Tuesday 25th July '17

This is probably the longest gap I've left in the blog when we've been out, but it's taken until now for me to have the energy to do anything!

To continue from where I left off...

Wednesday 19th - we were both really disappointed with the American in Paris. There was a lot of modern dance in it which is not something either of us likes that much. The music by Gershwin was wonderful but the whole thing lacked pace and dialogue for us. Never mind at least we gave it a try.

Thursday 20th. - I went down to visit my mum after going to Battersea for a Slimming World group. I was very down hearted as I'd put on half a pound, I'd so hoped to have lost one but there you go, another week of trying hard I guess. Mum was fine, in quite good spirits actually and I was pleased to have a much shorter journey to see her.
While I was there, John went to the National Gallery. We both used buses and we're really getting into it now. We've spent practically nothing on our Oyster cards which is nice for the next visit when we're likely to be using the underground if visiting a hotel.
In the evening we went to an Angus Steak House as it was handy and I really fancied a steak. Nice meal, a bit pricey as you pay for all the sides, but as I wasn't having fries that wasn't too bad. I had a dessert, just to cheer myself up after the weight loss, not the right thing to do but I'd been so good that I felt a small blow out was appropriate.

Friday 21st. - We'd toyed with the idea of going to Borough Market but in the end we just stayed in and had a quiet day then went to the Albert Hall in the evening to listen to Beethoven's Fidelio. I didn't know the story at all and it was sung in German but the music was wonderful and the singers were mostly excellent, a couple were a bit quiet, but overall it was magical and now we can say we've been to the Proms. Unfortunately it was raining when we got out and John hadn't considered that Hyde Park would be shut so we had quite a long walk in the rain getting around to Lancaster Gate where we caught our bus back. Naturally we didn't have a brolly or coats with us so we were quite wet.

Saturday 22nd. - again we had quite a quiet day as the weather wasn't great and we got tickets at the last minute for Half a Sixpence that evening. We enjoyed the show a lot, good music, excellent cast and a nice feel-good atmosphere to it all, quite a small theatre, the Noel Coward, but just right for the production. We got excellent seats so it was a good end to a thoroughly fantastic and tiring week.

Sunday 23rd.

The view from our mooring.

The mooring at Rembrant Gardens

The gardens themselves

Thick layer of duckweed that caught under the bridge through to Paddington Basin.

The Basin, our daily walk through here to the bus stop to catch the 23 bus into town.

Little Venice

Sunday 23th. We left our home (as it felt) and went over to the facilities block to get the boat ready to cruise again. There we discovered that I'd left the hose adaptor on the tap when we'd last visited and so we now didn't have any way of connecting the hose to the tap. John insisted that there were at least 2 spares and while he was hunting them, I borrowed one off another boater and got on with filling up. John couldn't find either of the spares and another boater I'd been chatting to gave me a spare one that they had handy, for next time.
I immediately started doing the washing as we'd not done any all week.
We moored as the weather got a bit dismal again and so the washing remained wet.
I was so tired that I didn't stay up to watch Poldark but went to bed before 9 and slept through nearly 12 hours!

Monday 24th. We headed off again and I put the sheets in for a good hot wash so we stopped at Greenford to top the water up. Unfortunately the adaptor we'd been given didn't fit properly so John had to hold it in place to get enough in the tank for our needs.

You do see some strange craft on the waterways!

We've seen quite a few of these on our way. Floating gardens seem to be the way to go, if you want a garden that it, and I most certainly don't. One of the best things about boating is NOT having a garden.
We moored back at Bulls Bridge and I topped up the groceries. There was a group of kids hanging around the boat as we went to bed, but Paddy started barking and I heard someone say something about a dog and they all went away. Good old Paddy! I didn't manage to sleep well though despite everything being quiet from then on.

Tuesday 25th
We had another go at filling the water tank before we left. John had taped it together somehow and although he hunted every nook and cranny that he could, he can't find either of the spares. We're hoping to get a replacement en route. (probably two!)

We saw this and thought that we probably wouldn't be welcome to moor there! Nice bollards, shame about the fence! Reminded me of the pikes set at 45% to ward off oncoming foes in the Civil War!

One of the things that has upset us most about this trip has been the indiscriminate way that rubbish is just discarded, waiting for someone else to remove. This is by no means the worst of it. We have seen people sitting in the midst of places like this, having their lunch and calmly adding to the piles. In some places we have seen bins overflowing with rubbish and bags stacked up around them, so it's not all the public's fault. No-one seems to take responsibility for themselves now. I don't see why, it they've managed to carry the bags, cans, packets or bottles there when they are full (and heavy), it is so difficult to carry them back home to dispose of when they are empty (and light). There was a horrific story on the news last night about the enormous rats videoed scurrying around the pavements in Harrow. We've seen a rat on the towpath and it's no wonder when people continue to throw bread around for ducks, despite notices saying it kills them. I have no idea what the answer is apart from educating people to respect themselves and their surroundings.

Here is a coot family utilising some floating junk and making its own little home - reminded John of Wembley Stadium!

This made us look twice - two vans flying over a bridge. They were on the top of a car transporter and as we came closer they were slowly being lowered in preparation for coming off. It did look a bit strange at first though!

We came past the Watersedge pub today, which is where our lovely friends Darren and Michelle had their wedding reception in May last year. It was a lovely day and it was appropriate to take the picture as we are moored in Uxbridge now, waiting to see them tomorrow. We couldn't moor where we'd hoped to but are just a mile or so up the canal. We came through our first lock since Brentford today but were spoilt because there were three volunteer lock-keepers so we just stayed on board and went through it like a Thames lock, me holding onto the front rope and John at the back. We'll be back to reality on Thursday when we start heading northwards in earnest, must remind myself what we normally do!