Thinking Juice

I went to the pub quiz down the local last night,I went with Valonia and her hubby. It was a good evening, we never take it that seriously but we can get competitive once in a while. We only came 7th, so not a good result as winning has happened occasionally. I also find that i have to much thinking juice by the end of the evening. I was quite befuddled by the end of it all. I am not sure what Valonia thought of a slightly tipsy bloke making an arse of himself, probably a bit disappointed I should think. Oh well it might be a while before I get asked again. Saying that the last time they won I was not there so perhaps I am a bad influence in more ways than one.

back in the land of the living

Stand by is over and I am back in the land of the living again. Monday ended with me bringing a bottle of wine home, before I even got back to the boat(I was in the marina) it was opened and I sat with a friend I had not seen for ages catching up eith old news. I then had a drink with Valonia as well and finished the evening off with several large Vodka's and Tonic's a good way to start a few days off.
Tuesday lunch I got a call form my sister to say they where on there way down to see me on there boat.
They tied up by the bridge and we went to the Broadface for dinner.



Picture taken from the bridge.


The food in there is excellent and the wine selection is pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone. We wondered back to the boat to let the dog out and continue with the wine drinking. I had to get a cab home as the walk would have been twice as long as usual hic!

After a rather lazy morning I caught up with Valonia after going for lunch, we thought we might do some foraging for sloes however it still a bit early in the season yet, I might have to drink gin just with tonic for now. Note to self must buy gin and tonic as have neither. Oh well will sticjk to the wine I suppose, its a hard life

not a lot

I am on stand by this week, so nothing happens as I don't go out or do anything. Except that I did quite a visit from the old folks last night. They come for a cup of tea and a chat and then went home.

A great day out.

I had a most unsual day in saturday. I got the chance to go the home of english rugby, Twickenham. I went to a friend of a friends birthday trip. It was great, the stadium is awesome, the atmosphere was excellant, the game however was terrible. It was a real shame for my first ever game there.

The day started with a quick drink, you can't start the day on a dry stomach and a clear head, so a quick G&T to help the day off( there is a drinking theme through the dsay so take it as read that more alcohol was consumed)




The first one of the day


We got a minibus into Twickenham and hit the pub, it was a great ice breaker as I was with some people I had not met before. It was a small world as two came from my part of the world. Jo one of the girls even try to matchmake me with one of her friends.
When we got the stadium it was just such a sight,all the people, the food and beer stands. The game was poor but the whole experience was great.










Even in the bar afterwards, French and english where chatting away and the music playing was helped by several hundred people singing along,awesome.
A quick return to the pub for a refreshment and where the minibus was picking us up from.
We finished the day off with a curry. All in all apart from the actual result in the rugby, it was a brillant day.

Who knows.

I am on that friends reunited site. I tried a couple of old friends who where prompt in there reply. One of them I had caught up with last year, we had met for the first time in nearly 18 years. I have to say I didn't recognise her at all. We went for a drink in Henley and chewed over nearly 20 years of news. It was strange after all that time. I have also found out that an old girl friend from primary school has got married, the event itself no suprise, however she lives in Germany now. It is strange how things turn out. I thought she would never leave Witney. I must admit I have tried others but with no reply. If nothing else it is interesting to see where people are and what they are up to.

Beer but no Bacon Butties

I helped nbthegreenman on Sunday to move there boat. It was an interesting trip with all that stream running. It was esp tricky around Abingdon bridge and lock. After a few hairy moments we made it up through and onto the long haul up to Sandford. I have admit i was disappointed by the lack of catering services, there was no sign of a bacon butty, however the supply of beer did continue. I thought the saving grace would have been the Kings Arms at the lock , but alas no. There cellar had been flooded out so there was no beer, no food and in fact no pub open. Thank goodness for relations, Valonia's parents live near by and so where to help out via the local Chinese and transportation to a toilet(as there's was full and the pub shut).
As a side piece to the pain of lack of food and no pub.
My fellow companions had brought these small walky talkies. Bloody hell they are annoying, they have this whining call button to attract your attention and to make it worse all they did was chatter. Except that did not talk clearly so all they said "Eh what was that, say it again". I was not sure who or what i was going to throw in the river first.
We had to work the lock ourselves at Sandford as the lock keeper had knocked off duty(it was well past 7pm). However he did come out and say where we could tie up safely for the night and we had a chin wag about the conditions in Oxford and about the boat that sank by Folly bridge.
It has been a while since I have boated for pleasure( and at work for that matter), but it was nice to see Old Father Thames again, but also appreciate how tricky he can make things if he wants to

Help part 2

Word of warning several pints of the black stuff for purely medicinal purposes, is not always the right time to post a blog. It tends to focus and exaggerate certain things and get persons so mentioned upset, so apologies to both. I was originally going to do this on the comments, but felt a public apology was better. There is no part 1 of help as I will now withdraw it for several reasons which are now obvious.

Driving and Thinking

As the title suggests I was thinking as I was coming home tonight. As I was hoping to give the green man a hand with their boat, are there other people who might need a hand. If they do how do you go about finding out. On top of that is there a bloke here who is single and is looking for women who is into boats (that is a rare breed as well) is it possible to combine the two.
We (me and the bloke) where looking at setting up a web site to fulfil both needs. A notice board where people can put request for crew or where other can offer their services, in my case keep me in beer and bacon sarnies and I am quite happy. It would also be nice to have crew, as the Thames on your own can be quite tricky (but not impossible). It would be nice to meet a nice lady whether plutonic or otherwise to crew with and also to help out my mate to find a lady who does not find the whole concept of a narrow boat as a long shoe store rather as a great way of life.
Question are these sort of sites already up and running, if not, how do you go about setting up one. Don’t you need something called a domain; I must admit I don't have much of a clue. Can anyone help?

Time to fly

How to be affected by television it was Pimm's O'clock yesterday at about 6.30pm. I must admit Pimms and lemonade is lovely and refreshing. So after several of those and a couple of beers it was time for bed o'clock.
To top things of the weather is improving and I have a long weekend off, I have chance to crew for nb The Greenman and the river is still flowing much to fast. Lots of knashing of teeth this end, once on the canals all will be well. knash knash.

Talk Time

Why is so difficult to have a conversation with a women with out getting raised eyebrows. I was chatting to the new receptionist at work (and yes I am single) and all I got where people having a extra long look when they want passed and giving the proverbial wink. I grant you she was attractive, however it was the last thing on my mind( I become a monk at work, otherwise all to complicated)I had said hello for the last few days as I had walked in and had not caught her name.In my ignorance I not sure if I can remember now( I am terrible with names) It seems chatting to her was some sort of crime if not criminal. It makes me out of principal keep chatting to her just to see if the gossip machine swings into action. Does this happened to anyone else I ask, any clues???.

The Great Escape

The water have been falling over the last few days and I managed to escape this weekend. I went with friends to the Brookalnds museum in Surrey. There is a large collection of old car there that where used in the hay day of the Brooklands track It was the first purpose built race track, it was built at the turn of the century with a large collection of cars which set world records and raced in the early grand prix days. It also houses one of the original Concord's and a Wellington bomber which they found at Loch Ness(perhaps this was Nessie after all

In contrast next door was the modern, Mercedes-benz world.It holds a vast collection of the new cars as well as vast collection of old photographs from the 1910's when racing was at it height. It also had some classic cars there as well

A Gullwing

To make the day complete we found a cracking pub in Benson, called the Three Horseshoe's the beer was fab the food was great and it was a lovely atomsphere in there. 4 stars, never could be 5 now unless they have an alt smoking area which is friendly and inviting. Back to Europe for that as they ignore everything.

TTFN

Rising waters

How this for a week. I watched the Thames rise over 6 feet till it was lapping around my ankles then my knees now its up to my thighs. A great investment was a pair of waders, I have had to use them since Sunday to get and from my boat. It's such a bizarre site seeing the marina rise and rise and the waters just coming in and surrounding in great pools of water. The car park had nearly 3 ft of water. the fields around are just vast lakes. I went to Culham on Tues and the water there is coming over the bullnose like a fancy water feature, you have to see it to believe it.

Culham Lock's water feature

Another sight to be hold was all the fire crews and ambulances helping people off their boats that where stranded. To top it off their was about three TV crews filming there. I managed to watch three different news programmes all being filmed on Abingdon bridge.

I had to do a loo run. I got three loos in the back of the car. This had to be moved by row boat across the car park. Then i drove to Goring lock and emptied there. I carried them back across by using a rope andattaching them together and letting them float across behind.

Oddities

I heard the strangest of things "I dread going to bed and I hate getting up". to me that seems really strange. I love my bed, I miss when i am not there, sometimes rather than stay the night and drink, I will drive home to it.

I am also worried I am working this weekend and it going to rain and rain and rain. 4 inches in 36 hours oh my, i could be busy this weekend, as i am on duty just to top it off, joy. It is also the Thames Traditional boat rally@ Henley

Where is the summer

The sun has come out along with it all the problems of summer. I have been involved in a swan rescue of over 50 birds. This caught the eye of the local press so they have been busy interviewing( not me I hasten to add). Someone trying to clip his nails with a hedgecutter, a gas leak and I am stuck inside and the sun is out. Boo hoo.

Water Water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

It's the beginning of Feb and its like December all over again. I was called out whilst on duty and the river is back in flood. My usual winter cruise might have to wait until the spring the way things are going. I did get someone to have a look at the boat and I am still awaiting a quote. I am hoping to get it sorted before the summer starts. I have also booked a short holiday to Marrakech in May with a couple for friends to celebrate a birthday, I am so looking forward to it, will be the first time I have been, its a long way off but I am sure it will come around quite soon.I am busy testing driving cars this week,a new company one, so I shall be spending my evenings exploring the countryside trying them out.
Not much has happened Xmas and new year came and went. I am looking forward to the summer again but not the extra hours. Except for HRR which was so much fun last year.