Friday 22nd April 2022

P slept on the dinette for two nights. Such is the effort involved in setting it up we didn’t bother to dismantle it during the day yesterday. The weather was so lovely that we spent the entire day outside. We had a few locks to do. P was more interested in steering the boat. R has a very stiff knee which is causing him quite a bit of discomfort and a nail snag that he is concerned about because it may have become infected. We do have to be aware of Weil’s disease so the mere sniff of an open cut and I am dousing everything in antiseptic!I decided to operate as many of the locks as I could manage to give R a break. However it’s hard to keep a good man down so before long he too had a windlass in hand. I was then able to go ahead to set the next lock. All of them were against us. We saw no other boats coming towards us so we guessed all the lock chambers would be left empty from previous boats travelling in the same direction. With a crew of three we soon were on the homeward straight and moored up just after Fazeley Junction. Whilst enjoying a drink at the canalside hostelry we discerned from a local where the best Indian takeaway was situated. It certainly tasted very good even if the bright red colour of the main dishes was a little excessive. P set up his laptop so that we could watch the latest adaptation of Agatha Christie’s ‘Death on the Nile which we all enjoyed, mostly because of the stunning photography.

Our friends V and Ri in Tamworth very kindly offered to do a load of washing for us. I have learnt  to graciously accept every offer of washing because trying to keep up with changing the bedlinen etc requires at least half a day of time and effort! Ri said he would collect it first thing Friday morning so R and I made sure we were up and about by 0830. Not so for son P so when Ri arrived we entertained him outside on the cruiser stern, offering him hot coffee to offset the morning chill. V meanwhile was doing her weekly Waitrose shop and kindly agreed to pick up samples of two differing soft blue cheeses so that we could do a taste test. I am looking for a wheel of soft blue to complete the cake of cheese I am putting together for son G’s wedding next week.

Two locks at Glascote, (notoriously slow to fill and our first ascending) half an hour’s journey along the cut, completed our stretch of canal travelling and so we moored up and walked into Tamworth. P returned to London on the train and we returned to the boat, to be met by V with the cheeses to be sampled. I then rang the cheese counter at Lichfield to confirm my selection. The cheese counter assistant could not have been more helpful and has even put a few more cheeses to one side for me to sample on collection in case I might want to change my mind!

Settled myself on the bow of the boat in a comfy picnic chair and a warm rug ready for the weekly zoom call with a few of my friends. Although the sky was clear blue there was a distinct chill in the air. An old gent was walking along the towpath and got chatting. He knew exactly how to pronounce Naomhòg and I was impressed. Turns out his mother was Irish and although he had grown up in nearby Hanworth, she had insisted he and his siblings had a knowledge of the Celtic language. There was a big influx of Irish people to this region early in the last century. He was so chatty I missed the beginning of the zoom call. I didn’t want to appear rude or unfriendly towards him but equally the zoom call is timed to last only 40 minutes. That passes in a flash when six of us are talking! I hope he may walk by again tomorrow so I can resume our conversation. Infact we already have a 9am visitor – a chap tapped on our window to see if we wanted any pallets for burning. He’s around the corner and happy to deliver them. He must have seen my expression when he suggested 8 – 8.30am because he settled on 0900. I promised him a cup of tea in exchange. It’s great not knowing who we are going to meet and speak to each day. I think I have mentioned before that when we are at our bricks and mortar home we never afford the time to tarry and chat to passersby, even feeling embarrassment at doing so. Yet I am reminded of that saying that you never know when you might be entertaining an angel in disguise when you offer hospitality to strangers. It is taking time to adjust to the pace of life on the canals accustomed as we are to living life at a breakneck speed. Slowing down is a mindset that we are beginning to inhabit.

Decided to try out cooking sweet potatoes directly in the heart of the fire, wrapping then first in tinfoil. Worked a treat although R and I decided it would have been better to cook them for longer in a cooler fire. It was a bit nerve wracking pulling them out even wearing heat and fire resistant gloves. Served with leftover curry from our takeaway and the remains of the coleslaw from the firepit evening. An unusual but tasty supper! We tried to watch the true story of the man who disappeared in a canoe which is currently being shown on ITV. For some reason my phone kept buffering so eventually we gave up and retired to bed for an early night in preparation for our early morning caller. R has been out like a light for a couple of hours whilst I have been updating the blog so really not such an early night for me!