No quite what we had in mind

Our very satisfying plans to go out on the cut for a few days each week to do touch-up painting were foiled by the heatwave, which raged up to 38°C in the saloon. It was a lot hotter than that in the sun. Paint would dry on the brush on its way from the tin. So Grace got to work making the curtains and blinds instead.  It was good to sit out on the jetty amongst the reeds and in the shade of the trees.

Heavy, though brief, rain and equally unenthusiastic thunderstorms broke the heat after a week, and we could again sleep under a light duvet rather than on top of it. But still the painting was out of the question. The rain was totally random and the weather forecasts did nothing beyond telling us that the rain would be totally random. Wet paint and rain don't mix, either. Grace continues with her sewing, and I'm left feeling cheated, and more loose-endy than ever. I'm trying to get on with writing the book, but it's reluctant in the heat. And in the rain. I considered offering to help with the sewing, watched one very long YouTube video about making curtains, and went for a walk.

Needless to say, it rained on me.

Lindsey Anne set out to Oxford today, and our wide views of the marina pond have been returned to us. I don't know if they studied the weather forecast, but it says it'll rain. Randomly.

*****

Who'd have thunk it?

The weather forecasts were right! (And I say "forecasts", plural, because usually several of them disagree with each other. At the moment, they don't!) It's a beautiful day today! When I looked out of the windows first thing, there wasn't a cloud in the sky or a ripple in the water.

And if you're going to be picky about those very faint white things in the sky, those are not clouds. These are clouds!

But not today. Today is just glorious.

The swan is the pen I saw sitting on a nest of five or six eggs a few days ago. Today it's the cob's turn.

I spent some sunny, relaxing time sitting on a bench on the hill that overlooks the marina. The whole site canal has been really quite busy all day long, and so has the canal.

The first thing we did this morning was shopping at Sainsbury's. We anticipate going out cruising in the next few days, so we've stocked up well. The water tank's full, the fuel tank's full, and I just have a few routine checks to do before we sail away.

And the weather forecast is looking good!

"March brings breezes..."

"...loud and shrill"! And the daffodils are most certainly stirred (* see footnote )

I've just been looking back at this blog's posts at the same sort of time in past years.

In 2012, we'd only just returned to Kantara, and it was raining.

In 2013, we were preparing to go to Debdale to have the hull blacked. We went on 18th, and it had snowed the day before.

It snowed very hard on 23rd.

On March 19th 2014, I wrote, "We're going to do just a short trip to Market Harborough next week." But a week later I reported, "Strong, cold wind; rain; very strong, cold wind; heavy rain; sleet; thunder and lightning; more wind – strong. OH! Sunshine! But still the wind! We were expecting to start a week's cruise this week, but the weather outlook is miserable, so it might have to wait. Skies have been amazing, though!"

Monday, March 9th 2015. "Well, I'd like to be able to report that we're halfway to Llangollen, or about to turn onto the River Stort, but the weather's waaaayyyy too hostile for that. The winds just won't let up, and we've had a fair drop of rain, too."

And last year? On March 19th, we started our epic trip down through London and up the Lee and Stort Navigations. And look at that sky!

Today, I'd only go out if I were paid handsomely to do it! The wind is rocking the boat in traditional Yelvertoft Marina fashion, and it's a chill wind, too, driving some very wet rain.

Sarah and Trevor have taken AtLast out for a short trip to meet friends at Welford. I don't envy them, much as I love cruising.

So we're staying put until... I don't know when! We're trying not to make any plans. I'm putting a lot of time into my new book, and really enjoying it. I'm using Blogspot to host the photos for this one, and it's working out so much better than the Flickr gallery I used for the first book that I'm going to move those photos over to Blogspot as soon as I can. That'll mean editing the content of the book and republishing it, and I'll probably do that to coincide with the publication of "Moving home with our feet under water".

Meanwhile, "Hints and tips for life with your feet under water" has had a fantastic review in April's Towpath Talk.

It's been highly recommended by Cruising the Cut and Gongoozler TV, too. Have a taster of it for yourself here on Amazon before committing your paltry £1.99 to buying it!

>>>===<<<

*

The Garden Year

by Sara Coleridge (clearly not a patch on her dad)

January brings the snow,

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes, loud and shrill,
To stir the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs
Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills the children’s hands with posies.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots, and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit;
Sportsmen then begin to shoot.

Fresh October brings the pheasant;
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast;
Then the leaves are whirling fast.

Chill December brings the sleet,
Blazing fire, and Christmas treat.

(with apologies!)

>>>===<<<

45 mph

OK, so this is nothing like the extreme winds which parts of the UK have had to endure over the past months, but it's pretty fierce for those of us living on the water. The water itself is pretty choppy, but nothing the boats couldn't handle if we wanted to move. No, it's the effect of the wind itself on our floating homes which is the main thing. Boaters invented Rock & Roll, I assure you!

The video gives you something of an idea of winds gusting in the region of 35 mph. 45 mph is predicted for later today, but there's no way I'm going to go out in that! The poor quality of this video is entirely down to me being buffeted constantly, certainly not my poor camera work. I very nearly fell off the pontoon on two occasions. If you have sound on, you'll get a better idea of the experience!

Twitter's been full of boaters' comments about their experiences. Some are not at all happy.

It's good at night, though. You get rocked to sleep very effectively!

Tomorrow, it'll be far less windy, so they say. But colder again.

Who cares about the cold, though? Our Bubble stove's running at minimum, and we have to have the doors and a window open to stop ourselves from overheating!

For the record...

I've remarked many times on this blog how windy it's been here in the marina. How it seems that the pound here seems to capture the wind more than the local canal and surrounding area. We've had very strong winds here. Often. But believe me, the wind we experienced yesterday and throughout the night was the worst by a long way. The boat shook continuously, buffeted by the water and by the wind. Quite alarming at times, I can tell you. There's a degree of security, however, in the knowledge that the roof can't blow off!

I didn't venture out to take any photos yesterday. We had to go shopping, and being out in it then was quite enough for me. Bringing the shopping from the car to the boat, I was stopped in my tracks several times by the strongest gusts. Three trips back and forth, and I was ready to get back into the boat and stay there! The pictures above were taken this morning, and the wind has abated somewhat. The photos don't really show the wind as it is, though, so I tried making a short video. Too hurried, I'm afraid. The warm comfort of Kantara was calling.

Grace oiled the draining board and other oak boards in the galley yesterday. A matter of sanding gently, cleaning the surfaces with white spirit, then brushing on several coats of Danish Oil, with five hours drying time between applications. Neither difficult nor time consuming, except for the long period of time during which we couldn't use the surfaces, nor do the washing up, for fear of splashing them with water. So it was lunch at Sainsbury's before we did the major food shopping, and a light, cold bite to eat in the evening. The last coat, applied first thing this morning, is drying now.

I write in my book,

"Water filling points are provided at sensible intervals around the entire inland waterways system, but boaters need to remember to keep their eyes on the tank level, and to stop at appropriate moments to fill up. The job takes less than half an hour every five days or so for the two of us. A smallish problem."

So you'd think that when we're not out on the cut, and the water point is just a few paces away, we wouldn't run out of water, wouldn't you? Yes, so would I. But we did. Yesterday late evening when the wind was at its height. Not clever. So that was the first thing I had to do this morning. In the strong wind. At least it wasn't raining.

Oh, it's just started! And we still need to wax one side of the boat. Hmmm.