Tue 21st
Mar By car to Suffolk
Our
first stop was in Northampton to see our solicitor and to sign a few papers.
James’ father was a solicitor and taught James never to sign anything without
reading it first. However, there were
many pages of paragraphs, clauses and sections, but signatures required in just
three places, so we signed and took away some paperwork to read through later.
Our
satnav helped us get out of Northampton and we were soon on our way to Maggie
and Clive’s place in Carlton near Saxmundham in Suffolk. We had a glorious day
for travelling, and a relaxing evening with them.
Wed
22nd Mar Suffolk
We
had a look at our post which is sent to their address, and we took them out to
lunch at the White Horse at Badingham. This had recently changed hands and the
food, atmosphere and prices were all agreeable.
Maggie and Clive outside the White
Horse at Badingham.
We
then visited the most interesting Badingham Church of St John the Baptist. The ornate
porch and the huge font both date back to the 1480s. There is also an unusual hammer
beam roof with angels.
The church at Badingham
Then
a brief journey to Sibton to see some family graves – James’ grandparents on
his mother’s (McDougall) side, and his aunt Mog and Uncle John. Grandfather
Rory McDougall used to be the rector here.
The graves at Sibton
Back
to Carlton to put the car to bed for seven months, under a tarpaulin, with
battery disconnected.
Under wraps
Then
we watched some old video from the last century, showing us in our more
athletic days, when Maggie and Clive had a sailing yacht and took it through
the French Canals. There was a brief glimpse of Chris Coburn on his narrowboat
Progress, returning from Dunkerque with the little ships.
Thu
23rd Mar Suffolk to
Aylesbury by train
Looking
out of the window in the morning we were delighted to see a Brambling, a bird a
bit like a chaffinch. We had never seen one before. The daffodils were out in all their spring glory.
Daffodils
The house and moat
Maggie
kindly gave us a lift to the station, where we boarded our train to Ipswich,
and then to Liverpool Street, Marylebone and Aylesbury.
Out
with the bus passes to return to the boat where we lit a fire, and said hello
to Hugo.
In
the evening we went to the first of several events connected with Easter. This
was a meal to commemorate the last supper, and relate it to the Passover event
in Egypt. It was very good, particularly so as we were in an upper room. We missed this last year as Easter was later,
and we had left by then.
The last supper commemoration
Fri
24th Mar Good Friday in
Aylesbury
We walked
round to the church cafe, More+, where we had agreed to meet Phil and Anne for
a farewell chat. A lovely atmosphere once again.
Later, as
it was a beautiful day, we moved the boat onto the fuel pontoon, where James
loaded four coal bags onto the pallet on the roof. This would have been a
difficult job from the stern. There was
one more, which we put in the bows. The current
one in use is in the stern, and we anticipate we will finish it before we set
off.
A beautiful sunny day
Lots of
people were cleaning their boats and doing some maintenance in preparation for
spring. Barry and Mary on Hartwell left for the summer. We would probably have done the same if
we weren’t concerned about missing Easter Sunday at the church. Sadly, the forecast for Monday is not as good
as we had hoped, with a lot of rain. We will monitor the situation.
Hartwell sets off up the canal
Later we
walked once again to More+ where people were gathering for fish and chips, and
a contemplation of Good Friday. There
was a cross where we could exchange our red pieces of wool for white ones,
where our sin had been washed clean by what Jesus did for us.
The Good Friday Cross
The
forecast for Monday became worse, with strong winds as well as rain. Malcolm
and Julia were in the cafe, and we agreed to talk again on Sunday.
Back to
the Canal Basin, where the bar was open so we joined the group of boaters
there.
On the
news later, our Monday storm had been given a name: Katie.
Sat 25th
Mar Aylesbury
We had a
leisurely morning and then went to the site office for our development. We were
kitted out in high viz jackets, hard hats, and steel toed boots, and given a
grand tour of the apartment block. We were pleased to see that the door to the
second bedroom was in the position originally shown on the plan, instead of
halfway along one wall as we thought it would have to be.
Hard Hats
The view of the park and canal from
the balcony
The view of the apartments from the
park
We also
sent an email to our solicitors with a few queries about some of the clauses in
the contract.
The people
on Jake, the boat next door, arrived with various items to stow, and announced
that were leaving today. A strong wind
and heavy rain later caused them to change their minds.
We
discovered that Simon and Pat from Daedalus were around for one night, so we invited them for
drinks on Gabriel. It was good to catch up with them, as we thought we would be
gone before they came back. They are going to the K&A and then the Fens, so
we are unlikely to coincide until we meet again back in Aylesbury in November.
Sun 27th
Mar Easter Sunday! He is risen!
The clocks
changed so we lost an hour somewhere. Up
early for band practice at 9am. We had
seven in the worship band, but only three monitor speakers, so it was hard to
hear what we were doing. However, we made a joyful sound with some great Easter
songs. A shared breakfast at 10am
started the service, which included a time of communion. It was a wonderful
time of celebration. They also had us both up at the front to talk about our
plans for the summer, and to pray for us.
The
weather forecast now shows rain on Easter Monday morning until about lunchtime,
and then fine after that, so we arranged to meet Julia and Malcolm tomorrow at
1pm on Gabriel for our trip to
Marsworth
In the
afternoon Aylesbury Canal Society held an Easter Egg hunt, so were pottered
around the basin in beautiful sunshine.
We then had tea and cakes, and more cakes and puddings. It was more or
less our farewell to the boaters.
Spoils from the Easter Egg Hunt
Cakes
Puddings
There was
a lot of rain around and we had a wonderful Easter Rainbow for our final
afternoon. It then started raining very hard. Katie has arrived.
Easter Rainbow
Gabriel ready to go (mostly)
Plans for
next week: a cruise via Leighton Buzzard to Milton Keynes