thrupp. My ears pricked up and we exchanged numbers – who knows, it could be meant to be! We passed the boat as we returned from a circular walk to Kidlington and it looks very smart. Apparently it has a bio- compostible lou although I didn’t like to enquire too much as to what that meant and what that requires from the user!
We walked to Kidlington to see the inside of the parish church that we had seen yesterday from the outside,as I had not realised that it was open. Leaving the church we walked along the same street as before and one of the immediate houses on the left had two men conversing. I did a double take as one of the men R and I know fairly well from our Thorpeness holidays. He is a clergyman and an excellent preacher, who often takes the holiday service that goes on weekly in Thorpeness throughout the summer. He just happens to live, unbeknownst to us, in Kidlington! Recognising us, he made us all a cup of tea and we had a lovely chat outside of his house. When we had seen him, I think the summer of 2019, we had told him all about our proposed canal trip and he had asked us to let him know when it was happening so that he could pray for us. Due to the trip getting delayed, I had never contacted him and yet here we were today bumping into him. If he had not been standing on his doorstep we would have been none the wiser. As it was, at the end of our tea, he prayed for us in the street and it was very heart warming and reassuring.
We still had to do the washing before the laundrette closed so our feet barely touched the ground as we hot footed it back to the boot, bid a hasty retreat to our friend and set out for Summertown armed with a large bag of washing. It proved to be the most expensive wash to date – as I went into the laundrette R reversed the car around an invisible bollard, which made rather a considerable dent in the driver’s door. All I can say is that I am glad it wasn’t me driving!
Oops! 
Old school
We took the opportunity to visit R’s old school that just so happens to be in Summertown so it was a trip down memory lane for him. By the time we arrived back on the boat we were just ready for a quick supper and a bit of screen time – another couple of episodes of Keeping Faith. We really should be watching Morse – apparently at least one grisly episode was filmed in Thrupp – all to do with dead bodies in canals! A couple more interesting facts we have learnt in our week here. The aid organisation, Oxfam, was started in Summertown and the other fact was that the Manor House, next to Shipton on Cherwell church, used to be owned by Richard Branson. It was there Mike Oldfield produced ‘tubular bells’ that iconic sound of the 70’s as RB used the house as a recording studio. He also used to throw wild parties, open to everyone who lived in the village – hard to imagine this sleepy village being the centre of the groovy scene!
Finished the evening watching ‘Canal Diaries’ on iplayer. A friend has recommended we watch it, but as she mentioned it was on Channel 4, I thought it was no longer available as I couldn’t find it! Watched episode 1 followed by 2 because it became compulsive viewing – it has wetted my appetite even more to travel towards the north of England. The weather was amazing, which made the countryside look even more beautiful and the industrial towns looked worth exploring. The main downside was the copious quantity of canalweed that he found wrapped around his propellor – obviously I need to get over my phobia of putting my arm into unknown waters! It has to be said, I could do with an extra 2″ on my arm – there is this slight fear that the whole of me is going to fall down the propellor hatch as I have to stretch my body full length to reach it on our present boat!
NarrowboatTLC 