Thursday 8 January 2015

And a happy and HEALTHY New Year!!

Thursday 8th January 2015.

Hello people, and a belated Happy New Year to all!
Having just returned from a food shop and feeling somewhat 'grumpy' I thought I would do something to help me calm down, and take the opportunity to bring the blog up to date. 
The reason I'm grumpy? Yet another supermarket 'scar' on the car! Caused by some shortsighted moron who cant judge the width of a parking space/ or their vehicle, and therefore has added yet another scuff to my rear bumper! Honestly it makes me soooo cross! Before retiring due to medical treatment etc I had spent the previous 25 years as a ADI  (Approved Driving Instructor) teaching people to drive, and the only scars on my vehicle have been caused by other people hitting my vehicle!  Grrrr! I know its not a nice attitude but the best I can hope for is that someone will do it to their car then they'll know how it feels.
Anyway, enough moaning for now, I am gradually chilling out, relaxing, and enjoying the peace and quiet of Kings Bromley Marina.
Reading Les and Jacqueline blog http://boatlife.blogspot.co.uk/ about their life in the Marina,  I couldn't help thinking how fortunate I am living here. The Marina is well landscaped with many mature trees and has lots of 'Green areas'. There are adequate facilities for laundry, showers and WCs  and each mooring has water and electricity. The owners tend to space the liveaboards so that there's usually one or two 'holiday boats' between two liveaboards thereby giving some privacy.
I suppose I'm quite lucky where I am, on the right (starboard) side of me is a holiday boat where the owners live in Yorkshire and only appear every few weeks, and when they do they're very quiet.
 On the port side at present, is an empty space as the usual occupant is away being painted, but when it is here the owners only visit every few weeks, in both cases they're really nice people who value their privacy.
The other side of the empty space is occupied by Paul, who lives aboard and is a thoroughly nice guy. He and I usually fill our water tanks together as its easier with two of us.
My view from the rear deck is of mature trees and fields with the car parking area close by. The view from the front deck looks out across the Marina to the fuel pontoon so there's sometimes a bit of coming and going there which can be quite entertaining at times!
The Marina is gated, that is to say its not generaly open to the public and out of office hours the only way of entering or leaving is by an electronic key fob issued to boat owners only so therefore it's quite secure.
Living in the Marina suits me well. I've been able to liveaboard since moving up here from Kent and I'm not far from my brother and sister. This year I hope to do some extended cruising from my mooring at Kings Bromley returning when the mood takes me and maybe NEXT year I'll become a continuous cruiser? Time will tell.
More later.