Hadar

Saturday 13th December.

Buckby Locks Mooring.

A heck of a stormy night outside, which had been forecast and the whole day was not that much better. It rained heavily for most of the daylight hours, making it for a very grey day. Just the sort of day you want to curl up and hibernate. But there could be none of that as there were jobs that needed doing. During the afternoon I was online checking mail and the blog, and we had a message from John and Fiona on N.B Epiphany, saying they would probably see us at the bottom of Buckby Locks if we were still there during Saturday Afternoon. So during the late afternoon when we received a knock on the boat, we knew exactly who it was, it was John. He and Fiona were moored up behind us. John asked if we would deliver some Taybrite to their boat and in return I invited them onboard for a cup of tea. Paddy made them both feel welcome as he always does when visitors call; even Marmite greeted our visitors before settling down for an afternoon nap. The time always flies when you get chatting to people you feel you have known for years because of their blog, but in point of fact this was our first meeting and I certainly hope not our last. We chatted about everything to do with the canal, I guess it is the usual chit chat when meeting up with other boaters. We do hope to see them again on the Oxford Canal after Christmas.
The evening saw us glued to our TV to watch the X-Factor Final, which did not disappoint as Alexandra Burke became the latest winner of the X-Factor. She has the most phenomenal voice, which should make her a household name in the years to come. Good luck to Alexandra and the other finalists with their careers. I have no doubt that JLS will become big news over the coming years as in the end I felt it was going to be tight between them. It turned out that Alexandra won by over 1 million votes. Now we wait to see if she will be number One for Christmas. We also enjoyed the Girls Aloud Christmas Party which was the filling in between and the X-Factor sandwich, so good TV for a Saturday evening.

Sunday 14th December.

Whilst taking Paddy for his early morning walk, I met up with John off of N.B Adrastea, he and Margaret would be moving off soon after, as did Fiona and John who I met at the first of the Buckby Locks, we said our good mornings and goodbyes before they were heading for lock two and a mooring at the top of the flight. I love meeting up with people we have got to know whilst cruising, it is what boating is all about. Sunday was a quite day for us, I finished shawl number two and Keith got on with cutting up more blue t-shirts for the Rag Rug. It is incredible how many pieces it takes to make a back cabin rug, but it will look fabulous when it is done. Marmite and Paddy occupied themselves with chasing each other up and down the boat, until Keith collared Paddy for his paw trimming.Every now and again Paddy gets to sit on Keith's lap to have his paws and claws trimmed. Keith trims the paw hair and I cut the claws. It is not something that Paddy really enjoys, but nevertheless he is pretty good and does sit still through most of it. Meanwhile Marmite tends to look on in amusement. Later on Paddy had the last laugh, because whilst sat out on the back counter Marmite tried to get from the boat to the bank, missed and her back end fell into the canal. Luckily she was on her harness so only half of her got wet. Paddy stood on the counter looking over her, and I could just see him thinking “Serves her right” If only dogs could talk?
It made me think of the ‘Cats and Dogs’ movie. They do love each other really and are wonderful company for each other. Once I had pulled her back onto the boat, Paddy wanted to lick her dry (aww bless), but she was having none of it. She went off and sulked for the rest of the day. So we are another week closer to Christmas and the New Year. See you next week, stay safe.