Uncomfortably numb no more

Pink Floyd may have made a lot of dosh from being Comfortably Numb (at the same time as inspiring the naming of a narrowboat or two), but sitting on Herbie's rear end whilst steering makes my rear end uncomfortably numb.  So flagrantly copying an idea from Oakie, Kath and I have manufactured ouselves a padded steerer's seat covered in an alarmingly scarlet shade of vinyl.

Held in place by two bolts and wingnuts we sincerely hope it will not deposit us in the cut.  Sea trials have yet to be carried out.

Anyhow our couple of days aboard Herbie in the marina have not been entirely wasted. I even washed and polished Herbie's port side.  What a good boy am I.

This picture fails to show the full glory of my efforts but at least you can see the full glory of our lovely spot in the marina.. The starboard side will have to wait until I don't have to risk life and limb to get at it.

Tomorrow we depart by car for Cambridge for our annual assault on the beer festival on Jesus Green. In deference to my current medical predicament I promise to exercise a modicum of restraint and stick to halves of lowish alcohol beers. Actually the hard bit will be to refrain from the delights of the cheese counter. It's a hard life.

Not a Constable

I don't do much sketching and I do even less painting, but I though I might as well make an exhibition of myself and show you this pencil and watercolour sketch I did of Kath sitting outside Herbie at Abingdon last autumn. Not that you'd recognise Kath or Herbie from it, but you might at least be able to make out that it's Abingdon.

Today we're off(by car) to Long Buckby to help celebrate Rick and Marilyn's golden wedding anniversary.  If she'd have strangled him all those years ago, she'd have been out by now.

Good news = not so good news

Hmmm, I'm not exactly a happy bunny after my angiogram yesterday.  The good news is that my coronary arteries are narrowed a bit but not all that much.  The bad news is that my coronary arteries are narrowed a bit but not all that much.  No, I haven't made a typo there, the bad news is the same as the good news.  After taking measurements they concluded that stenting was not the answer, so I'm back to square one.  I was really hoping for a quick fix. So now it's more medication and they'll book me in for an ultrasound scan of the heart so they can see how the valves and muscles are operating.  Ho hum.

I'm far from being an invalid, but I certainly couldn't safely manage a hard day's locking down the canal.  Ten minutes raking up hedge trimmings in the garden leaves me feeling breathless and in need of a rest.  Maybe my new medication will help.  We'll have to wait and see. Meanwhile I'm lucky enough to have lots of other interests to get on with.

It's been a fun week otherwise, and we still managed to fit in a few very pleasant hours on a boat on the Grand Union, even if it was stationary.  The lovely George and Carol of Still Rockin' fame were moored in Cowley and they invited us over for a chat on board their stately home.  Just what the doctor ordered and we had a great time.  Thanks G&C it did me a power of good.

More stationary boating awaits. Next weekend we have a few days using Herbie as a pied a terre either side of Rick and Marilyn's golden wedding celebration and before tootling over to Cambridge to join our Peter for our annual pilgrimage to the Cambridge Beer Festival where I shall attempt to drink just a few halves of not-too-strong beer.  It's not all gloom and doom :-)