Three things can be deduced from this view from my loo: Spring has sprung, I am still on my home mooring and I haven't cleaned my windows recently!
It has felt like a long winter. Not particularly cold but very dark and gloomy. It was also my first winter on the mooring without my good friends Graham and Jan Finch. They have moved back on land and so the mooring was very quiet without them. Working actually helped as it gave me another reason (apart from Bonny) to get up in the morning. It's also been gloomy because of a series of things going wrong which all required money to put right. They ranged from a persistent leak from the boat's coolant system (four leaks in fact - one after the other) to my car deciding to lock me out permanently, which required both door locks to be changed. Add in Bonny developing a touch of arthritis in both shoulders and me having to have 5 teeth extracted and paying £650 for a new partial denture and life has been a touch trying!
However, all will be well as, in only a months time we shall be off cruising! I am very out of practice as, due to weather and a lock closure I have been stationary since November. Still, I am sure my muscles will quickly remember locking and dealing with stiff swing bridges and hauling on ropes in a gale!
My plan, such as it is, is to go up the Maccy (Macclesfield Canal) and down the Peak Forest. Then retrace my wake to Fradley, where I shall then turn down the Coventry and make my way all the way to Oxford where I shall meet up with my lovely friends, Roger and Shirleyann Andrews. We will then explore the upper Thames towards the end of June. When they leave I shall mooch back up The Oxford, possibly detour up the Ashby and then return to my mooring for the beginning of August. I'm then due to house sit for my brother for 3 weeks, before returning to work at the beginning of September.
As my life once again becomes adventurous, I shall be blogging much more often!
