Thursday 24 July 2014

Nothing to report

Since my last Blog 3 weeks ago, I have only been on the boat once; a short trip up to Ely for one night.

The rest of my time has been spent arranging and running John's funeral, which went well fortunately, and doing all the prep to put his bungalow up for sale. Oh yes, and in between all that, we opened up the house for the Street Fayre a couple of Sundays ago.

At least John's estate is quite simple but, having said that, I have been amazed how complicated and time-consuming it has all been. I know, it could have been worse so I'm not really complaining - much. 

So, with the weather being so good at the moment, I may pop up to see Skylark in the next few days to brush off the dust, start the engine, and if I can spare the time, I may take her out for a spin. I guess she won't be too bothered but I could certainly do with a break!

Who said there's nothing to report?!?

Tuesday 1 July 2014

Always look on the bright side

To coincide with the return of the Pythons at the O2 arena, my thoughts today turned to the maxim; always look on the bright side of life. 

At the moment I'm dealing with the funeral of my cousin John. I'm having to apply for Probate, sell in bungalow, pay off all his creditors and prepare his eulogy, things I have never done before and it's important to get this process right. It's all becoming quite a strain, not just because it came out of the blue and is a significant responsibility but it has to take priority over lots of other things I would rather be doing (not least of which is boating). I suppose it just goes to show, there are some things that are more important that boating.

But it also makes it so obvious that we must have things to take our minds off the the challenging things in life, to keep things in perspective, to help us 'look on the bright side of life'. Just as Churchill and Hitler had hobbies to take their minds off the harsh realities of life, we also need hobbies.

I suppose that's one reason, why I have taken to rearing chickens. I know having two chickens is not exactly in the same league as Bernard Matthews but its bringing us a great deal of pleasure. Yesterday's first egg being a good example.

I'm also building a new pen to make their lives happier and a couple of evenings ago, we bought a second-hand chicken coop. Yesterday, between, telephone calls to estate agents, creditors and Registrars, I refurbished it; pressure washing it, making a new roof, improving the door, fitting new catches, etc.

It certainly helps me look on the bright side of life. And I can't resist taking a photo of it for the record. Is that sad or what? At least it has taken my mind of some of the other jobs I have to do today.

Our first egg!

There's nothing to report on the boating front because I have spent quite some time at home. It's amazing how much stuff builds up when the weather's fine

News from the chicken run is good. Mabel has produced her first egg without any fuss. She just settled down on the nest and, hey presto, one nice brown egg - a good size and shape, a strong shell and, lets hope, a good taste.

Well done Mabel!

We just need Tikka to make a start and we'll be in full production.