Black over Bill's Mother's

Hi Camper's.

It is a little Black this morning. The sky that is.

Having been here overnight, it is not to bad. There was a lot of noise until around 11.30pm, with kids or teenagers in the park making a lot of racket. Goodness knows why they wanted to be sat in the park that late at night. The mind boggles as to why anyone would want to sit in a park in the dark. I can only think they were either up to no good or drinking or even worse. When I was a teenager, I would never have been allowed to be out that late in a park. My parents would have gone mental. But it seems these days, no one really cares. So there was I laying in bed listening to this racket, thinking "Please don't come over this side of the canal and tamper with the boat". It is always a worry when mooring near a town, especially as the darlings are on their school holiday's at the moment. Thankfully the noise disappeared as did those people who were making it and I slipped into a deep sleep.

I woke up to sunshine pouring through the pigeon box port holes and thought fantastic, we can make a move today for somewhere nice and quiet for the weekend. But it became apparent that when I took Pad for his walk, the dark clouds were gathering from the direction we would be travelling in, so the decision has been taken not to move.

I was just sitting down to start my blog and there was a knock on the boat. It was David from NB Sweet Dreams, he and Jenny are moored further up the towpath from us. He and their lovely little dog Daisy came to say good morning. Daisy is a Chihuahua cross and was a freebie at Little Venice last year. One thing is certain Daisy has found herself a loving home. No sooner we started chatting the dark clouds got darker, so we said we would meet up later for a possible coffee. It is now raining, so I am so pleased we have decided not to move.

On the radio they are talking about sightings of the Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegazzianum). It can can be an enormous plant, growing to heights of up to six metres. The plant was introduced into this country in the 19th Century as an ornamental plant. It seems it is out there and nothing is being done to get rid of it. It has been found on the Grand Union Canal at Linslade and Foxton according to Narrowboat World. The radio is saying that it is in Stevenage and is causing allsorts of problems. The Giant Hogweed can be very dangerous and should not be picked. Giant Hogweed is a member of the parsley or carrot family, but it can cause burns and blisters if touched. Giant Hogweed can cause serious skin burns - AVOID CONTACT. If you do come into contact with it, seek medical attention. It is the white sap in the plant which causes the burns. This story got me thinking about the things that have come into this country and are now causing major issues.

There is a Top Ten of most unwanted things in this country in the flora and fauna catagory.

1. The Japanese Knot Weed.

2. American signal crayfish.

3. American mink.

4. Giant hogweed.

5. Floating pennywort.

6. Himalayan balsam.

7. Australian swamp stonecrop.

8. Chinese mitten crab.

9. Parrot feather.

10. Topmouth gudgeon.

Some of the things on this list affect us on the Waterway's and we see a lot of them. The problem now is how do we get rid of them if they are causing problems?

We know the Mink are killing a lot of our wildlife, which is very sad.

So here I am with an update after this mornings posting.

This afternoon, has been spent in Costa Coffee with Jenny from NB Sweet Dreams. It was an absolute blast. We had 2 hours and 30 minutes of chatter. Yep it is official women can chatter for England and yet me never mentioned boat loo's once. Hubby has now gone off to the pub with David to the pub for a pint before dinner, which includes a Cheese and Potato Layer and not sure what to do with it yet. The generator is running topping up the batteries and I am drinking Cider, so all is good with my world.

Get well soon to Heather, who had a fall in the night xxx