Ice, snow and departing friends...

It's been a long time since our last post, not because not much has happened but more because we have been occupied with other things. Through the rain and wet we did make it at last to our winter mooring and on 19th November our cruising year ended, as we moored at the spot we had vacated in January 2009; now having cruised 1,388 miles since our wanderings commenced back in September 2008. We had to move though; it's the trees you see. When a chap has solar panels on his roof and there are clear skies and bright sunshine a chap needs as much as he can get on his panels for some lovely "free" electricity. Trees, not being transparent are therefore something of a damper,so we moved a hundred yards nearer to Sydney tunnel to make the most of the sunshine and himself was nicely surprised by the amount of power we get on a clear winter's day. Chatty Dave down the cut reckons solar is the way to go and is looking to sell his wind turbine (needs a pretty stiff constant breeze to produce appreciable amounts of power he says).

Still lots of boats moored at this end of then cut as you would expect and interesting to see which boats we recognise from last winter. We quickly drop back into the routine of the more static boating life with the once weekly trip to fill the water tank and dispose of the unmentionable. We've also made use of the services of the lads at the boatyard to do one of the modifications we needed to make life easier. We had the leaking radiator in the bathroom removed and then the cassette toilet turned through 90 degrees, and a new hatchway made so that the cassette can be removed in the corridor. Where did it come out before? The bottom of the wardrobe in the bedroom; a real pain and not easy to get at. And now a bathroom with no radiator? No, it had two. One running off the central heating circuit and the other off the hot water heating circuit (calorifier, for the technically minded). Well with an owner fitted-out boat you must expect some eccentricities.

Good to renew our friendship with the Abbey ringers again and settle into regular ringing on Monday evenings and service ringing; although the climb up the tower had not got any easier. And....... they've turned our pub (The Rhummer) into an Italian wine bar/bistro thing!!!!!! So now Monday's after practice it's off to the Coer de Lyon; pints of Bellringer available here as well and still as good as we remember it. A Sunday routine of 9.15 Parish Communion at the Abbey followed by ringing for the 11 o'clock and then the ringers retire to Cafe Nero for coffee and cake; very civilised.

It's then that the wheels started to fall off things a bit. My Dad died on 18th December and the following week we had to have big dog, Micah put to sleep as things had got too much for the old boy and he had become doubly incontinent; not easy to cope with on a boat.
Thirteen is a good age for a lurcher and he'd had a good ten years with us, had enjoyed his boating but was finding it increasingly difficult to get about, wobbly legs, cataracts and hearing not as good as it used to be. We're now a one dog boat.

At 87 my Dad (a Chelsea Pensioner) had had a good innings too. He had recently had surgery to remove malignant tumours from his bladder. Pathology and further scans revealed it to be a rare aggressive malignancy that had spread to bone and resulted in a rapid decline with mercifully a relatively comfortable end.

Christmas was then a little subdued, but enjoyed non-the-less. Then it froze and we had snow and here we've been stuck unable to move for a fortnight. Ice about 3-4 inches thick in the end. We're down to the last inch of water in the water tank. Thank goodness the thaw has arrived.

Nothing stays the same. No matter how much we would like to resist it change is an inevitable part of life. Yet in difficulties there is often blessing, if only we would look for it. Not least the love and support we receive from those around us. I wonder what surprises 2010 has for us. One thing I know for certain, God is good.