Dry January Wet January

This is supposed to be a blog about our boating but that doesn't seem very possible lately  (see below) but  it's also a diary for me so here is what you might call a note of the times.

Only three more days left of dry January and a nice bottle of Bordeaux Superior waits patiently until Saturday to accompany our once a month treat of a steak dinner. Outside however it is Wet Wet Wet (a popular beat combo m'lud).

Our so called lawn is like a field left after the battle of the Somme. We try to keep off it in the wet but the bird feeders have to be topped up and the washing has to be hung up on the rare occasions it's not actually raining.  In all my 78 years (Yes, I know! Shocking isn't it) I can't remember a wetter winter.  Not only that but the gales have brought down a ton of dead branches and twigs from our mighty lime tree and they all lay there on the so called grass.  Going out there to clear them will only make for more mud so they'll have to wait. Just like Herbie is having to wait for us to get going.

Going boating is hardly an option. Towpaths are a quagmire down the Oxford and some locks (notably Banbury) are impassable in an unpredictable fashion. If we went down there we might not be able to get back. As to our marina at Cropredy, the residents are up in arms about the state of the access roads and the car park. Cropredy lies at the bottom of a steep sided valley and the water table is quite high. On a number of occasions this winter, the facilities have been flooded and the roadway is full of wet potholes.  I think they are organising a working party this week to fill the worst potholes but a more permanent solution is needed.  Aquavista claim to be considering what to do.  We shall see.

Meanwhile we do have the first signs of spring. In the graveyard behind our house the first wild crocuses are emerging 

In a couple of weeks' time they'll be like they were in February last year.

If and when we get back to Herbie you can be sure I'll have something more to say.

In the meantime keep yer feet dry.  Toodle Pip.