Knitting projects

This week I've been suffering with the dreaded lurgy. Hubby kindly passed it on before he went back to sea. I felt the tickle at the back of my throat and started with the Strepsils and Lemsip Max.
The next thing to do was cancel all my appointments for the week. Luckily my week wasn't going to be too busy anyway but as most of my patients are elderly I refuse to go and visit them when I'm ill.
To be honest I didn't feel like doing anything. Poor Maisie dog has had very few walks, a quick run around the field has had to suffice.
So once I had got myself out of bed, I made sure the heating was on and settled in front of the TV. I can endure daytime telly but only if I have something else to keep me occupied. So this week I've been finishing off some of those knitting projects which I've started but never quite finished.

I've been knitting flower fairies recently, Christmas presents for little family members. I've done three and am thrilled with them.



Meet Rose, Daisy and Tulip.
I'm so pleased with them, I've had lots of lovely comments about them and several people have asked how much I would charge for them.

My second unfinished project to complete was this circular shawl.







This made from one giant ball of yarn i bought in Aldi ages ago. i often see wool i like and just buy it without a clue of what I'm going to do with it. I found the pattern for this on a knitting website and think it will look great over a dark or even pink polo neck.

So now I'm onto the final project. I'm knitting a jumper for my brother. I'm not normally a big project person mainly because I get bored and want a quick result. Anyway I was given a fabulous Kaffe Fassett knitting book, it's very 'eighties' - bat wing jumpers and huge bright designs. However my brother spotted a design he liked so after finding some suitable yarn I started.




This is the back, I'm half way through the front now. It's a great challenge! Not sure how much I'll do before I get bored and go onto something else . I've got a beautiful cross stitch project I have been doing for about 10 years! Yes 10 years! It's big but I think it's about time I finished that!

Anyway I'm feeling a lot better today so I've rescheduled my appointments for next week.


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A weekend away in Tenerife

I've never done it before and it sounded so outrageous when I told someone I was going to Tenerife for a long weekend that I didn't bother telling anyone else.
There was a simple reason.
Hubby was there and I was going to visit him.
After a truly awful three weeks away at sea, hubby came home and uttered the dreaded words, " I need to go away, can you get some time off",
As hubby works away on a ship he is out of the UK for over half the year, and so is in the fortunate position to be able to claim back the tax he has paid. He keeps a very careful eye on his 'in' and 'out' days because once you have more days in the UK than out then that's it, you can't claim your tax back.
Every now and again, the numbers get a bit low and he declares that we have to go away, now, anywhere out of the UK. That's all well and good if only I could just turn round to my foot patients and say, 'sorry, I'm off on holiday for a few weeks, your feet will just have to suffer until I come back". Sorry but that ain't going to happen! I wouldn't have a business to come back to if I kept doing that. Anyway we are fairly good and plan ahead as much as we can so i know in advance when we are going away and just don't book people in.
Anyway this trip away saw hubby's ship have a major mechanical failure which saw them alongside for repairs in the UK and then him and his entire crew were transferred to another ship, which had been laid up due to no work in May. The company wanted them to bring this ship back out into working order because the repair time estimate on his ship is five weeks! Five weeks is a long time to have no ship working!
So they spent almost all of his three weeks away in the UK getting this other ship ready to sail.
You can't just turn up, put the key in, start her up and off you go though. Oh no, there are surveys to do, inspections, certificates to be re issued, crew safety inductions to do, fire drills, engine testing, everything basically!
So when he came home I wasn't surprised to hear that panicked, "we'll have to go away somewhere, now"
'Well, you'll have to go on your own' I said, 'as I've got patients to look after, they need their feet doing and I can't postpone them all at the last minute,
So he organised a two week holiday for himself to Tenerife and then when he noticed I had a four day gap in my diary he booked me a flight to go out and join him, he is a lovely man, isn't he?
Never before have I flown to Tenerife for a long weekend, it seems rather extravagant really but when I reasoned in my head that if I was to go to London for a weekend it would take as long, I decided that I didn't mind after all.
We had a lovely weekend although it has rained most days, very unusual for Tenerife apparently. We had hired a car so we drove to the other so of the island and enjoyed the sun over there instead on one of the days. Sadly hubby got the dreaded sickness/diarrhoea stomach bug whilst I was there so spent yesterday in bed while I went out between showers to explore a little.
I felt awful leaving him this morning as I knew he didn't feel 100% yet and was going to go back to bed.
Anyway we had a great time together, catching up really. We won't have seen much of each other in this three weeks before he is off again back to sea. The good point is that in three weeks he'll be back home again and it'll be Christmas!!!!! Joy!
But before that I've arrived home to a house with no heating, hot water bottle tonight, sort it out in the morning.
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American Adventures - part 3

Fast forward 16 months and here I am back in the same waiting room. No one tells you anything! That's because apparently no one knows!
There are signs everywhere telling you not to use mobile phones which is a bit inconvenient given that I am the only one with a phone to contact my cousin who was meant to meet us outside. We are already an hour and a half later than planned.
I switch my phone onto silence and then whilst rummaging in my bag I manage to send a quick message to my cousin, letting him know that yet again I was being detained.

After about ten minutes the Scottish lady who we had been speaking with in the queue appeared in the room. She came and sat next to me, she'd been brought in because of a problem with her fingerprints!

We sat and chatted and even though we asked a couple of times how long we may be in this place, back came the standard answer," I'm sorry, I don't know".

Eventually, after one and a half hours, my passport was picked up from the pile, stamped and I was called to the desk and it was handed over. No apology, no explanation, so no idea why I was there and to be honest I was just relieved to get out of there and get on and enjoy my holiday!


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American adventures - part 2

Eight years ago this month I got married. We went to Canada for our honeymoon. We had four weeks travelling around and exploring that wonderful country. We started our travels in the east and made our way slowly west ending up in British Columbia. When we were at Niagara Falls we decided it would be nice to walk across the falls into America and have lunch. When we got to the other side of the bridge we showed our passports and had our fingerprints taken. We hadn't planned a trip to America so hadn't got a visa so we were told we had to pay some dollars to get one. Sadly they didn't take Canadian dollars, we didn't have any American dollars and if we wanted to pay by credit card they was an extra charge. We had a think about it and decided our lunch would be a very expensive one if we paid so we decided to turn back to Canada.
It wasn't that simple though. We were told we were now "illegal aliens" and needed a special paper to leave and get back into Canada. We hadn't even stepped into the US! We waited 20 minutes and got the necessary paperwork and walked back to Canada. We couldn't believe it really but we didn't let it spoil our honeymoon. We could never have known how important that day would become.
Last year hubby and I had an invitation to go to America to visit my cousin. My mum travelled with us. Anyone who has ever travelled to the US will know that once you have flown there, the process of going through customs and immigration is not a quick process.
Once we had stood in the queue hubby and I ended up being taken to a waiting room with several other people. We waited for over an hour. We didn't know why and the reply from the officers when asked was a standard' I don't know'.
They asked us about our last trip to America and then we slowly realised they were interested in our entry during our honeymoon. On their records it stated we had been excluded/expelled from America. After we had explained what had happened they stamped our passports and let us through.
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American adventure

My family is spread all over the world. Like in many families it's not often we all get to meet up except on special occasions like weddings or funerals.
One of my cousins lives in New York and has lived and worked there for many years. I have been to visit him a few times over the times he has lived there. He is getting married again so we all got an invite.
After a long flight from Heathrow to JFK airport we were first faced with a long long queue to go through immigration. An hour and a half we stood, shuffling just a few paces forward every few minutes. As you do in these situations you speak with complete strangers about how ridiculous it is to be waiting so long. We were chatting with a couple from Scotland who were here to visit their grandson.
We finally got to the front of the queue and got the nod to come forward. The nice young man at the counter got our fingerprints and photos taken. he asked us where we were going to be staying and for how long. then he looked at our customs forms. Finally he stamped my parents passports and handed them back. Then he got a yellow highlighter pen and drew a big yellow line through mine, " come with me" he said and led me away to another room..............( to be continued)


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River Thames

My week aboard Arco Arun is going by in a flash!
Another dredger, she is slightly different to the last two ships I've sailed on in that, unlike a traditional ship, her accommodation is at the forward end of the ship. So although there is no engine noise its damn noisy when we're mooring because of the mooring winches whirring away or when the anchor is dropped. Yes that certainly wakes you up as it rattles out of its housing!
I've sailed on this ship before, many years ago as a fresh faced trainee. Sadly my trip on her then was cut short when on the day I was due to join she hit an underwater object in the River Thames, near Tilbury, and ended up on her side!
She is one of four ships built of the same design, in fact, when we were loading our cargo the other day, all four of us were out there together. Here are two of them,

This week we have been loading cargoes for the Thames - Dagenham, Greenhithe and most recently Victoria Deep which is a berth right up the river near Canary Wharf.
It involves going through the Thames Tidal barrier, under the new Thames cable car and past the O2 dome to berth almost opposite Canary Wharf.

Another week at sea

So I've joined another ship today. Once again a dredger and once again a ship I have sailed on in the past but quite a while ago! The Arco Arun.
I've sailed with some of the crew on board and so a week won't be so long, will it?
It always seems such a drag having to pack up and come back to sea, so maybe this is telling me that I really don't want to do it many more times. I've become such a home bird it's sad! Anyway I know once I get on board and get stuck in I'm usually ok.
I joined in Dagenham today. Right by the Ford car plant.
I dropped off Maisie at my parents for a mini break as hubby isn't home until tomorrow! Good or bad timing?!
On arrival I had a bite to eat and then the guy whom I'm relieving started showing me round a bit. He is getting off on Thursday when we come back into Dagenham so I'll have a bit of time to re acquaint myself with everything before he goes.

So off to bed now so I'm up and fresh minded in the morning! It's been a long day!


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Paralympic cycling

Today, mum and I have made the journey down to the Brands Hatch to watch the Paralympic cycling.
What an absolutely wonderful spectacle so far.
The races today are all hand cycling races. The first race started at 1030 and was a 48km race for women followed shortly after by the men's race. These were the category of riders who were most severely paralysed and they cycle almost lying flat and using their hands to propel themselves.
The women's race included 2 British riders ( the only Brits of the day)
We managed to find a place just by the 50metre mark on the finishing straight which gave us a great view of the final parts of each lap.
Part of the 5km course goes out on the local roads and then once back inside the circuit they endure a gruelling ride up a huge hill. I'd find it hard to cycle up myself!
The gold & silver medals went to USA and the bronze was won by I e of the British girls.
Meanwhile the men were also racing and in that field of riders we were cheering for the Irish chap, Mark Rohan. We had found good spaces by the track and ended up making friends with the people next to us. There was an Irish lad called Dermot so we helped him waving his flag and then there was Tony. He had been a games maker at Wimbledon during the Olympics and had had a brilliant time. His wife is currently volunteering at the Excel arena. They are from Leicester and have spent their summer in their camper van near London. He was ill with cancer last year and wasn't sure if he would be well enough for his training let alone the Olympics but he said the thought of it had spurred him on through his treatment. He said he was a lot better now and had felt to proud of himself for doing it.
We went up near the medals ceremony and then said farewell to our cheering buddies.
We have had an ice cream, bought a couple of souvenirs and have now walked to a different vantage point to watch the next two races. Hand races again but this time we are cheering for Mr Leon. He is from Haiti and during the recent earthquake he lost his wife, 8 children and was left paralysed!! What a man!! He has just retired after 3 laps but to be here at all and compete is a true achievement.
The next two races will feature the great Italian Alex Zanardi. A former racing driver he was involved in an horrific accident which left him with no legs. He has already won a gold here and is hoping for another.

What a wonderful day we are having!

UPDATE - Alex Zanardi went in to win another gold medal !

Days when I wish I could paint!

We're enjoying Southern Ireland this week. With all the rain we've had I'm glad we ditched the camping plan and rented a cottage. The sun came out and we went for a bike ride and I wished I could paint!

Olympics

Although I was a bit reserved and not really bothered about London 2012 I have to say I've been sucked in!!
I sat down with trepidation on Friday to see 'what they've come up with' for the Opening Ceremony. I was amazed and open mouthed at how fabulous it was. Ok so some of it seemed a bit surreal, like live animals in a stereotypical British landscape, children bouncing on giant beds. Overall though I was very impressed. I felt very proud, once again, to be British.
My favourite bit has to be Her Majesty getting involved with Daniel 'Mr Bond' Craig and also Rowan 'Mr Bean' Atkinson.
Of course we had to wheel out Mr McCartney to try to sing another dirgy tune from years ago. He was out of sync and why not sing a more upbeat Beatles song?
I was out on Saturday but since Saturday afternoon I've been glued to the TV. I'm not usually a huge sports fan but I've been enjoying the cycling, equestrian, swimming, sailing, rowing, canoeing, gymnastics and beach volleyball.
I've been flicking between channels (I'm glad hubby isn't here as we'd be arguing about what to watch)catching all the action.
Such a shame to see empty seats, feel very lucky to have tickets to canoe sprint and football in Cardiff at the end of next week. Have been looking at the website to see what other tickets are available.
Have now got more tickets for the Paralympics for cycling and equestrian events so even more excited!
Of course I'm working tomorrow and Thursday this week so how will I manage?

Hobbling

Isn't it amazing how easily and quickly you can injure yourself?
Yesterday morning I was walking downstairs with one armful of washing and another on the bannister when two steps from the bottom, my left foot slipped and I ended up landing most of my weight on my big toe! Ouch! Not the first word which sprang to mind.
I sat on the bottom step, still clutching the laundry, holding my foot and holding back the tears. What pain!
Hubby is away so I couldn't just crumble in a heap and let him take over.
I had a few plans for yesterday but apart from putting the laundry into the washing machine most of the day was spent with my foot up, with ice applied.
I hobbled around the block with Maisie dog who was keen to get a walk but that took ages and was painful too.
This morning my toe had turned a lovely purple- black colour, was swollen and painful to touch or bend.
I managed, somehow, to drive to a couple of local patients but I ended up postponing a couple of more distant ones.
Let's hope it feels better tomorrow. I have more patients and I don't think it looks too good if your foot lady turns up hobbling/limping.

Wonderful people

It's a hazard of doing a job which involves you with people of an older generation that once in a while you get the dreaded phone call to say they have passed away. Well, sometimes you get a phone call, other times I get told by a neighbour or another patient when I visit them. Most recently I read about it in the paper.
I always feel sad, even if the person involved could be a grumpy old sod at times.

I like to think of myself as someone who cares about my patients, I do! I like to chat to them, I do ask them questions about themselves and their families even if it is to help them jog their own memories.
I don't always attend their funeral but I do try and send a sympathy card to their nearest and dearest because although they weren't a member of my family and I only saw them every other month, they have become my friend and I hope I've become one of theirs.

The thing that has struck me most recently is just how little I have known about some of my patients and the wonderful things they achieved in their earlier years, before I met them.It's a shame that I only find out some of these interesting things after they are dead and buried!
One most recently had been an actress in her younger years, and although I knew she liked horses I didn't realise until afterwards that she had been a champion in her discipline! How much more we could have talked about!

Flash mob

This weekend was very hectic. Not only was it our first weekend to look after our 6 month old granddaughter, ( no big deal you may think but bear in mind I have never had children myself so have never even changed a nappy before!) but Saturday was also the day I was taking part in events organised by my Applestroodle improvisation group in Ludlow as part of the Ludlow Festival.
At the last minute my husband had to dash off to sort out our boat in Cardiff so I called upon my lovely mother to help me out whilst i was taking part.
The main event of Saturday for us was the Flashmob. Now how to explain a flashmob, well Wikipedia says that a Flashmob 'is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a place, perform an unusual and seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression'.
Thats quite an accurate description I suppose, although by providing entertainment I fail to see how it can be pointless.
Our Flashmob was a dance to Shake Your Tailfeather, a song made famous in the Blues Brothers films. We had all practiced a dance and turned up take part. The key to a good flashmob though is to appear to just turn up and dance and then disappear again, as if you were out shopping, stopped for a quick dance and then carried on shopping!
The music started and we all appeared, a crowd soon formed to see what was going on and there we were, all dancing. As soon as the music finished we just walked of in various directions, myself back to  a bench with my mum and grand daughter.
It was great fun, I really enjoyed it.
We also did two 30 minute sessions of improvisation in a local pub beer garden, playing several games, involving suggestions shouted out by the customers. That was great fun too, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I would love to do more of that type of thing, perhaps even getting involved in doing a play or something.

 Click on this link to take a look at our Flashmob

Car Boots

Yesterday I took part in a strange phenomenon which seems to have taken over people's weekends, something which I've done before but not, it would seem as seriously as some people.
A car boot sale!
Do these sales happen in other countries?
Are they called car boot sales or something else?
It's a strange event which involves getting up and to the venue at some unearthly early hour. Once there tables of varying stability are laid out and boxes are emptied haphazardly onto them for members of the public to come and rummage through. The junk that some people are selling, and DO sell is quite remarkable. What's that saying? One mans junk is another mans treasure?
In years gone by I have been very occasionally to sell my junk at such sales. Usually on some muddy field somewhere. I remember going once with my brother and my mum. We had, like most people, a dodgy pasting table with its customary uneven surface which only dips in the middle as you load more and more stuff on to it.
I remember how we looked in horror when said table, laden with our prized possessions, toppled forward and into the mud!
In fact my brother was always a very good salesman at car boot sales. We all took our own things to sell and while my mum and I would stay at our stall, my brother would wander off and would often come back with a box. "not more stuff" my mum would say and he would end up selling the contents of the box for a lot more than he paid for the whole box.
Yesterday was a showery day which didn't really help although there were plenty of people there. Luckily we weren't in a muddy field but on a car park and my table is much more sturdy.
I was there to sell some books on behalf of a local scrapstore and was pleased that considering the weather I did ok. I'll definitely do it again but hopefully on a day when the weather is better.
I may even take some of my unwanted possessions, my junk, to see if it can become someone else's treasure.

Spot the dog!

Me and the dog have just got home after a lovely weekend visiting my parents.
On Friday my mum and I went to the Birmingham Symphony Hall to Dance to the Music. For fans of the TV show Strictly Come Dancing it is a fabulous 'must see' experience. The Strictly Dance Band led by Dave Arch, with four brilliant singers played a variety of music, from blues and soul to disco and Cuban. What talented musicians and such excellent voices they boast. In addition they were accompanied by four of the Strictly dancers. Kristina Rihanoff and her dance partner Robin Windsor along with Artem Chigvintsev and his girlfriend/ dance partner and winner of Strictly in 2010 Kara Tointon. As well as dancing each dancer took the mike at some point during the evening and spoke with the audience. There was audience participation and by the end of the night we were all up dancing in the aisles. A great night out, well worth running through torrential rain from the car park to get there!
On Saturday morning I was up early to attend a tutorial for my Open University course that I'm doing about Diabetes.
I spent the rest of the day with my family. My brother lives with my parents and has just got home from a 6 week trip to New Zealand which happily resulted in him being offered a job there. So he is home to sort out all his belongings, sell what he doesn't want and get ready to go back out there.
Today is Fathers Day so it was nice to be able to spend time with my Dad. Mum & I had thought we could go out for lunch but poor Dad wasn't feeling too good so we scrapped that idea.
Get well soon Dad!

Maisie the dog loves going to my parents. She always gets very excited when she sees them and loves the freedom of their lovely big garden. Unlike at home Maisie has a large patio door to look out into the garden and can see all the birds, squirrels and brave cats who venture into the garden. Once she is outside she loves trying to chase the pigeons off next doors roof. However her favourite thing to do is to hide under the big Acer bush up the garden.
Can you spot the black and white dog?

Jubilee Celebrations

And so our long weekend of celebrations have come to an end.
Since before Christmas, a small group of us have been meeting regularly to plan our local Jubilee event. We had so much planned, very exciting stuff. Music, dancing, food, arts & crafts, childrens races etc. each of us had little jobs to make it all come together.
It's been great fun and on a personal level it's meant I have become more involved in my community, I've met new people, made new acquaintances.
Our special day was planned for Sunday.
Saturday arrived and a group of us met at the community centre and playing fields to put up marquees and gazebos ready for the following day. The past two weeks have given us glorious sunshine but Saturday was 'drizzly'.
Not to be put off we continued, all hopeful that Sunday would dawn as a brilliant and dry day!
When I awoke on Sunday I was saddened to see it was dull and overcast and it had been raining overnight. I was actually woken up by one of our stall holders phoning me at 7am to ask what the field was like, was it waterlogged etc. As I don't live right next to the playing fields I couldn't really answer!
I'm happy to say that although it rained almost all day, many many people came and supported the event. About half of my outdoor stall holders turned up - hardly surprising! All but one of my indoor stall holders arrived too. One outdoor stall holder arrived, set up her gazebo and stall and then decided to take it all down and go home.
All in all though it would seem that all the stall holders did well, people bought things so they were happy. Meanwhile some of our scheduled outdoor entertainment happened inside instead. Every time I got a chance to go inside the community centre, it was packed with people. Watching a gymnastics or dancing display, listening to the Samba or Jazz band or viewing the wonderful displays of memorabilia set up by a local museum
and another by a lady who had worked for several years on the Queen Elizabeth 2 cruise ship.
We did cut our day short slightly but all in all it was a great day. Once people started packing away we set about taking down all the gazebos and tents. We stored them at the Community centre overnight and met again next morning to load them onto a van and return them to their owners, the Farmers Market, who had kindly lent them to us.
Hubby and I arrived home literally soaked through to our skin! We stripped off and had a lovely soak in a hot bath.....aaaahhhh bliss, followed by a much deserved hot chocolate.
We caught up on the National Jubilee events. What a sight the Jubilee pageant was although it did rather feel like we were looking at a motorway of boats! It was such a shame that it rained and I did feel sorry for the Queen who stood up for the whole thing. I know there were two throne like seats which she could have sat on but they were in entirely the wrong position. They should have been positioned facing to the side so she could easily have sat down and watched the boats going by.
Last night we took part in our own local Beacon lighting. It was quite something. We went up with our neighbours to a hill not far away. We had to drive over several fields until we arrived at the beacon. Two locals had been up to build it earlier that day, it was huge!! Several folk were already there, sat around on hay bales, wrapped in blankets. We took some wine to drink and all chatted. It was lovely to see people arriving, either the same way as us or emerging from the other side of the hill by foot.
At about 2215 the giant bonfire was lit as we all sang God Save the Queen and raised our glasses in a toast! It was wonderful to see the fire take hold and we set off fireworks as it blazed brightly. We could see for miles around and could see several other beacons, some brighter than others, in the distance.
When we came home we watched the rest of the Jubilee concert. It was such a great spectacle, especially where the stage had been built. There were so many famous artists playing. Highlights for me were Robbie Williams, Tom Jones and Gary Barlow and the Commonwealth choir. That brought tears to our eyes. The group Madness playing on top of Buckingham a palace was a stroke of genius especially when accompanied by the amazing lighting effects which were projected onto the front of the palace. It was truly wonderful to see so many thousands of people all there on the Mall, enjoying themselves, waving their Union Jack flags and cheering.
It was such a shame that Prince Philip was not able to accompany the Queen, but I'd like to think he's secretly relieved to be able to rest his feet and watch the coverage on TV from his hospital bed.
Today was the thanksgiving service followed by the Queens procession and fly past. This, once again, was a fabulous event. It's watching such things as these that make me so proud to be British. Seeing the beautiful carriages and horses, the accompanying guardsmen on their horses in their colourful uniforms is a brilliant sight. Hearing the bands playing and the crowd singing God Save the Queen is heart lifting.
I hope as a nation this has lifted our spirits as we look forward to the Olympics starting next month!

God Save The Queen!!

Paddling down the River Severn

A few years ago we went on holiday to the Dordogne in France and whilst there we tried our hand at canoeing, in open Canadian canoes. We had a great time and this prompted us to buy our own. We have used it most years during the summer months and it has come on holiday with us to Ireland and France too.
We have done a lot of paddling down parts of the River Wye but not so much on the River Severn.
On Saturday we woke up to lovely weather. Good job as this was the day we were going paddling.We set off for Welshpool about 45 minutes drive from us. Just north of Welshpool is a small village called Pool Quay.This is where we were launching from.

Our route - from Pool Quay (bottom left) to The Royal Hill Inn (top right)

This part of the river is narrow and meandering. Not many villages lie close to the river bank so it is a great place to see wildlife and animals.
Our plan was to paddle down river to meet hubby's daughter, her partner and grand daughter (E&N)for a picnic lunch.  Although by road the distance wasn't far, by river it would be about 15miles.

Getting ready to launch from Pool Quay.

The first few miles were narrow and meandering. In some places the canoe could just about fit through between fallen trees. In past months and years the river has flooded and it was easy to see how high up the water level had gone. This had caused such obstructions to impose themselves on the river. Often we had to bend forward to avoid low hanging branches. The river was followed by the Severn Way - part of the path following Offas Dyke.

As we paddled, Maisie sat in the middle of the canoe, enjoying the views as they passed by. We thought that on such a lovely day we would perhaps see other canoeists, fishermen or walkers but the only other person we saw was a lady walker, who had stopped for a break to read a book on the left bank. She looked rather amused as we came floating past with a dog in a lifejacket.
As the river twists and turns we kept coming round a bend and seeing the imposing view of Breidden Hill in front of us. "There's that hill again!" At the top of this is an obelisk or pillar. Apparently it is called Rodneys pillar, a monument named after an Admiral Rodney. As we snaked our way along the river, our view of Rodneys pillar and the hill changed. It became apparent that half the hill is now being used as a quarry. Huge steps have been carved into the hillside, such a shame. As we continued Breidden forest came into view on the hillside.

We saw a beautiful heron on several occasions who would fly off ahead of us down the river, as if acting as a look out, telling the river inhabitants of our imminent arrival. We also passed several groups of swans who seemed quite taken aback by this strange watercraft.

Round one bend we came across some unusual bathers-

As well as bathing cows we also passed sheep with their young ewes, sat on the river bank.
After two hours of paddling we had covered about six miles and we stopped for a quick break, bums and knees were getting numb and Maisie fancied a quick run around and a swim.

We started off again and as we approached the first of only two bridges on our journey we encountered a small shallow patch which creates a riffle, almost a rapid type effect. It is best to kneel down as you go through these and keep paddling as the water is flowing much quicker here and you speed through, trying not to get too wet! Although when you see it, it can give you a dull ache in the pit of your stomach with dread and anticipation, once you have gone through it, you feel wonderful and almost wish you could go back and do it again.

Lower down the river we felt the effects of the wind much more. As the river widened, the wind was sometimes blowing against us. If we stopped paddling we found we were actually going backwards. This was more hard work now and we realised that we weren't going to get to our rendez vous point by 1pm as originally planned. Luckily we had intermittent mobile signal so phoned ahead to let E&N know we would be late.

After 12 miles we passed the River Vyrnwy tributary. You can actually paddle up there if you are feeling fit. This is where we passed back into England from Wales. From this point of the river the border between England and Wales actually runs down the middle of the river. We passed under the second bridge at Crew Green. Its an interesting looking bridge as it is an iron bridge, once a locomotive bridge,and was converted to a single track road bridge in 1962.

Finally after 4 1/2 hours in the canoe we arrived at our final meeting point, the Royal Hill Inn near Edgerley. It has a beautiful outlook onto the river and also boasts a small campsite. We dragged our canoe out of the water and fell into a heap on the picnic blanket to refuel and catch up with the family.

We had a brilliant day, saw all sorts of wildlife that you would never see if you were driving along a road. Life from the river is worth looking at from time to time.

Useful links:

Click here for a canoeing guide to the River Severn.

Click here to visit the website of the Royal Hill Inn and campsite.

Where does the time go?

Can't believe I've been home a week already and so much has happened!

I got off the ship and came home via my parents house to pick up hubby and Maisie the dog. I had ordered my groceries online to be delivered between 8pm and 10pm. We arrived home at 5 minutes to 8pm and the delivery lorry must have followed us down the street because he drew up a minute or so after!
Next day I started back at work doing feet at 9am. Both Thursday and Friday were quite busy, catching up with patients who needed their feet doing, answering questions about where I had been and telling the odd sea tale here and there. I've been thinking that I might print out a few of my favourite sea photos and take them round with me. I'm sure a lot of my patients would like to see them.

Saturday was a baking day in preparation for the event of the week taking place on Sunday. Our grand-daughters christening. Hubby's daughter had also asked me to be a godmother which I was very honoured to accept. So we had visitors staying with us on Saturday night ready for Sunday too.  We had a great evening catching up with each other and then on Sunday we all trooped off to the Christening.

The weather, thankfully, was lovely. It meant that after the church service we were able to go back to their house and eat outside in the garden. They had organised a neat sort of caterer in the shape of a lady with a trailer which had a log fired pizza oven on top of it. She made pizzas to order and they were delicious.
Afterwards we laid out the desserts. I had made a trifle, mini tiramisu cakes and scones with clotted cream and homemade jam. Along with several other desserts, there was plenty for everyone!
It was a lovely day. I had been quite nervous actually as hubby's ex-wife was also there and I didn't want to upset her in any way which would spoil the day. But happily it all went well and there was no bad feeling.

I've been back to my groups this week, knitting yesterday and Applestroodle tonight, It has been lovely catching up with my friends again and also a few people have said how much they have enjoyed reading my blog. That has made me happier, knowing people are actually reading this and enjoying it too!!

So a week has flown by and what will this next week bring...................Jubilee event planning....that's what!

1949

Today is hubby's birthday. Luckily although we won't be able to celebrate today due to being on different ships either side of the North Sea, I was able to speak to him just after midnight. He had just finished loading his cargo about 8 miles east of us.

Anyway we'll be home on Wednesday so plenty of time celebrate then.

So he was born in 1949, what else was going on then?

- Siam renamed itself Thailand

- Los Angeles, California received its first recorded snowfall

- rationing of clothes ended in Britain

- Eire left the British Commonwealth and became the Republic of Ireland.

- George Orwells book 1984 was published


The average price of a house in 1949 was £1911

Other famous people born in 1949 include

Dennis Taylor ( snooker player)

Niki Lauder ( racing driver)

Billy Joel ( singer)

Meryl Streep ( actress)

Twiggy ( model )

Bruce Springsteen ( singer)

Arsene Wenger ( football manager)


Happy Birthday!!

Anchor watch

This morning was interesting! The day started at 3.30 for me, I was on watch at 4am. Its only when I'm at sea that I appreciate just how early it gets light! It was already getting light by 4.30am. We were anchored in Great Yarmouth Roads about 3/4 mile of the beach and about a mile inland from a large sandbank area and a wind farm. One thing I have noticed this trip away to sea is the amount of sea wind farms that are popping up everywhere it would seem.
Anway i got some lovely photos as the sun was rising,.

Windfarm at dawn

 It only takes a few minutes for the sun to rise and its so beautiful.

Its a Sunday here so there was quite a lot of activity on the beach, its a sunny day after all. At about 10am I heard a couple of the lifeboats calling in on the VHF radio to say they were going out on an exercise. Probably to have a spin along the beach and practice.
They were from the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Lifebaot Station.

They came across to near our ship and did a circle round us,

Click here to see details of this Lifeboat Station

Wow I thought how good was that, being an RNLI committee member I was pleased to see them and glad to get some photos too.

At the same time there was a ship sailing out of port behind and also a little sailing boat. It was sailing to the east of us, between us and the sandbanks, heading north towards the wind farm.

A little time later, after the lifeboat had gone back into the port, I heard a yacht calling Yarmouth Radio on the VHF. When  I looked out the window behind me i could see the little yacht again but this time it had its sails up but was getting quite close to the sandbanks and because of the tide etc there were quite a few waves breaking near it.

I didn't catch what exactly was wrong, perhaps the engine had given up because the man on the yacht was explaining that they were drifting onto the sandbanks and couldn't seem to get off.  Sadly the wind was westerley so he was being blown further out onto the sandbanks.

Great Yarmouth radio explained they were launching the lifeboat and asked the man to drop his anchor in an attempt to stop him actually going aground.

In a few minutes the lifeboat was back in sight, zooming along towards the yacht. However once he got nearer it became clear that the water was too shallow for the lifeboat to get close enough to get a tow rope to the yacht. So the inshore lifeboat was called to assist too,

At the same time another ship at anchor volunteered its fast rescue craft to assist. Their offer of help was accepted and soon there was two small fast craft and the larger lifeboat all on scene.

Luckily they got a tow line to the yacht and managed to get him clear of the sand banks.

Well done to the crews who helped rescue him.

This is one of the reasons I support the RNLI - no matter what the situation they will come to your rescue at sea and they are all volunteers!

It does highlight though that if you are a small craft owner it pays to carefully plan your voyage and  clearly know what direction wind and tide are going and what effect this is likely to have on your vessel. Also make sure your equipment works and your engine is in good working order.

Below is a video I have put together of photos and video footage of the rescue  - make sure you have the volume on!

 

Brugge to Tees

We arrived in Brugge on Sunday. It is approached from the sea through the port of Zeebrugge and then down a canal where we berth just before the city of Brugge. It's about a 30minute walk from the ship into the centre.
The Captain went up into Brugge to have a look round. It's a lovely city, hubby and I have visited once. More recently I have seen it as the star of the film 'In Brugges' starring Colin Farrell, an actor who is very easy on the eye! I have seen this film a few times now, which as a non film person is quite an achievement.
Captain came back very happy. He'd taken a few photos of the lovely buildings and then had come across a big group of people gathered in the square. On closer inspection he found that the subject of the attention was a group of British 1970's cars, Capris, Cortinas, escorts. More photos were taken of these.

Discharging ashore

We commenced discharging our cargo at 5am on Monday morning, just as it was getting light.

Prior to discharge



The bucket wheel in the middle of the photo turns and discharges
the cargo onto the discharge conveyor belts.



Looking down the canal to Brugge.

Cargo discharge took about 5 hours and then we set off back down the canal again. We stopped at a berth in Zeebrugge to load fresh water, we were getting low and we don't go to many berths where you can easily take fresh water. This done we set off back upto a dredge area near the Humber Estuary. We washed and cleaned out our hold because the next cargo was a sand cargo to Tees.

Sand cargoes don't usually take very long to load so in no time at all we were on our way north. It was lovely clear night on the passage up the coast. When I came on watch at 4am it was already beginning to get light.

We passed Flamborough Head, Filey Brigg, Whitby and I took some lovely early morning photos of the sun shining on the land but with the moon faintly visible. As if it didn't quite want to go to bed yet!

Good morning



We  anchored for a few hours before the pilot came aboard and we sailed up the river to our berth and we discharged our cargo of sand.


Its just a song

Isn't it strange how hearing a song can take you back in time so quickly. Whilst on watch to day I managed to tune into a great radio station, the music was such a varied mix, I found myself transported back to many different events in my life. Clicking on each title should take you to a Youtube version of this song.

 1) Love Shack by the B52s

This song took me back to 1989 when I was just 15/16 years old. I was going out with my first boyfriend Mark. I used to follow him and his mate around whilst they did their paper rounds! I'm still friends with Mark actually, he is in the army now and married with a family living in Germany. Very strangely he has the same birthday as my hubby. Hearing it took my back to happy carefree times with the whole future ahead of me.

2)Take it Easy by The Eagles

In the late 1990's my brother spent several summers on the Greek island of Zakynthos. He and his mate Mark (another Mark!) played guitars and sang and formed a band called Bomba Blue. They played in different bars around the island. I went out to visit several times and this song is one of the numbers they did. The reason I remember it so well is that it is one of the few songs that my brother actually sang himself. He has a great voice but never sang that many songs. So this always reminds me of him and hot weather and sunny skies!

3) Mr Blue Sky by ELO

This is definitely a 'going on holiday in the car' song. When my grandparents lived down in Cornwall we would make the 4-5 hours journey down there to visit several times a year and of course we had lots of music cassettes in the car to listen to. As children of course we were ruled by our parents choice of music so ELO, Bread, Roy Orbison and Richard Clayderman were all part of the 'car music system'.
Hearing this song took me instantly back to a motorway journey on the M5 south passing certain landmarks along the way and knowing we hadn't got long to wait til we were there! My dad always had his seat right back so woe betide the child who sat behind him and accidentally kneed him in the back. Watch out the arm to come sweeping round to move your legs out the way!

4) Hungry Eyes from Dirty Dancing

When I heard this song I had very mixed emotions.
Little did I know back in 1987/88 when my mum brought home a video called Dirty Dancing how much effect this film would have on my life. I can't be the only person who saw it and instantly fell in love with Patrick Swayze. I lost count of how many times I watched that film and I so wanted to be Baby's character and have a chance to dance with him. Of course I always believed that he was beckoning to me  -

Both Mum and I swooned over Patrick for years. We even went down to London to see him when he was in Guys and Dolls. It was brilliant and I remember how excited I was to be so close to him and my mum will be forever sad that the time of the last train home meant we couldn't wait to see him at the stage door.

This song made me think back to that day and also to the film but also it made me sad. We were both so sad to hear Patrick was ill with pancreatic cancer and we would check news about him regularly to see how he was doing.

I remember waking up to the news he had died and shedding a few tears and then having to phone my mum to tell her because I knew she wouldn't have heard the news.

Patrick you were a Star!

5) Thriller by Michael Jackson

I have never been a big Michael Jackson fan but when I heard this song it took me right back to primary school. My best friend Sarah had an older brother (his name was Mark too) and he and his friends were big Jackson fans. They had managed to get a copy of the Thriller video and we all packed into their living room to watch this video of Thriller. I remember being a little scared but also thinking what a great video and song it was. Watching it again in researching this blog I can't believe I wasn't more scared and also just how young does Michael look!! Amazing!

So what songs take you back and where do they take you to?

Yummy tea

Just had to post a photo of what I just had for tea.
Normally going away to sea would be a good way of loosing weight, only normally having 2 meals a day because of our watch system. Plus some cooks food is best avoided. Every now and again though a good cook comes along. Ken is not the regular cook on here, but since he's been on board he's turned out some delicious food. Last night I had the tastiest braised beef I have EVER had. So tender and well I ate it all!
Tonight he did a lovely chicken curry with rice and poppadums followed by the Strawberry cream puffs.
Most delicious.
At this rate I'll go home just as big as I was when I joined if not bigger!!

Work at last.

Well after over a week at sea we have finally loaded our first dredged cargo.
We left Purfleet and went up to load on a dredge area up near Great Yarmouth.
We can't just load anywhere. There are special areas which have been surveyed and then a licence is issued for that area. We have to dredge within these areas and the ships position is constantly monitored and fed back via computer. Huge fines can be delivered if you are found to have loaded outside the area.
Dredging is done for aggregate rather than clearance purposes so we load sand/gravel which is then landed ashore and processed into concrete, cement, road surfacing.
Dredging is done by lowering a large suction pipe with, what looks like the head of a vacuum on,over the side, this connects to a valve in the ships side which opens and once the high powered impeller pump is started this sucks up material from the seabed,

The pipe is lowered over on the port side. It is held by
three wires.

Material is sucked up through the pipes and over 2
screened towers which help grade the cargo.

This shows us the angle of the pipe when it is underwater.

The ship moves along very slowly whilst dredging - about 0.5knots. The cargo took 9 hours to load.

We have come back down to anchor off Southend until Friday morning when we shall sail up the Thames to Denton, near Gravesend to discharge our cargo.

If you would like to see a video of dredging in action click on the following link. It was filmed on my husbands ship by a trainee onboard. Its really good and really shows what happens.

Click on this link to see dredging in action.

This afternoon we had our Fire drill. The fire alarm was sounded and all the crew (12 of us) mustered at our muster station up near the bridge. Our scenario today was a fire in the paint locker.  It is fitted with a sprinkler so we did  a walk through drill where all the crew learn about every aspect of what to do if you discover a fire and how you would tackle one in the paint locker, This included the location of fire fighting equipment and the sprinkler system for the locker plus starting the emergency fire pump.

This week I have also started my study for the Open University course which I have signed up to do.

Its on the subject of diabetes which quite a few of my foot patients suffer from and I decided it would be good to extend my knowledge further on this subject as Diabetes seems to becoming evermore prevalent in our population.

Finally I really appreciate all the page views I have had to my blog, thank you for reading. I would love to read any comments you have about my posts and also any questions you may have. To make this easier I have now changed my settings on the comment box which hopefully means you don't have to sign in/up to be able to leave a comment.

Finally don't forget that if you would like to see where my ship is at any time you can click on the marine traffic link to right of my page and type in my vessels name. Its really quick and easy to use. I know my mum has been looking up where both me and hubby are and in fact when i spoke to her earlier she told me where I was!!  however beware!! Mum has got so addicted to looking at it that she managed to burn a pan of peas dry the other day so if you are going to use it make sure you're not cooking at the same time!!

Working with the stars!

Its official - I'm working on and with TV stars.

Until last August this ship had been 'laid up' for a couple of years. The reason was that there were not enough cargoes to justify running so many ships so the company decided to lay up the Arco Beck. All the crew were moved to other ships except for the Bosun and Chief Engineer(Mr C/E) who were kept to look after the ship. They worked on the ship during the day and being fairly local they were able to lock her up every night and go home for the night.
They kept her in good shape because last year she came back into service again.

Anyway whilst alongside they were invaded for a few days by a production company filming the ITV drama Vera.  The ship was featured both outside, as a car chase led the police to the ship as a criminal had apparently escaped onboard the ship which was about to sail.  It' s engine room was also featured as the criminal tried to make his escape!
I remember being told ages ago that the ship had been featured and exclaiming surprise as I watched the episode in question and realised how much of the ship was featured, I didn't realise though, as the action was going so quickly that both the Bosun and Mr C/E had both landed roles as 'ships crew'.
Apparently they had  a good laugh filming it too.

I've tried to find a link for this episode but just can't find it anywhere. Maybe now the second series is out now there may be some way of viewing it in the future. Who'd have thought a rusty sand and gravel dredger could play such a glamourous role as a getaway vehicle!

Clinker

We arrived in Dunkirk on Thursday evening. I had an eventful watch across the Dover Straits which included seeing hubbys ships sailing past at about 10 miles away.
The Dover Straits is like the equivalent to the M25 - it is always busy with ships. Those heading in a South westerley direction do so in a lane nearest the English coast and those ships heading North do so in a lane closest to the French coast.  I should point out perhaps that the lanes are not marked out like lanes at a swimming pool, they are marked on a navigational chart very clearly and the occasional navigational buoy will mark the edge or centre of the channel. When crossing the lanes from England to France you have to do so at 90degrees to the flow of traffic so it is clear what you are doing. You only do that however if it is safe to do so.
So when I came down to cross from England to France there were loads of ships about.

Electronic chart showing my ship
position and our intended route in
green across the Dover Straits

There are Rules of the Road like the Highway code at sea so when I was crossing the South west lane it was the duty of all the ships coming south bound to keep out of my way but once I was crossing the North east lane it was my responsibility to alter course for any ships in that lane that were on a collision course with us.
So I started altering course for one ship and then I was on a collision course with another so I came round a little more and that made me on a collision course with yet another ship! It only takes about an hour or so to cross the lane but it was full of actitvity and I really really enjoyed it, Its what i love most about this job. Problem solving. Making sure I don't crash into anything or run aground!

So I went off watch at 8pm just before the pilot boarded to take us into the port. By the time I came on watch at 0400 we were safely alongside and waiting for the French stevedores to turn up to start loading the clinker.
At 0500 there was a flurry of activity with a few forms to sign and off we started. By the time i went off watch at 1200 we had just about finished.

Our cargo of clinker waiting to be loaded

Our hold nice and clean ready to load

The first grab of clinker

A piece of clinker

Hubby's ship sailing by - so close and yet so far

When I came back on watch at 8pm last night we were already back on the English coast heading for the Thames and guess who came sailing past again -  Hubby! He was also Thames bound too.

By 0400 this morning we had reached Gravesend. A pilot came out to meet us and take us the last few miles up the river to Purfleet to discharge the cargo, We are moored right beside the QE2 bridge at Dartford. We have no more orders for cargo and the weather forecast is not good so we are not sailing today. Hubby is further back down the river and is not sailing either.

A view of the conveyor belt which carries the cargo ashore

Back to sea

Well I've run off back to sea again! Well I drove actually and I really didn't feel like coming back but I had arranged it a couple of months back so couldn't let them down. Besides I know once I get into the swing of things I'll be fine.
So hubby got up and left at 3.45 this morning, he had an early flight to catch to join his ship in Antwerp. I got up at the same time but left just before 5 am to drive upto Teesport. Strange I should join in the same place that I left my last ship!
Anyway I got on board at about 1015 and met Andy, the chief officer leaving and we spent the next 2 hours running through loads of stuff. My head was bursting. You know when someone tells you loads of things, like email this to them, send this form to that person, full in and send this form here........ My head almost exploded and to be fair although he did a really good handover I was beginning to lose the will to live by the time he had finished !!
I know some of the crew, I've sailed with the Captain, Chief Eng, bosun and one of the deckhands before. So I don't suppose it'll be too bad.
I've unpacked and am off to have a snooze. I'm back on watch at 8pm this evening and want to get up there a bit earlier to get my bearings etc.
I'll be on watch until 4am.
We're off down to Dunkirk to load a cargo of clinker. Clinker is a residue of burned coal or from a furnace which comes in lumps. It's used in the production of cement. I remember sailing on a ship some years ago and we loaded clinker. It was usually loaded once a month and taken to a berth up the Thames river. Since this is the only ship that can carry it in this company, we get the job every month!
From memory I do remember clinker being really dusty, it had to be wet down with fresh water. However if it comes into contact with a lot of salt water then it can start to stick together so let's hope it all goes smoothly.

My cabin here is not as spacious as the last ship I was on but it's not bad although the only down side is that I don't have my own bathroom. So glad I brought my bathrobe with me. It'll come in handy as I traipse down the alleyway to have a shower!

Anyway here's a few photos of my cabin.

Also if you fancy tracking my ship and seeing where I am click on the link at the side of this page and type in Arco Beck into the vessel name search engine.