Radford Semele (problem of no fixed abode)


Wednesday and Thursday this week were very grey and wet days so Buddy and I met few people on our walks.  There was quite a bit of boat traffic though; I suspect that was because it’s been half term.  If people have a holiday on a boat they usually have a plan of where they’re going before they have to turn round or be more adventurous choose a ring of canals to cruise round.  This means they are generally on a tight schedule and have to cruise each day whatever the weather.

I am finding more and more Orange Tip butterfly eggs but still none that have hatched.  They usually hatch after about a week but the weather has been so poor that some of these eggs are well over two weeks old now.

Using my finger as reference shows just how small the orange cylindrical eggs are


This is looking down our stretch of the canal on Friday morning with just us moored in the distance.  By the end of the day three more boats had moored up here but they were obviously on schedules.  By seven o’clock this morning we had heard all three of the boats go past so when I finally got up it was all clear in front again.
 


I had some admin to do on Friday morning and it does get quite cold on an uninsulated steel boat when the sun is not out so I lit a fire.  This turned out to be fortuitous as Karen worked from home in the afternoon and tends to sit in the same position for hours on end.

Stove lit in flaming June!


Before she came home Karen needed to visit a doctor as she seemed to have caught an infection in her eye.  It is always possible to see a GP on an emergency basis but we felt that as we are going to be in the area for a while we ought to register at a surgery.  We rang several surgeries until we finally found one that would use our boat as a permanent address which they now have as Chalkhill Blue, Bridge 33, Radford Semele. 

At least we are now both registered at a local GP surgery


Those of you who know us well will know that the main structure of our house in Kent is 400 to 500 years old.  It is a traditional old Kent house in that it has Kent peg tiles which are nearly at the end of their life.  I’m not sure how long they last but over the last few years I was often up on a roof ladder replacing lost tiles.  Anyway the time has finally come to get the complete roof overhauled so we have arranged with our tenants that the work will be done over August.  Talking of our tenants they are delightful people and run some interesting enterprises – the main one being the importation of terracotta pots; their main market being country estates, garden shows etc.  They love our garden as they were living on a housing estate before and they send us pictures of how things are progressing.

Against all expectations from the weather forecast, the sun came out on Friday afternoon and I was able to sit outside and read whilst waiting for Karen to finish work.


We’ll probably have a quiet weekend as the next few weekends are going to be busy with visitors, a wedding and some family events.





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