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The girls taking it easy
whilst Mike clears the mooring – more further down
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After performing for two
nights at the Wharf in Cropredy, the Mikron theatre company set off on Thursday
morning to their next venue – Fenny Compton.
As they had been moored opposite us for a few days we had got to know
them as our walks often entailed going past their boat and Buddy and I would
stop for a chat.
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Rose driving the boat on
their way out of Cropredy
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We had decided not to join
some of the family for a long weekend camping in the Dales because of my back
but we still saw Steve. He stayed
overnight on Thursday on his way up there.
He arrived at lunchtime so I took advantage and got him to do some odd
jobs like changing the fuel filters.
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Although we look like
twin brothers, Steve is actually my middle son – he ‘s the one on the left 😉
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We spent quite a bit of
time watching the 13 lorryloads of cement being pumped into Mike and Lesley’s
footings. The guy operating the pump said
he only did the job because it was like using a toy all day. He was walking around with a remote-control
unit directing the flow.
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Big boy’s toy
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I also sent Mike this
picture so he could see what he was paying for!
Steve and I retired to the
Brasenose for part of the afternoon and I found that laying down and drinking
was good for my back. In fact, my back
is practically 100% fixed now but I shall be sensible and not do any single
handing for a few weeks. We shall move
at the weekends when Karen is around to help.
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How to mend a back
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Buddy and the pub cat
eyeing each other up
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The mooring that we are
using at the moment hasn’t been used for a while and rocks and slabs from the
bank have been slipping into the water over the years. Mike wanted to take advantage of us being
here and get some of the slabs out so that the mooring is clear for when they
get their boat in November.
Every time the pound goes
down our boat has been grinding on some of the slabs and it has rather freaked
Buddy out. Now, every time he hears a
boat coming he wants to get near us for comfort as he knows the bottom of the
boat might grind. I have probably
mentioned before that he is frightened of metallic grinding and rattling noises
but we don’t know where it stems from as he was a ‘rescue’ dog.
Mike came down with his
waders and we spent Saturday afternoon clearing the rocks and slabs out of the
water. Rather, Mike did the work and we
spent the time making fun of him, especially when the water went over the top
of his waders.
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It would have been strange
not to find a cone in the water
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You know when you have a
good idea about how to do something practical and you can work it out in your
mind? Of course, it always works out
perfectly in your head. Mike had had
this plan of getting a large Ikea bag, cutting some holes in it and then using
it to roll stones into it with his feet and then the girls would lift it out of
the water. As it was, the bag was never
used and Mike just lifted the slabs out and threw them onto the bank.
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Action shot with a slab in
mid-air!
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To be fair, Mike was
clearly happy in his work as he had a smile on his face all the time
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In the evening, we all
went out for an Indian at the Indian Queen in Wroxton Heath which is between
Banbury and Stratford. It used to be a
pub so was quite an unusual setting for an Indian but it was packed and we had
a great time.
We had a quick drink at
theirs before going home but not before they lent us the latest Canal Boat
magazine. It has an article, written by
our friends Mike and Aileen, about preparing and moving their narrowboat to
France.
We are expecting visitors
today so will probably mover the boat over to the towpath side so that we are
not disturbing Sarah – to get to our boat you have to walk through her garden
as the building plot is still fenced off for safety reasons,
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