AUTUMN COOL

21stSeptember 8.50 pm in bed
Today I painted Wavy in instalments. Paint? Well. I was down at Swindlers yesterday with loads of recyclable waste which had built up during the Summer and someone had left a brand new unopened can of Rustoleum Combi Colour, a very big tin, I reckon about half a gallon of very high quality oil-based satin finish. (RAL 210 40 38)  Research showed it covered well did not sag dried quickly and was perfect to coat a fibreglass hull.  So I am doing the whole superstructure above the gunnels and in between showers have got most of it done today.  

In other news I got a few diamonds masked and painted in wabi sabi area dictated by the weather.  My stall is laid out and Sunday no buses through Braunston so no excuse for not getting work done ... if the forecast rain allows

19thSeptember 6oc.
I am sleeping later these mornings but dawn is also later.  Since the forecast was for dry but overcast and a rising east wind which would be in my back I decided to get going and started the engine at 6.45am, undid the ties and slipped at 7oc. An entirely uneventful 90minutes brought me to B95 at Braunston where I tied to the very first mooring and disconnected Wavy, after which I secured Pentargon and went to play with the buses. I grabbed the first to come which was 9.35 towards Rugby but I skipped it at Barby and arrived in Daventry 10.20 with a Banbury bus due to leave at 10.30 which it did and landed me in Banbury at 11.30. I stayed there an hour and was back in Daventry 13.30 with 45mins to shop.  Back on board at 2.50, I set about tying Pentargon up properly and getting a little siesta.  I then realised I had run out of butter so I caught the 4oc in the mistaken belief that there was a convenient return bus. But there is a gap at 5oc with no D1 so I had to wait til 6.25pm which put me back on board just before the sun went down. So one of those days where almost five hours was spent on or waiting for buses.

18thSeptember 3.30pm
Barby Bridge79 \\\snack.print.pine
I returned to the boat from a meeting with the printer to find my neighbour had been chopping down overhanging blackthorn indiscriminately and dropping it in the river.  We had spoken about clearing the towpath a bit and I had removed one very large branch a few days previously by filleting it out of the undergrowth and dismantling it twig by twig.  I did get the impression he was afew raisins short of a current bun, but I never expected him to fill the canal in front of my boat with loads of debris. To avoid any of it sticking to me, I fired up the motor (1.30) and let loose. The couple of miles south of Hillmorton has no place to moor up until you come to a section near B79 which features in a page of my book and having arrived there I decided it would make a good overnight stop. 

18thSeptember 08.45am
Hillmorton  \\\minder.myths.rushed
I came back to the boat yesterday using the 8.35 X4 from Lynch Park arriving in N.Hampton 1100oc to take the 96 all the way and order for ToeByToe from Hunts. What a magnificent resource is Hunts.  They will have it in a day or two and text me ... On board (Tues.) about 4pm in full sun. All's well so I mop up the bilges and settle in.  Later I meet my neighbour Jordon and later cut out a large branch from the overhanging blackthorn and dismantle it.  Back and forth to Co-op Hillmorton using the D1 ... This morning (Wed.) I woke (at 5.15am)  in time to listen to the forecast and record Farming.  Later I made my coffee, cleaned the sink and draining board and gathered up accumulated recycle and rubbish for further processing ... If all this sounds boring and repetitive it IS!  Routine is essential to survival and mundane tasks form the bulk of on-board time ... "Survival at all costs and at no cost at all" means watching the food bargains in local shops.  Recording experience in this blog and in the ship's log keeps tabs and soon I will walk out to catch the (9.28)  D1 to Daventry.  Forward planning as my next move will probably be to Braunston and the D1 links with the D2 for Northampton for the X4 to Peterborough.

I am also aware that Autumn is here and we are lucky to be enjoying a bit of "Indian Summer" due to a high sitting over England. But as soon as t high goes it will be Hampshire time on board and a heated cabin till next May!  it is so comforting to have reliable lekky on board and once I get Simon Proctor to fix the extension cable I will be able to improve my storage by 33% subject to getting enough sun to replace usage while I am not on the boat 

15th September. 10.15am Peterborough.
Clear sky and no wind. Cool, as it has been for the past few nights. Yesterday I took the 31 bus from Queensgate to Ramsey and back and saw some house-martins that don't seem to know Summer is over.  Maybe they know an Indian summer is in prospect ...  Autumn really shifts into high gear after 1st Sept. with dawn getting later at a noticeable rate as we hurtle towards the equinox.  Living close to nature off grid you notice that you gotta put on the light to find the switch to put on the radio to listen to Farming Today and later it stays dark until 7oc accentuated by the fact that some mornings are overcast and often raining ...

I had baled out Wavy and Pentargon last Wednesday and caught an early 96 (8.35 at Houlton) to catch a 10oc X4 to Corby because that was what was on offer when 96 hit Drapery at 9.50.  It proved to be a sensible decision as the X4s were in a bit of a mess on Wednesday and it was 12.20 before I got out of Corby and 13.30 at the Parade in Orton Waterville ... There was a 'meeting' Thursday in the looney bin to 'discuss' the eventual departure of the screw who has not been seen on site since 20th April.