Friday

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I have been depressed and I have also been a little busy, up and down to the boat.
Work...well not much to report, in fact nothing at all this week. I have two days next week which is great.

It's been one of those weeks. Some highs some lows. The best thing was I went to see the practise sister and my Doc at the GP's on Wednesday and was told I am doing mega well with my diet and looking after myself and my Diabetes seems to be under control. My Blood Sugar has dropped, so has my blood pressure and cholesterol.

I took a visitor from Rwanda to see the boat today and we went for a short trip, though it was cold and started to rain and Celestine found that a bit much and left me on my own as he went inside. We are taking my Mum and Dad out on Saturday with a niece and nephew of mine which will be really nice.

I have not had a lot of work these past few months and it is quite depressing...I had a call on Friday from the company in Coleshill that book me when their producer is away asking if I was free 1st to 5th October. I said yes..I felt like saying let me check my diary and rustling some paper (lol) .
whilst gardening/ ungardening yesterday I had a call from the company confirming Thursday and Friday with a celeb VO and a massive mixing session and also to quote a outside recording session in Lancashire.
I have say today I ache in my shoulders, back and my knees my Mum just phoned to tell me my Dad who is over 70 has gone to work on two houses he is fixing up for some builders!!!! That man is totally amazing.

Well the two chairs have just arrived only the Hi-Fi to come and I can pop up and take them to the boat.

another update

Last week I was visited by Jim the sign writer and I told him what we wanted and he said what he could do. Yesterday he emailed me a plan of what he can do. (The colours are just for show on the diagram) We are going to have cream writing and a light blue highlight I think.

I am supposed to be doing the drive with Dad today, my dad ordered a skip for this, this morning and he refused to deliver it, saying there was too much hardcore and he wouldn’t leave it on the road outside my house? We phoned another company, they came and delivered the skip and after an exhausting day cleared the drive!!!! I am so tired now it isn't funny.

We had a nice weekend on the boat and took her out to Acton Trussell for a short run, we are both a little more confident in steering her now, we have ordered the comfy seats for the saloon/living area of the boat and we have also now ordered the Hi-Fi as well. Once all these bits in and we have some nice weather we will look forward to inviting and receiving visitors

some ramblings

I am still feeling strange, I feel as though I have had a massive work out, or been shopping all day just before Christmas. I woke up and felt as if I haven't been to sleep?

Up until now i have been feeling so much better, I take my pills and slowly my blood sugar has been coming down and my energy levels have been coming up, if I feel like this tomorrow I will pop and pester poor old Dr X again.

So what’s been happening? Not a great deal really I did pop to church for the Seconds Out meeting, it was a good meeting and I am glad I went, but I feel so tired and achy. I am hoping to spend the weekend on "The Robber Button" with Mrs EB getting it ready for guests, a little to do yet, I also should be hearing back from the sign writer very soon with a proof of what he will be doing.... it will just be a matter of saying yes and finding a day for him to come and do it.

We are off to Malta for a week’s holiday at the end of October to see Mrs EB's brother and I am hoping I can do some diving, we need to find out if the insurance covers me now? if not I can possibly do some shallow dives but nothing over 20 meters as if something happened I wouldn't be able to cover the costs of decompression treatment. I haven't dived since the day before the accident last year. Mrs EB carried on diving but heart wasn't in it and not being 100% under the water is a massive NO-NO as it can very dangerous. can be? actually, it is a very dangerous sport that is what it is listed as... So I would like to do a little diving and I am sure I will do some but maybe not the deep wreck dives and the Blue Hole....but that's OK as long as Mrs EB gets a few great dives in I will be happy.

It has been a mixed few days: I had a little job from Kenya and I was at Church this afternoon looking after the sound at a funeral/thanksgiving service. Tonight I am suposed to be at church again for a little get together for the Seconds Thoughts mission. I seem to have no energy today at all, I have felt off for a few days and the past two days I feel like I have flu but only the achey bones bit and the no energy.

I guess I may trundle upto church for an hour later but I really don't feel like it. I just want to go to bed and sleep....

Suprised? no

Little Madeleine McCann went missing some 4 months ago. No trace of her has really been seen again. My heart goes out to her parents and grandparents. The news coverage has been up there all the time thanks to Gerry and Kate's tenacity. What actually happened that night only one or two people actually know and I hope and pray one day that the truth will come out. What has amazed me is the feeling of total shock from family and friends that Gerry and Kate are prime suspects? I cannot believe that it has taken all this time to officially make them prime suspects.

Here are the facts that are know:-

A Child has gone missing from an unsupervised home.
The Parents are the last known people to have actually seen that Child.

Ask any detective and he will tell you, the last known person to see a victim holds vital clues and will nearly always know something about what has happened. I am not saying that they know what has happened to little Maddy, but I am also not surprised that they are prime suspects either. In this crazy world we live in anything is possible and evil and horrid things happen every day. I truly hope and pray that Maddy is found alive and unharmed, as the months plod on this seems less and less likely.

1 year...so quick and so long, and very emotional.

12 months ago today I was on a ferry crossing from Malta to Gozo for a days diving when I recieved a call from Mission Team Leader, it was a call that has changed my life. Not in the same way it has changed Mrs FLN or Timelord or Teapot, but it has had a massive effect on me.

I am sort of OK today, I have kept myself busy and have called Mrs FLN to see if she needed anything. I feel sort of shell shocked today and very sad and heart broken again. I can hear my friends talking to me laughing and pulling my leg as they always did. I really wish they were here to do it...though that is the selfish me wanting that...as they are in Glory and I really miss them.

Sorry this blog is not very well written, it's just my feelings put down as they came between the tears and heartbreak.

I am sat on "The Robber Button" in the marina, it's a beautiful day, it's warm, blue skys, loads of ducks quacking and various other birds tweeting and flying past. All is right with world....well it isn't but all seems to be.

I have been so busy doing things these past few weeks, getting the house ready to sell, and buying the boat that last year seems so far away, yet it is just a milli-second away. Where we are moored it is actually not that far away from the where it all happend, and in only a few days time it is 1 year? In one way it still doesn't seem real, in another it feels like only a few weeks ago I was eating a curry with Matt and Chris, in another way it seems so long ago when I last chatted with them.

I just don't know how I feel at the moment? I don't have the words to express it. I know both Chris and Matt would have loved the boat and I would have loved having them on board, but there is no way I would have let Chris take the tiller after hearing how he nearly sank one narrow boat.

So much to say:

Friday we went to Braunston and took over "The Robber Button" Huzah!!!!! It was a day spent traveling; Mr EB Snr and his friend Ron took us to the Marina, showing them the boat, unloading the car of bedding and other bits and bobs. Kettle (to be found out is a no no on narrow boats, use the gas it saves the batteries!!!. A toaster....again a no no, use the gas grill. Clothes etc. We spent time sorting things and learning where to put stuff. (Space is of a premium on a small boat)

Saturday we did our day course with James, it was 7 hours of far to much info, but between us we have gleamed a little info. Who would have thought you would need to know so much info for a such a slow boat? We both felt this was a day we needed to do, it was like having a massive driving lesson, it took us through the basics and, wel,l we needed it. When we said good-bye to James and carried on we felt a little scared but it was OK.

Sunday; Mrs EB and I did our own thing for the day; it was a tough day and we did have a few problems that we solved in our own way. We did 11 locks at Atherston and also about 12 miles of canal. This may not seem much but at a max of 4 mph and when passing a moored boat 1 mph, it can a long time. I think we eventually moored up at 6pm-ish. Mr and Mrs EB Snr picked us up Mrs EB and left me alone, Mrs EB was coming back with a few we left behind, then going home again as she had work in the morning. I went out for a walk along the towpath looking for some sticks and logs to burn on the woodburner. I couldn't find any, but bumped into a fellow boater, he gave me a big log and an axe!!!! after a while he said actually I have a brand new chain saw inside...and he did!!!! and he cut up some logs for me. I took my logs back and took him a few bottles of beer as a thank you. My neighbour for the night saw I needed some logs and also gave some...this was just wonderful and even though I didn't know these guys they both showed the true meaning of love. When Mrs EB arrived back she could hardly believe I had a wonderful log fire burning.

Monday, I was on my own and I sailed for nearly 11 hours on my own I did 5 locks and I was just totally worn out by the end of the day. The highlight of the day was seeing a King Fisher flying past me. The low point hitting a bridge ( I was tired and well it just happened!!!) I also saw the other side of boaters. I pulled in at Fradley Junction in a mooring and was just about to have a small break and wait for Mrs EB when a chap arrived at my boat and was really grumpy and very rude and told me to move my boat as it was his mooring, and he said he needed in a few hours time? I explained I was on my own and was just waiting for my wife to arrive...well I moved on. and carried on up to Kings Bromely far to tired to manover the narrow boat. I moored up oposite a warf.

Tuesday; The next morning I spoke to warf owner and asked him to mix up some paint and he said I could moor up on his warf...(A nice person) Whilst doing this a lady, Margaret, helped me...she had been boating for over 30 years...I helped her move some logs and she showed me her old boat. A friend from church arrived to help me for the day, he has had a boat for years and he loved sailing mine. I took over to take her into the marina.


Wedesday; I spent at the marina with a chap called Carl from Braunston, he was sent over to fix a few snags I had found en-route. A really nice guy who told me about the toaster and kettle!!! I also started to paint the inside of the water tank, (it was starting to rust as it has sat with a bit of water in for a very long time) I ended up with a lot of water proof paint on me!!! and now I cant get it off!!! and I have even more to do tomorow. After this busy day I headed for church as the new sound desk had arrived and needed to be fitted before Thursday so I can set it for Sunday and have music group arround for the practise.