Still fine in December

Just as every Spring is different (In every wood in every Spring/There is a different green*), so is every Autumn. This one has been notable for a lot of dry and sunny though chilly weather, with just a couple of serious storms that I can recall.

Now that we’re in December no doubt this won’t last, but in the meantime it’s very pleasant. (So much, incidentally for the Daily Express’s gloomy warnings of a couple of months ago, forecasting snow drifts in November.)

After a very lazy, sunny Sunday start, this morning was pretty standard; over to the shop for a natter about oil and fuel filters with John (aka Grocer Jack) who looks after it on Sunday mornings and incidentally to pick up the paper and a packet of firelighters, then a walk to the village with Sheila to get some bread and cans of sweetcorn.

After lunch, it still being very fine, we rinsed down the port side of the boat to get rid of the accumulated dust. The metal was hot enough in the sun to steam a bit as we did so.

We followed up with a walk round the marina, stopping on the way to chat with Bob about his idea of a Mercia swimming club to encourage more activity in us ageing boaters. When we reached the office, Robert was pottering about in the doorway. Still on the theme of exercise, we asked if he’d thought of cycle hire for one of the new retail units in the Boardwalk.

The answer, pretty inevitably, was that he had indeed. The only thing is that there are no signposted cycle routes around Willington, strangely enough for this area. There is the towpath, of course, but a) the nearest access from the marina is the steep Potlocks footbridge and b) the towpath surface is already cut up by a lot of cycle use (presumably because of the aforementioned lack of alternatives) and do we want to encourage more?

He‘s having discussions with Sustrans about the possibility of identifying more cycle routes in the area.

Back at the boat we spent a bit of time relaxing and reading. I dozed off at one point but kept being woken up by the amazing racket snoring makes when you’ve got a hearing aid in. It is truly appalling; Sheila assured me that I wasn’t any noisier than usual, so it’s down to the marvels of science, I’m afraid…

/no

*Tolkien, The Road Goes Ever On