Saturday, 2nd November



The authentic Arabian appearance is achieved by
holding a piec of ice, wrapped in a serviette, on the area
stung by the wasp

You would be forgiven for thinking this is a picture of a wealthy, influential sheik, potentate of somewhere full of sand and oil visiting the UK with a harem and a string of Bentleys.

It  is, in fact, a man who has been stung by a wasp. He was meant to be sealing his boat chimneys-a job long overdue-and had indeed set about this task with the nearest thing to enthusiasm without actually being enthusiastic and wallop. Clearing leaves from the roof to get at the area in question and bang-right on the bonce, above the right eye and ouch to the power of 28. I've been stung before in various places so I don't go to any of them now-no, I mean on  the arms, the hands the neck and recovered almost immediately but this boyo meant business. It hurt like hell and continued to do so till I retired early in the evening. At one stage I thought of going to the whaspital but that would have been silly. So no boat chimney sealed today. The Blessed Pam ministered unto my wound before she and Joseph went off to Earls Court with Ollie to some ski show. Sounds fun. Here's a picture of them.

No, not this one -they're reindeer,the other one up there

Did it rain here?
No rain dear.
Oh That's good moose
We've a stag do at the hoose
R Burns

Sunday, a bright and breezy day with little traffic on the cut. Although these two came by-from a distance I thought  they were walking on water.

Head now restored to its former beauty and I suspect the sting has prompted some hair growth. Just a whisp. Or is it a whasp?

Monday! and I'm cooking on gas. Two hours of hanging upside down over the central heating boiler and getting covered in diesel smuts and we're away-yippee. Job done and the central heating working like a wasp on heat .A lovely day so turned the boat round to get at the chimney that is leaking like a sieve. Lots of sealant and wait for the next  to see if its worked..

Tuesday AND IT'S GUY FAWKES NIGHT!

So far so good . Plenty of rain but no leaks-marvellous.  A trip to Tesco with Jaq from nb Valerie( http://boatlife.blogspot.co.uk/)  to stock up for fireworks night and try not to get too excited about the forthcoming pyrotechnics.

Picked up  Joseph  and we are soon up to our necks in sparks, bangs, hot dogs,  pop and pizza along with Pat from next door-with Mulled Wine!- and Richard and Ally (Ali,Alli?) with Harvey, Nancy, Dulcie and Bruno. Lots of Ooooooing andAhhhhhhing and more fun than I deserve. They brought a firework that sounded like Saturday night in Baghdad which was stupendous and I flitted about (as best as a man of my stature can flit) lighting rockets and sprays and all sorts of wonders.

Pam and Joseph lit the chimerea which was v welcome

Joseph in his smart new ski jacket tends the fire.

Oh and sparklers! Looks like I got the last one. Hee hee-Don't you just love sparklers.

Wednesday, a dismal, dank, dreary day. A day suited to picking up dead fireworks, leaves,losses................filled up the tank with water and restarted Operation Mooring Tidy but soon got bored with that. I noticed a couple of CaRT (was B Waterways before the world went completely mad) employees leaving the moorings when I arrived. Always a cause of anxiety especially for those of us competing for the Untidiest Mooring in South East England Competition. Whatever it is it wont be good news and will probably cost us money. 

Still raining......perhaps I'll leave the tidying up till tomorrow.

I shall stay in the dry and do some picture framing and play at being a plumber. If I can find the right spanners......I have an air lock in the pipework between the central heating stove and the immersion tank. (That's interesting isn't it.) and every year I solve it but can't remember what I did the previous year. As it involves water and pipes and stuff I have to think very carefully before filling my sporran with ice cold water-or is it hot-can't remember and not undo the wrong bits or bugger the tank. Anyway it's too dark to do anything now so it can wait till the morning.
I know-I'll publish this post on the blog. Until the next time....