Author: Mary

We found another road out of Leighton Buzzard by crossing over the bridge at the railway station and taking a road to the right where we saw two old thatched roofed houses, a rare sight in LB. We haven’t seen many really old houses aside from the usual victorian terraces. So much of the housing looks relatively modern, ie post 1950s. We then found a public footpath which led to some beautiful fields but unfortunately the mud got the better of us so we were only able to walk a fraction of the path. We returned the way we had come , R laden with foraged wood, so not a wasted journey. Returning through a lovely park adjacent to the car hire and railway station, I liked the look of a church called St Barnabas that opened out onto the park. Sadly the building was closed but the church was open online!

We zoomed with friends who told us they had just seen a film called ‘Dig’ and thought we would enjoy it. Funnily enough we had listened to an interview about it yesterday on the radio travelling home so we were happy to give it a go. Considering it was about an archaeological site, which I thought might be a bit of a dull plot, it was a great feelgood film with some lovely characters and an interesting true story, based around Sutton Hoo. R and I are now feeling a bit remiss that although we go to Suffolk every year, barely half an hour from Sutton Hoo, we have never visited this historic site. Something we shall now remedy, hopefully if we get to Suffolk this summer. When we go to the east coast we find it too much effort to go inland until we travel home! Months of our lives we have spent holidaying by the same bit of sea and barely know any of the nearby attractions!

R reflected that our knowledge of our home town and surrounding area is similar limited. I don’t think we do much sight seeing. Anyway R is a liability if you take him to a private house like those belonging to the National Trust. I remember going to a lovely house whilst staying with friends in Cornwall. They were shocked at how cavalier R was about sitting on chairs, not meant to be used, and touching things that even your children would know was forbidden. He took to heart a notice that said ‘feel at home’ which was not meant to be taken literally.

• 

• 

After a troubled night’s sleep I was at the car hire by 0815, having kept myself dry under a golf umbrella that was being blown about by the wind . The incessant rain overnight had caused me concern in regard to flooding, so I wanted to leave plenty of time to allow for any delays on the journey to the hospital in Ascot, where R had an appointment at 1130. Snow was also forecast on the weather app but thankfully didn’t materialise and infact we were in Ascot far earlier than we needed to be. Rather than sit for an hour in the car, that would get steadily colder, we took the opportunity to drive to Windsor and visit the castle from the outside. Unfortunately you cannot see much but it kept us occupied and provided a picture for the blog!

Whilst R was at his appointment, lasting at least 3 hours, I took the opportunity to go back home and return things from the boat that we just didn’t need and were taking up valuable space. Such as Christmas decorations and fancy clothes that I can’t see me having any occasion to don. By fancy I mean a winter day dress and some suede boots! I live in my thermals, topped by trousers and jumpers. Totally utilitarian and warm!

The house was empty save for our lodger Ellen and literally empty of all the clutter I had left behind. Downstairs looked amazing! However Ellen did admit she had no idea where anything was as the kitchen had been rearranged by G until he was satisfied things were in the right place. I had to text him to find a pair of scissors, even though I knew somewhere a dozen pairs lurked! The navy blue walls of the room painted by our boys does look extremely smart and when I went upstairs I was relieved to find the contents of R’s desk intact in piles, ready for him to sort on his return home. That’s going to be quite some undertaking. But then so is the rest of the sorting through of my ‘clutter’, much of it found upstairs ready to either redistribute over the house, or permanently get rid of. I hope now I am used to travelling light I will get rid of excess possessions. Time will tell! Saying that, although I took 4 big bags home I still returned to the boat with seemingly the same number! However that was nearly all edible and quaffable!

Travelling back to Leighton Buzzard was a breeze although a bit wet but I was so happy not to have snowy or icy conditions. Before returning the car we took the opportunity to buy heavy items, such as coal and wood from Aldi as we were able to park car very near to the boat. We spent a relaxed evening relieved to be back on the boat, having managed to return the hire car in one piece.

• 

Day 2 of isolation. How grateful am I it’s only until tomorrow! Decided to do Joe Wicks followed by 20 mins walking to music, which apparently makes you walk a mile in 20 mins as long as you have the beat at the right tempo. My brother rang and we can easily talk for 20 mins so I asked him to excuse any odd sounds because throughout our call I would keep walking. Which I did. Great way to exercise . Time flew by. After call the heating went on in preparation for enough hot water for a bath. Meanwhile I went through the boat with a fine tooth comb, honing out any excess stuff that we do not need. Tomorrow I will take it home while Richard undergoes his procedure as I will have a few hours waiting. It’s amazing how much excess stuff you can easily collect and on a small boat we really don’t want that. I have learnt that china plates are heavy and cumbersome and really not necessary. Melamine is sufficient. However I do require a thin china cup for my morning cup of tea! R always said I had too many pairs of shoes so some of them are going, along with a printer that was useful at Christmas but most correspondence can be done by email. Sadly my guitar is going home. I haven’t played it at all since our trip started so perhaps I have to accept my guitar playing days are over.

Talking of home, quite alot has happened in our absence. Our son G and his girlfriend moved in. It was too cluttered and so G has systematically gone through the house tidying up. To such an extent that he touched his father’s sacrosanct desk and put all the papers in one pile, saying dad could sort through them when he next came home. Then he started on the kitchen, moving through to the dining and living room. Nothing is where it was and coming home will feel a bit strange I think. I am delighted to have had the help and yet slightly dismayed that my disorganised drawers and thirty years of family life have been on display to his girlfriend! To top it all G and brother P decided to paint a downstairs room that was definitely in need of an overhaul. However instead of painting it an inoffensive magnolia which was planned in my head, they went for navy blue! It looks great but I still feel a little miffed they didn’t ask me first!

My regular Friday zoom was as good a cheer up as ever and made more exciting by one of the girls remarking that a friend had a labradoodle puppy for sale. Another of the zoom friends said she was interested and before we knew it had rung to see if the puppy was still available. Her husband is deaf and although they had hoped for a hearing dog this has not materialised. Labradoodles are extremely intelligent and so this puppy may be able to be trained to be a helpful companion to J. To be deaf now, with everyone wearing masks and thus unable to lipread, must be so difficult. I remember the first time I understood how deaf J was. A group of us were staying at a youth hostel where someone’s toast set off the fire alarm. J didn’t bat an eyelid because he heard nothing whilst the rest of us were deafened by the sound. It was quite a sobering moment.

Another couple of days of isolation ahead of us, although we feel pretty isolated already! R has been awaiting news of having a biopsy and speaking with the hospital on Monday they said he was on the waiting list. Think a cancellation must have come through because at 8am this morning they were trying to reach him to ask him to be at FPH by 1530 for a covid test. How blessed we were to find a car hire 10min walk from boat and that I had remembered my driving licence when we came aboard. Almost came unstuck when they asked for a utility bill with my address. Then remembered G is scanning our post, which is in a file on my phone, so they accepted a Premium Bond win letter – all of £25!

I calculated journey time of 1.5hrs and added half an hour for traffic delays and then a bit more so I wouldn’t get stressed, so decided to rent car from 1300hrs. Am I thankful for that extra time – the company computer was playing up and even though we were the only customers, it took 30minutes to log our details, repeatedly! I was beginning to calculate alternatives in my head for getting to FPH, none of which seemed very possible. What alarmed me was that these guys were not going to rent me a car unless they could log in to their computer system. No alternative was offered, such as a handwritten paper agreement. We really are at the mercy of technology in all sorts of ways. I hadn’t even considered this would be an issue.

Then I actually had to drive! It’s been so long I nearly forgot what side of the road I had to drive on. Add a manual rather than an automatic and you can see that R was in for a bumpy ride! The car was just about brand new – we were the first punters to use it and it went like a dream. Small and compact, it whizzed along, all the while R reminding me to keep to the speed limits! I had to keep reminding myself what gear I was in. I grew up with two brothers who loved tinkering with cars and listening to their engines and gear boxes almost like they spoke. I never got the language of the car and certainly couldn’t hear what gear I might be in dependant on the noise!

The covid test was straightforward and before we knew it we were en route home but not before we had filled the car with petrol remembering the ‘glove procedure’ detailed to us by the rental guys to avoid any cross contamination from pump handle to steering wheel. Then before leaving the car we had to sanitize everything we might have touched. All very thorough and reassuring, just a bit nerve-wracking. I remembered, after depositing the keys through the letterbox , that R had sat briefly in the back but I had not sanitized the back door handles. I had also, in the confusion of the morning computer glitch, left my ancient driving licence in the car hire office. So a call to the office was in order to guarantee safe keeping of my licence until Saturday when we hire the car again, and to admit that the door handles need sanitising!

Thank goodness I did all that cooking yesterday. Plenty of food to eat as we obviously can’t go shopping. After our unexpected exciting daytrip I was delighted all I had to do was warm through some chilli. Honestly, driving on the M25 after a narrowboat is mentally exhausting! All those other drivers. And I thought it was lockdown!

Ended the day watching a documentary of a young German couple who decide to drive through Africa. It looked far more adventurous than our narrowboat experience! The one thing that struck me was that their trip occurred during an ebola crisis. The West African country they were travelling through was experiencing a lockdown, very similar to us today. If I had seen that film a year ago I would never have imagined we would one day be in the same situation.

Other than taking pictures of the hire car to prove we haven’t scratched it my camera remained idle so sadly I have nothing to liven this post, except £1 worth of joy – aren’t daffodils amazing!