Author: Mary

Meant to say yesterday that it was like going back in time walking the towpath towards our boat after dark. Suddenly all over the sky there would be a burst of noise and colour as individual houses enjoyed their own display of fireworks. That always used to be the case before the big displays became the norm and probably for good reason as I remember there always used to be some horrible injuries as a result of firework night. Still, it was fun not quite knowing where the next bang was coming from!

Sunday was a day of mixed emotions, starting with the acts of Remembrance in the morning and then a service for the bereaved in the evening. Mum was very much at the centre of my thoughts, unsurprisingly as it is barely three months since she died. I was reminded of the dark tunnels that we have travelled through on our canal journey so far. One in particular was so long that we could not see the end until we had rounded a corner and then it was only a pinprick of light. We had to rely on our one headlight for guidance. Following God is a bit like that. He can show us the way if we look to him for our direction in life but believing in God doesn’t prevent us entering dark tunnels and sometimes it can be a long time before we even see a pinprick of light at the end of the tunnel. Once the pinprick appears though, eventually as we travel through, the circle of light gets bigger and bigger until we leave the tunnel behind us and enter into daylight. On days like today which feel bleak and dark the thought of a glimmer of light at the end of a dark tunnel fills me with hope. And don’t we need that at the moment with life feeling so precarious and unpredictable.

Cannot believe how warm today has been for a Novemeber Saturday and so I have sat outside since breakfast amazed at the amount of human traffic and cannine friends trotting along. Lots of cheery hallo’s and a few chats to while away the time. One of our friends has a friend living in Berkhamstead who we went on a lovely walk with down the towpath towards Apsley which gave us our daily exercise! I then was very amused to see a boat trying to turn around in part of the canal that was just not wide enough so I went to see what was going on close up and got inviegled in helping him turn the boat, which he eventually did after a lot of advice from other boaters. R and I had been having a running discourse about being able to turn out boat around here, which R has now won as the boat today was at least 10ft shorter than ours. No way can we turn on a sixpence!

Reminds me that it is not always easy to turn our lives around when we think or know that we are going in the wrong direction, or if we see someone we love struggling in the same way. It takes patience and perseverance and sometimes some false starts. The peace of mind that comes with knowing we are doing what we were put on the planet to do is worth the effort. Many years ago I asked R what the point of life was (I was at a particularly low ebb at the time) and his answer was to find out what God has put you on the planet to do and then do it. I have never forgotten the answer and so I think part of life’s journey is to do just that. It is so easy to compare oneself unfavourably to others but I believe God gives us all individual gifts to utilize and then to help one another in any way that we can. Rather than think we have to compete with one another!

Finished the day watching a swedish film with subtitles called ‘A man called Ove’ and I would really recommend it (Amazon Prime). A study really in grief and how one person found meaning in life again because of the love and perseverance of new neighbours and old friends. There was a lot of humour mixed in so it was touching and heart warming. We have enough to contend with in the real world to lower our spirits so feelgood films can really benefit us at a time such as this.

Decided to do something practical today, so went and found a local laundrette to get all the washing done. Have found a great way of limiting how many clothes need washing. Before we came on board, a friend suggested that we put all our clothes in plastic bags to stop them becoming damp. So every day, I pulled out 5 different bags from my low slung cupboard and choose underwear from one, socks from another, trousers from another etc. Very time consuming and not very pleasant in the cold. But I hit on a really practical solution. I put into each bag all the clothes I need for the next three days. So I now only get one bag out and once all the clothes are dirty I put them aside for washing and start on the next bag! Not sure I have converted R to my method but he doesn’t have nearly so many clothes to choose from! So off we go to the laundrette which is run by a delightful and helpful man. Having put my washing into two machines as there is too much for one, I decide there is still a lot of room left so R obligingly takes off his trousers, prepared to sit for the next hour in his longjohns! Helpful man then tells me I could use the one bigger drum if I am not sorting colours and whites (am I ever! I am on a narrowboat – can’t afford to be that fussy!) so am delighted as that is only £1 more than using the smaller machine. Washing on, I set off in hunt of a coffee as I noticed most coffee shops and takeaways are still thankfully allowed to open although you cannot sit in them. The nearest one proved to have delicious coffee and italian pastries. The owner had set up his new burger venture just before lockdown and quickly realised he needed to add takeaway coffee to his menu to stop his business going under. Apparently we have been reliably informed that his burgers are absolutely delicious so we shall not doubt have one before too long.

Catching up on bakeoff in the evening got me to thinking about the kitchen I have left behind and all my lovely electrical appliances which enable me to whip up food fit for bakeoff at the drop of a hat (this I hope you realise is very tongue in cheek!). But seriously, the home comforts of our boat become very meaningful when we have nowhere else to escape too. We can’t even go to the pub and if we want to be connected to media we have to ensure we have charged up our devices ahead of time. The alternative is running the engine which is surprisingly noisy and seems a bit of a waste when you are not able to move the boat at the same time. The saying ‘Be prepared’ comes to mind. We are realising we need to think ahead and be organised for most eventualities. Enough coal and wood to keep us warm; enough water in the tank to keep us clean; gas in the bottle for cooking; diesel for electricity. How much we take for granted in our home life and how easy it is to waste our resources. And we don’t want to amass unnecessary rubbish as we have to find a way to get rid of it! I am not complaining as I am surprising myself at how happy I am living in such a confined space with so few possessions around me. But am not sure I will be quite so gung-ho when the cold weather sets in!

So blog may take a bit of a different turn as we are not at present moving anywhere. Well, that is not strictly true as we are allowed to move to ‘essential services’ which for us at the moment means going forward to the water tap and trying our best to reverse without mishap back to our mooring! A beautiful day, we sat outside at the bow of our boat and watched the world go by, having a friendly chat with a few of the many passers by. Of one particular couple the man looked rather familiar but I couldn’t place him until his wife said his name. I remembered that he is an excellent tennis player and often wins the tournanments at Thorpeness, where we go on holiday. Once the connection was made we had a great chat and marvelled at how small the world is!

So, I am beginning to ask myself what is this journey all about! The lyric ‘the long and winding road that leads to your door’ came into my head in the night although I misremembered it as ‘the long and winding road that leads to your heart’ and then I thought of the heart of God. And are we all not on a journey through life that leads eventually to death and we have to work out what that means to each of us. Journeying on a canal is very like the journey of life. Sometimes the water is a long straight stretch that you can view as far as the eye can see. Relatively peaceful with any hazards up ahead in full view, one can relax and enjoy the ride. Even better if the sun is shining and the reflection of the trees on the water is a beautiful sight. But then the canal narrows and there are twists and turns that make it impossible to see what is coming in the other direction and it is easy to become anxious and fearful of what might be ahead. You have to be especially careful if there are leaks in the sides of the canal (as there are in some stretches of the Berkhamstead water between various locks) as the shallow water means the boat may get stuck on rocks or literally stuck in the mud at the edges. So you have to follow a straight path through the deepest water. A little like our following God throughout our life, trying not to veer too far from Him being at our centre as this could cause us to hit bumps or become stuck in a place we would rather not be.

R and the boatman tried to mend the Elsan but no luck so I resorted to ringing James and asking what our other options were for sorting our predicament. He reminded me of Warren, the pumpman on the waste disposal boat. I had totally forgotten him! A short text later and Warren assures me he can empty my Elsan £1 a cassette. Best £1 I may ever spend. So with that sorted I suggest to R that we stay moored in the vicinity that we are in but that the boat would be better a bit before the water point. That requires us to reverse. No problem you may think. But on a narrowboat, when you reverse you have no steering so I am on the helm reversing and R is on the towpath pulling the midrope and trying not to be pulled into the canal. He has to lassoo the rope over a parked (empty wide berth), although it soon becomes apparent the wide berth is not empty as a head pops out asking what on earth is going on on her roof! She was very helpful though when she saw our predicament and eventually we arrived at our new destination. Once the night came though we realised that we are parked outside a set of brightly lit flats so I think tomorrow there may be more reversing needed! As today is the last day of open shops I suggested that we see what Berkhamsted had to offer. Just as we left the boat we met a couple who were walking the towpath. Half in jest I suggested that if they turned up tomorrow with their mugs, I would fill them with tea. They thought this a great idea so we are now expecting J and A for a cuppa and chat tomorrow! Be interesting to see if they return or if they think I am a bit crazy offering strangers tea! Berkhamsted has a great array of charity shops which I enjoyed trawling (not sure R would agree) and I found 3 china mugs, a holder for cutlery and a beautiful alpaca cardigan because I have discovered I need wool to keep me warm! There was a lovely market (R bought a couple of hats!) and lots of ‘posh’ shops which I avoided, eventually ending up in Waitrose for our daily paper and some individually wrapped biscuits for our visitors tomorrow. We arrived back at the boat in time to join the funeral at Salisbury cathedral of a very dear friend whose daughter was responsible for R and I meeting in the first place. This lovely man, a clergyman, we found by coincidence had briefly been a curate to my grandfather and still has in his possession a prayer book that my grandfather had given him. A total coincidence that one day I would become great friends with his children. After finishing the leftover paella (I know how to feed a man!) with added veg, we ventured out to Berkhamsted in the hopes of sitting in a cosy pub. Last chance for a month. Everyone else obviously had the same idea and after being turned away by at least 7 pubs, we found ourselves at Pizza Express. There we received a lovely welcome and I have sat updating this blog, fortified by 2 Aperol Spritz, some polenta chips and a flatwhite. As we walked in with 10L of Tesco water the waiter was a bit nonplussed. Explaining that we are on a narrowboat that involves us reversing the boat to refuel the water tank so we felt we should have spare water on board, he told us that he will be at Pizza Express every monday morning and should we need any extra water we just need to knock on the door. What kindness you find in unexpected places. So now on to lockdown. Am not quite sure how the blog will develop as we won’t be travelling around (unless necessity dictates) so I will have to find something else to write about!

Visited a farm shop that was so tempting, but expensive, that I think R was relieved even I realised we didn’t have much room for anything else on the boat! So leaving temptation behind I got to work and while R helmed the boat I set about working 8 locks. Who needs any other kind of workout? Still, that was nothing compared to the 7 double locks R had to then do after lunch! We felt quite exhausted by the time we arrived back in Marsworth and moored up by the Grand Junction Pub. We were expecting to see my sister and bro-in-law about 6pm, so after dark, but realised there was no way we could meet on the boat. The towpath was like a mudbath and we had images of them slipping into the canal as we had not prepared them to bring their wellies!

Undeterred, we had a great evening with them in the nearby pub which fed us all royally. The waitress, a young girl, was very accommodating when we asked her to witness my signature (the main reason for the urgency of the visit was because I need to sign a document before lockdown started!) but obviously she was a bit perturbed because a few minutes later her manager appeared wanting to know what she had signed her name too! Saying goodbye was rather sad knowing that lockdown was round the corner and they didn’t even get to see the boat (and I’d cleaned it!!).