I’m out now for more than two months. And I’m absolutely enjoying myself so far.
I love doing locks, although it’s a lot of walking. I calculated that for every lock I do, I walk about a fifth of a mile. So doing the five Tyrley locks yesterday I walked about a mile. Just doing the locks.
I’ve seen so far almost everybody I ever talked to since I’ve been on the boat. Rosie and Phil, Brian, Katherine and Lenny ( a couple on a hire boat we met once at Market Harborough), Linda, from Cheshire Cat, who gave me my first lessons in single handing.
Had my first real ale since years, and a meal, with friend Ian. Had a meal with another Ian and his girlfriend Pam. They also did the Audlem locks for me as part of their daily exercises. They’ve already ‘booked’ me for the locks on my way back.
Visited Julie and Gary at Barbridge Marina.
And the ones I haven’t seen yet are all in the vicinity.
And I spoke to numerous people when doing locks or while moored up.
Since I’m a bit out of the ordinary: single hander, female, foreign, with a relatively big boat, they all want to know the story.
Locks usually take about half an hour: 15 minutes to do the locks, and 15 minutes to yap with oncoming boaters!
I’m in the process of polishing WRT. Which is always a subject to discuss with passers-by. As is touching up the rusty spots.
Spot the difference
I had a guy saying: “If my boat was as new as yours I would probably polish mine, but…”
So I ask: “How old is your boat?”
The answer: “Six years.”
My next question: “How old do you think my boat is?”
“Two, three years?”
I can but say: “Add twenty years to that. Shall we start this conversation again?”
WRT actually reached 6000 engine hours!
Proof
Today is a day off.
Laundry has to be done. Blog written. More polishing to do.
I better get on with it!