Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

 Do you remember It ain't half hot mum?

There is a company called Lion Legion they sell an assortment of clothing and other items.

Steve discovered their tee shirt printed with a pic of Windsor Davies and the slogan Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

This is one of Steve's favourite sayings when people make a huge fuss about something silly.

I ordered him a tee shirt a while ago and it arrived on Tuesday, it's very good quality and arrived very promptly.

Steve is very happy with it.

Even more importantly the tee shirt fits, Steve so often buys really cheap clothes and then complains that they don't fit properly. This is not helped by him buying clothes 2 sizes too small if his size isn't available.

https://lionlegion.co.uk/products/oh-dear-how-sad-never-mind-unisex-t-shirt

I treated myself yesterday as I finally got round to buying some new slippers, warm feet at last!

Pat B

 I'm sorry your dog is so scared, Beano is a rescue also. Beano was also scared of other dogs and unfortunately this showed as aggression. With hard work and gentle encouragement Beano is now a different dog, he is friendly and sociable.

I'm sorry my light hearted anecdote upset you so much that you hate me.

Nowhere in my post did I say Beano raced towards another dog, I said he ran, Beano is a cross breed , mainly Jack Russell and therefore has the typical twisted front feet along with the luxating patella. He has an uneven gait and unless he is terrified and running in fear his running speed is slower than my walking speed. He was running towards another small dog who was also off the lead and running around.

Beano will ignore me if he's chasing rabbits and squirrels, before anyone else tells me off about this he doesn't have a cat in hell of catching them! He also doesn't chase cats. He is very respectful of cats so I assume he's lived with a cat at some point.

He has good recall, he won't come if he's called but he will stay still and wait for me to put his lead on.

Have you considered hiring a dog walking area, we used one when we had a reactive dogs staying with us. It meant she could be off the lead for a good runaround without worrying about other dogs.

Beano gets a scare.

The weather here is currently windy with occasional sunny spells and sudden outburst very heavy showers.

Because of Beano's well known opinion of rain we tend to make a mad dash into the nearby  park inbetween the bursts rain.

We did this yesterday, a few minutes into our walk and Beano spotted a small black dog. Beano has turned into a sociable little chap this year and he immediately ran towards the dog. 

Then Beano stopped in his tracks, when what looked like a low flying fluorescent yellow kite flew across the grass. Beano, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, ran off in the opposite direction.

We carried on through the park, Beano sniffing happily. Suddenly the yellow kite reappeared and Beano took off at a run, the kite, now shown to be a Jack Russell in an oversized raincoat, in hot pursuit.

At some point Beano realised he was being chased, not by a flapping yellow monster, but by a small friendly dog so he turned back to enjoy a game of chase and what fun they had together!

Fishermen

To be fair we find fisherman and canoeists both as bad as each other. 

Not all of them obviously but I've had a fisherman tell me the canals weren't built for boats. 

I've had canoes launched practically under my bows and been screamed at to stop IMMEDIATELY. Canal boats can't do anything immediately.

My pet hate is cyclists, not the people who are out for a cycle ride but those who dress in lycra and terrify dogs and small children and treat the towpath as a race track!

Amongst the narrow boat community, I find the fragrant boaters the most annoying.

What is a fragrant boater I hear you ask?

These are usually on widebeams, they are a couple, he is of mature years, invariably pompous and frequently wearing a twat hat (a fake captain's cap).

She is dressed neither for the weather or for boating. Her goosepimples are covered only in swathes of diaphanous chiffon, her feet shod in strappy stilettos. These two navigate their way along the canals  cheerfully leaving every lock paddle up, every lock gate open and every swing bridge open!

This leave twice the work for whoever is following them

Very entertaining day.

Yesterday there was a canoe race on, it's a yearly event.

About an hour before the canoeists arrived a fisherman turned up, he set himself up on the wharf where the canoes were to launch from.

The wharf should be big enough for the fisherman and the canoes but the fisherman set up two chairs, a table and an assortment of trolleys slap bang in the middle.

When the race participants arrived they tried to persuade the fisherman to move but with no luck.

Then the trip boat arrived, so the wharf was full of launching canoeists, their families and supporters, boat passengers and the usual Sunday visitors. Chaos reigned for a while but eventually everything calmed down and the fisherman fished on.

Steve and I were sat on the back of the boat enjoying the weather when a man approached us and asked us.  "How much and for how long?"

He wanted us to take him and his wife on a boat trip, they'd seen the trip boat but didn't want to be on a boat with other people.

Steve explained that we weren't for hire and that the boat was our home.  He couldn't understand why not.

He kept saying "Why have a boat if you don't do trips".

Crap bins

 I bought some crap bins not bins that are crap. I bought bins to store Steve's crap.

Everywhere Steve sits a pile of crap builds up, the pots to store his hearing aids, glasses cloths, drill bits, twine, Allen keys, screwdrivers amongst other things. The problem is that when I want to wipe over a surface I have to pick up all this crap and then replace it. How all I need to do is lift the crap bin, wipe under it and then replace it, problem solved!

Mooring

 We are moored under a conker tree in the rain.

Moved again

We had no wifi at our last mooring spot so I couldn't post. It was a lovely spot and we were near people we know so Beano had a catch-up play with a doggy friend.

We moved again today four locks and a swing bridge, Two of the locks were really hard work as they are damaged. I shan't be able to crochet for a couple of days as my wrist are too painful.

Here are some pics of where we were moored.

Answers

Heather, we don't know if we will be allowed deliveries when we are in the marina, we will ask when we get there.

Lynda, My DD1 will only do long term fostering as she cannot face handing them back. She still has a 23 year old living with her, she started fostering him when he was 13.

I don't want to move back to dry land but I would love a residential mooring. Unfortunately they are a rare as hen's teeth round here.

Some pics of the horse drawn boat that operates along this stretch of the canal.

Stocking up

The wardrobes are gradually filling up with food, we will move on Tuesday I think as we should be stocked up then. It will take us two weeks to reach the next supermarket.

I only have a small fridge and freezer so it takes a bit of working out. I manage to make our milk last two weeks by buying a combination of fresh, Cravendale and long life. Steve doesn't like long life but if I mix it 50/50 with fresh he can't tell the difference and so will drink it. 

Bread is more difficult, Steve likes toast for breakfast or lunch a few times a week, he only likes a certain type of bread and each load has only 18 slices. I've not found a sliced bread that keeps for two weeks and I don't have room to freeze any. I use part baked baguettes but Steve doesn't like them toasted.  I keep popping n a selection of wraps and bagels for me as that leaves more bread for Steve. I am also capable of making bread but Steve won't eat it.

Once we are back in the marina I can walk to buy bread, it's only a couple of miles there and back.

Family news.

As I said DD1 and family visited today, we took them on a boat trip. We went through a lock along to a winding hole (turning point) we filled them up with snacks and sweets. They each chose a Worry Worm and Friendship bracelets, in total they were here for a couple of  hours and it was wonderful. They brought with them all my Amazon parcels so I now have two new pairs of shoes and three new vest/bra tops along with a new butter dish, some craft charms and some trousers for Steve.

Two bits of wonderful news about the newest foster child who has been part of the family for a while now.  Firstly, he's started to be naughty, nothing serious, but it means he's finally feeling secure and safe. He was far too well behaved to start with, it's nice to see him relaxed. Secondly he's had a sleepover at a friends house the first one he's ever had.

Moving

Col, yes it would be good if people were moved on but they aren't.  It would also be good if empty boats were moved but I'm not sure where boats could be moved to. There would need to be empty marinas where the boats could be stored.

DD1 and family visited today, it was wonderful to see them all after such a long time.

Civilisation at last

We are finally moored somewhere with a good Wi-Fi signal.

So what's been happening since I last posted.

We are no longer travelling with friends, they are staying near Devizes at for work and to stay near family.

I shall miss them dreadfully. As I am no longer driving I will be very isolated this winter. 

Steve is very stressed when we travel, he refuses to accept that he's finding it difficult and so blames me for not following instructions. He cannot accept that most of his instructions are incomprehensible. I am frequently tempted to slap him upside the head!

This has been the view from the windows on one side.

 

                This is the view on the other side.

                                We've had days like this and days like this.

                             I've made more wind spinners.

Cold and wet again.

After a very brief heatwave we are back to cold, wet weather.

Beano had a very long walk this morning, two and a half hours up into the hills above the village where there are beautiful views across the valley, he is now sleeping soundly.

We are using our extra long and wide gang plank, it can be difficult to moor on the K&A there are limited place with visitor moorings or armco. There is room for four boats on the nearby 48 hour moorings, three boats have been there for two weeks. The edges of the canal are very shallow so boats end up moored a long way from the bank, a long gang plank is a great help.

I'm making more twirlies now as a change from scrunchies, I'm gradually drowning under piles of crochet.

Notifications

We get regular email information from Canal and River Trust about any problems affecting navigation on the canal

These include broken locks, fallen trees, blocked Elsan points and dead bodies. 

We usually get two or three notifications of dead bodies each year. This year there have been five or more.

Most of these deaths occur at locks as they are very dangerous. Most are boaters, most are either inebriated or drugged up when they fall in.

Comments

Very late but I'm catching up with some comments.

Weaver, I've remembered to double bag the frozen peas, so no more damp sheets.

I'm not in as much pain currently, it comes and goes.

The scrunchies and wind spinner are crocheted, I tend to swap between knitting and crochet. I desperately need to take some better photos.

With reference to the burp complaint, allegedly he has MS I did query the relevance. I used to work with someone who had MS and he didn't become a bully!

We have had a few delays over the past few weeks. We haven't had to queue at the locks, the canal is quite quiet. We have been held up by falling trees, broken locks, sunken boats and corpses in the water.

Finally, some pics!

 Hair scrunchies.

A twirly or wind spinner.

Beano asleep.

Another heron.

Evening everyone

 It's days since I posted..

The Wi-Fi has been sadly lacking, we've had days of low temps and thick grey cloud but now we have sun and it's very warm.

I've been trying to upload photos but I can't, it's very frustrating. I've made so much stuff, hair ties, twirlies amongst other stuff and I can't post pics.