Tuesday, 1st October 2024

Our definition of a dirty weekend –  24hrs in a Travelodge!! Such is our desperation to have a bath and a respite from the rain,  we found a Travelodge a couple of miles from the boat and booked ourselves in on Sunday night. I had an inkling we’d get a good deal,  being a Sunday and thought £28 was great value for a big bed, a TV and plenty of hot water for both baths and showers!!

We attended St Aldates church on Sunday morning,  it having been recommended to us as a church with lively worship and good preaching.  The vicar there used to be Simon Ponsonby, who wrote a book on the book of Romans from the bible,  which I happened to have on my bookshelf.  Imagine my delight to actually meet him and then find we had mutual boating friends! Oxford is awash with churches so we have seen one or two this week – we went to a reflective choral evensong on Friday at Christ Church Oxford, set rather prettily in the college quadrant, referred to locally as Oxford cathedral. Yesterday,  we walked back from the Travelodge via Summertown and visited an Anglican Church there,  whose vicar is the brother of one of our friends. As it was locked,  we had to make do with peering through the windows,  but it looked impressive,  with a fine modern glass extension and from the notices,  it appeared to be a lively community church with lots going on. R had been at prepschool at Summertown 60 years ago,  so it was a trip down memory lane for him. Every other shop now appears to be an eatery! The walk to and from the Travelodge gave us some much needed exercise. However the rain continued so by the time we returned to the boat, the water level was even higher than when we left. 

When we moored up a week ago, the lock keeper optimistically thought the red boards would be designated yellow or green by the beginning of this week.  Looking out of our porthole this morning,  the white sky above and the raindrops pattering,  I am not so sure when we will be able to move.  There’s still plenty of firewood, so the cold is not an issue but I think we will be trudging along the towpath with our 10L water  flagons, looking for a drinking tap later today.  The engine, needing to be run for at least an hour daily,  has been purring in the background as i write this,  topping up our batteries mainly so the fridge can keep running.  We’ve taken to turning the fridge off overnight – a trick of the trade! (Another top tip is to put frozen food that is soon to be eaten into the fridge compartment to help keep the fridge cold as the food slowly defrosts)  R is more upbeat than me about the weather improving enough for us still to get back to London via the river.  This time last year, the Thames  became unnavigable from the third week in October,  so we are on countdown! Especially as the red boards could remain in place for five months.

We are thankful for a seemingly secure mooring and a watertight boat – many are struggling on the waterways with this weather or devastated with their   homes inundated  with flood waters.  Our scenario is frustrating and we need patience but we don’t feel in danger – it’s just a reminder that even though we have a plan,  we are infact at the mercies of the weather and natural forces outside of our control. A saluatory lesson for life!