It's all too easy to get up, have breakfast in front of the telly, have a coffee and a packet of biscuits for afters, watch Lorraine or Jeremy for an hour, have another cup of coffee to really get the system going, have lunch at 12.00 and watch an afternoon repeat of Lovejoy on the new Drama channel and before you know it you're trying to answer some Pointless questions (thank goodness for Pointless) before a quiet evening in, in front of the box.
Don't tell me you haven't done it.
The key is to keep busy.
So after that first cup of coffee, just remember that government body that helps us regulate out TV watching habits - Offswitch.
When I'm not planning on going anywhere on the boat, I do like pottering - I've mentioned this before - or I visit somewhere on foot or on my bike. For instance, while I was in St Neots a while back, I took Brian's advice and popped into the small Museum. For £2 it's a little gem, set inside the old police station, complete with the 3 original cells, a small prisoners toilet* and an exercise yard measuring about 10' x 6'. It's well worth seeing after you've visited the market and all the Charity Shops in the town.
* to clarify, it's actually a small toilet for prisoners not a small prisoners toilet.
Apparently this was a 19th century narrowboat owner waiting to find out if he had won a free trip to Australia...or worse!
By the way, it's also worth seeing if there is anything on at the Priory Centre on the waterfront next to the EA moorings. We once caught a performance of Godspell by the local Youth Group and enjoyed almost every minute of it.
The other obvious place to visit is the nearest pub as there are many dotted around the fens, often quite close to the river and its mooring places. Ely is particularly well endowed with drinking establishments including a popular micro pub but there are many to choose from. Now I wouldn't want to be accused of spending all my time in local hostelries but I'm told the occasional tipple does help to keep the blood flowing freely and keeps you in contact with other members of the human race while you're out and about.
Spending time away from home is also a great opportunity to select something to read from your collection of boy's-own books and comics. The heroic adventures of people like Scott, Shackleton, Fiennes, Biggles and Churchill (not to mention Chris Ryan and Andy McNab) do wonders to keep my small boating misadventures in context I can tell you. TTFN.
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