Catch up (last few days)

Sunday was a day of very hot weather and trying to get the gang plank and pole painted.  Our delightful neighbours here at Crick are Julie and Russell on nb ‘Nauti – Lass’.  They are fairly new to permanently living aboard their boat.  Russell spent a lot of the day “information gathering” from James (commonly referred to as talking!).
Later in the day we took Oscar for a walk along the towpath towards Crick marina and got talking to two people we’d not met before- Irene and Andy on nb ‘Kamili’ – their brand new boat built by Fernwood.  We had an hour or more in their delightful and amusing company and they kindly offered to show us over their new home.  Fabulously finished and thoughtfully designed – 70 feet of truly beautiful boat.  They are rightly proud of theirs and Fernwoods creation.


Andy and Irene with nb ‘Kamili’ (Crick marina in the background)

The plank and pole finished for the day – this time dried in the shade and no blistering.

Our neighbours Russell and Julie – this particular picture shows Russell working and Julie resting (NOT the usual way round!)
Monday and Tuesday were spent in a very quick visit home as James had to have an ECG and blood test in Chichester.  We managed to get washing done and lawns cut and our wonderful local garage came to rescue again as the rear car window decided to play silly b*****s and wind itself down permanently.  As it happened at the beginning of our journey home we had a noisy and somewhat chilly journey back.  We headed up to Swindon during the late afternoon to stay with eldest daughter Vicki (and Tom) 0n Monday night.  Tuesday saw us attending a family funeral in Swindon – a very sad event for us.  We arrived back at the boat early Tuesday evening to find the mooring spaces along the canal very much taken up with show visitors’ boats.   
Another evening stroll along the canal found us happening upon a cluster of Braidbar boats, two of which (nb ‘DolceFar Niente’ and nb ‘Sanity Again’) contained Jayne and Steve and Bruce and Sheila having a quiet evening drink together.  They immediately sacrificed their relaxation and invited us to join them for a drink.  We had a lovely few hours which turned into a much noisier event than perhaps they had planned!  Borrowing a torch from Steve and Jane, we made our way quietly back to ‘Chance’ where Oscar decided to fall very heavily down the back steps into the boat.  No bones broken we got him on his feet and his tail promptly wagged in typical style!  

Some pics of the evening with L to R: Doug, Bruce, Sheila, Jayne and Steve.

A chill to air saw us retreat into nb ‘ Dolce Far Niente’ for more ribald conversation.

Sorry Jayne we had to show this pic. - you’re such a scream!
A great impromptu evening, with great hosts!