YnysMon

We ought to start some diy jobs now I’m retired, as most rooms in the house are well overdue for decoration. However, we have another week on the boat in less than a fortnight and will have another trip to Anglesey at the end of the month to start work on trying to sort Graham’s dads house (that will be a mammoth task). The job for the next few days is to make some curtains for the heads on Moonlight Shadow. I made some earlier in the year, but the ones in the aft en-suite heads are already getting spotted with mildew, so it will be good to have a spare set of curtains.

Agree with you about coffee stops Jean. I’m finding as I get older that I don’t have the appetite for full-on lunches or dinners. The only snag is that I tend to prefer savoury rather than sweet. On our way back from Holyhead last week we stopped at a pub (The Running Hare) in Ewloe (not far from Chester), just off our route that had a carvery which offered ‘small plates’. The portion was just right for me, and very reasonably priced at just over £8 on weekdays, more expensive on weekends. We’ll probably be using that as a stopover for future trips to North Wales.

How can a pub run out of real ale? Must be a popular pub!

Coo, wellies are definitely on our packing list for our next trip!

Loving this introduction to other parts of Norfolk Jean.

Westminster Abbey is wonderful. Thanks for posting. I was very fortunate a few years back to go to Westminster on a trip with our church, which has a special connection with Westminster. Our church was built in 1660 and paid for by Richard Busby who had bought the local manor. He had been headmaster of Westminster School, where he had taught Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Hooke designed our church. There's a memorial to Richard Busby in Westminster just around the corner from the altar area. So our church has a special connection with Westminster. We were invited by the Westminster Trust members to attend an Evensong service and afterward we were treated to tea and cakes in the Jerusalem Chamber, which has a whole history of its own, being where Henry VI died - apparently it had been foretold that he would die in Jerusalem - not quite the one he expected! After tea, when the Abbey was closed to visitors, they divided us up into groups of five or six and a guide took each group around the Abbey on a very personal tour, which is how I managed to take some photos with hardly any visitors in the background!

We moored there once last winter to get water. A muddy patch sloping down to the water’s edge was a bit worrying, but I guess if you take care…?

That’s good news. We are back on the Broads in a fortnight’s time and will confined to the northern broads (tides, and I don’t fancy night navving across Breydon). We’ve not moored overnight at Sutton Staithe before, so that would be a good ‘first’.

Bumping this up as although we have a buyer for a share, another share has come on the market.

Our two thankfully are not in that camp. We didn’t discover the Broads until they were adults. 2015 Harry was 25 and Alec 23. They don’t join us on every trip, but are still interested.

Great thread Jean. Felbrigg and the Venetian waterways are now on our to-do list. There are a couple of cafes around the Venetian Waterways area which have excellent reviews, The Beach Cafe and Munchies. I know a lot of people are sceptical about reviews, but when out of the way places mostly get brilliant reviews I pay attention and have never yet been disappointed.

We had a family day out today. I'm still amazed that our 'boys' still occasionally deign us aged parents with their company for days out. The plan was to visit Northampton and visit the town museum that has a fascinating collection of shoes - shoes being one of the major products that Northampton was famous for (when I was working for the railway the main commuter train from Northampton to Euston was still referred to as 'The Cobbler'). However, Harry first wanted to visit a factory shop. I hadn't heard of this particular shoe manufacturer, probably because they are a bit 'high end' (British handmade shoes). It was Harry's birthday a few days ago and he fancied 'pushing the boat out', so to speak to spend some of this birthday money (plus a bit!). He got his pair of shoes, the most expensive any of us have ever paid for a pair, even though they were less than half the normal price. The place is called Crockett and Jones and have an 'appointment' to the Prince of Wales (now the King I guess). Not an easy place to find as it was deep in a maze of terraced streets in the Northampton suburb of Abington. crockettandjones.com. They had some interesting old catalogues in the factory shop. The factory... We also found a gem of a bakery just down the next terraced street where we had lunch. The Magee Street Bakery, an 'artisan' bakery. When I told him that we were planning to visit Northampton, Malcolm (Mouldy, who used to live there) was bewailing the sad condition of Northampton town centre. I was very impressed with Abington though. It seems to have a very vibrant high street. Lots of interesting independent shops and restaurants. Seems to be quite a 'hip' neighbourhood. Probably because it's not that far from the Uni. Before we visited the Museum the dogs had a walk in Becket's Park, that is beside the Rover Nene. Harry's new shoes.

I hadn't realised you were a poet Griff. That was one massively engaging and heartfelt post. I don't think I've read anything that comes close to it in conveying such a sense of what it must be like to serve on board one of Her Majesty's ships (now his Majesty of course).

Doesn’t sound like the Chinese economy is doing particularly well currently. They appear to have a private housing crisis.

It’s a bit too early in my book too, though I’m sure that when I get back to brass band rehearsals after a few weeks away we’ll be rehearsing the Christmas music. Same with the choir. We’ve had a fortnight’s break from the choir after a concert, and all our rehearsals from next week will be for our Christmas Carol concert.

This forum was my lifeline when my Mam was slowly leaving us in 2017. In some ways a sudden departure is more merciful, but whatever the circumstances it’s not easy for those of us left behind. My condolences to Smoggy and Simon.

It’s a shame I missed Arthur’s Welsh quiz, it might have been the only quiz I did well on…ever. I’m rubbish at quizzes but had been contemplating joining in, but have now ruled myself out by joining a band that rehearses Friday evenings. Hey ho.

We hired Bronze Emblem the year before we bought into a syndicate. We found it a lovely responsive boat, and none the worse for not having bow thrusters. It handled really well.

Congrats! I like to think we aren’t snobby on this forum and love tales from other waterways. I do anyway.

Sorry about you loss Smoggy. It must be heartbreaking sorting through everything. I’m just glad my Mam allowed us to do that when she was still with us, after she had decided she couldn’t cope and had moved in with us. I’m still in awe that she did that. We brought her most treasured possessions to our house (china mostly) and rearranged our house to accommodate them, but mostly she just left everything else behind, and allowed us to sell her much loved home once she recognised she wouldn’t be returning to independent life. That’s completely the opposite of what we are currently experiencing with Graham’s Dad, where he’s clinging on to his independence, though past being able to cope.

Nice hint. No, I’m not taking a wallpaper steamer to Anglesey.

On a lighter note...

A bit difficult, I only got round to reading the comments this evening and we are travelling home tomorrow. Dad hasn’t got a hairdryer anyway. At least I managed to clear the majority of the ice without damaging anything. I think the fridge is faulty, as it’s on the minimum setting. We have had an ‘interesting’ few days. When we arrived on Tuesday, intending to stay with Graham’s dad, we found the kitchen taken over by millions of flies (well, maybe thousands.). Some investigation unearthed a few uneaten, defrosted meals that were being consumed by maggots and, in a cardboard box, underneath more cardboard I found a mass of mouldy chips. I won’t go on about the state of the rest of the kitchen, but I’m sure you get my drift. There wasn’t anything in the fridge, but there were some odd items like salad leaves in the freezer. We rolled our sleeves up and tried to tackle the worst…me in the kitchen and Graham the bathroom, but the more I unearthed, the more worried I got. I phoned Dad’s social worker, telling her we were at our wit’s end. She was very helpful and suggested that she find him a room in a care home for him temporarily whilst his house gets sorted and he gets assessed. She visited this morning and we are just waiting to hear whether he has accommodation somewhere. Meanwhile the house still needs a lot of ‘tackling’, and there’s only so much you can do in a few days. Needless to say, we didn’t stay in Dad’s home. We ended up in a Travelodge…luckily they are dog friendly. The poor dogs have spent a lot of time in the car the last few days, though we have taken them for beach walks each day.

Like the people who think their holiday is ruined because they couldn’t moor outside a pub every evening. Okay, slight exaggeration, but I have seen reviews that aren’t far off that,

Wow, that's amazing Kate. I've always wanted to visit Poland. We are up in Anglesey. Unfortunately not enjoying the walking etc. I spent most of today trying to defrost Graham's Dad's freezer aided by a hammer and chisel. That's a first, but I thought drastic action was required as the amount of ice build up was almost preventing the door being closed. He relies on delivered frozen meals quite heavily, so that was a priority.