Final preparations for Christmas

23rd & 24th December

It was a distinctly mixed day yesterday, but things have picked up considerably today.

We'd had a relaxed start, as the main business of the day was going on the Village Walk and then lunch in the George and Dragon. As we pottered about getting ready, there came a knocking on the roof and Harry Arnold (and dog) appeared. He wanted to correct something I posted quite some time back, after I'd met Stan Thomas in Penkridge. My account of that meeting had given the impression that the Waterway Recovery Group had been the subject of discussion between Stan and Graham Palmer at the Stourbridge restoration event, when what they talked about then was Navvies Notebook.

I undertook to correct the account in the original post, which I've done.

Harry is a fascinating fund of reminiscence about those days, and still, of course, plays a very active part in the life of the waterways today. I just wish I could take photos half as well as he can, but then I don't have his lifetime of dedicated practice at it.

This encounter complete, we set off and met up with our fellow walkers at the George. We did the route which goes across the fields to Fradley Junction again, this being the one we'd done last time we were here, but of course the winter weather rather restricts which routes are feasible at the moment.

We got back to the pub at around one. It was incredibly busy, and that made for a problem for me. We were able to get served at the bar without trouble, but it happened that the staff took an age to get round to our particular table to take a food order. (Unlike most such pubs, you don't go to the bar to order your food, but get waitress service at your table).

By half one, I was in some considerable distress, with blood sugar falling and still no sign of being able to get an order in, much less actually get something to eat. I became uneasily aware that the risk of an attack of hypoglycaemic rage was becoming all too probable, and in the end we had to make rather hasty excuses and leave.

We beat a retreat to the Co-op, where the purchase of a bunch of bananas at least let me avoid falling over in the street. We had to settle for going back to the boat for our usual sandwich lunch. I still feel bad about it; it's a while since I've failed to keep my blood sugar in control, and I clearly need to start carrying emergency rations again.

Heigh ho, so it goes, I guess. It was a real shame to miss out on a chance for some Christmas socialising, but there it is. We had a necessarily quiet afternoon, and Elanor dropped round in the evening with some of the presents. She made a final visit today to complete the delivery, and then set off for Graeme and Cathy's house where she's spending the day tomorrow.

We'd had a very early night, and woke, well rested, quite early. We'd had tea, got up and breakfasted before it was light, and set off to water and wind as soon as we could see to do so, at around quarter to eight. As it was, we had to wait before casting off for March Hare to come past in the other direction, tunnel light blazing.

We filled the tank and then set off down the river section. I'd remembered to set up the GPS this time, so was interested to see that we touched six miles an hour going down with the flow. The river wasn't particularly high; goodness knows what you get up to if it was in the yellow section.

As usual, as lockwheeler I stayed behind at Wychnor Lock whilst Sheila went down to wind. As I watched her, I became aware of Going Going Gone approaching from the river – we'd passed them tied between the Wychnor moorings and the lock.

I nipped back and started the lock turning, then went back to the bridge below the lock to signal Sheila that I'd done so. She had to wait a little on the mooring below the lock, but agreed it was better to do that, since BW have chosen to leave a floating pontoon tied to the lock landing above the lock, which will make it awkward for a boat coming out to pass one waiting to go in.

Back at Alrewas we were able to tie not far from where we'd set off, opposite the bowling green. We've had a pottering sort of day since: a trip to the Co-op for last minute stuff, sawing up various bits of wood on the roof and so on.

Sheila's taken up proof reading for Project Gutenberg, as a return for all the books we download for her Sony Reader, and she's been doing a fair bit of that today. I cleaned the bathroom so that it will look all sparkly for Christmas (yup, I'm a sad bastard), and frankly loafed the rest of the time, rereading Pratchett's Guards, Guards.

We'll probably stay here now until the weekend, then move up to Fradley for a couple of days, perhaps combining that with the visit from Graeme, Cathy and Daniel.