Endless Procession

Locks and Weirs of the Thames

Sorry for the lack of recent postings, but February has been an endless procession of grey & rainy overcast days. I enjoy writing the blog, and letting people know what we're up to, but I haven't wanted to bore anybody with the repetitive and sometimes mundane minutiae of day to day life in a marina.

Hurley and Hambledon locks are closed until the 1st of March, so our sojourn up the river to Reading has to wait until then. We did have one sunny day, and managed to cruise the boat down to Cliveden Reach for a jolly. Yellow boards were out, and it was a good chance to practice in "stream increasing" conditions. Mostly, the current and eddies pulled us into the middle of the river. Progress on the way back, was a little slow. But it was good that our 20hp engine coped well. It didn't overheat. And at full revs, it didn't produce any black smoke. We also didn't end up drifting backwards, unable to propel ourselves faster than the current.

It's a shame we haven't been able to "slip the ropes and bugger off", like we'd planned to, but Sheena's mum's illness developed into a long term affair, and we have to play with the cards we are dealt. Our current hope, is to get ourselves fully underway by the 1st of April.

I suppose it's 'better' that all these things happen now, whilst we're alongside, than when we're out on the canals, to find that some bloke is banging on the roof asking me to move the boat every few days. but it's frustrating to have to sit here and twiddle my thumbs, missing Sheena. The consolation, of course, is that I'm living on a boat. I'm a free man. And 99% of the EU bullcrap that landlubbing citizens have to contend with, doesn't affect me anymore. In that respect, I've never been happier, or felt more alive.