This post is rather random, isn't it? Our life's a bit like that at the moment.

The marina was quite busy over the Bank Holiday weekend, with lots of craft on the move; largely non-residents paying a brief visit to their boats and taking them out for a spin, I think. We didn't venture out, though. We were committed to going back to the house on Monday - and trying to avoid the holiday home-going traffic - in order to take Jess to Luton airport at 4:30 am on Wednesday to board a flight to a three-month stay in Iceland.

Those days when the weather wasn't so good, the sunsets rewarded us for putting up with it.

Lindsey Ann and AtLast have both left their berths now, and once again our view from Kantara has widened, this time even more than before. We can now see "To infinity and beyond!" (Toy Story) (What do you mean, you haven't seen Toy Story??)

I picked up this poem from Facebook. We know Glascote Locks, and remember the slowness of the lock-filling process as we ascended the pair. This made us chuckle.

This post has become rather random, hasn't it? But I'll keep going. Our life's a bit like that at the moment. Random.

Our replacement burgee has arrived. Now all we need is the arrival of  weather that's consistently decent over a period of days; then we can go out on another paint touching-up trip and test it.

Why is it that we only see skies this friendly in the evening at the moment?

These ducks were rather alarmed to see me lying down and pointing my camera at them.

These wonderful fungi have popped up all over the place again, just like last year. I posted this photo in a few boaters' groups on Facebook, asking if anyone knew what they are. I mentioned that I hoped they were edible. I wish I hadn't now. It caused some controversy! A lot of readers mistook "Does anyone know what these are?" for "Can I eat these"? Okay, I did say that I hoped they might be a tasty addition to a plate of bacon, eggs and tomato, but I added to that "but I bet they aren't".

They're rather beautiful though, don't you think?

Back at the house on Monday afternoon - the M1 traffic was much better than I had anticipated - I found the garden looking fabulous. Well, fabulous in places, anyway...

And then came this morning - Wednesday. We drove Jess to the airport, and as I write she's settled in to the Reykjavik hotel room in which she is quarantining for a week, after which she'll move to other accommodation for the rest of her stay. The virus test she took as soon as she arrived in the town came up negative, but she has to take another one in a few days' time before she can go to work.

Jess has recently qualified as a copy-writer, and taken up an internship in an English-speaking magazine, Grapevine, and they've already given her assignments to do during her quarantine. Unsurprisingly, she's very excited about it all. After her quarantine week, she'll be in the Grapevine office full-time - though she'll be out and about a fair bit, too, finding material to write about. I'm not in the least bit jealous, I tell myself.

Meanwhile, it's pouring with rain here.

*******

Gremlins bubbling now, then?

(This is getting silly! I'm sorry, but this time five of you got to see the totally-not-even-started post on Thursday. Gremlins abound, and I'm on the warpath!)

*******

The problem I allude to in the brackets above made me think that perhaps my brain was overheating under my dense mop of hair. Grace concurred, and cut it. It was getting rather too Johnsonesque, anyway. I'm much cooler now - in both senses of the word!

Lots of boats have been coming and going over the past few days. NB Cantrememberthename next to Bob and Jenny on Infinity has gone, though possibly only to a berth at the other end of the marina. NB Achernar arrived back in the marina and went out again within a few days. Several others on the same jetty have gone, too. NB Emma Jane went out for another weekend day-trip, and more than a few other moorers who don't live on their boats have chugged off, possibly for their annual holiday. The marina's looking quite empty now.

The swans are still here, though, making their twice-daily tour, and stopping off at selected boats for the feeds they've come to expect. The cygnets are almost the size of their parents, but they still make the peeping sounds they were using when they were just a few weeks old.

It's good to have neighbours again. John and Sue are back on NB Lindsey Ann, their home, having been locked down with family for months. On the other side of them, Trevor arrived recently to spend several hours digging NB At Last out of the cobwebs, and generally preparing her for their cruising season.

Underneath the layers of spider-web that cover Kantara lurks a substantial coating of grime. It's quite alarming to consider that it has all come down with the wind or the rain. Where does the countryside air get all of its dirt from? I need to give the boat a very good wash - when there's not a gale blowing! Meanwhile, we're gathering together all the tools, paints, varnishes and brushes that we need to do the paint-repair work we're planning to do.

It'll happen before the end of the month. We've just arranged with "the kids" that we're going back to the house to form a family "support bubble" with them for just a few nights. It's Grace's birthday on August 3rd, and a meal is planned. We're really looking forward to it.

Here's a question for those of you who love language. "Now then". What does it mean? How can anything be Now and Then at the same time? The OED tells me how the expression's used, but I already knew that. It doesn't tell me what it means. And words are supposed to mean something, innit?

(Answers on a postcard, please.)

*******

All change!

Months ago now, we got back to Kantara after a spell back in St Albans to find that NBs Cream Cracker and Achernar had both absconded to the other side of the marina from us. Some weeks after that, we found that the Arrens (Darren and Karen) on Cream Cracker had moved off her and gone back to their house.

The two berths next to us remained empty for some time, which was great because it gave us more light and a better view from our windows. But then came Lindsey Ann to take Achernar's place, and today The Hodma'dod (Olde Englishe for "snail") closed the remaining gap. In fact, they'd already occupied it for a short time earlier in the year, but disappeared again. They're here now for the winter, and it'll be nice to have some liveaboard neighbours again.  Ed and Jan in Emma Jane on our other side only visit EJ occasionally. Good as it's been to have the space around us, we've felt rather lonely. Awww!

Other changes involve Carol on Jimsonweed moving back onto land, taking Frank and Millie with her. They'll all be missed.

(unlike these two, Carol's camera-shy!)

Having washed Kantara a while back, I tried today to wax her. The 9° air was far too cold to let the wax spread properly, and the final job, though it's bound to be water-protective, doesn't look too brilliant. Come the warmer weather next year (fingers crossed for that), I'll give it all the buffing it needs to restore the gleam it ought to have.

Fair-weather farers

Life on board NB Kantara is all rather... not very lively at the moment. OK, it's true that we'd be out enjoying ourselves on the cut right now if we weren't bothered by the weather. But it's also true that it's currently pouring with rain yet again, with a very strong wind, and there's a cracking thunderstorm. We've had a few decent days, sure, but generally we're not encouraged to venture out at the moment. Fair-weather farers I guess we are. I know several folk who've been out for a few weeks, and the bad weather's featured large in their experiences.

It's not as if we've got nothing to do while we're here. Roy and Lee came a few days ago to replace our central-heating pump (which alone cost £180!!), then to flush gallons of black, gunky water out of the system and top up with fresh water/antifreeze mix. They'll be back soon to do some woodwork and tiling in our shower room, too. And Grace is painting castles and roses on the cabin doors.

My role at the moment is that of "the domestic". Well, why not? I ask. Grace played that one for thirty-odd years!

Kantara is sitting in a wide, open space at the moment. Lindsey Ann vacated the berth two away from us on one side for a couple of weeks, but she's back now. The space between her and us was empty for some months after Cream Cracker left, until The Hodma'dod came along, but she was only there for a few days, and I suspect they won't be coming back. And, on our other side, Emma Jane has now been away for several weeks, and no-one seems to know where they are or when they'll return. It is rather nice to have good light and views on both sides.

Whether or not we get to cruise for a short while in the next few weeks remains to be seen, but we will be out with Dorothy, Christine and Mike for a couple of weeks in the middle of September. What we have to do now is decide on a suitable route. Four Counties Ring starting at Fradley Junction? Leicester Ring starting from here? Decisions, decisions!