And now the good news!

Early this year, I saved my back from possible harm when I bent at the knees to pick up a 48kg box, and popped a hernia instead. In due course, I had a phone consultation with my GP, followed a week later by an in-person visit. He duly got me put on the West Herts NHS waiting list for surgery. I was aware of the huge backlog of folk needing all sorts of surgery, so I bought a hernia support belt and resigned myself to a long wait.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I was called to see a surgical consultant at the local hospital on 22nd September, the day before my 70th birthday. I accepted it gratefully as a gift! He told me that he would be able to arrange for me to have the operation before Christmas. Soon after arriving back home, I got a phone call offering me an appointment at the Pre-op Assessment unit. Over the next few days, I was given a date for a Covid swab test and for surgery four days later.

The swab test was last Friday, 8th October, after which I had to isolate until I went in for the operation on the Monday. I was there at 2:30pm and out by 8:00. Job done! Now it's a matter of rest and healing and building up gradually to full mobility - it's all a bit sore at the moment! I'm told that in eight weeks' time I will be able to get on with life as it was pre-box-lift.

And that means...!

I'm feeling very blessed. We'll be seeing her once more this year, to do a few small jobs to ready her for next year, and to winterise her. Then we'll be making plans!

Memories are made of this...

I'd normally be filling this blog with stories of our travels on dear Kantara, but my hernia's put an end to that for goodness knows how long. So I've been looking back on my ten years of boaty photos, and loving the memories. These are the last I took, in 2020 before the first lockdown; a leisurely four-day trip down to Braunston to get broken fasteners on our cratch covers replaced. We made the most of it, not knowing when next we'd be able to travel.

It seems so long ago now.

Recently, I stumbled over a collection of photo albums I'd created on Facebook over the past decade. Maybe you'd like to take a look? 

Scenes from our windows

Very often when we moor, I take photos from out of our windows to capture what we see from inside when we're eating, sitting up in bed, playing cards, washing-up... They're never going to be the best photos - the windows may be dirty or covered with raindrops, and there are sometimes reflections in the glass - but I love them anyway. I think the arty word for them might be "authentic".

CLICK HERE 

(I'm sorry of you get a redirect notice when you click there. I have no idea why it happens. Just click the long link on the first line.)

Talking of Facebook... I was becoming more and more fed up with the moaners and groaners on the FB boaters' groups of which I was a member. Very shortly after I quit them, I was invited to join a new group, "Narrowboat facebook group just for you", which is, so far, free from negativity and unpleasantness. It's early days yet, with far fewer members than the groups I left, but I recommend it to all boaters, would-be-boaters and other canal users/lovers. Give it a try, and help to grow it.

If you're a keen amateur photographer, take a look at "Amateur Photography Facebook Group Just For You", created by the same guy - Guy Baldwin. Recommended!

That's all for now.

There's something of a cloud hanging over NB Kantara at the moment...

...and that's despite the bright sky (at last!)

The cloud is caused by my hernia. I had the telephone consultation last week, and the doctor booked me to see him in person next Wednesday. How long I'll have to wait for the surgery I don't know, but I do know that I'll have to be engaged in very little physical activity for at least six weeks after it's done. The bottom line is that we can fairly confidently say we won't be cruising this year -  the second year running.

(Real clouds drifted in as the day drew on.)

Many thanks go to the many previously herniated members of two boaters' groups on Facebook* for their helpful, sympathetic and often encouraging replies to my posts asking for their thoughts about the outlook for my boating life.

(*The Friendly Narrowboat and Waterways Group & Narrowboat and Canal Lovers Group)

Instead of cruising, then, Instead, we'll use the time getting all the outstanding jobs done so that Kantara is ready to go as soon as I'm ready. The jobs aren't too numerous, but some of them will be quite time-consuming.

• repaint the front cratch board (started yesterday)
• install the new horn and tunnel lamp
• pack the top of the flue jacket with rockwool
• paint the chimney inside the cabin
• strip and repaint the taffrail
• get the Thetford rinse pipe reconnected/replaced/repaired
• clean the cratch cover
• deal with paint damage on the port side of the hull.
• wash and wax the cabin (outside, of course).
• sandpaper the inside of the hand-grip along the length of both sides of the roof

That's all! Just those. (I was wrong. They are too numerous).

Today's sunset was phenomenal!

******

Hesitation, delay?

We've done the second trip back to house now, and have (we think) everything we need until we go back there in September - the reason for which I will divulge when the time comes.

The current and forecast weather is pretty dismal, and a significant number of keen boaters are still here. If we were already out on the cut, then we'd be happy to moor up and sit it out whenever it rained, but we see little or no point in leaving the marina for that. We'd barely move! At least the temperature has risen. It has been 8° inside the boat in the mornings, now it's twice that. Though that's not good for mid-May, is it?

Our resident swans have hatched two cygnets so far, and continue to sit on the nest. Their normal family is around six, so we're holding out for more to appear soon.

A major annoyance that will no doubt impact negatively on our boating this year is that I have developed a hernia in my groin. It's only small, and gives me no pain, but that's the way I want it to remain until I'm able to have the necessary surgery. I'm very thankful to Neil, the marina manager, for offering his help in doing the heaviest job I'll have to quit - swapping empty gas cylinders for full ones (13kg). 20 litres of diesel for the stove would probably be too much for me to carry, too, so I'll buy that by the 10 litres in future.

I'll be having a phone consultation with a doctor, and he/she will almost certainly put me on the path to surgery, but the operations waiting list is pretty long at the moment, so who knows how long it'll be before we can cruise. It's a bit of a downer, but I'm grateful that we have the NHS, and that proper care and treatment are freely available. There are people far more in need than me. I can wait.

Some good news is that Brian Hughes, one of my very favourite bloggers, is back in the blogosphere. Having had to sell the Mouse Boat from which he used to blog about his boating life, he's now producing a vlog that promises to be an amusing and fascinating look at his home county. Have a good look at his brilliant mouse prints while you're there!

"Buyer beware!"

Brian writes,

These days I'm still in Lancashire, albeit as a common landlubber, making short films about the county's rich tapestry of history, folklore and other associated rubbish. If you haven't already, then you might like to join me over at our Lancashire Footnotes page. Go on...it's quiet enough over there. because virtually nobody ever visits, but I've always got some hot buttered crumpets and a pot of coffee ready for visitors. 

Just follow the link and give us a wave...

https://lancashirefootnotes.wordpress.com/

So please do go and have a look. He's good!

Emma Jane's left her mooring to get some work done on her, so we have the light and view from that side of the boat again for a while, albeit a wet and dull view.

Please excuse me now to go and adjust my make-do truss - a bundled pair of socks.

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