Fog and Ice.. and Lucy is nearly back to normal on the K & A

Moving between Devizes, Honey St and Pewsey.. Kennet and Avon Canal

We woke this morning with a sheet of thin ice on the canal, and we were pleased not to be iced in, but it was scary today cruising along the canal, I could hardly see anything in front of me through the freezing fog. Just the one narrowboat passed, and that was a grey coloured one coming out of nowhere it seemed. I was thinking how difficult it was, and here was me doing just a couple of miles an hour. Never did I drive that slowly in a car when the fog was this bad.. I wondered how I travelled faster!

Kevin and Debbie were asking after Lucy.. a terrible accident she had last May, if you don't know about that you will find it in the May archives.. to get to those scroll down, the archives are on the left.. Well the news of Lucy is absolutely excellent, and I meant to mention it last night, but had my mind on other things!

For the first time yesterday she 'cantered' on all four legs. Over the last couple of weeks she began 'trotting' again for the first time since the accident, and so using all four legs at that pace. She has also put on some weight.. lots of bonios and shapes we have given her in the last month, really just to get weight on.. she is a lazy feeder, never has time to eat, and eats only the pure minimum. Anyway, it was Vic who noticed her at canter pace using all four legs yesterday, it was such a fantastic sight..

She has been out on the towpath all the time we have been on the canal system running on three legs, and I think this has eventually built up the muscles and tendons around the hip so that she can trust her leg again. She certainly seems to be an extremely happy dog again, and her pace is noticeably faster each day running around out on her walks.

Oh and Kevin also asked me for the best deal around at the moment for connecting to the internet.. well it might be an idea to check the area you are cruising in if it is local to see who has the best reception .. but over all then it has to be the deal at T Mobile Web & Walk Professional at £19.99 a month for 2GB of data transfer. The datacard itself is free if you sign up for 18 months. This is a very good deal indeed when compared to Orange's datacard with 1MB of data transfer for £52 ish. Both cards are wifi enabled. Don't forget you can get £12 money back by clicking via quidco to purchase at T Mobile. It is almost impossible to find the Web & Walk Professional page from there, but once on the site, just change the end of the url to that of the page with the £19.99 deal.

No pictures today, but I have found one for you from this time last year when we were on the Ashby Canal..

And this festive pic shows that it is the time of year that the blog takes a break.. its Christmas! So we are off 'dan saff' to join the family over the festive period

To all my family and friends, and to all others that read my blog, have yourselves a lovely Christmas, recover well then have a great New Year.

I shall be back writing on the blog again here sometime the first week of January….

A Very Merry Christmas And a Happy New Year to you all xx

Diesel.. a needy commodity on the cold Kennet & Avon Canal

Moving between Devizes, Honey St and Pewsey.. Kennet and Avon Canal

Many thanks for the comments on the last blog, I thought as much.. I see the feed with all the html tags you see in my FeedDemon software.. Well I have no idea at all how to fix it. I don't really understand the atom and rss feeds really and my brain does not have the patience to try to learn at the moment. I have sent emails to feedburner to ask them how to rectify the problem, but have had nothing back. Over the Christmas period I might get a day when I can have another go at fixing it, in the mean time those of you who are not seeing the feed properly I suggest you use Firefox to view.. Ron has reported that it is fine in Firefox.

OK, so that is that bit.. now for normal stuff! Well as normal as I can be!

We had our eberspacher on today, an onboard diesel boiler that heats the water and the radiators, and I was thinking once again at the price we are going to have to pay next year for diesel during this cold weather.. Unless we opt for another tank for sure all our diesel is going to have to be 'white or red' diesel whether we use it as heating oil or as fuel for propulsion. In any case, it is going to be absolute chaos when the change over happens.

It is suppose to happen over a transition period, this I had to smile at.. I can just imagine it now.. boatyards clearing out their old stocks of 'red diesel' to put in 'white diesel'.. there will be a shortage, we will face boatyards who have run out of 'red' while they wait for the 'taxed' diesel. They won't care if us boaters want it for heating or for cruising along, well they won't have to care, perhaps I have been a bit horrid to boatyard owners.. I didn't mean it to sound that way, but it is going to cost them an almighty amount to put in an extra tank and pump just to be able to charge us boaters slightly less tax, IF of course the boater that calls in for diesel has a separate tank and not one tank with two spouts!!.. Teehee

"Errrrrrrrrrrr diesel please.. the spout in my narrowboat on the left is to my 'heating diesel tank', the hole on the right is to my cruising tank.. errrrrr I think that is the way round it is.. errrrrrrrrr 100 ltrs for the 'heating tank' and errrrrrr 20 ltrs to my 'cruising tank'"

"Are you sure that is the right way round?" Checks the Boatyard Owner "Yes, yes that's it... I think!".. It will be interesting to see all the civil servants from the taxation offices traipsing all along the muddy towpaths (especially at Pewsey and Honey Street's quagmires) in their nice city suits with dip sticks and clipboards.. just imagine!!

When the air is as cold as today, we are going to need more diesel for heating.. which reminds me, take a look at this scene as we go through one of the swing bridges between Devizes and Wootton Rivers..

The tax on diesel for us will be about 48p, plus of course VAT.. I guess that is going to send the price to above £1.20 ltr. At the moment the boatyards around the country are charging varying prices.. 65p down to 45p.. a huge difference in price which they say is due to their suppliers. I do hope the government intervene when we are faced with charges between £1.20 and £1.70 which may well happen. My gut feeling is that boatyards charge what they like. It always seems that those yards that are remote with little competition will hike up the prices.. such as here on the K & A.. in the Midlands, Mo and Ness are reporting prices around 45p .. not only does the cuts in waterway funding threaten canals like the Kennet & Avon, but now the high price of diesel on that canal in the future may well threaten usage too ..

Retirement with No Problem Site Feed Questions

For those who look at this blog through the site feed. Is everyone seeing it for a start? Does anyone have a problem with it showing with all the html tags included and no pictures like below?

When it wasn't working properly earlier in the month, I created two new feeds to try and fix the problems.. while I was doing that one or two people jumped across to those new feeds.. I will be deleting those in the very near future, so if you are reading the blog on feeds http://feeds.feedburner.com/no_problem or on http://feeds.feedburner.com/no_problem1 then these will disappear shortly. The feed that should be used is on the left and is http://feeds.feedburner.com/RetirementWithNoProblem

Now its double trouble with No Problems in Devizes

Moving between Devizes, Honey St and Pewsey.. Kennet and Avon Canal

Goodness it was cold this morning, was -2 last night, and I wasn't too keen on sliding out from under the duvet this morning!

But hey, when I looked outside, it was one of those choc box scenes, with white everywhere. A very heavy frost had taken hold. In the trees were hundreds and hundreds of spiders webs revealed by the damp of the evening before and the cold icy air giving an awesome sight that no human could recreate. We pulled the pins, and tried our best to coil the ropes, but they had to be laid in a solid state on top of No Problem..

We were on the move to Devizes to take the keys of No Problem Mk2... The deal is done and today I set about getting quotes for insurance.. shouldn't have bothered. The insurance company I use for Mk1 ended up the best deal for Mk2!

I also had to renew the BW Licence for No Problem, it won't be a 'Gold' Licence this year for her.. sad really, we have had such happy times, I am sure I am going to cause the canal to flood when I finally say goodbye to her..

Still, not this side of Christmas.. and we enjoyed a day cruising along the K & A, here Vic closing one of the swing bridges close to Devizes..

So with the paperwork complete we took over the ownership proper of Mk2, and made sure the insurance was in place. We will live on No Problem while we refit parts of Mk2 to make her a bit more comfortable.. that way we probably lead a normalish life while the refit takes place!

Now it is just a matter of planning the order of work and what we need to complete it.. Ah easy peasy!!

It must be Christmas soon.. it's the works do first!

Moving between Devizes, Honey St and Pewsey.. Kennet and Avon Canal

Flitting up and down the canal at the moment between catching trains south from Pewsey and measuring up No Problem Mk2 in Devizes.. I am getting to know this bit of the canal very well indeed!

But traditionally in our family, this weekend was the 'works do' and although retired now, Vic and I do get an invite to party at the South Parade Pier in Southsea with all the staff at the family business..

Always a great night out, and as usual dancing into the early hours, managing to turn the light off just after 3.15am.. But an early start from the hotel just over the road from the Pier, and we took a stroll along the prom before breakfast, it was a gorgeous morning, here looking across the Solent towards Ryde on the Isle of Wight...

I miss this place you know.. born here in Portsmouth and was brought up here for most of my life.. nothing has changed much along the sea front... and even over on canoe lake I knew I wouldn't be disappointed in a great display of model boats on a Sunday morning... this was just before someone put in a super power boat that even had the ducks scrambling for cover..

The rest of the day was spent with the grandchildren and trying to get a little rest in the afternoon.. no chance of that though!.. Far too much to talk about on Sunday night meant another latish night before getting up with the lark to get a lift into Portsmouth with Wendie, which gave us a chance to go into the huge B&Q to have a look at kitchens, or galleys in our case.

We managed to pick out the units, tiles and flooring that we would like for the new narrowboat before catching the train back to Pewsey again after our whirlwind weekend..

Today it was off to the post office for last minute mail to be sent, a trip to the library to renew books to last over the Christmas Period before pulling the pins on a very very muddy Pewsey to make our way to George Gibson's boatyard to pick up our written survey.. "Yes, don't worry Sue.. tis a good boat you have yourself.. enjoy her".. Ahhhh great stuff.

In fact in his conclusion he said in the survey..

Verdict - Narrowboat has a very good hull and is a fine boat. She will require very little work to start cruising but the issues raised must be attended to as soon as possible so that her present condition is retained. Providing a good level of annual maintenance is now kept up she will prove to be a great asset

Pleased with that I was... issues raised were minimal.. hull needs blackening and there are a couple of rusty areas on the side that need some of that stop rust stuff put on. We will wait for the spring to have that lot done, along with a complete paint job me thinks..

A day in London at Olympia for me..

Moored Pewsey, Kennet & Avon Canal

Awww a great day out today, catching an early train from Pewsey to Paddington, then the underground to Kensington Olympia to watch the Christmas Horse Show with Wendie and eldest granddaughter Kiera.. their Christmas treat from me.. First though lunch in style in the members restaurant!....

Then we watched the afternoon performance which included poodle agility racing, the London Police horses going through their paces, some beautiful hanovarians on display, a jumping class won by Michael Whittakar and the shetland grand national..

Ending in carols and of course Father Christmas and his sleigh..

We all had a wonderful time too.. It is the first time that Kiera had been to a big horse show, and she already asked if grandma would take her again next year!!

I missed Paul Balmer who visited No Problem today, pity that.. but Vic enjoyed chatting away about this and that, and about our new narrowboat.. hopefully Paul you will return in the new year..

Some might have noticed some rather odd comments on the blog in code which I have deleted, I have no idea what that is about, I do hope there isn't too much more of that sort of spam.. it is hard enough trying to post at the moment, the format is not correct yet, plus the connection, on this canal, to the internet is extremely difficult..

Darn it, as I write this blog I see two more of these coded comments have come in.. I think I am getting spammed.. might have to shut down the comments for a while..

Furlongs and Chains, and a trip in the dark near Pewsey..

Honey Street to Pewsey, K&A Canal, 4ish miles 0 locks

I have been watching the tele tonight, I though the investigation into the Potters Bar rail crash on BBC tonight was excellent, but I feel that many people were hampering that investigation into finding the real truth, but then I think that too of the outcome of Diana's death.. but ho hum I think we all have our own feelings on that!.

AND I missed the tickets for Diana's charity concert at Wembley I am gutted.. I have been concentrating on the new No Problem and didn't even know that they had been released.

I was dismayed to hear that they were on sale on ebay within an hour of them being put on sale to the public.. thank goodness ebay has taken them all off now, and any that do appear are being reported such as is the dismay of others .. here is what one person is saying.. on ebay to those trying to profit.. LINK

We went under this interesting bridge today.. Tis Stowell Park Bridge, part of the Estate of Stowell Park, a private accommodation bridge, but it is a suspension bridge, just enough room for one person to cross the canal. There were 50 of these bridges, but there are now only 2 left, this one and another in Bath, The Victoria Suspension Bridge.

In the book From Brewer to Bridge Maker, Stowell Park Bridge is marked at "42 miles and 40 chains from Reading".. Goodness 40 chains, that takes me back.. I can't believe I used to have to learn at school what a chain was!.. I am trying hard to recall my 'table' now.. errrrrrrrr 22yds 1 chain is it? I remember 8 furlongs is a mile.. do I really need that information in my life?!!

Anyway this chap was called James Dredge.. Ha, well he had a name associated with canals.. and the bridge dates back to 1845.. not bad that it is still there.. I wonder how many people who cruise under it notice the suspension chains on the ends of the bridge...

We got to Pewsey a bit late tonight.. I did something I have never done before.. travelled in the dark with my headlights on. I didn't enjoy it very much, mind you it wasn't pitch black, just close to dark, so maybe that is a bad time to travel, and there were lots of trees hanging over the canal.. they don't cut back much on the Kennet & Avon!

Visitor Moorings all taken up around Honey Street

Devizes to Honey Street, Kennet & Avon Canal, 8 miles 0 locks

I can't believe it was only 8 miles. It took about 3 and half hours to do that.. a lot of the problem is a lot of boats, far too many boats moored up and slowly we pass them at tickover speed.. this one I remember being in the very same spot with the rope tied high in the tree when we were on this canal in the winter of 2003...

I am getting increasingly annoyed that I cant moor at official visitor moorings just for an evening stop.. All Cannings I wanted to stop at, in fact I wanted to stop there last week when we were going in the opposite direction, but it was full.. and today the same boat occupies the space that it occupied last week on the 24 hour mooring!

I don't normally winge, and to be honest I suppose it is unfair of me to do so now, but it would be nice just once in a while to step off my boat on to a nice firm surface and tie up to some nice rings instead of jumping off to get covered in mud having to bang pins in...

OK, OK rant over!

We pulled the pins this morning and went the half mile into Devizes to pick up a Tesco order from the Wharf, and I picked up a few more of the 'Save our Waterways' leaflets to hand out to those that care, then, as you can see, we cruised back to Honey Street leaving the new No Problem at the boatyard. Banks are playing with funds at the moment making megga euros while transfers take place.. buying a boat is so uncomplicated in a way, nothing like the formality of buying a house, some boats cost more than a house too!..

I have mixed feelings about the K&A, but the scenery along it is outstanding, there are some advantages of just leaving the edges to do their thing..

I do believe the blog has another problem in the feed readers, and for those of you that it is effecting I apologise, I will try and fix it shortly.. but Vic suggests a pint at the Barge is in order right now, I think that is a good idea ... one blog post coming up!!..

Paperwork day in Devizes

Moored Devizes, Kennet & Avon Canal It's been a day of paperwork for me today.. yes retired I am spose to be, but there is always something to take care of.. I want to try 'clear my desk', just odd bits and pieces hanging around that ought to be dealt with really. I do have a half decent filing system, but before it reaches that, it enters my errrr temp filing system which is under the seat that I am sitting on at the moment, and in my basket that I keep on the table near me for smaller bits of paper and the like..

But this evening everything is in it's place in the proper filing system.. there are lots of things to think about you see.. a new boat does mean double trouble.. insurance for 2 boats for a while and 2 BW Licences to be sorted.. One boat's Licence is due at the end of the month, and insurance, so it is becoming quite important that I keep my filing system tidy! But yesterday we had fun.. It was all smiles after the surveyor OK'd the new No Problem, and out came the beer.. Thanks Ann for the following pics

And a few words.. "I name this boat No Problem, God bless her and all who sail in her" .. followed by...

A good drowning for No Problem .. followed by ....

Well.... why not!! Gawd she does need a bit of tlc though on that paintwork, and during the spring we shall have her painted probably in much the same colours as we are used to.. not blue Ron!

Inside No Problem it has been changed somewhat by the recent owners from the hire boat interior that it had for just the one year, and we will be altering that and turning her into one hell of a nice narrowboat, pretty unrecognisable inside as a 'Princey boat'. The outside lines of the flat bow line, huge bow fender roll over and distinct cruiser stern will always turn heads "Ah that's an ex hire boat" ... It sure will be a nice one though!

From the bows, our saloon will be slightly larger than what we have and will contain our two leather chairs and cupboards etc, then will come a raised dinette where the galley is at the moment.

The galley will then follow, again slightly bigger than I have right now (I sure am going to be spoilt!).. next will be a utility room for washing machine, a place for Vic's tools (he always wanted a shed!) and a cassette loo. Our bedroom comes next followed by a large bathroom with a pump out loo.., and then the stern cabin is reached, here is where we will be having 'the bunkroom'.. but it will be an innovatory design, all tucked away until needed, leaving a nice airy space with a bench seat and table probably.

It is exactly what we have been looking for, and we can't wait to get started. We will do some of the work, but we will have most of it done for us.. well why not at our age! I have a feeling though that Vic will want to get stuck in, he was already eyeing up a new saw when we popped over to Focus the other day to get some brochures!

I think we might move tomorrow if the weather is OK.. feel like a change of scene for a couple of days..

Meet the new No Problem....

Moored Devizes, Kennet and Avon Canal

Well you have had the first of many pictures you are likely to see of our new narrowboat named No Problem. The naming ceremony taking place this morning very soon after the surveyor had finished doing his errrrrrr survey! Here is one of the traditional chalk marks they use giving the thickness of this part of the hull. You can see that the surveyor scrapes away at the weed and grim on the edge of the boat to take a reading to see how thick the steel is, see the little chalk circle below the line. In this case 5.9mm on a piece of steel that started out at 6mm, so no loss there of note.

No Problem is an ex hire boat from the Black Prince fleet of boats, this one was from a class called 'Elgar'. The hire fleets all have 'classes' of boat.. denoting a particular type.. each boat in the class is given a name. No Problem is 3 years old and has been in private ownership for 2 years. Black Prince sold this particular boat after only a year in the fleet. I still have to find out why, but I have had a good guess.. it might have been that it was only a six berth originally, and maybe was not popular because it would be expensive for 6 people on the price that would have been charged on such a length of boat. The longer the boat the more the hire boat companies can get for their boats if you see what I mean. Normally a 67ft boat would be a 10 or 12 birth.. maybe someone out there will know the reason why.. I would be very interested to find out..

Over the next few days I'll add more about our plans for the interior, and a bit more about the new No Problem, but I read some interesting stuff on narrowboatworld.com tonight which has really tickled me pink... I suppose really I should be worried, maybe we will be stuck on this canal for ever!!...

The canal (Kennet & Avon) is closed to navigation from Sheffield Lock 101 to Sulhamstead Swing Bridge with the lock and bridge being padlocked, until repairs can be undertaken

It seems that there are weirs on the Kennet & Avon Canal that are in private ownership, and not under the ownership of either British Waterways or the Environment Agency. We therefore have to depend on private individuals to repair any breakages to these weirs!!

Would you believe in this case, tis Kate Bush!

Sheffield Mill Weir is owned by Kate Bush, and her agent said that an engineer has been engaged to design a new weir, and is preparing a list of contractors for British Waterways and Environment Agency approval

Goodness gracious..

A New Narrowboat for us!..

More to follow.. I have been on the phone chatting tonight, and it's getting late, so I don't know if I will be able to do another blog this evening, but for sure we are both very happy..

Trial run at Devizes, but diesel will go sky high..

Moored Devizes, K&A Canal

I hope the rss feed has settled down now, although in my reader (FeedDemon) my blog posts are not displaying right. It does not show as a post with pics, but in html. I have no idea why, but I will leave it for now because I have other things that are more important, and as long as people can see the blog then that should be fine for a while.

No pics again today I am afraid.. I just haven't had the camera out over the last few days, I promise to take a few tomorrow. Mind you Annie of NB Moore2Life has taken quite a few today as Vic and I took our first run out on our hopefully new narrowboat. It went really great, and we spent over an hour and half cruising along the K&A. It didn't seem like I was moving 67ft of boat along.. but the engine was smooth and quiet, much to my liking.

I was pleased the weather had calmed from yesterday.. jeeeeeeeez it was windy, but hey it could have been a lot worse, I couldn't believe the tv pics I was seeing when I switched the tele on last night.. those poor people in North London.. I do hope they get sorted before Xmas.

Anyway at the turning point I had no problem (teehee) turning the narrowboat in the winding hole, and there was a bit of wind too. It was a good test because I tend to be pretty useless at about turns.. I never seem to get the front in quiet the right place and make it very difficult for myself.. maybe this time I was really concentrating and got it right!

More measurements and plans this evening.. the pencil is working hard here, but so is the rubber too!

So some not good news from the EU. They have decided not to renew the red diesel derogation ... from this is hampshire.net ..

"Treasury Minister John Healey today confirmed that the European Commission has rejected the UK Government's application to renew the UK's derogation on red diesel for private recreational boaters."

This is a big blow.. it will put the diesel up from 55-60 to maybe over £1.00 a litre. For sure the boatyards are not going to be able to get the discounts that the garage forecourts and supermarkets do.. It may be that it will be above that even. In fact I think there will be a huge price difference throughout the whole system, and it will make a difference as to where we will buy for sure.

Looking at the various reports, some say that the diesel will be 2 to 2 and half times more than we are paying now.. I can't see that being the case though, but then again, I suspect that in some parts of the country diesel is much cheaper than it is here on the K&A, maybe 40-50p, in which case 2.5 times higher might be more accurate. Whatever it is a lot when you consider we put in about 100 ltrs every 3 weeks.

I wonder what it will do to boating.. those that live on the waterways as a cheap way of living.. they will never be able to absorb it, the hire boat companies and their hungry narrowboats belting around the countryside using 5 times the amount of diesel per day than we normally do.. gawd knows what the hire charges are going to be.. I wonder if they will be priced out the market.. big boats in season charge in excess of £1700 in the summer.. a holiday abroad would cost very much one third of that price for a family.. Ah well remains to be seen.. I am surprised it hasn't been on the TV News.. It seems so important to us. but obviously not to the TV audiences!

Blimey! Wadda ya gotta do to blog?!

Well I am trying, in between dreaming about designer galleys and bunk beds, to fix the blog. I think I will be dreaming about the latter tonight too! Thanks for the comments.. I am at a complete loss as to what to do at the moment.. old feeds new feeds Ron? I will sort it when I can, in the mean time please bear with me.. Vic is getting fed up with me getting frustrated, and he smiled tonight when I got a message from Mark.. "I don't know what is pointing at what! I'm just glad to be receiving your blogs."

Hey, nor do I! Least now I am laughing!!.. I found the perfect smilie too --------->

Feedburner and Blogger

Moored Devizes, Kennet and Avon Canal I am fed up to say the very least. Every moment that I have had spare over the last three days I have been on the computer trying to get the feeds back to normal and the blog to format properly. I bet this blog post is not formatted in the way the rest it once it is published. It looks OK in 'preview' but once I publish it, it seems to change. Paul you noticed that I was messing with the feeds on feedburner.. I have changed them back to what they were and pointed them elsewhere on my server. It seems this blogger beta was storing the feeds in a completely different place, and I have to go and change all the settings in the feedburner. I am not sure if I have been successful or not. I am having a dreadful job getting internet at the moment as it is, I am getting white page after white page. It's a good job there isn't a swear box on No Problem I'll tell you. I have no idea if the feed is working now.. maybe someone can tell me. I have emailed both blogger and feedburner for support, that was a couple of days ago.. I have had no replies from either. I will keep trying

A big improvement for Lucy at Honey Street..

Pewsey to Honey Street, Kennet & Avon Canal, 4 miles 0 locks

Came to Honey Street on Saturday so that we could go to the Barge Inn in the evening. They had a duet playing and we thought it would be a good night out, we were not to be disappointed!

The only thing I don't like about this place is the awful internet connection here.. so hit and miss. I am writing the blog very early tonight, so that I might get uploaded sometime this evening. Talking about publishing this blog, is the feed OK now or not. On my feed all the blog is written in html, and it looks really weird, but I don't know how it looks for others. I presume that because I am now getting a feed that everyone is?

I managed to get a much better picture of Ladies Bridge on the way back from Pewsey, I'm afraid is the best I can come up with for a picture.. the weather has not been good over the weekend, very windy, and I didn't take the camera out!

Of course there has been a lot of excitement too with the purchase of a narrowboat for us, and once I had settled down to the fact that we had actually done it we have spent most of the weekend deciding how we are going to change it about to have it just the way we want it, but more of that later once it passes the all importent survey which is being carried out by George Gibson, who has the boatyard here in Honey Street, on Monday of next week.

I am sure it will be fine, the boat seemed very solid to me, being built by John Pinder in 2003.. Much more news next week then once she is really ours to keep!

I have managed to get out a bit though in between scribbling and drawing.. the countryside around here is out of this world, but oh so muddy at the moment. Lucy has made some major improvement all of a sudden. She has started now to 'trot' on all four legs. Lucy had an accident back in May 2006, and for those who don't know you will need to have a look in the archives at the bottom of this page on the left, click on May.

I noticed the other day at Pewsey that she trotted a couple of paces while sniffing around checking out the rabbit residency in the woods there.. and today I counted 6 strides of trot together.. not hopping along. I know that doesn't sound very much, but it is very significant indeeed. Lucy has not done the pace of trot since the accident. She has found a new pace, lopping along on 3 legs.

I was actually very cruel a week or so ago, I though that I would tie up one of her front legs so she would have to actually use the back leg,, well I though I would just try see what happened, and the clevery little cow doggie managed to go along on just two legs!

You will be pleased to know, I gave that up as a bad job!.. But I am delighted at the improvement, maybe after all she will eventually be back on four legs..

I have to go to the post office tomorrow, and that means Devizes as the one in All Cannings has closed now. There is a wigglybus! I had to phone it up this evening to book it to come and pick me up here at Honey Street to take me to Devizes, then back again.. wonderful stuff. I find these rural services quite unique and interesting.. I am just so glad I have an internet connection to be able to find these things out. This bus is especially for people who want to walk along the K & A Canal and surrounding areas.. give them a ring and they will collect you.. click here for link to wigglybus

Before I go, I just want to say a huge thankyou to everyone who has commented on the last blog and wished us luck with the new narrowboat.. there are so many comments, it is so nice to read them.. thanks

Now then, lets see if I can get the internet to work enough to be able to post this blog this evening..

Exciting news from Pewsey?

Moored Pewsey, Kennet & Avon Canal

I think I am excited, for sure I am scared.. and all these things are going on inside me. I am also sad.

My emotions are running wild tonight, I will never be able to sleep.. it's taking me ages to write this blog too.

Well I can tell you why... we have bought another boat today, subject to survey! So now we have 55' No Problem and 67' Narrowboat which I suppose should be called No Problem 2.. double trouble if you ask me! There won't be much wrong with the survey I don't think.

I think I am happy.. I will feel better in the morning I keep telling myself.

Well this is the news that I was excited to tell you about the other day... but the boat we went to see the other day was incorrectly advertised, and instead of a 8mm hull plating it had a 6mm hull plating, that was 70' long, and although we put a deposit down, it was only on the way back when we looked at a copy of a survey done on that boat not long ago we saw it was just 6mm.. hence our disappointment because this was not acceptable for us and you all had to wait for the exciting news!

Well now you have it.. a new boat for us of which I will let you all know more once the survey is done..

The family is delighted, it will give us the room to have them all come up with the minimum of disruption plus extra space for us.

Sorry there is not much more for me to write about tonight, too much to chat to Vic about than to spend time on the computer this evening, but I had to do a blog!!