Boating for the fun of it.

Wednesday 11 April

Elanor duly turned up last night with a boot full of bits of wood, which we lugged round from the roadway near the mooring and stacked on the roof. This morning we set off in good time for Alrewas, meeting a steadily increasing stream of boats coming the other way. A combination of the fine weather and the Easter holidays has resulted in a lot of people taking the opportunity for an early cruise.

We got to Alrewas just before lunch, and got the last mooring before the waterpoint. Apparently there had been serious queuing to go down the lock onto the river for most of the morning.

As another example of the current state of disarray of BW's now combined West Midlands and Central Shires office, the warning signs for the river section still say "Proceed with Caution", despite the fact that the river has been well down at its summer flow levels for at least two weeks now. A BW employee to whom I spoke about this state of affairs explained that the guy who used to be responsible for these signs has been moved to Birmingham. His replacement doesn't seem to have got his head round the fact that signs which are not changed in timely fashion lose their impact. Since I haven't had any further reply from BW about my earlier comments about poor communications from West Mids, I shan't bother taking this one any further.

The weather just carried on getting warmer and sunnier, such that after cutting up the wood (thanks Elanor and Stuart) and some more boat polishing, we were able to sit and take tea on the towpath. After my shower, I even got a pair of shorts out and wore them for an hour or so. There is a distinct change over point in the year for me, based on getting out of the shower. Despite central heating and all, in the winter it's a case of opening the shower door, shivering and grabbing for the towel. In the summer, the tendency is to step out of the shower and stand there going "Umm - coolth!"

Such was the sense of relaxation engendered by this lotos eating that after Elanor had dropped by again, I went on strike as regards catering, and we had fish and chips for the first time in months.

Thursday 12 April

With several days in hand before the final health appointment (GP on Monday next), we decided to take another trip to Kingsbury Water Park, just for the fun of it. This involves going to the shopping mooring outside Fazeley today, Kingsbury/Bodymoor Heath tomorrow, back to Fradley on Saturday and then down to Alrewas on Sunday, ready for the 9.10 appointment the next day.

With some decent boating to do, we made an early start (7.45, even) and even so found boats heading towards us from the outset. We watered and started a wash-load on the water point on the Coventry at Fradley, then set off again, still with a constant stream of boats coming the other way.

This resulted in the odd entertainment at bridge holes, but none so calamitous as the one two years ago, when a Canaltime and a privateer approaching one of the trickier bridges on this section from opposite directions failed to agree whose bridge it was and actually wedged themselves in the bridge hole. It took a couple of hours to free them, and the streak of paint on the underside of the arch was still visible over a year later.

We got to the mooring just after 1; I'd lunched en route, and Sheila did so after we arrived.

A solid session of retail therapy followed, then back to the boat for tea, writing this and then veggie curry when I've made it.

Incidentally, people will notice I've succumbed to the temptation to sign up for Google Adsense ads, which pay a few coppers to me for each one clicked on. I'd be interested to know if you find these irritating, helpful, in the wrong place or whatever.