Things we didn’t do in November

We didn’t go out on the boat.

The week before our week was due it transpired that the boat was leaking (probably caused by a collision.  ???!  Those things are made of thick steel ♠ and travel at four miles an hour).  It was agreed that the people who should have been on it the week before us would skip their week so that it could be repaired.  What with boatyard schedules and stuff, it didn’t really get looked at till Thursday and then they decided that it would have to come out of the water and then pointed out that they could do the re-blacking at the same time which would save us (the twelve owners) money in the Winter Works.  But it would take longer – till the Monday of our week.  So we (me and Barney) agreed to miss the weekend.  But sadly, it took even a  little longer and the boat wasn’t back in the water till the Wednesday afternoon (unblacked, I assume since they’re talking about blacking in the Winter Works).  By Wednesday, Barney was up to his ears in work and we didn’t feel like trundling up to Nantwich to take the boat a couple of miles up the cut and then turn round.  Especially as the Llangollen Canal, although picturesque, is very, very ♠♠ isolated.  Pubs and eating places are few and far between.  And it was mostly wet.

As it happens, the boat AGM was due on Saturday and we’d been offered the Friday night by next week’s owner as he wasn’t planning to come up till the AGM so we could have been on the boat till the AGM and then come home after it.  Bit of a problem being that we had also been invited to a surprise 60th birthday party on the Saturday night and would have had to get back from Nantwich like a streak of lightning in order to be there in time – Barney had suggested that we change into our party clothes on the boat in the morning but quite honestly, what with cleaning the boat and packing all having to be done by 9.30 in the morning, I couldn’t see that happening.  Seeing that we weren’t even going to be there on the boat it seemed just silly to drive 200 miles and back in a hurry just to discuss stuff that we don’t mind very much about anyway.  What colour should the new carpet tiles be? (yes, fine) Should we replace the chimney vent? (if you like) Shall we have the bows painted or just blacked next winter?  (Yes)  Shall we throw away all the bits and bobs stacked up in the front deck cupboard? (why not) Shall we get a new company to fix the TV or replace it? (oh, isn’t it working?  We never use it)

So we stayed at home and went to the party and it was really fun.  Richard Cox Smith was the birthday star and one of the guests was Michael Chapman.  When they played guitar together they were FANTASTIC!

Also, I encountered a son of Richard’s, wielding a Canon D60 and I fell in love.  My Nikon is old and dear but the Canon is well known for being noiseless (That’s got nothing to do with sound – I’m so deaf these days I wouldn’t notice it anyway.  It’s that grungy purple/green/blue blotch you get in dark parts of photos taken in low light).  And the Canon was so light!  (I’m beginning to need a hoist just to get my camera up to eye-level.)

This week I was in PC World and I noticed that they had a D60 on offer – I was severely tempted.  I might yet go back.  It’s got one of those swivelly lcd screens too, so you can take photos from funny angles without getting down on your hands and knees and then falling over when you try and get up again – or without climbing on rocks and chairs and then falling off even before you try and get down.  The only thing is it does movies too and I don’t really want to spend money on movie-making.  I want the same camera without the movies – cheaper surely?

After the boat fiasco, I suddenly thought wouldn’t it be nice to go and visit friends in Luxembourg – it could be a birthday treat I thought.  There was a flurry of emails but what with our friend’s work and Barney’s commitments it couldn’t quite be made to fit.  But, now I’ve made the first attempt, (we are so stuck in the English mud – it took two years to get ourselves to Dubrovnik for my sixtieth birthday treat) I feel we’re almost on the way and will definitely make a plan for the Spring.

Anyway, we didn’t do all that in November and although I have absolutely no idea what Barney is getting for my birthday, I’d better go and get it a wireless adapter so I can use it straight away without getting it all tangled up on my desk.  So maybe I won’t rush out and buy a Canon.  Yet.  Besides, there’s that insane, shiny, jingling season approaching a bit rapidly; I might need my money to  boost the domestic economy.

While we weren’t away, the leaves ripened

There’s nothing like Autumn.  All last year’s sunshine, stored up and splashed about.

And now it’s December and I’m a whole sixty three years old.  And later today (when we get up) I shall get my present and start playing with it.  Watch this space.

♠I was going to say 1” thick but I looked it up in the interests of accuracy and found that it can be anything from 4 – 10 mm.  However, thinking about concrete blocks, supermarket trolleys, bicycles, dead bodies, shotguns and other stuff found on the bottoms of canals, I don’t believe the 4mm people.  I think they are talking through their hulls.

♠♠I accept that commas ought to be put in their proper places and especially between each, except the last, of a row of adjectives.  However, when I say ‘very very’, it doesn’t sound like very   , very.  ♠♠♠

♠♠♠Of course I probably shouldn’t be saying very very, at all.