Lunch and Retail Therapy.

Hi Friends.

What a day yesterday was. We had rain, rain and yet more rain, but it was very much needed. As the evening wore on the rain went on its way and left us with a nice evening. We did very little yesterday due to the weather. This is when having a TV is really useful. As I closed the boat up at 10.30pm a sight warmed the cockles of my heart. I just wish it had been light enough to take a photograph. I took the perspex out of the galley doors and was just going to close them up, when the pair of Swan's here came to say goodnight. The sight that gladdened my heart was the Pen carrying her Cygnet on her back, between her wings. All's I could see was this little head poking out and the little darling squeaking as if to say goodnight. I hand fed them each a slice of bread and wished them a goodnight. This pair of Swan's nly have the one tiny Cygnet, so they either lost their last brood, so they began again, or they started late and only had the one. I do hope this little bundle of fluff makes it to adulthood.

This morning I noticed a real change in temperature as I walked Pad across the park. The rain had certainly freshened the air, which was very much needed as was the rain. We set off 8.50am from Kings Langley, with a view to getting to Hemel Hempstead for the day. So we set off and did 2.85 miles, 5 locks in 2 hours. We arrived at the first pair of locks and as we went into the first lock, a boat was heading into the second lock coming down, so I though excellent, they can leave the lock ready for us, and I will do the same for them. Yeah right, well I left the lock ready for them, but they chose to close the gates after they left their lock, which meant by the time we reached it, the lock was a quarter full of water again. Thanks a lot folks. If your ever doing a pair of locks and you can see another boat will be coming into your lock. Please leave it ready for the boat coming. it is not flippin rocket science. Opps sorry I am on my soap box. It is just frustrating. Because I always try to help other boaters out.

Having done the five locks, we were then looking for a mooring, but because it was to shallow, we ended up mooring opposite the old Rose's Lime Juice Factory, which is now a B&Q. Thankfully it appears to be a deep water mooring. The only draw back is the main road we are near to. But you cannot have everything. We moored up at 10.50am, we shut the boat up and walked into Hemel Hempstead for a spot of lunch and some retail therapy. The Main shopping centre is pretty much like any other chopping centre in the country. We actually prefer the old part of the town, which has Jordan's Antique centre in it, which we like to visit when we are here.

If you ever get the chance to visit the Jordan's Antique Centre, please do as it has some wonderful things in it. Having spent a fair amount of time chatting with the owner, we walked back down to the new part of the town and had lunch at the Dragon Garden Chinese Buffet. Lunch was really lovely. The food was very well cooked and there was plenty of choice for your £6.80. We were very pleased with our meal. One of the reasons for going into Hemel, was because I wanted to go to Primark. I needed some t-shirts for working the boat in, because I am wrecking my better ones, which is not good. We also took the opportunity to buy new walking shoes, as we both needed some. having bought a Blu-Ray player a few weeks ago, we went into Blockbuster and got a couple of DVD's. I am looking forward to seeing if there is actually any difference, because people keep on raving about Blu-ray. I will let you know what I think. With aching feet and a feeling of tiredness, we decided it was time to get back to the boat. So another wonderful day was had by us both. I wonder if we will be able to sleep tonight with the road noise. Time will tell.