Breakfast time.

It did not end well for this Squirrel.

Racing at Warwick.

For those of you who pop-in regularly, you may have read that Keith and I won the best dressed Victorians at the Victorian evening back in November. Our prize was a years membership to the horse racing. We were unable to get to the first couple of meetings due to ill-health and the cancellation of the New Years Eve meeting due to a frozen course.

Going to race meeting is one of the things we want to do on our Bucket List.

Today we took advantage of a break in the weather, which had been very windy and wet over night to walk to the race course to see some racing.

We arrived for the 2nd race at 1.20 pm.

We did not place a bet this time.

The first race was won by

2 Upepito (FR) ridden by L Treadwell

5 Keel Haul (IRE) ridden by J M Davies

3 Greywell Boy ridden by S Twiston-Davies.

It was actually quite thrilling to watch the racing live and not from my arm chair.

Because we won the annual membership, we get to go into the members enclosure, so decided to stand up on the balcony.

We had a great view of the parade ring and winners enclosure.

We could also see the bookies taking their bets.

Third race on the card was Betfred Mobile Hampton Novices' Chase (Listed) 3 miles 110 yards.

The winner  and runners up were

5 Sego Success (IRE) ridden by Tom Cannon.

2 Grand Vision (IRE) ridden by Brendan Powell

1 Deputy Dan (IRE) ridden by L P Aspell

Having enjoyed our first taste of horse racing up close and personnel, Keith was beginning to worry about his back from the standing, so we decided to call it a day and walk back home. I think perhaps next time we will go on a warmer day, then perhaps Keith’s back maybe happier. But we both enjoyed the experience.

New Year Poem

New Year’s Eve, brisk start.

It was –5.1 c last night, making that 3 nights below –5 c. The canal has taken on a new magic.

Canal still frozen over.

Frozen out on the main line.

Brrrrrrrrr.

Paddy and Bernard.

Winter moorers waking up, fires being lit.

From the end of the Arm.

So New Years Eve is here and a New Year is now just a sleep away.

Where did this year go?

May 2015 be kind to us all. xxxxxxxx

Happy New Year.

Here we go head long towards a New Year and so Keith and I wish all our readers and friends A Wonderful 2015. May it be kind to you and yours. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

A Quiet Christmas.

I hope that this posting finds you all keeping well and that you enjoyed a wonderful festive time.

My Christmas was made all the better this year, because on Tuesday 23rd December Keith came home from the hospital. having had blood tests, the consultant and doctors found that Keith’s liver was improving on its own and so they were happy to let him come home. He has to return to see the consultant in four weeks time. This was good news. The bad news was he was supposed to come home on the Monday. He was all dressed and excited at coming home, only for him to come over all poorly. Sickness and an upset tummy then took over, so the doctor said he should stay in. Now the hospital has five wards closed due to the Winter vomiting bug, so you can imagine I was praying this was not going to happen to Keith. I left Keith in the hospital and waited for a call from him, which came Tuesday morning, to say “I am coming home”. I dropped everything and rushed down to the hospital, to find Keith sitting outside the ward ready and waiting.

Back home he could spend as much time in the loo as needed and I could look after him. Our next thought was, would he be well enough to go out for our Christmas Day meal, which we book back in October. Thankfully Keith was well enough and we went to Wetherspoons as planned.

Keith was actually really looking forward to his meal.

He managed the soup, but could not manage all the main course or the pudding. Considering that he had been so poorly, I was amazed he managed so much, but he did look better for eating.

We both had a lovely time and felt quite spoilt by the team there, who made us very welcome and the food was fantastic.

Back at the boat it has been a matter of chilling-out in front of the TV.

We were treated to a beautiful sunrise this morning.

It is so quiet here, which is a blessing, because at the moment all’s we really want to do is have a quiet time after such a difficult year. I sincerely home next year will be better for us and for all those who have had a difficult year.

This past couple of years has been very difficult for friends of our Les and Jacqueline on N B Valerie. But this Christmas they received the best news ever. Les had his CT scan to check how he was doing and he is Cancer free. Long may this continue and we wish them all the very best for 2015 and hope we will see them somewhere on the cut. I hope good news comes in three’s like bad news does.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ricoh Arena.

On Friday Keith went into hospital for 24 observations and he is still in there, because with it being a weekend, there is very little done. The consultant is also waiting for the results on tests done on Friday. All’s we know is he has an infection in either his Liver or Bilary Tree, so I will update when I know more.

A few weeks ago we booked tickets with a friend to go and watch Wasps take on London Irish at the Ricoh Arena. It was to be Wasps first match in their new home. Unfortunately Keith could not make it due to him being in hospital, but he said I should still go as we had paid for the tickets. Fortunately a buyer was found for his ticket.

We set off for the Arena at 11.45 am and when we got there we parked and then walked to the stadium, which was very busy, but well organised. There were helpers along the route giving directions and advice for those who required it.

We have seen the Ricoh Arena from the Canal, but now I was standing outside of it wooo hoo.

We had a look around the fan zone whilst we waited for 9 other people to join us.

The ground filled up very quickly. There were 28,254 people there to see a fantastic game. Jake Quickenden was there singing, he sounded amazing.

The mascot did the rounds.

The first half was a quiet a fair with penalties swapping ends, with Wasps going in at half time in the lead 18-16.

No game in the two decades of Premiership rugby has been watched by more people. There were old and new Wasps fans me included, watching a heart warming match on cold winter's day in Coventry.

Andy Goode was man of the match. He set a new Premiership points record on his home patch as Wasps overpowered London Irish to make a dream start to life at the Ricoh Arena.
The Coventry-born fly-half scored 33 points, bagging a try and kicking eight penalties and two conversions in a terrific performance. London Irish in the end were over-powered by a better team, but I also think the crowd made a difference.

It was my first ever rugby match and it will not be my last.

Maria dropped me off at the hospital on our way home and I sat in with Keith for a couple of hours and told him all about the game. I felt so guilty him not being there, but we will go again I am sure.

A Very Happy Christmas.

We hope you all have a wonderful festive time and that 2015 is kind to you all.

I have not posted this much over this year, because as you will all know we have not been on the move due to Keith being poorly. We are hoping to be out and about next year, so you can expect more posts.

Update on Keith. He had an appointment with his consultant on Tuesday this week and the consultant was not that happy with him, and wanted him in hospital. The consultant suspects there may be a stone in the Liver or tubes, left over from his Gallbladder removal. But the hospital has the Winter Vomiting bug and four wards closed and a bed crisis, so we are waiting a for a bed. In the meantime, he has had blood tests done and an MRI and we await to see what happens next. It appears we are ending the year the way we began it, with the hospital at the top of the list for Keith.

I will update when we know more.