Autumn Days Passing Over

Winter is here all of a sudden, then. A few days ago we were melting in the May heatwave and looking forward to Summer, then I was gently reminded of the absence of my words by some lovely subscribers who also come on the tour I work on for David Crowther's History of England Podcast (hello all, it was as ever lovely to spend a few days with you!). Is this ship now pretty? I was asked; and to be fair it is beginning to get that way. Slowly as ever, baby steps forward. Shockingly, that question was already six weeks ago, though I started writing this post almost immediately, and my early Autumn non-productivity shame is now that of early Winter.

The days since have been rammed, my patience for inertia absolutely run dry and my frustration at being locked into this pound on the canal now coalesced into determination to 'get on'. The canal has been closed to the North since July due to low water, and as we are still experiencing drought it shows little sign of opening soon. I am almost physically yearning to head North again; it's nice enough here but I grow weary of listening to the same gossip, and would like to be back on more homely ground for the Winter, not least to be somewhere more remote from other people.

We're all weary, of course. The heat of the summer was crippling for work as well as play. The boat suffered a set of interruptions and delays, as paint refused to behave in the sweltering weeks of July and August, and my liveaboard boat suffered a big mechanical breakdown which took my attention and money for a few weeks.

Then, in late July a bag of quicklime burst in front of me and I breathed in a cloud of powdered Calcium Oxide. This -as you might imagine- is less than desirable. The material becomes exothermic on contact with moisture, and ones throat and lungs are particularly damp. A whopping chest infection developed, and did not go away. X-rays, steroids, antibiotics, and a ripping cough have punctuated the weeks since, keeping me further from work and slowing things down more and more. The silver lining to this toxic cloud being that it finally marshalled me into packing up smoking, and because I'm nothing if not a cliché, I've started going to the gym again. If I manage to get fit enough to start running cross country again I'm going to be one of those utterly insufferable ex-smokers. Be warned.

I also recently put off college for a year, partly due to financial constraints but also to enable me to make real progress on the boat over Winter. In trying to organise myself for the new term I became frustrated with the casual lies told by college staff about timetables, my options for graduation, about anything they didn't have an answer for. I decided last minute not go grant them my time; the results of this deferrment are already beginning to tell, even if the disappointment of it all was enormous at the time.

On board, the boat has a base coat of the blue and red that will form the livery. I think it'll look grand, even if others are apparently less convinced.

Inside, the back cabin has been lined out with insulation and ply, soon to be given a lick of paint and some furniture. Facilities have been lacking, and though it will remain partisan it will at least offer some comfort out of the worst of the winter.

In other news turned 48 recently. Less noteworthy at this age, not one of the milestones at least; but I treated myself to some concert tickets and a new welding set helped by digital birthday card money- and the big news is that I now have the very thing I needed to make a good job of that roof welding which I'd been let down on earlier in the year. If you want something doing, do it yourself is the message du jour.

Thanks for waiting so patiently for these sporadic updates; I'm trying to be more proactive in writing even if my days are often a slog. I'm grateful that you're still here. Stay tuned, and stay safe.