Carnival time

I am currently house and cat sitting in my old stamping ground of Bradworthy. I had remembered it as a fairly mad place and this was confirmed when I attended the carnival in the village. Here are a selection of sights. God, I love the countryside!

loads of people turned up. Several roads were lined like this

All sorts turned up

Some older than others!

And some madder than others!

Great Shrek themed float

From the film Up and this did go up!!

Brave Pegasus

And of course a Carnival Queen (well several actually)

Bradworthy is a truly great village, with madness at its heart!

Holidays on land

I have been off the boat for a week, visiting friends in Yorkshire. My first stop was Hornsea to see my very good friends Jan and Graham Finch. They lived on their boat, Huff n Puff for 12 years but recently moved back to land living. Here is their very swanky pad, a converted railway station!

One of the few things I miss, living on a boat, is having a bath and this is what I call a bath!!

Graham and Jan have a 5 month old puppy called Albert. Their last dog Bernie, also a Westie, was Bonny's closest friend and so we were fascinated to see how she would respond to this new dog. She was a little reserved to begin with. You can tell the pecking order...

But they soon got closer, thanks to Albert's persistence!

We all went on a trip to Flanbrough Head on a very windy day.

Here are my friends. Jan used to walk Bonny with Bernie when I was at work or when I broke my leg, so it was lovely to see her with Albert and Bon.

I rarely have anyone with me to take a photo of Bon and me, so I took advantage of Graham!

The next day we visited a beach and Bonny had a major breakthrough, thanks to Albert. She has never been a great player of games and seems incapable of playing with another dog. She would rather be hunting. Since she had been so well behaved I took the risk of letting her off the lead. Albert was free too and all at once they were racing each other in circles and Bon was actually playing. It was such a joy to watch. She also loved the sea and showed no fear of the waves. It was a very special time for all of us and when we called them back they raced each other to show who could get back to their owner the quickest!

After a fond farewell, we left to travel to Thirsk to see another dear couple of friends. Brian was my counsellor when I travelled through some very dark times indeed. Now he is my guru and close friend and his wife Cynthia is wonderfully hospitable.

Here is the man who knows me best out of everybody in the world, who accepts and respects me as I am and who has enabled me to heal and grow. We are at Bylands Abbey:

Then he took Bonny and I on a lovely walk up a very steep hill, where a white horse had been carved into the landscape and we had a picnic looking out over most of Yorkshire!

We are back on the boat now, but not for long. My next view from the loo will be from Devon!

Holidays on land

I have been off the boat for a week, visiting friends in Yorkshire. My first stop was Hornsea to see my very good friends Jan and Graham Finch. They lived on their boat, Huff n Puff for 12 years but recently moved back to land living. Here is their very swanky pad, a converted railway station!

One of the few things I miss, living on a boat, is having a bath and this is what I call a bath!!

Graham and Jan have a 5 month old puppy called Albert. Their last dog Bernie, also a Westie, was Bonny's closest friend and so we were fascinated to see how she would respond to this new dog. She was a little reserved to begin with. You can tell the pecking order...

But they soon got closer, thanks to Albert's persistence!

We all went on a trip to Flanbrough Head on a very windy day.

Here are my friends. Jan used to walk Bonny with Bernie when I was at work or when I broke my leg, so it was lovely to see her with Albert and Bon.

I rarely have anyone with me to take a photo of Bon and me, so I took advantage of Graham!

The next day we visited a beach and Bonny had a major breakthrough, thanks to Albert. She has never been a great player of games and seems incapable of playing with another dog. She would rather be hunting. Since she had been so well behaved I took the risk of letting her off the lead. Albert was free too and all at once they were racing each other in circles and Bon was actually playing. It was such a joy to watch. She also loved the sea and showed no fear of the waves. It was a very special time for all of us and when we called them back they raced each other to show who could get back to their owner the quickest!

After a fond farewell, we left to travel to Thirsk to see another dear couple of friends. Brian was my counsellor when I travelled through some very dark times indeed. Now he is my guru and close friend and his wife Cynthia is wonderfully hospitable.

Here is the man who knows me best out of everybody in the world, who accepts and respects me as I am and who has enabled me to heal and grow. We are at Bylands Abbey:

Then he took Bonny and I on a lovely walk up a very steep hill, where a white horse had been carved into the landscape and we had a picnic looking out over most of Yorkshire!

We are back on the boat now, but not for long. My next view from the loo will be from Devon!

Start a revolution

Do you feel helpless in the face of terrorism? Do you wish our nation was less full of fear and hatred? Do you wish for a friendlier neighbourhood? Well we are not helpless. We can make a difference!

Let's start a smile revolution! I have noticed increasingly that people don't look at each other any more. We don't meet each other's eyes. We don't smile. We walk along in our individualistic little boxes with our ears blocked by music and our hearts blocked by fear. Oh and the newest one, our eyes blocked by Pokemon Go! If we can block people out this way then it is much easier to fear and then hate the stranger. If it is easier to hate or fear then it is easier to imagine killing them.

But there is another way. Lift up your chins and walk tall. When you pass someone in the street, smile at them. If they smile back, perhaps say 'Good Morning' or 'Nice day, isn't it.' If they look away and don't respond then don't feel rejected and think to yourself 'Well, sod that, I won't smile at them again'. Just think gosh, they are still trapped in fear of the stranger, fear of human contact, poor them.

If you are wasting time in a queue or perhaps on public transport, smile at the person next to you. It might be you can actually have a conversation. It might be they look at you as if you are barking and nervously move away. That doesn't matter. If enough of us start a smile revolution then I am convinced it will spread. If it spreads then we will start to see strangers as people again and people as part of our community. And if we don't choose who to smile at but just include everybody then I am convinced that barriers of sex, of race, of class will start to be broken down.

We are all human beings facing the same issues, the same hopes and dreams, the same fears. Come on, let's smile at our common humanity.

Let us start a smile revolution!

Good to be home

Things I love about being back on my mooring:
1. Watching the queues on the Fradley lock flight, knowing I don't have to join them.
2. Knowing where I am going to be moored tomorrow, and where the nearest water, rubbish point and shops are.
3. Using my car to go to the laundry and shops and so no humping heavy loads about.
4. Getting my garden mooring back into shape by strimming, mowing and clipping.
5. Having a big empty space behind me as the next two boats have given up the mooring.
6. Catching up with friends here and further afield.
7. Watching Bonny, happy and relaxed at home and mooching around the mooring with no lead on!
8. Getting her, my boat, my car and myself serviced.
9. Being reminded how beautiful and peaceful it is here.

I am still considering my options as far as future moorings are concerned but my feeling at present is that I'd be very lucky to find another mooring as lovely as this one.