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For us, quite a busy day! Lovely blue sky first thing – a good encouragement to get the day started. I have become particularly fond of my breakfast in bed routine of a crumpet with nut butter and banana. Truth be told R probably likes his breakfast at the dinette table alone so that he can start the day with a bit of peace! We needed to return to the MK marina to fill up with water and diesel, do the necessary at the Elsan and use the laundrette. I hadn’t realised how far up the canal we had moored. It took 40mins to turn around and return down the canal to the marina. It was windy as well as sunny. I had decided to take the plastic covered roll of foam that separates our mattress from the wall in our cabin and put it on the roof to dry out and air. As we were travelling along R pulled a large branch of tree from the water and started to saw off some of the smaller branches. A puff of wind caught the main branch when he wasn’t holding it and plop back into water it fell at the same time as the plastic roll of foam also blew off the roof. Although we managed to rescue it I now no longer want it! The plastic was not watertight so the foam will be fairly wet with canal water and difficult to dry out. Think we need to find a large dustbin! Manoeuvring the boat so that we were able to fill up with diesel was a bit tricky as the wind kept blowing us off course when reversing. Then, while the washing was tumble drying we re- entered the canal from the marina in order to use the waterpoint. The flow was slow so it took a longish time. Meanwhile I walked back to the laundrette and collected the clean clothes. By the time I returned we were ready to go. I think it had taken two hours just to replenish our utilities! We travelled up the canal to reach the mooring we had sussed out yesterday with good signal and a pretty view. On one side of us is Willen Park with a couple of large lakes that we will explore tomorrow and on the other side an enormous park with among many other things an open air theatre, a cricket pitch, a maze, gardens, bike trail, and sheep grazing on a hillside. The hill was a bit of a surprise! I didn’t think MK had any of those. One end of the park gives a great view of the nearby skidome and the park adjoins the central business area. There was an amazing circular monument with marble posts planted within the piazza noting special days in the year, such as Concrete cow day, poetry day, St Andrew’s day etc, with the most recent post being ‘Covid 19’, dateless at present. The Willen lake side also has a fairly large outdoor theme park which is obviously closed. It is in close proximity to where we are moored and I would imagine is usually busy and noisy with young families and excited children. It is blissfully silent for us but there is a sadness in that as it reinforces the effects of this pandemic on everyday life.

Had a cup of tea on the stern end of the boat and met our neighbour, a plumber, who has been moored in the same place for months. He goes on a trip every so often to Wolverton and back to do his laundry and sort his facilities. He’s lived on his boat about eleven years pottering between Milton Keynes and Leighton Buzzard in the winter and then taking trips a bit further afield in the summer, but it doesn’t sound like he’s gone very far north. He goes in tandem with the friend who lives on the boat next to his. We have come across quite a few boaters who have paired up together as couples but still have their own boat for space. Seems quite a good idea!

Poor R did get rather an odd supper. When I had the oven on yesterday to roast a chicken I took the opportunity to use up a couple of eggs in a savoury baked egg dish with veg. A bit like a quiche without the pastry. Then I thought today to go with the egg I would cook quinoa and add mushrooms and spinach whereas I actually cooked millet by mistake. I did suggest we ate the ‘quiche’, as it was cold, before the millet but R said he’d like them together. However he did remark, as it took him rather a long time to finish his supper, that although he generally liked quiche, he meant the pastry!

Often bridge on a Tuesday evening but everyone was a bit busy so instead we watched the end of ‘Unforgotten’. It caused R and I to have quite a moral debate about children who have suffered serious abuse who as adults then take the law into their own hands for justice. For light relief we finished the evening with an episode of ‘Death in Paradise!’

Walking along the towpath I was careful to socially distance myself as I passed an older man standing outside his boat enjoying a rollup with his dog scampering around his feet. We fell to talking, he told be ‘Lolly’ was a rescue dog who on arrival 15 months earlier was angry and terrified in equal measure, having suffered abuse at the hands of a previous owner. Lolly was now calm and affectionate after patient and loving handling. I thought what an nurturing job this man had done and what kindness it showed. He said he was quite a loner having been widowed many years before and had lived in a campervan for a decade before buying a narrowboat eight years ago. His previous rescue dog became very ill at the end of his life and needed to be put down by the vet who said it would cost £170. Not having £170 the vet told him to take the dog home and wait for him to die. He went back to the boat heart broken on behalf of the dog who was suffering and asked a friend to go back to the vet to see how much it would cost if the dog’s owner was homeless (theoretically you are homeless on a narrowboat because you have no letterbox!) and was told £25! So as a ‘homeless’ person he was able to afford to have his beloved pet put down humanely. He said he wept for that dog more than he wept when his wife had died which led me to think that all his unexpressed grief from his wife dying 20 years before was released through the death of his much loved dog.

A second towpath walk towards the north end of MK to find moorings for the next few days and it seems that we still have a couple of miles before we reach a stable internet signal. We’re discussing a book for lent every Wednesday evening for the next six weeks on Zoom so we’d like to have internet if possible when we moor up. Also our scattered children have arranged a family Zoom for the weekend – 34 years married! I keep thinking that if I’d looked into a crystal ball 30 years ago and seen myself just with R for near on a year and for 5 months of that in a space 60ft x 7ft, I would never have believed it!! A sense of humour has been a vital ingredient in our marriage and I remember R saying he didn’t want to be bored, so I have tried to keep that from happening!

We’ve moved on to a new detective series – Unforgotten. Series 2 as we watched Series 1 a week or so ago. The pattern seems to be a body being found years after the murder has been committed so the detectives have to find the murderer, in the process disrupting family lives that have been built up in the intervening years. Chilling what can be hidden. Series 2 is a bit errie for me: body found in River Lea, the river that runs through the village I grew up in; the murdered man was Mr D Walker, like my brother’s name and the murder occurred on my birthday!! Too many coincidences. We watched three episodes back to back and no doubt will try to finish this series tomorrow. For the first time in our lives we are recognising actors appearing regularly in different films. Not having had a TV whilst the family were growing up we are making up for lost time. Britbox has all the TV oldies available!

Rather strange tuning in to our church today as I had pre-recorded a talk on the ‘pain of rejection’ for the morning service and had to sit and listen to myself! I think that was one better than also watching myself on video, but either makes one feel vulnerable and exposed – it really is a case of trusting in God’s wisdom and depending on him to give me the words he wants to be said. Such a big subject – only able to scratch the surface in an eight minute talk, but so important – I think all of us face rejection at some time in our lives and it can be really difficult to deal with. A downside of lockdown as many people have more time to dwell on past events with fewer distractions to ease any hurts.

Went for a long walk through the park nearest to the boat – MK seems to have extensive green areas to walk in and its good to see so many people outside, exercising. Many of them with dogs in tow and there are plenty of swings and roundabouts to entertain the children. There is even outdoor exercise equipment for adult use.

We had run fairly short on fruit and veg so I decided to do the weekly shop in Waitrose and claim my free newspaper. En route we saw our first ever robot doing a fastfood takeaway delivery. It was impressive to see how it stopped when it sensed a car nearby and proceeded with caution when it registered any humans nearby. A taste of things to come? MK is an ideal place to trial a robot as the streets are grid like and there are no hills, just a few gentle slopes occasionally, with separated cycle lanes and plenty of underpasses at busy junctions.

The evening saw us joining Songs of Praise followed by the last episode of Vera – I may have misled you into thinking we had finished the series but I found one more lurking! For light relief we watched ‘Friday Night Dinner’ as it had been recommended and it did make us laugh out loud. R said I was just like the mum and I thought he was like the dad. Are our boys like the sons? I hope not!! However, not sure how many we will watch, despite the obvious humour. Call me prudish but it really upsets me when there is needless blasphemy. My father was a very tolerant man until it came to taking God’s name in vein and I find it offensive when it is uncalled for. Many a time I embarrassed my children when I took their friends to task for saying ‘Oh my G..’ or ‘JC’ in front of me. I find the same with modern comedians who seem to think they cannot be funny without major outbursts of swearing or numerous sex references. Oh dear, I am showing my age!

Quite a few boats were moving along the canal today and we even had some paddle boarders pass by. They were chatty and obviously really enjoyed their watersport – think it was keeping them sane in lockdown. The weather is so much warmer, it makes for a much easier life on the water and we aren’t having to forage for so much wood as the stove isn’t lit until nearer to 6pm.

We walked up and down the towpath, constantly checking signal on our phones, to find some good internet access. Where we are currently moored, it is very weak and only available at one end of the boat. Even then if we walk around too much it goes in and out of reception. Eventually we found what we hoped would be a suitable mooring, not too far from Waitrose as tomorrow we need to do the weekly shop and carry everything back to the boat. There’s a river between us and Waitrose with only a couple of bridges intermittently placed so we need to be able to walk in an almost straight line from our boat to the supermarket, across the intervening park and houses. An added complication is that although the signal may appear good on the towpath it isn’t necessarily good in the boat. So I risked some impatience from R if this manoeuvre did not go smoothly! We returned to the boat, via Waitrose so we knew how far it actually was going to be from the new mooring and I then steered Wind Rose whilst R walked down the towpath and waited for me at the allotted space. Once there R held the mid rope whilst I checked signal strength throughout the boat. Thankfully all looked good so we could properly moor up. Sometimes mooring involves hammering pegs into the ground so you don’t want to do it unnecessarily. Infact we’ve found a place where we just chain ourselves to the towpath edge so we were quickly settled in.

A phone call from my brother informed me that my mum’s oldest friend, Aunty Dobby to us, but Jeannie to most, had just died at the age of 98! Their friendship had spanned over 95 years and we thought of her as our aunt as she had no children and both my parents were only children so we have no directly related uncles and aunts. She and mum had a wicked sense of fun when they were together and made up some very ribald limericks! I was born three weeks early at home in The Vicarage, after mum and dad had attended a party with a good deal of champagne on offer! My granny had taken all the baby clothes away to wash and so with nothing to wear I was snuggled in the bed. Aunty Dobby was due to visit the day I was born and entering mum’s bedroom couldn’t understand why mum was in bed having totally overlooked me as I was such a scrap of a thing! When both mum and Aunty Dobby were in their nineties mum was with us one Christmas and Aunty Dobby’s carer bought her to us as a surprise. The look of joy on mum’s face and the fun they both had that day will stay with me forever. An end of an era now they are both gone.

We had a Zoom quiz at 5pm but I had another meeting so R was on his own answering the fiendish questions. We normally come last and this time he was second from the bottom so obviously it isn’t much of an advantage having me on the team!

Supper was left over curry from our takeaway Indian meal and it tasted even better reheated! There’s still enough sauce left from the lamb curry to mix with some of the batch mince I cooked and froze a few weeks ago. So supper tomorrow will be curry again!

Wide awake at 0330, partly because R couldn’t sleep so decided to read and the torchlight was quite bright. I often seem just to doze from about that hour of the night but it took a long time to actually get back to sleep and before I knew it the alarm was ringing for our 8am weekly prayer meeting.  I always seem to sleep badly when I have to have an early start! Got the heating on so we could have hot water for a hair wash and bath. However our timings were out so the hair got washed in lukewarm water and then we turned the engine on to boost the heating further returned to bed for half an hour! Post bath, both of us in a complete clean set of clothing, I took dirty clothes and all bedlinen to the wishy washy so that once we leave marina everything that can be clean on boat is clean, including R! So good to take delight in such small pleasures! R made use of the Elsan, filled the water tank to the brim once I had wet washed the floors and we were ready for the off. Quite a tricky manoeuvre leaving the Marina because of where our boat had been moored and also due to the south easterly wind that then followed us down the canal. Very shortly we found a beautiful stretch of canal to moor up, beside a lovely open park. Unfortunately two hours later we were having to pull the boat along the canal trying to find some internet signal. Daughter H had tried ringing us and we realised we had no connection anywhere in the boat. As I had not only my regular Friday afternoon Zoom but also our Zoom monthly Filling Station meeting, it really was going to be a bit of a problem without signal. Visions of standing outside the boat in the cold, and maybe rain, was not appealing! Thankfully just when we thought we were going to have to admit defeat the 4G sign illuminated. I have to admit I stayed in exactly the same position on the boat for 80 minutes, the duration of our double length Zoom, just in case only pockets of the boat are internet friendly. Why is it that the problems only occur when you really need to be online! The further along the canal we go the longer the walk to Waitrose and we really will need some fruit and veg by Sunday so I don’t want to travel too far. Also it is so idyllic moored up by a park. Looking out of the window and seeing green spaces and trees is such a treat in the middle of a built up city.

We attended our monthly Filling Station meeting with an inspirational speaker, Russ Parker, author of many books. He talked about the healing of our lands. So often  when physical healing occurs, the place where the dis-ease arose also needs healing. He spoke of a priest who asked farmers who were affected by the foot and mouth outbreak in, I think, the seventies, if he could go around the boundaries of their farms, praying for healing to occur. In all instances the foot and mouth outbreaks cleared up. This was just one example to help us understand the importance of location in having healing and health.  He showed other examples throughout the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  Regretfully as it was a Zoom meeting we were limited to an hour in total (hard to concentrate on Zoom for longer!) so Russ only had a relatively brief time to speak which disappointed me because I could listen to him for much longer. He has a wonderful way with words and stories and bringing the subject he is speaking on to life. Very similar to our friend AP who has recently done 6 enthralling physics lectures where his enthusiasm for the subject bubbles over and infects all the listeners.

The last episode of Mum was a great way to finish the evening as the main characters walked hand in hand off into the distance with a couple of bottles of bubbly and a metaphorical farewell to their past lives

Amazing how long email housekeeping takes. Must have spent two hours this morning deleting emails or putting them into folders, which I will probably never look at! The rain was pounding down when we awoke and I honestly thought we would be isolated on the boat all day. However after a lunchtime Zoom with friends, followed by a webinair on the ‘post pandemic church’ we were delighted to see some blue sky and sun.

We walked along the towpath to find a new mooring for tomorrow, when we leave the Marina. There was a beautifully maintained narrowboat and a friendly young couple who said they had been in the same place since Christmas and work from home. I wondered where the nearest supermarket was as it wasn’t obvious, as all I could see was houses and parkland. I was cheered to hear a 20 minute walk across the park would lead to a Waitrose which sounds ideal!

Returning to the boat after quite a long walk I tackled the issue of hiring a car to get R home for his jab. Only wanting a one day hire, I was disheartened when the nearest car rental firm to the canal, in Wolverton, only does a three day rental over the weekend. Much more than we need – the prospect of going home for three days, unable to see any of our friends, is not appealing. However I found a firm about a half hour walk from the North end of MK, who, when he heard why I needed a car, offered me a people mover for £50 for 24hrs. It was the only car available – don’t think I have driven such a large car in a decade! The advantage for us is that we will be able to take bulky things home from the boat, including the two folding bikes we haven’t even used yet! Arriving on the boat we had a couple of car loads of stuff. Ideally it would be great if we could get home with just one load and as we only have a month left I am sure I can whittle down clothes etc!

The Indian takeaway around the corner isn’t open and the Chinese hasn’t got a great scoring on trip advisor! So I googled and found another local Indian takeaway which delivered and was delighted with the meal we received. I over ordered so that we would have enough for a second meal over the weekend. According to Trip advisor it’s rated the top Indian restaurant in MK and I can see why! It did make me feel a little homesick for our favourite home Indian restaurant that we often frequent with another couple. Infact one night, when R was away at the same time that Ms wife was busy, M and I went there on our own, which set tongues wagging, especially as a friend passed by and saw us through the window!

Woke up with a feeling of excitement that we were soon going to be on the move. The ice all around the boat had melted and so we were able to set forth on a reasonably sunny day with a warmth on our back we had not felt for quite a few weeks. It warmed the soul and enabled us to relax and enjoy the hour’s meandering along the canal until we reached Peartree Marina. We passed a couple of chatty chaps along the towpath, one who warned us of more ice ahead. Obviously not all the canal was ice free, especially in areas with a large overhang of trees that prevented the sunlight penetrating through. I manoeuvred into the visitor mooring while R left the boat to check in. I then had to reverse the boat in order to go into our allotted space. Quite a fiddle but eventually we were settled, very near to the roadside – looking out the window we are right next to a Chinese takeaway, which is next to an Indian, both operating – no guesses as to what we will be tucking into! In addition the laundrette is alongside so it didn’t take me long to get a couple of loads into the wash. Bliss! I realised 3 out of 4 trousers were there which meant I was on to wearing my last clean pair. Such a relief when everything is clean and dry again. The marina is run by quite a cheeky chappy, very friendly. Sadly, when I asked him about a shower block he informed me a while ago he had had to evict someone who hadn’t paid him. This person promptly put some cement down the shower and the upshot is no facilities. I had to gently break the news to R that a full-size shower was a luxury he still had to forego and so within an hour we had run a bath with our engine generated (due to travelling) hot water, which resulted in even more clothes to get washed! Somehow the day passed in a flash and we didn’t even manage a walk to familiarise ourselves with our new surroundings. A phone call from the vaccination centre at home has R booked to have his Covid vaccine on Saturday 27th Feb. Yet another logistical challenge. However I think if we make our way slowly to Wolverton, which is only 3 hours travelling time, we can hire a car very near to the canal. A quick day trip to Farnham will enable us to take unneeded items on the boat home and we can pick up our post. A slow meander through MK over next week will enable us to explore some more of its parks close to the towpaths.

Had quite a lot to do, it being Shrove Tuesday! Batter had to be made and I had a lot of veg to prepare that would otherwise soon be on the turn. Though I say it myself, I cooked up a very tasty one dish meal. Leeks, aubergine and red pepper topped with a turkey leg and then slow roasted. I had a few deli olives in oil that I tipped in to give the veg a bit of a coating and I have to say the result was well worth the wait! Infact I thought the leg would do 4 portions but we managed to devour most of it in one sitting! R then chopped the bone in half and turkey stock was made on the wood burning stove throughout the evening. Meanwhile at 1730 I played bridge with daughter C and then at 2000 I played more bridge so by 2200 I was bridged out! Had managed to eat the turkey sanwiched between the bridge but the pancakes turned into a late night snack! Another ‘Mum’ episode. Only two to go – not sure what will replace it. So good to have some light hearted humour although this episode was rather bitter sweet and emotional.

I really thought we’d be able to move today but R met a seasoned boater on the towpath who suggested waiting a further day or so as the ice was still extensive. Indeed a boat came through the lock in the direction of the Marina where we are headed and as it broke through the ice, it produced substantial sheets of  cracked ice that crashed into other boats and pushed the moving boat off course. Another boater complained that the ice damage from the moving boat scarred his newly painted boat Hull. R decided we definitely should wait to see how the canal is looking tomorrow.  So off we went on yet another walk to forage for some wood and both of us carried substantial sized logs back, according to our size!

Opened the midway hatch as it was so warm and got chatting to a lady walking the towpath with her teenage son, who was on half-term. I offered them tea but they declined and said maybe on their return. Then a neighbour came to tell R the fuel boat wouldn’t be through for 3 weeks, because it was stuck behind a closed lock, and did we want to share in a delivery of 20 bags. Unfortunately we will probably be on our way before it arrives but we should be able to pick coal up at the Marina.

P and her son G returned and we got into a long chat about the increased depression that has surfaced during the pandemic and how stressful some jobs are. She works in the property sector and her heart is in social,  rather than private housing, and being able to make a difference to the quality of people’s lives. She would value a job that allowed her more time to spend with her son. We talked about how vital it is to find support when life is tough and reflected on the benefits of CBT. There’s a very good book called Mind Over Matter, that a friend recommended to me to read, which helps in the understanding of the various therapies available which can help retrain the mind when we are affected by depression or anxiety. I also think, whatever your belief system, reading some of the Psalms from the Bible, can bring comfort and hope. I am always amazed at the emotions covered by the psalmist and how they had feelings identical to those we face today. There’s really nothing new under the sun!

It took R quite a long time to saw the wood but we certainly have a good stack and hopefully won’t go through it so quickly as the weather is set to warm up. What R noticed while the canal was frozen was that the swans, Canada geese and moorhens disappeared, probably to the river, whilst the songbirds were still busy nearby, looking for berries off the trees. Tonight the swans were back in evidence which hopefully means we will not have much ice left by tomorrow.

Had a very amusing chat with my friend F who was telling me about her daughter C (my goddaughter) living in Germany, who is ‘walking out’. A very old fashioned expression. Apparently it is all the rage to ‘walk out’ with a potential suitor that you meet via internet dating. C decided to meet 3 different men in the same week for the first time so that she could then decide which one to have further dates with. As there is nothing to do at the moment but walk she ended up losing a stone in weight over a month from so much exercise! Wish I could say the same. Elasticated trousers and no mirror to hand is not helping me control my waistline. I’m in so many layers I have no idea what my body looks like any more! And as for wearing a skirt or a dress, make up or jewellery, all out of the window at present. There really seems very little point. R gets the smart clothing award for still donning a tie every Sunday. I think in the whole of lockdown I can only remember two or three Sundays when he hasn’t actually dressed up. At home he even used to wear a jacket as well. December 2019 we were very spoilt to be asked to go on holiday to St Lucia on a yacht. I still remember the look of amazement on our host’s face when R stepped onto the dingy in a very smart jacket and tie, whilst I was in shorts and tee shirt. We had the opposite at our wedding. We were married in the days when traditionally the bride and groom changed before leaving the wedding reception for their honeymoon. I think it was just a ruse to buy another lovely frock. I spent a long time finding just the right outfit for the occasion. R meanwhile donned an open necked shirt and looked extremely casual! Remarks were made and not even from me. Perhaps that’s why he now makes such an effort with ties!

Finished the first series of Unforgotten which was OK although R thought it a bit mushy at the end and we couldn’t quite work out all the red herrings in the plot. I never can!