Photos and stuff

We're making the most of the internet access here in Evesham and putting the photo's on from Barry's trip back to NZ and the last couple of days. After today our internet coverage is pretty naff, so we may not get back on-line until we reach Stratford-On-Avon on Saturday.

The Teutenbergs (and Suki-Lou our cat who's been adopted by June and Frank!) - back row - Mariam, Tom, Ray, Peter, Jenny; front row - Barry, Suki, June & Frank

The lovely Frank

The return flight - over the English Channel

The River Thames - coming into London

Jamie's bedroom - she'll be sharing with her friend Moni by the end of this month

The lounge at Jamie's place in Hammersmith

The front of Jamie's building - a converted public house!

Having a glass of rose in the Wetherspoons

Note the double chin disguise!

Cheers! So lovely to have you home/be back!!

We bought our supplies at the Co-op in town this morning, and Barry almost lost his camera bag - he'd put it down in one of the aisles to reach me some fruit tea-bags and forgot about it until we reached the check-out! Luckily no-one had spotted it - that would have been a bit of a disaster!

We're heading up stream now to Bidford-On-Avon where we'll spend the night. The forecast wasn't good today, but so far the sun's been shining and it's a farily mild day at around 16 degrees. It'll just be fabulous to be moving once more ...

Back on board and all ship shape!

Barry arrived safely back into Heathrow yesterday afternoon, and after a short debate with customs about where he would be living and how he was financing himself, they 'allowed' him back in! Hurrah! It was so lovely to see him again.

We met up with Jamie who lives in a neat place in Hammersmith, West London, and went out for 'an English' at a local Wetherspoons (good cheap English pub chain!).

After a good night's sleep, we made it back through London, despite the tube strike (typical that they'd have a 48 hour strike just when we arrived!) and got to Evesham this afternoon and picked up our boat. She's looking well lovely with her new blacked bottom and the 'Wabasto' - the central heating system - is now working perfectly after a service and a de-choking. We have it on this evening as it's a bit of a chilly night and pouring with rain here, having been out for a curry earlier and got soaking wet.

The new curtains are all hung and look so much better, it's like a shiny new boat! We'll be getting some provisions in the morning and then beginning our journey up river again - and we're going to head north we've decided, yaay! Back to the canals soon,

Barry's knackered and still has many hours of sleep to catch up on, so although there are some photo's to be put on from last night and today, we won't be doing that until tomorrow - so come back soon!!!

Almost back on board!

Barry's now en route to Hong Kong, then to Heathrow where he should arrive tomorrow afternoon. A sad time for him, though he wants to return to England and his dream trip, it was very tough for him to leave Gisborne knowing he may not see his dad again.

I’ve been into Brighton today to get a few bits and pieces. I went in on the bus and thought I’d have a lovely walk back along the sea-front – little did I realise it was about 5 miles and took me over 2 hours! My feet are killing me! Never mind, we’ll be out for either an Indian or an Italian dinner this evening, so I won't feel guilty about eating as I must've lost half a stone today!

Brighton seafront

Evesham Marina called to say that everything had been completed on Northern Pride and I think he told me how much it was going to cost, but it sounded a lot less than I was expecting so I hope I heard correctly but I suspect I didn’t! Apparently it’s a good job we’re not returning until Wednesday as the river levels have risen with the heavy rain they’ve had recently, and by then they should've subsided. It’ll be good to be back on board again and actually moving! Not sure yet where we shall go after Stratford-Upon-Avon - north or south?

Two days to go ...

Friday’s long day of train and car travel went smoothly, but my arms were aching yesterday after lugging my suitcase up and down many flights of stairs at train stations!

Exeter is a neat place, Kim and I went shopping yesterday while Viv got ready for the 21st party, but the heavens decided to open and it poured with rain the whole day so we got soaking wet!

A beautiful rose between 2 thorny sisters!

The party was great fun; it was held upstairs at a pub called The Winchester’ in Exeter. Viv bought a chocolate fountain for dipping marshmallows and strawberries in, yummy …

Me and Ray check out the chocolate dip!

The music was very ‘young’ and I craved a bit of Abba or anything that I could make any sense of and that didn’t sound as though it was the same record being played over and over again - boom boom boom, bass bass bass!! But I managed to get a bit of dancing in anyway, the drinks were very cheap, and it was great to be with Viv and her lovely family.

We're driving vack to Brighton today after a Sunday roast, then tomorrow morning Barry will be setting off to return to England – not long now before we’re back on board cruising once more. Fingers crossed that customs lets him back into the country!!

Viv and Rex chilling on a Sunday afternoon ...

Curtains, cats and cute babies

Goodness me, curtain making is a very tedious business! Thank heavens I don’t have to do it very often. My whole day, apart from a walk to Sainsbury’s, a lunch-break and dinner-break, has been spent sewing them up. There are still 10 hems to do once they're hung on their rods on the boat and I’m really not looking forward to that! But they will look a damn sight smarter than the ones that are currently up, so it’ll be worth the hard slog!

My great niece was born this afternoon after much more hard work than my curtain making, all 8lbs 12oz of her (ouch!) – I’m not sure what that is in kgs – English people still work in old weights! Somewhere around 3900g I think. I haven’t seen my sister since last night; she left here at midnight, though I slept through her departure.

The only interesting photo’s I could think of to take today were of Kath’s amazingly different cats – check them out!

Romulus stretching out ...


Remus on the TV - not sure what's actually 'on' the Tv!

I'm off to Brighton tomorrow on the train, then a drive with Kim, my daughter, to Exeter to my sister Viv’s. It’ll be along day travelling, so a blog tomorrow is a highly unlikely event …

Cracking on with the curtains

A bit of a change in the weather today, quite overcast and probably only around 18 degrees. Ah well, it was lovely while it lasted …

My mum and dad's cosy home on a grey day ...

Left mum and dads after lunch and drove to my sister Kath’s in Sutton Coldfield, North East of Birmingham. The curtain making has begun in earnest and curtains and linings have been cut out - tomorrow I shall sew them up and try not to make a complete mess of them!

Cutting out the lining and getting the sewing machine ready

The chances are good that Kath may become a grandma for the first time tonight, which will make my parents great-grandparents; so fingers crossed that all works out OK. The midwife in me is sending positive vibes for my beautiful niece to have a lovely, kind, caring and competent midwife to care for her … It’s ironic that I tried to get permission to look after her in labour, but the NHS is so anal that they couldn’t possibly ‘allow’ a midwife from New Zealand to have a contract in an NHS hospital. I’d wondered how I could be here for her as we would be travelling around, had they said it was OK ,and now she is probably going to go into labour while I'm staying with her mum and I can’t be her midwife. Bugger! Ah well, I suppose it would’ve been a bit of a busman’s holiday!

Nothing else happening, no more news on the boat – no news is good news they say!

More ramblings ...

Wow! Thanks for the clicks in the boxes everyone, and the comments Deb & Steve, most encouraging! I shall continue to ramble on then …

A lovely chilled day with my parents, and once again the sun has shone, the sky's been blue, and it's been in the 20’s – unfortunately the forecast is that it's likely to drop by 10 degrees tomorrow :-( But the word on the street is that the warmth will return, maybe at the weekend, and fingers crossed will be here when Barry returns next week. Less than 7 days to go now ;-)

A couple of small dramas occurred – my dad got to the pub in Droitwich where we were having lunch (they have all these little places dotted about the area they live that do a good lunch deal, normally for less than £3-4 each), went to the bar to order the food and discovered that he didn’t have the cash he’d just gone to the cashpoint for! Bless him he’d withdrawn £100 – happens to many people I’m sure but he did panic. Happily he returned swiftly to the bank and after a phone call he was given his cash back, the machine had retrieved it in time before someone else came along and thought it must be their lucky day!

The other one was a phone call from the Marina – OMG, did they read my blog yesterday I wondered and have taken offence?! Lol! Nothing so simple – the boat failed its Boat Safety Certificate. How can that be I said; it passed 6 weeks ago apart from some welding that was completed and a new fire extinguisher which was replaced, but then we didn’t catch up with the surveyor again to sign it off hence we’ve had to re-do it?

“They must be more thorough here,” was the response.

“So it seems!” said I!

Ah well, only minor things like a chain on the gas bottle, a kinked tube on the cooker (which it seems they may be able to ‘un-kink’?!), a fire extinguisher in the engine room that looks as though it’s been set off (wouldn’t the previous surveyor have noticed that?) and some other tube or chain that I can’t recall. Amazing; and of course that will take about 2 hours work, so heaven knows how much the labour will be! Am I just cynical? Absobloominglutely I am!!! I suspect we are a captive audience …

On a more posotive note, I’ve booked a nice hotel in Hammersmith for next Tuesday when Barry returns; so we can catch up with Jamie, and Barry can get a decent shower and a sleep in a bed before returning to life on the boat (and we get to part with a shed load of money - scary stuff!).

No photo’s today, sorry, nothing exciting to show you!! To my sister Kath's tomorrow for the curtain making marathon; I'm sure it isn't that hard ...

Woohoo! We made it there intact!!

Thank you to the 3 people (so far anyway!) who've ticked one of the feedback boxes for yesterday's post, much appreciated!

Two of the island's geese came to say goodbye to me last night, at one point I thought they were going to climb on board!!!!

OMG!!!! I drove the boat to the Marina and only almost beached it once!!! My heart was in my mouth, my hands were shaking, and Bob was at the front of the boat - not at the back with me ready to take over at a moments notice as I expected – in fact I may even have hoped that he would drive it, but no, he obviously thought I was able to or just wasn’t sure he could! Still it was good to have someone on board with me directing me and laughing with me when the boat didn’t want to go where I tried to get it to go, there was a bit of a wind blowing which didn’t help! But the only problem was leaving the mooring and trying to turn it to go to the lock (quite a sharp bend, so we had to go up river a bit, in fact we almost reached the bridge before I got it all under control!!), once I finally managed to do that it was ‘plain sailing’ so to speak.

Bob looking a little greyer I think after almost going into the trees at the side of the river - the flag got bent again, sorry Deb!! But it's still intact to fight another day ...

Safely into the lock and holding the fore rope

Looking back at the lower Avon


Chris, the Monday relief Lock-keeper, releases the upper Avon slowly into the lock - hold on tight!


The lock shop

I even managed to drive the boat into the Marina without crashing, so was very proud of myself! Well actually I tell a lie, as we parked up I did bang a bit into the side, but nothing major!

They are certainly not the most helpful people at Evesham Marina – is it just people who work in Marinas I wonder? Are they a special breed or something? Do you have to be incredibly stuck up and act as though anyone who comes in for anythig is just a pain in the preverbial? Is that on the 'essential characteristics' on the person spec??? Maybe we've just been unlucky and caught people at a bad time a number of times ...

Almost at the Marina

I hated leaving her, the boat has become like a friend or another child somehow, so I hope they look after her accordingly. I’ve grown very attached, especially over the past 10 days when we’ve had to look after each other …

Ah well, she'll be looking much better with a shiny new bottom when we pick her up next week, and it’ll be back to moving along and finding new places and people, hurrah!

For now though, I'm going to have a busy 8 days travelling around some of my family – people that I'm very grateful to have in my life (especially as I normally live on the other side of the world to them!), and I shall relish each magic moment.

Another hot day on 'my' island ...

Yes, sorry to those reading in NZ where it’s blooming cold right now, but it has been another glorious, hot day here in the Northern Hemisphere.

It’s my final evening on Northern Pride without Barry. It’s been very surreal to be on the boat alone, but in many ways has also been quite cathartic and somehow empowering to be by myself for a while. But six days of solitude (the other 2 days were at my parents) is sufficient I think! I’ve read 2 Paulo Coelho books – 'The Pilgrimage' and 'The Zahir' – both good reads though I enjoyed The Zahir the most; I’ve completed a module of my comprehensive writing course and one for my editing and proofreading course; I’ve taken the bags of household bits and pieces that were on the boat when we bought it but don’t ‘fit’ with us to the cancer charity shop in town; I’ve got to know most of the nooks and crannies of Evesham (what a lovely place it is – we may return for our English wedding ceremony in August!); and I’ve entertained 2 of my lovely 3 sisters!

Tomorrow the boat will be travelling up to the Marina – there may be some photos on tomorrow’s blog about any mishaps along the way, but fingers crossed all will be plain sailing! Bless Bob, he’s also giving me a lift to my parents tomorrow so that saves me from getting the train. There really is a law of Karma – what you give is what you get returned …

Is anyone reading this – do please tick any of the boxes at the bottom or make a comment, although the statistics say that 181 people have logged on in the past 7 days, no-one has made any comments for days and I feel as though I am talking to myself!!! Even if you just tick ‘rubbish’, at least I’ll know you’re there!

Roll on 9 June – I think we may make it one of our anniversaries – ‘The Day Barry Returned to the Boat’!!!!

Something I’d like to share with anyone who's reading (especially Barry and his friends and family) that had a profound effect on me earlier reading The Zahir follows, It’s called ‘Consoada by Manuel Bandeira (a Brazilian poet – hope I don’t need permission to print?!):

When the unwanted guest arrives …
I might be afraid.
I might smile or say:
My day was good, let night fall.
You will find the fields ploughed, the house clean, the table set,
And everything in it's place.

Barry will think I'm crazy as per normal, but that's OK.

Seven days down, ten to go...

It's been another glorious summers day – though I think summer doesn’t ‘officially’ begin until Monday. Such a shame that Barry isn’t here to enjoy England in the sunshine, let’s hope this decent spell lasts for the next few weeks.

Hurrah! The internet has 'allowed' me to publish a few photos this evening without too much hassle for once!

Me and Ray 'at the helm' - quite safe though, no engine running and all tied up! Note the pansies in bloom Barry xx

Me and Viv on the boat - looking very tidy I might add! (the boat that is!)

On 'my' island where we had dinner and then played cards - round ones! Oh yes, and a glass of wine or two... And note the geese in the background to Viv's discomfort!

Bob phoned and asked me out to dinner last night - for those of you wondering, Bob is a friend of the people who we gave a hand to in the locks coming into Evesham, and who's going to help me drive Northern Pride to the Marina on Monday. I was a little uncertain going out with someone who is, after all, a relative stranger, but as Barry had asked just that morning whether I had yet gone to the rowing club with him I thought he wouldn’t mind (he's so totally NOT the jealous type bless him). We had a pleasant evening at the Bridge Inn at Offenham, just up the river, and I was safely back on board the boat (alone) by 10pm. I did feel a little vulnerable, something most men never experience and find difficult to understand I think!

Not a lot else to report really. Just chilling on the boat; walking into Evesham and pottering around the shops (they have a huge NEXT store just out of town that I had to visit today, not letting on if I bought anything or not!); reading books; going on-line checking the blog & stats, hotmail and facebook; eating and drinking (have treated myself to some Pimms this evening, so having Pimms and Lemonade, mmm..); and of course sleeping (have had a couple of afternoon naps these past few days, bliss!); and generally reflecting on where we are and where we’ve been. It’s actually quite a luxury to just ‘be’ for a while, I do feel tremendously lucky. So many folks are trapped in the busy world of work and don’t get much time off – I remember it well!

It’s still very pleasant here on the island, the goslings have apparently gone to their nursery above the weir - they only stay on the island for the first 2-3 days after hatching, so I haven’t been able to catch any more glimpses of them.

I tried to book a ‘ghost tour’ of Evesham for tomorrow evening, it sounded like a fun thing to do, but unfortunately it was all fully booked. They're only held on a Thursday or Sunday evening, so that’s out now, shame…

Missing Barry heaps, but a week has already passed so only 10 days to go and he should be back, depending on how things are in NZ. It'll be so good to have him back on board and be on the move again, seeing the sights along the way and meeting new people - and of course publishing a more interesting blog with Barry's fabulous photo's!!!!

Back on board for a few days...

Back on board now after a lovely couple of days with my parents and my sister Linda. We found some very smart material for curtains, now I just have to make them! It’s years since I did any sewing, I'm going to have to contact my oldest sister who has the know-how and also, most importantly, the sewing machine!! The boat will look so different once the flowery curtains are down, but I’m not giving any information away about what the new ones will be like – there’ll be a photo on once they are hanging up!

We also went to see Star Trek at the movies, not a bad film, lots of good special effects and great casting.

Yesterday another of my sisters, Viv, and her friend Ray, drove up from Bath to my mums and then brought me back to the boat in the evening. We went for a few drinks at The Swanne Inne in Evesham ( I have to say I’m not terribly impressed with any of the pubs here, not the nicest ones we’ve found!) and then back to the boat for some dinner, a drink or two and a game of cards sitting on the island on a very balmy summers evening.

Joining us for the evening were the island's new goose parents and their two goslings – they are soooo cute! They're just 3 days old and are a little green in colour and ability at the moment. They were unsteady on their feet and kept falling over and doing gambols, very amusing to watch! As the night grew darker we were also joined by a number of low flying bats, so Viv and I decided it was time to return to the boat!

Northern Pride is booked in to have its bottom blacked, its central heating system serviced, and its Boat Safety Certificate done next Monday - it will take most of the week to get it all done I'm told. Bob is going to come and help me to drive it to the Marina, thank goodness! I'll be curtain making after that; then may reward myself with a fun weekend in Exeter for my nephew’s 21st - so long as I can leave the boat at the Marina or return it to the lock.

I tried to get a few photo's on tonight, but no luck - the internet coverage is very poor...

A wet day in Worcester

At mum and dad’s now in Ombersley and had a much longed for bath last night! The internet coverage is much faster here so I thought I’d try and upload a few of the photos from Evesham that I wasn’t able to get on previously...

Evesham Lock House, on the other side of my island - apparantly the most photographed building on the canal network. Unfortunately it's condemned and uninhabitable due to the last flood and is going to be demolished and re-built

The lock keepers cat comes to sniff around the boat, and the geese on the island

It’s pouring with rain today, though still quite warm, so my sister and I are going on a shopping trip to Worcester and hopefully we’ll find some material to make some new curtains from Northern Pride – the flowery ones just have to go! I think we’re also going to see the movie Star Treck.

Watched TV last night for the first time in weeks, ‘Have I got news for you?’ was very funny, but boy the news is dismal isn’t it? Why on earth do people feel compelled to watch it and then feel miserable about all sorts of things that they can do nothing about? We had a TV on the boat, but we put it in the cupboard under the steps and there it will stay!

Have had a chat with Bob and he should be able to help me to drive the boat up to the Marina next week, so that’s a relief! The Marina called and the boat will be going to have its bottom blacked on Monday.

It’s very strange being in a house and having so much room - it's really very cosy on board ur little boat, but I think I'd go a bit crazy if I stayed on the boat alone for two and a half weeks!

A quiet day on the island

A quiet, reflective day, spent mostly in solitude. Spoke with Barry this morning at his mum’s in Gisborne, he’d had 4 hours of sleep since I left him on Saturday morning, but was still able to crack jokes and make me laugh bless him.

I completed a module of my comprehensive writing course that I’ve been procrastinating about for months (you’ll be pleased to hear Barry!), and went to the Co-op for some provisions for tomorrow’s lunch. My mum, dad, sister and niece are coming to visit, then I shall leave Northern Pride secured with the lock keeper for a couple of nights and go and have a relaxing bath, mow my hairy legs with the epilady (gross!) and straighten my hair for once – bliss! I’ll also get a few loads of washing done, yahoo!

It’s an odd feeling living on land after spending time on a narrowboat; you feel as though you’re still rocking around on the water! It’ll be good to have some company for a couple of days though.

My company today has been a narrowboat moored up next to me this morning with a German couple on board, and a cruiser this evening with an English couple on who were also here 2 nights ago. I don’t have the gift of the gab that Barry has, so haven’t really struck up any meaningful conversations with any of them, just a polite hello. Of course there’s also the many geese around who ‘bark’ at all hours of the day and night and are still coming round to call on Barry who fed them left over Yorkshire Pudding the night before he left!! Then there’s the lock keepers cat that comes to the window every now and then to look in, and jumped on board for a sniff around! I took photo's of the animal companions but for the life of me can't get them to load - I'm giving up to watch a DVD!

So no blogging for a couple of days, should be back on board Thursday…

A lovely sunny summers day, despite the clouds on the horizon...

My mooring

All things considered, I’ve had a lovely day. I spent most of this morning writing the blog and getting the photos Barry took before he left uploaded; our internet coverage here isn’t the greatest so it takes some time to do. Strangely enough I have plenty of time for that now, lack of time is the least of my problems!! The sky's been blue, the sun's been shining, and it must've been over 20 degrees today - a rare event indeed!

After lunch I spent some time sunbathing on the roof of the boat – what bliss! Then some exercise was called for before I turn into a blob, so I took a walk into town and then ambled along by the river where the bandstand was hosting a brass band playing to hordes of people sitting on the grass, and children playing in their parks and water fountains. Very pleasant, what a neat little town this is. It reminds me of Gisborne in some ways - a street market yesterday very much like the Farmers Market on a Saturday back home, and the band playing in the outdoors on a Sunday afternoon similar to Friday evenings by the River in Gisborne during the summer months.

The brass band played tiddly um pom pom!

Still warm this evening and Barry has arrived safely in New Zealand - how bizarre that he will be a blog reader in New Zealand now rather than a contributor from England!

Evening on the river opposite the mooring - a hot air balloon drifts slowly by

Marooned in Evesham for the forseeable future...

Photo's from Thursday...

One of the Mill Houses along the way

Another Mill House

Doubling up to share the load - unusual diamond shape at Wyre Lock


A house on stilts to that it doesn't float away in future floods!

Another very swanky house on the Avon

A fabulous thatched roof

Coming into Evesham, lots of private moorings for cruisers - mostly with 'floating pontoons' in case the river level rises so the boats rise accordingly

Riverboat trips on the Avon

Hampton cable ferry, just outside of Evesham (it's manual!)

Some swan shots...

All swans are the property of the Queen of England and have a tag on them

Such elegant and graceful birds

And the cygnets are just the cutest things you can imagine!!

No ugly ducklings here

Thursday night in Evesham: The trees by the river with pretty green lights - our narrowboat is behind the one with lights on!!!

The Bell Tower in Evesham at night

Thursday evening out for a curry

Barry trying the hottest curry they had - still not quite hot enough!!!

Friday 22 May
We went for a walk to Evesham Lock to see the Lock-keeper to check out possible moorings. Lovely man and his wife living there, who are happy for us to moor up by the lock on a little island, close to the weir, for 3 pounds a night. If I want to leave the boat they will look after it, just costs another pound a night. Hurrah! I can think of much worse places to be stranded in!

We then looked at booking Barry’s flight back to NZ and were advised to go to a Travel Agent who specialised in Australia and New Zealand. We did give them a go, but their prices were so high we politely made excuses and left, and booked the flight on the internet from the boat for tomorrow afternoon. I'm surprised travel agents haven't gone out of business yet, it's so much cheaper and easier to book on-line!

We then took the boat up to Evesham Marina and filled up with water and pumped out you know what! I'm going to have to try not to empty one or fill the other over the next 2-3 weeks while Barry is away! We also managed to arrange for the boat’s bottom to be blacked, and its central heating system – a ‘Wobaster’ – to be serviced; as well as getting the safety certificate sorted. That should, with a bit of luck, all get done the week after next. The only challenge now is how on earth I'm going to drive the boat from its mooring, through the lock, then up the river to the Marina! I think I shall be calling on our new-found friend Bob who's said I can call him for anything while I’m here, to see if he has any ideas. The only certainty is that I shan't be travelling alone or the boat is likely to be permanently beached somewhere and I'll have had a stroke with the stress of it!!!

So we spent the day getting everything organised on the boat before Barry leaves me alone. That’ll teach me to say that I was never going to be alone on the boat previously!

We went into Evesham in the late evening for a drink, but the pubs were mostly full of youngsters, not like the quaint little country pubs that we love. But Evesham is a lovely little place.

Our initial mooring in Evesham, Thursday night

One of the riverside walks

Evesham town across the river


Sandra looking very serious on the computer, trying to get internet coverage - OMG! look at that lovely boat hair!!!

Saturday 23 May
Barry left on the train at 1027 to catch the 1615 flight to Los Angeles and then on to Auckland and Gisborne, arriving in Gisborne at 0845 Monday morning, 2145hrs Sunday evening UK time. Very sad to see him go, but it’s good that we have managed to organise it so that he can spend some quality time with his dad along with other members of his family.

The blog may be written from 2 Hemispheres for a couple of weeks, not sure how it will work! Obviously there won’t be any of Barry’s gorgeous photos, apart from the ones he took before he left that I have to try and get on. But there will still be notes from me, and the occasional photo!

It’s a strange feeling being on my own on the boat, I’ve spent the day walking around Evesham and then cleaning and tidying just to keep myself busy. The sun has been shining, a beautiful English summers day, typical isn’t it now that Barry has left the country!!!