Well, you can only imagine what it is like to see thousands of naked stripped beings all around us which I refer of course to the trees and shrubs which have dropped everything they can so where as you couldn't see through the hedgerows a month ago, now they are just thickets of stripped branches with the odd bush carrying a few rose hips so the red stands out among the grey surrounds. A true sign that winter proper has arrived in London.
On Wednesday morning we awoke to find a good 1/2 inch of snow covering the boats, docks and park lands and any vehicle which was left outside. It was of excitement to Rhonda who had never experienced anything like this so for the first time she was up and dressed ready to accompany Harry and I on our walk through the park land opposite. Unfortunately, within an hour it had rained and so the snow disappeared but we are assured there will be more as it is colder than usual for this time of the year apparently but the bookies aren't buying into this and in fact have dropped the odds of us having a white Christmas from 8 to 1 to 6 to 1 so we will see who is right.
On Wednesday morning we awoke to find a good 1/2 inch of snow covering the boats, docks and park lands and any vehicle which was left outside. It was of excitement to Rhonda who had never experienced anything like this so for the first time she was up and dressed ready to accompany Harry and I on our walk through the park land opposite. Unfortunately, within an hour it had rained and so the snow disappeared but we are assured there will be more as it is colder than usual for this time of the year apparently but the bookies aren't buying into this and in fact have dropped the odds of us having a white Christmas from 8 to 1 to 6 to 1 so we will see who is right. 
We are still waiting on the right time to go into the city to see the Christmas lights but have joined a couple of local boats who have set up lights with a display in our wheel house etc which looks really good as they reflect across the water of the marina. I am sure others will do a similar thing as we near the festive season in full.
As the recession bites even deeper here, it is amazing to see the post Christmas sales happening in vengeance right now and chain stores are attacking each other with supposed stats that say that they are giving bigger discounts than their competitors and actually name them and the better discounts outright. Last week Woolworth's pulled the plug and went into administration which is like receivership along with MFI, a big furniture chain of stores. Both of these companies have been trading on the High Streets of the UK for 99 years and have just decided they can't keep going on which effects about 30,000 staff at Woolworths alone who will lose their jobs right on Christmas which is a tragedy for so many families. It sure won't be the last either by the sound of things and the talk is sure all doom and gloom.
We have been doing a bit of Christmas food shopping but as we have reported before, even allowing for the discounts the prices compared to the Kiwi dollar are sure pricey. I know everyone at home says you have to just go with the prices and forget the conversion but it is not easy when prices that we are so familiar with at home just stand out and we go " Look at that".
We have also found the guy who must be the best meat slicer in the world as we have marvelled at the thickness or should I say lack of, as you buy a packet of 12 slices only to find that the total amount would equal a kiwi slice. They are so thin that you can see daylight through them. It is amazing really and Rhonda and I laugh about it as we scramble to get a layer for our toast.
On Monday as the day was fine and still, Rhonda and I took the boat out on our own for the first time, weaving very carefully through the narrow waterways within the marina 
and out onto the main channel and on to a nearby lake which is an off shoot of the Thames where we were able to get the boat doing turns and backing up etc etc. All went well, so we decided to have a go at coming alongside the pump-out wharf which is very congested and has very limited space. As "Somehwere" is 45 tonnes, she does not answer the helm all that easily and can slide due to the round hull and absolute flat bottom typical of all barges here, but we did well and slid into our possy very relieved and even more so when we pumped out at 8 pounds a go. We then weaved our way back to our own berth without hitting anybody or anything so it was high fives all round, well between Rhonda and I. She did well on the mooring ropes throwing them to catch the wharf cleats which had been concerning her on other occasions when we had gone out with help on the boat from the old owner. We felt we had accomplished a real step forward so hope it continues when the weather allows.
and out onto the main channel and on to a nearby lake which is an off shoot of the Thames where we were able to get the boat doing turns and backing up etc etc. All went well, so we decided to have a go at coming alongside the pump-out wharf which is very congested and has very limited space. As "Somehwere" is 45 tonnes, she does not answer the helm all that easily and can slide due to the round hull and absolute flat bottom typical of all barges here, but we did well and slid into our possy very relieved and even more so when we pumped out at 8 pounds a go. We then weaved our way back to our own berth without hitting anybody or anything so it was high fives all round, well between Rhonda and I. She did well on the mooring ropes throwing them to catch the wharf cleats which had been concerning her on other occasions when we had gone out with help on the boat from the old owner. We felt we had accomplished a real step forward so hope it continues when the weather allows. 
On Wednesday of last week we took ourselves off to the Earls Court London Boat Show which is held inside this huge exhibition centre which is nice and warm and where a part of the floor comes off to reveal a great freshwater pool about 200m x 100m x 3m deep. It is amazing to see large yachts and launches plus runabouts and so on bobbing about plus they had a wake board machine set up which towed these kids from about 6m up on ramps onto the water and they then wake boarded across to the other side. Like new Zealand Boat Shows the number of exhibitors and attendees are down this year but one boat sold while we were there for 175,000.00 pounds.
It was really good to see all the new brands and styles and to note how many boats are now made in China and surrounding countries plus all the Northern European brands, many of them from old communist block countries and the quality looked pretty good from what we could see. The finishing work looks extremely fine so it is look out, for local builders here and elsewhere. Some of the photos will give you an idea of how this Show looks.
Rhonda's Comments: Sign of the Month
I think I will get this sign made up for Ken for the boat as a Christmas present. What do you think - very appropriate?
On Saturday we awoke very aware that the final All Blacks versus home unions was to take place just down the road really at Twickenham against England so as it was to be only shown on Sky unlike the three previous games against Scotland, Wales and Ireland which were on BBC TV, we needed to find a pub which would be showing it, so off we set on a mini pub crawl to our nearest main suburb and eventually went into a run down establishment. The publican said yes, I will put it on for you so we settled down in the "lounge" with a pint of Fosters shandy and a glass of Lindemans" no Kiwi beer or wine was available. He pulled down a large screen from the ceiling and away we went cheering and shouting as the Poms got dealt to. The publican only showed an interest for about the first 20 mins then retired to read his paper over at the bar.
We sure enjoyed the result and hi-fived and celebrated a clean sweep but felt a little let down when the lights went up. We had been the only two in the whole pub. Nobody else was even a bit interested to call in so I suppose the 20 pounds we spent on food and drink for the afternoon was better for him than nothing. It was a great effort on the AB's part and we were very proud of them for sure and then for Wales to deal to Australia just added to the great feeling of the weekend because as you know I only support two teams, New Zealand and anybody playing Australia.
Rhonda's Comments: Ken and the old owner Ross taking Somewhere up to Shepperton Marina.
As we have mentioned earlier in our blog, we have been unhappy with some of the way the boat has been wired and the capacity of the batteries so it was decided that the simplest way to get the work completed would be to take the boat down the Thames some 3 hours to Shepperton Marina (this suburb was famous as being one of the UK's great movie making centres, Shepperton Studios, for many years after WW2 making some of the great English classics until the mid 70s). So on Tuesday morning with the guidance of the old owner we set off down the river including 2 locks to complete the journey without incident to the marina base where the engineers have been working to get things changed so we can be worry free when we are away from shore power for long periods of time etc. It has almost been completed but the change of venue has sure been interesting and on top of that as usual at this time of the year, I got some bug or other so have been laid pretty low for about 7 days and only today have been out for a drive around the local area etc.
Rhonda's Comments: Harry keeping Ken company while he was feeling unwell.
As the days are still drawing in, so lights are on at 3.30pm each afternoon the nights have got colder particularly over the last two days which have been crystal clear and sunny with no breeze but temps only reaching 7 or 8 degrees and the nights dropping to -2 to -7 so as a result the lagoons which link on to the main marina here have become completely iced over so to watch sea gulls and ducks trying to land and or take off is fascinating. We have had to stop Harry from chasing out onto the ice after them as well. To give you an idea of the thickness, today I threw a rock about the size of a golf ball up into the air expecting it to break the ice but it only skidded away to a stop. Amazing for us to see, however, I am sure the kiwis living in the south like Maureen and Stephen Stock who live and work in the Lake Te Anau area are pretty familiar with this sort of condition.
Rhonda's Comments:
Even Harry is feeling the cold but of an evening he snuggles into his sleeping bag and cuddles up to "Pinky".
While here at Shepperton we met up with a couple from Sydney who had their Dutch Barge of around 18 m arrive on a transporter ready to be lifted onto the water for their adventures after having it built u
p north so they were pretty excited as they had actually lived on it while it was being finished for the last 5 weeks as their builders were behind schedule. If you think that is reasonable, how about this. The husband, Stewart is confined to a wheel chair as he suffers from that dreaded disease MS so they actually worked around him. He could not get off the boat apparently as the hydraulic lifting ramps were not hooked up so his chair could only be moved around in the cabin. I tell you we will moan and complain about our own lot from time to time but we don't have a problem when compared to Stewart and the amazing efforts that Lesley, his wife have to make to overcome all the difficulties of boating/barging both here and in Europe which is what they are off to do like ourselves over the next few years.Their barge is designed beautifully to be as user friendly for disabled folk as is possible but as you can imagine they have to be able to berth at ideal locations to get Stewart off in his wheel chair and then without car or other travel assistance they must make their way around and if you think they see this as being difficult, not so, they are looking forward to it and already tackled many obstacles which would stop fully abled folk from doing things. We hope that we can keep in contact with them as we both make our way around Europe next year.
At this time we will say cheerio and send special thanks to those of you who have responded with your comments about the blog page. Particularly to those who have added their photo to "Our Followers" above as we get quite excited to see another photo added.
Kind wishes to all.
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