cruising plans

I have 20.5 days holiday this year. That doesn't sound much, but only working four days a week means that when I take 4 days holiday, I can have nine days off in a row. Just as well as there are several people who want to visit and go out on the boat. Funnily enough they all want to come in April - can't think why they don't want to come now!!!

So I have the pleasant job of working out when and where I'm cruising this year. I want to have at least one trip out alone, but the others can be with company. One cruise is already planned - to go up the Ashby Canal with Roger and Shirleyann Andrews. Shirleyann is the generous lady who made all my new curtains and seat covers, so the least I can do is to take them out cruising. My brother James will hopefully be visiting. If he is on his own we can go out cruising for as long as he has free. But if his lovely family come, then space is an issue as they can't all sleep on the boat overnight, so although we can still take the boat out, it can only be a day trip. Then there is my friend Mary who joined me for part of my Great Shroppie Cruise. She also wants to visit and go out somewhere. I love Great Haywood and Tixall Wide, so we will probably go there as it only takes one longish day or two shorter ones to get there.

I haven't yet decided where I will go for my lone cruise. I am toying with the idea of a challenge. Either by going out to the River Soar and so tackling my first broad locks and first river (with the exception of my boat handling course where I had a day on the Severn). Or by going up the Trent and Mersey towards Manchester and tackling the Harecastle Tunnel (very long) and large flights of locks, as well as cruising through urban areas like Stoke on Trent. Alternatively I am tempted to go down the Coventry and on to the Oxford Canal. So many choices and so little time!

I also want to visit my stepmother in Beaulieu for the last time before she moves house as that has been our family home since 1976! So if any of my other readers were planning a visit, you better let me know soon - or wait till 2012!

Belated Happy New Year

Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a while; my excuse is that merely surviving has been taking all my time and energy since November!

This winter has felt harder so far than either of the other winters I have spent on the boat. I think this is due in part to the freeze happening much earlier than usual and also that I am usually disgustingly healthy but have had 2 nasty colds in a row since my birthday. The current one is taking a long time to work through and I am not patient with my own illnesses or anyone else's for that matter either!

I finally managed to move the boat yesterday, for the first time since November 17th. It was such a relief to pump out and take on diesal and water. I was also delighted to turn around and so to be moored the 'proper way round' on my mooring. There is no right way of course, but for some reason I much prefer being moored facing Alrewas than Fradley - I don't know why, it just feels right!

Bonny has outdone herself by smashing her personal best for refusing to come back on a walk. Her previous record was six and a half hours, but Sunday before last she ran off at 7.45am at the beginning of our morning walk and returned at 6.30pm! I say returned, but she only got near home when I finally caught her; I don't know if she would have crossed the lock alone and come all the way back to the boat. What made it infinitely worse was this was a working day! So I had to take unpaid leave at a time when I really can't afford it. Usually when she run off she barks or pops out of the bushes every so often so I know she is OK. This time she utterly disappeared for all 10 and a half hours! So she is now permanently in bondage and I have made a vow to keep her on the lead until her second birthday in May. Meanwhile I will do loads of training with her. I don't know why I hate having to keep her on the lead so much. Apart from loving seeing her racing at full stretch after a rabbit / squirrel / anything that moves, I think it is because freedom is such a high value for me at the present. However her safety and my sanity are even more important to me so bondage it is!

On a brighter note, having filled up with diesel and done my sums I can now officially announce that my new fridge has just about cut my diesel bills in half! I now rarely have to run my engine in the morning and as long as I run it in the evening when I am drawing the most load - with cooking, washing and telly watching, then I am using around a litre and a half a day as opposed to just under 3! Just as well, as the EU has interfered again and we now have to use a different sort of diesel in our boats and surprise, surprise, it's more expensive. That coupled with the rise in fuel costs generally means my bills are rising uncomfortably, especially as pay rises are unknown in the company I am working for. What with VAT going up to 20%, my annual mooring fee due in February and my car heading towards senile dementia, life is challenging at present. But then, what would life be without challenge and risk?