Bad Tempered Sunday.

Happy Sunday friends.


Last night we were entertained as we went to bed, by some live music coming from the Tennis Club. It was so good that on my way to bed, I stood in the engine room with the door open and was having a boogie to what was being played. Who ever the drummer was he was excellent. I have no idea what time the party stopped, but nothing disturbed out sleep, so they must have left quietly.
We were awake at 4am and so there was nothing for it, but to make a cup of tea and to drink it in bed. It certainly did the trick, because I certainly went back to sleep and the next thing I knew, it was 8am and Marmite was on the bed complaining that she had no food in her bowl.
As the sun was out, we decided to reverse over to the water point to fill up and then were going to make headway.
As we passed Jenny and David on NB Sweet Dream, we said our goodbyes. We have enjoyed our time with them, they are such a wonderful couple. Next time we meet up the coffee is on me. Off we went into the first of the Gas Locks and low and behold a boat was coming out of the 2nd one. This was great and makes life so much easier. As our lock was full, I set the lock for them and waited, which seemed to surprize the gentleman steering. In fact his precise words were "Thank you, this does not happen to often" to which I replied. "It does with us, because we always allow the lock to go to the boat coming if it is in their favour". I find it totally disrespectful if you steal a lock off of someone you can see coming. After all what is the problem with waiting for a few moments. With the chatter over with, I wished them a good day as they exited the lock and we entered the chamber. After the Gas Locks, a lady was stood on the stern of NB More and said hello and asked how Hubby was. It seems she reads our boats blog. I do love meeting bloggers and readers.
All was going so well until we got to the bottom of Bushes Lock. We had passed some fishermen, but never expected to find on fishing on the lock mooring. Not only that he was using one of the bollards to rest his gear on. I stepped off of the boat with the centre rope and had to take the first available bollard to tie on to, otherwise the boat was going to take this fisherman's rod and keep net out. My dilemma was, do I say something to this elderly man, or do I just go about my duty and say nothing. I decided on saying nothing, even though I felt like telling him the error of his ways. In the lock chamber was NB Vital Spark and a boat I recognised from Facebook, it was NB Sometime. So I said hello to them and we exchanged the time of day as you do. We then arrived at Northchurch Lock and again as we approached it there was a fisherman and his son actually fishing in the bridge 'ole and on the lock mooring. I had to grab the centre line and tie to the first bollard to stop the boat ploughing through his keep net, which was almost in the bridge 'ole.This time I felt there was nothing for it, but to say something, because his keep net would be going around our prop as we entered the lock. So in a cheery voice I said "Good morning" to which he replied the same.

I then said "You may like to remove your keep net, because when our boat goes into the lock, we may end up chewing it up. Do you realise this is not a good place to fish". He looked at me with a look of distain on his face and said "I have been fishing here for 20 years and I do not care about what you say". He then started to remove his net, but then carried on fishing with his young son. I explained to him the reasons why it was not a good place to fish, but he went about his fishing and ignored me, so I thought well in that case you get what you deserve. As it was the boat did not damage any of their gear, but these selfish fishermen make it so bad for all the good ones. if both the fishermen had read the Waterways Code for Anglers they would know, Don’t obstruct locks, bridges, designated moorings,water points or turning points. I think they both broke ever rule this morning. It also says Boat crews need access to the bank within 25 metres of locks or moveable bridges so do not fish there. I am going to get some of these booklets and hand them out next time.

Having arrived at the bottom of Cowroast Lock, we could see a widebeam was coming down, so I stepped off, took the centre line and tied the boat up. As always I went up to the lock to see if I could help out. Whilst there an argument broke out between a husband and wife, who were on the water point. They were travelling with another boat, who was sitting in the middle of the canal waiting for us to come up. Having let the widebeam go hubby bought our boat into the lock and I began opening the paddles to fill the lock with water. This couple on the water point were still going at it hammer and tongs. The couple they were travelling with just said they do not have a clue what they are doing. We left the lock and the chaos and found a mooring near Cowroast Marina. I made lunch and then we went to the Chandlery to get some bits for jobs that need to be done on the boat before the Winter.

There is no proper TV signal here, so we will just have to try out a Blu-ray DVD tonight. I will tell you want I think of it tomorrow.

Steps done today 3860, this includes walking the dog.

Collisions. None today.

On this day in History.

Allied nations celebrate VJ Day. VETERANS, politicians and royalty gathered to remember the sacrifice of those who fight for their country on VJ Day. It is so easy for us to forget what so many did for us. Without their sacrifices we would not be a free nation today. So spare a moment to remember those who lost their lives so that we may live ours in peace.

Short back and sides, along with good food.

Hi friends.

What a strange day we are having, as far as the weather goes?

One minute it is sprinkling us with a few drops of the wet stuff and then it is humid and sunny. The forecast was for heavy rain, but so far that has not materialised.

You wait now, that I have said that it will chuck it down ha ha ha.

So the day began with a lovely lie in, after a fantastic nights sleep. Thankfully Pad was not desperate to go out, so I did not have to spring to life to early. Marmite put in her usual morning appearance, which ended up with her under the duvet all curled up in a ball. That was however short lived, because once up the bed was rolled into the bed 'ole and put away. Oh the joy's of not having to make a bed properly, it is heaven I have to admit. Not sure how I will feel when I am in my dotage and have to crawl on my hands and knees in the bed 'ole to make the bed up. Not even sure if I will be able to do it then lol.

Dressed and off up the towpath with an over excited pooch, who wanted to attack my shoes for pleasure. Pad has these moments of total madness sometimes and there is no reason for them it seems. But it made for a little amusement, before it was back to the boat for breakfast. I had just poured my cup of tea down my throat and hubby was ready for the off into town. Wallet check, Key's check, Sunglasses check ok we could go. I suppose it is about a half mile walk into the town from where we are moored and by the time we had got there, we were both rather hot and sweaty. So it was an opportune moment to find a cup of coffee.

Why is it some places want to charge you £1.35 for a small coffee, when you can go practically next door and get the same thing for 95p?

I refuse to pay over inflated prices for tea or coffee. So we had the 95p cuppa and very nice it was to. I find Costa Coffee and Starbucks so over rated and so it was a normal old cafe for us.

Next on the list of things to do was to get my hair cut. Now this is another money wasting thing that annoys me. I want a straight dry cut, no washing or frills and yet some places want to charge me £30 grrrrrrrr. Thankfully Uxbridge has a SuperCuts, where I can get exactly what I want for £12.95. Thank goodness for SuperCuts and their fabulous staff. So I sat in the chair and had one and half inches lopped off.

Isn't it funny how much better you feel after having your hair cut???Next port of call was Curry's for a Blu-Ray DVD Player, because our DVD player is dead, deceased, no more. We found a player which suited out needs to a point. It was not 12 volt, but then none of them were. But it is pretty low on watts, so it would have to do the job. We get to watch our DVD's with a better quality picture woooo hooo.

Having had a wander around the town, which was heaving with people, now that the school holidays are upon us, we made our way back towards the boat. I then came up with a brain wave of having some lunch at The Swan and Bottle Pub. I have never been in their before, but hubby has with his family many years ago. The pub is lovely and homely inside. Keith went to the bar and ordered our food and drinks. At lunch time you can get a 2 course meal for £6.95 each, which is very good. Our first course arrived, I had Scampi and Chips and Keith had Beef and Ale Pie with mash and veg. Both meals were very nice indeed. When it came to the pudding we both had the Apple and Rhubarb Crumble, I had Ice Cream with mine and Keith had the Custard and whilst the Puds were lovely, we did have to wait for around half and hour for them to arrive, so the service is a little hit and miss. I guess with it being lunch time they were busy, but even so I did expect it to be better service. I would however eat there again.

We walked the meal off as we stroled back up the towpath to the boat, where we immediately needed a cold drink. I then set about moving some coal in the hold. I needed to readjust how it was sitting in the hold, so that I could get the bow to come up a bit. Having done that we then sat outside and watched the world go by. Actually no Keith was doing his Crossword and I was knitting yet more dishcloths. I was however keeping a close eye on the looming dark clouds, which I felt sure were going to being the heavy rain forecast, but nope all's we got was a few spots in the end. It has been another good day all in all and now I am everso slightly shattered, so will put my feet up and enjoy a quiet evening.