Trouble with my bottom!

Before I fill you in on my bottom we must first rejoice! 

Rejoice! 

Saturday 23rd was St George's Day and as usual we had a party. I say "as usual" because of course it is far from usual. We are a tiny minority. The majority do not even know it was St George's Day. 

Ask any Irish, Scots or Welsh schoolkid when their patronal feast day falls and they will know. They will wear their emblems, fly their flags and have a party. Not the English despite (or perhaps because of) all we have to celebrate. Bugger all flags flying  even with the added impetus this year of it being the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death and the Queen's 90th birthday. 

Sorry. Went off on one

We always have a bit of a do. The weather was not promising so extra marquees with extra attention to guy ropes and fixings were erected. The ubiquitous barbecue was abandoned in favour of home made stews, curries, lasagne and other joys were produced and very good it all was too. There was a raffle and of course an auction. 31 people turned up and raised over 700 quid. Quite magnificent. The co-beneficiaries are the Hospice of St Francis and MIND.

There were very fine hats

and Man Buns

and Carrie did a grand job keeping track of the auction

and Chris

and Gill with St George trifles. One alcoholic and one TT....the trifles not the providers

St George!

Roy keeps us warm

It's that trifle again

A photo for the Marquee insurers

Judith-regal and serene as ever

Something down there has amused Michael

Who's flying a Spurs flag?!

It's that bun again

Dinner is served

and again

How did he get in here?

Since St George's Day a further £100 has been donated By Geoff H for the Hospice in memory of his brother Gareth who was in their care in 2014. This brings the total for the hospice to £440 and Mind to£340.Thank you Geoff.

I say it every year and I say it again that the generosity of such a small band of boaters and friends is wonderful to see....and we had a good time doing it. Thank you everybody. ....and thank you everybody at the Cowroast pub who raised £55 with an Easter Egg raffle and to the Lamb in Berko who raised £80 with a whisky raffle, both amounts going to MIND for Ben Ubly who is now in France on his sponsored walk from Gibraltar to London.

http://benubly.blogspot.co.uk/

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Off to Bulbourne on the Sunday (24th) to have Independence dry-docked, blacked and surveyed. Say it quickly and it sounds easy enough but if you're a pessimist like me and your bottom hasn't been surveyed for 19 years then it's rather stressful. The hull has been docked and blacked regularly but she's 33 years old and you can't help meeting trouble half way. She was slipped on Monday with the survey on Tuesday. Apart from the pleasant interlude of a visit from Pam's sister and brother in law Tricia and Tony and a fine pie and a pint at Porters restaurant in Berko along with Pam and Joseph- it was a fraught 48 hours awaiting the results. I spent most of the time looking at the phone and clutching a Good Luck card from Pam  who knows what a wimp I am in such matters       Much relief. Overall good condition with three bits-rudder tube, weed hatch and sink waste exit- needing attention the whole exercise came out at £2150 and I now have a hull that will see me out. Phew. Deep joy.

So nice for a chap to have confidence in his bottom.

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Wednesday and Ady and I took ourselves off to Exeter to visit Peter B. After dumping our gear with Peter we three were off to  visit to the Double Locks on the Exeter Canal (I recommend it very much but dread to think what it would be like in the Summer)

I managed to dodge the first round on the pretext of taking this picture of the pub with Peter hanging about outside trying to dodge buying the first round-Cheers Ady!

One of the Double locks.

Ady bathed in the evening sun- a man at peace with his pint.

The following link tells you the very interesting history of the canal and its course which was so tortured that the burgers of Exeter still receive free Canal Route treatment.

http://www.canalroutes.net/Exeter-Canal.html

Back to Peter's for dinner and a fizzy toast to the condition of my bottom

Ady delays the chef

Thursday and the weather still has a touch of Winter about it but we venture onto Dartmoor and Hay Tor where I re-enacted the part of Monty Bartlett (played by Roy Kinnear in "The Hill" )whilst other people either read the paper or fell asleep in the back of the car.

Hay Tor

The view from Hay Tor

The pub near Hay Tor-The Rugglestone Inn. Excellent

 After a pleasant light lunch it was off to Teignmouth for a bracing walk along the seafront and a cuppa. Very British

reminds me of Eric Cantona

The end of the Pier show.

On the way back to Exeter we passed this distant relative.

Into Exeter City Centre for dinner at Carluccio's. Very good with a nice Frascati to lay the dust


One of my reasons for wanting to visit Peter was to check in on friend, Ted, who had a health scare a while back. On Friday Ady and I met him at a farm shop in Topsham for Coffee and pleased to report-Same old Ted. Lovely feller for a Spurs supporter and looking pretty fit.

Ted kindly showed Ady where the bread dept was. It's a massive farm shop

So having checked out the West Country folk we set off for home our work among these heathens complete. The uncontrollable sobbing from my left indicated that a break for sustenance was required and Ady knew of a lay-by where his needs could be satisfied

Good old Joseph.

Malaga beckons though the forecast is not as good as the UK which this week has been ideal for boat painting. One side finished but a Spanish break will be welcome. A man needs a change when he and his bottom have been in torment.

Until the next time-  Hasta la vista