Has Winter Gone?

Here we are half way through February at the start of this blog and we have had a whole week of fine weather with temps up to 12 degrees so life and activity on the marina has come alive with owners coming to get their rigs ready for the promised spring and summer weather to come. Engines have been running and a steady stream of craft have been making their way to the fuelling depot, pump out stations and to the fresh water pick up points - including us.

Since our last news we had floods which lifted the levels of water on the Thames and in the marina to such heights that many on river berths were just flooded and people couldn't get to their boats and in the marina the water rose to within a half meter of the ring road which made us all a bit jumpy as to whether we needed to move our cars outside the perimeter fences or what. The ramps ran up hill to the fingers which was quite odd after all the time getting used to them being down to the fingers. Not good if one had had a few too many tipples while off the boat. After about 8 days the water started to drop and the authorities in charge of the Thames began allowing more and more water to drain out to sea while ensuring that more flooding of city areas did not take place as there are a lot of flood plains between us and London central.

Rhonda's Comment: Hayden had such a good party but could not wait to get hold of the Smarties on the cake. It was a race between him and me!!!

February 15th. Rhonda had planned to go home for a rushed visit to see Michelle, Tom and Hayden who was about to have his first birthday so away she flew for 10 days leaving Harry and me to batch. We managed really well and found our way to the two local shopping centres and home again much to every one's surprise I think.

Rhonda's Comment: Hayden in his new Tonka Truck.

Rhonda had a wonderful if somewhat rushed trip to New Zealand finding the hot summer weather almost too much to handle, however, her complaints to me fell on very deaf ears as it was minus two the night she left London. She flew home on Air New Zealand with just a 2 hour stop in Hong Kong making the trip about 30 hours long so as you can imagine she was well knackered by the time she landed in Auckland and it just happened to be the hottest day Auckland had on record - 32 degrees with 100% humidity. As you can imagine she was very excited to see Michelle and Hayden and Tom plus a number of our old friends but missed many others just through lack of time but did see our son Kim a couple of times and much to our joy he seemed to be doing well and is enjoying life despite the recession which affects his work.


Rhonda's Comment: Ken missed telling you about the shopping list he had given me. On my return my bag contained such things as an angle grinder, 2 automatic lifejackets, hose fittings, VHF radio, grinding discs, flags and 12 magnetic flyscreens for the windows of our barge!!!!!!!

Harry and I were fine and thanks to a great couple here also living on board their barge, Lindsay and Mike had us over for a very special and welcome home-cooked meal one night and good old chat etc along with a couple of wines. As we had purchased a 32" tv for the saloon another friend John, another live-aboard mate, also called over to watch a couple of afternoons of the 6 nation rugby comp. He is a very strong Ireland supporter so of course I had to barrack for the opposition just to get the rivalry fired up. Great fun and a neat way to spend some time while on my own.

Well, the 10 days seemed to take forever to pass, we were fine however and used the time to clean every part of the barge etc and to pack up a bit of stuff ready for our soon to be trip down river as part of our trans channel crossing next month. I was so looking forward to Rhonda's return and as the day dawned for her return, John had agreed to come out to Heathrow as my navigator so as to surprise her on arrival to save her catching the bus to Staines where I was to pick her up. We waited at the arrival area for over an hour for her to come through without luck so as you can imagine all sorts of doubts crowded into my mind ranging from her missing one of her connecting flights from Sydney or Dubai to us just plain missing her as she cleared customs and came through. After checking with authorities as John is an airline contractor, we headed home to find that I had misread the arrival date. I was a day too early and as John couldn't accompany me on the Friday I had to wait at Staines for her to arrive by bus. Another hour of travel added to the home journey. My Brownie points are not at any civilised level even yet.

Rhonda's Comment: He must have really missed me.

You will recall my comments on the Air Force Memorial where some 20,000 men and women who perished without burials is recorded and honoured. At the time the weather prevented any photos but as we had a day which was fine last week we revisited the sight and recorded the photos as shown.

While in the area we also visited the famous area called Runnymede where the original Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by King John in answer to the pressure being applied by the Barons of London demanding more freedoms for themselves and the people in general. It is the basis of all English law and is fascinating to read in some detail. Thank goodness for the Barons.

The area while being of such significance, is not greatly presented considering the importance to the whole 'civilised world'. Apart from two small stone houses situated each side of the main road, one being the typical tea shop, there is really very little to show, however, the Americans paid for a pavilion to be errected on the hillside as they of course use the Magna Carta as their basis for the " Bill of rights" they use. Nearby, is also a memorial garden of one acre which was given to America and is dedicated to J.F. Kennedy so it is all a bit of a hotch potch we feel, however, there are some great easy walks through the fields below and along the River Thames so the walkways are used by strollers and walkers galore along with their dogs who can run free and seem to all get on well together. One can't help imagine what this whole area could be like if given the same sort of attention as so many of lesser important historic places which abound throughout the UK receive, makes one wonder.

Of course nearby is a carparking area which charges for you to leave the car and as we have said before, this is so damned annoying especially when you consider we were out in the countryside. The words, Pay and Display have become our most detested signs in this great country.

On a walk around the marinas one can't help but be drawn to the variety of names people give to their boats and as we had just had the sign writing finished on "Somewhere" it makes you even more alert and some of them are great. You will see some of the more unusual ones in the attached photos.

March 2. Well the day dawned this day in spectacular form so we decided that today should be the day we could make our trip down river to Sunbury where AC Marine, the contracted skipper's company who will take us across the Channel to France is situated before a whole new series of bad weather is due this week. After some discussion with Mike, the good neighbours we had at Penton Hook he offered to accompany me while Rhonda drove our car down to this new hook up area. We had a wonderful trip down through some magnificent English countryside and residential areas where homes lead right down to the waters edge and while the gardens are only now showing signs of new spring life one gets the idea of how beautiful some of these areas are in summer. Due in part to the still rapid flow of the Thames we covered the mileage in just over 3 hours and passed through 3 lock sets where Rhonda was on hand to see or operate the locks for us as at a couple of locks the lock master was at lunch. This was a great experience for us all and due to Mike's experience of this part of the river we learned so much it was great. In addition we had a lot of laughs so boating can be fun as we know provided all goes well.

Upon arrival at Sunbury we had to turn "Somewhere" below the lock and head upstream in the main current which is still quite strong so this took a couple of goes which is a little daunting in the middle of a strong flowing river I can assure you, however, we did it OK and turned upstream to where we had to berth alongside a 200 tonne work barge which is AC's base and workshop. This was quite an experience in itself after having been tied up to marina fingers with no current to being headed into the strong river flow and using heavier lines to tie us up. The barge next door which we have to cross to, has approx 300 mm wide walkways around it so walking to the bow and down the other side to get off onto land via a walkway boarding platform of 3 huge 6 m beams which flex and bounce a bit allows access to the land under the trees is quite an experience. We feel a bit like Robin Hood and Maid Marion once in the forest to use Rhonda's analogy.

We then walk through the bush to another footbridge which goes over the canal to give access to the tow path and roadway. If someone had told us 6 months ago that we would have taken on these challenges in our stride we would have laughed but when you are faced with them as a part of your day to day life, you just have to get on with it.

When we were leaving Penton Hook it was lovely to receive multiple horn blasts from some of our great neighbours (Thomas, Hiliary, Digby and Celeste on Golden Mean and Lindsay on Panacea) and calls of good luck. We also had a tearful goodbye with the young couple who were our immediate neighbours, Jason and Michelle the day before, but as we will be here at AC Marine until the bad weather has passed and final checks on the barge are completed, we will be able to drive back to see them before we cast off for the Channel. We are just up river from Hampton Court so look forward to seeing this great castle as we motor past. Our outlook across the river is interesting as we see the cars on the road and look up to some quite magnificent waterfront properties and landscapes on one side of us and are obliterated by the huge barge that we are moored to on the other.

Rhonda's Comment: Harry will also miss his good friend Max too.

Last night the area was struck by a Force 8 storm which bothered a lot of people but I have to say that while we heard the wind and the rain it did not bother us due I think to being so low down in the water and protected by Elisabeth (The big barge). Today that has all blown past so we seek to shop etc in sunshine and warmer temps, fingers crossed.

In closing this blog issue, I wish to pay tribute to Rhonda who takes my roughly typed stories after spell check has done all it can for me and adds the photos, tidies up the paragraphs along with adding her own comments. We really enjoy and appreciate the comments from our readers however, I just wanted to ensure you that this is a team effort, not just my doing. To you all, take care and we will be back on blog in a couple of weeks when hopefully we will have crossed the 'ditch' and be in France on our way to the BIG ADVENTURE.

We Are Looking Forward To Spring

Maybe we are jumping the gun, but after the coldest spell in the UK for 3o years and the eventual arrival of the great melt, we somehow feel we must be moving towards the northern spring and with millions of snowdrops pushing their way through the sometimes frozen ground, we are optimistic anyhow. Now we will get the wet I am told, and already the Thames is running bank to bank with more flooding forecast meaning we are confined to the marina until things improve.

When it rains it is just like a typical Auckland downpour and as the Thames drains such a huge geographic area it quickly reaches flood status. A few years ago they had a monstrous flood where the docks floated almost off their anchor piles and people were walking up hill on the normally down sloping ramps to get to their boats. The temps have improved on the odd day and I can walk around without gloves and or scarf so that is a change. Maybe the extreme cold will return but I sure hope not.

Spoke too early as today is zero again and the frost is amazing and part of the marina (around the edges) has ice on it but never mind I am sure it will come right. Fingers crossed.

The UK has officially been listed as being in recession and heaps of shops and businesses are closing down everywhere with related loss of jobs and we are told today that every 10mins someone loses their house so are out on the street. As you can imagine this must be so debilitating, hence crimes of theft and robbery are skyrocketing. I sure don't have the answers but I don't think the politicians have any better ideas than to prop up the robbing banks who really caused all of this to happen in the first place. Despite propping them up using taxpayers money to the sum of 37 billion pounds, with serious talk that the government will have to do it again, these same banks are refusing even good businesses, decent lines of credit to allow them to get on with their business but have paid themselves and their staff huge bonuses and in some cases thrown huge functions costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. There appears to be no real justice and while I know this is a worldwide happening, it is as usual, the more honest people who are hurting most.

While we are talking about business etc we visited a large retail and mail order company ARGOS on Saturday and were surprised by the large numbers of people visiting the shop (just one of the 780 in the chain) and who were pouring over copies of their new mail order catalogues which were chained to desks and then they would go to the counter and order product. Stacks of copies were available for folk to take away and perhaps order by phone, fax and of course email. This issue had just been released and we were gob smacked by the size of the catalogue which is A5 in size and at least 50mm thick with 1800 pages on gloss paper with clear photos and print. They had one out in October for all the Christmas shopping but this is the new version for Spring/Summer 2009. They guarantee that if you order and pay for the goods at the counter they will deliver your order anywhere in England or Wales generally by end of business next day for the sum of 5.80 pounds regardless of size or number of packages. It is an amazing business which obviously suits so many people who may not have cars or just want the product delivered to their homes.

I could apologise for going on about it but won't as I am sure there is no mail order company in Australia or New Zealand who would even come close in comparison so the size and variety of goods available is mind boggling. From Garden and DIY, Tools, Sports and Leisure, Home Entertainment and Sat Navs, Photo, Office and Phones, Home Supplies and Furniture, Kitchen and Laundry, Jewellery and Watches, Health and Personal Care, Gifts and Hobbies, Toys Games and Nursery needs. These are just the sub headings but to give you a further idea on size there are 145 pages alone of TVs and DVD players etc etc. It has to be seen to really comprehend the size and the value of such a publication. Goodness knows how many trees needed to be cut down to produce it????

For those who are real boaters, perhaps you can explain why in New Zealand we use to make up our mooring ropes and tie them off to the jetty ready to pick up and drop onto the cleats or bollards on board our boats and they were at the right length etc except perhaps the springs which were adjustable whereas here they never have any ropes left on the docks and or walkways. All ropes must be carried on-board hence you have to lasso the cleat or bollard when you come alongside. Any thoughts on this? Nobody here at the marinas seem to know why.

Last week we went and visited the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Air Force Memorial at Runnymede which many of you will know as being the setting for the signing of the Magna Carta, enshrining mans basic freedoms under law. This was signed and sealed under King John in 1215 and is the basis of all our laws throughout the civilized world.

A very fitting place for this fine war memorial which pays tribute to the missing thousands of allied flyers and crews in WW2. Situated on top of a very large hill, the views span from Heathrow to Windsor Castle and Queen Mary Reservoir and the surrounding lands and is surrounded by lots of trees. The grounds are immaculate as one would expect but it is only when you walk into the shrine with its cloisters and where 20,000 names are etched into the walls do you get the real feeling of this tribute. The 20,000 came from UK , Canada, Australia, New Zealand and so on and all lost their lives battling the Germans in the war where the missions mainly were flown from bases in the UK and Northern Europe.

All in all some 116,000 commonwealth flyers, aircrews and support crews were killed and many lie in graves or are remembered in memorials around the world in such places as Singapore and on the island of Malta and El Alemein. It is a staggering number as we sort of imagined that the aircraft were so often up their out of the day to day dangers that ground or sea personnel faced. To walk along the seemingly endless lines of names and see so many listed from our home countries with their rankings listed alongside plus the little memorial tributes left by families, friends or visiting comrades, just wrenches ones heart for sure.

Rhonda was doing a bit of research the other day and looked up the history of Staines which is our closest main shopping center and she discovered that while this part of Greater London was renowned once as the major producer of linoleum, the floor covering which was invented in 1864, It has a much older claim to history than that though as it was in AD 43 when the Romans invaded Britain and settled in Staines. The local museum has lots of artifacts on display so we will visit there hopefully before we move on to France. The word Staines is thought to come from the word Stones due to its association with a long lost site of monoliths in nearby Stanwell. Every town has had its famous people and some of them from Staines are Cliff Richard, Christine Keeler (only the older folk will remember this name) and the current Dr Who, David Tennant plus the pop band Hard Fi who are residents.

We are slowly getting everything ready for our crossing to France which we now hope will be in early March, weather depending. We have appointed a qualified skipper and a mate and I will go as the general hand and cook. God help them eh. The skipper who has crossed the channel more times than he can remember, came aboard the other evening and did a recce of the boat and pointed out what we will need to secure throughout the boat etc. He says it should take up to 24 hours from Penton Hook to Calais once the go button is pushed. He sure gave us a lot of confidence with his talk and listed experience, however, Rhonda and Harry will still go over on the ferry with our car so hopefully will be there when we get there. The old owner may come along for the ride as well so we will give the car to someone to bring back to London and hopefully one of the lads will buy it.

"STOP THE PRESSES'' As they say.

Yesterday, while we were down in Hastings on the south coast doing some sightseeing, we learned over the radio that severe storms of snow and ice were predicted that day and onwards for the rest of the week so we packed our car and headed home experiencing some fluffy snow flurries on the way but back at the boat it was fine and sunny, but after a couple of hours at home the sky darkened and the snow started which was so pretty according to Rhonda. The temps dropped to zero so the fire was lit and the radiators set going so we had a very pleasant warm night. But woke this morning to between 4 and 6 inches of snow everywhere with a terrible cold wind to chill all to the bones. As it was so much of a novelty to Rhonda she chose to accompany Harry and me on our early morning walk so we rugged up with every layer we could and got Harry into his wet weather gear and off we went. Even along the dock Harry was chest deep in the snow and it took him a while to get used to it but after a few minutes decided it was good stuff to run through and coat himself in the white stuff as the photos will show.

CNN, the great TV news station, was calling for photos so Rhonda sent off a couple of ours of Harry and the marina, one of which was taken up by them and rated a 5 and all of sudden it came up on screen as the lead item when reporting on the snow storm presently engulfing us. The pictures used as shown, were accompanied by a commentary that these were taken by Ken and Rhonda Blakie from New Zealand who are living on a barge in London. They were so fascinated by this that the producer called Rhonda on the phone to ask for further details of our adventure and asked for access to our blog pages and wish us to follow up with this as we make our way.

We couldn't believe how much of a disruption this storm caused. All London buses stopped. The M25 Ring Road was closed along with all schools in lower England and even Heathrow was closed so some 500 flights were cancelled or held back. It is the heaviest snow for 20 years with perhaps even more promised tomorrow so we sure have copped it this winter. Trust us to be here to witness this. Goodness knows how some of the old people will get on.

Now going back to our journey to the south coast. On Thursday we went south to Cocking which is in the middle of West Sussex where the old owners of "Somewhere" live in a beautiful country home. The area is in rolling country which is similar to lots of New Zealand and of course is the old farm village with buildings dating from the 16th century and is so fascinating.

On Thursday evening, Ross and Elaine took us to their favourite hotel restaurant named the Spread Eagle Hotel in a nearby town of Midhurst. This town has been known to be inhabited for 2000 years and has served all sorts of landlords and royals during this period. This hotel had so much history since it was originally developed as a Sussex Coaching Inn in the 15 century, 1430 and is adorned with so many antiques which were being used in every day dining like spindle back chairs and oak tables etc, etc. Adorning the ceiling of the dining area one can look up to see Xmas Puddings hanging. Some of them dating back to Oliver Cromwell's time when people who came to stay and ordered Xmas Pudding had another one cooked, their name added to the bowl and it was hung as the invitation for them to attend the following year.

While the township of Midhurst has a population of only 200 people the hotel is visited by folk from all over so offer a huge bill of fare as well as accommodation and would be rated as a 5 star hotel at least. It is amazing how far folk travel to view and to use these sorts of places and you can tell that there is a very proud feeling by locals and visitors as to the value of the heritage so all items which you can touch are just there before you. I couldn't imagine a pub in New Zealand allowing such magnificent furnishings and fittings to be handled at all.

In the foyer stands a complete suit of armour which is an original and as you can examine it so closely you get a true understanding of how small the soldiers were of the era and how strong they were as despite the old story that told of them being lifted onto horseback by rope slung over a branch or frame, this was not so. They had to get onto their horses often without any assistance same as if they got knocked from the horse they had to remount often on their own.

Completely fascinating spot to visit however, we moved on from there to the seaside resort of Brighton. Situated as it is right on the coast this big city has been the playground and holiday destination for millions of Britons and foreigners since the middle ages and the immense layout of multi storeyed buildings which once were homes for the rich and famous they are now largely converted to hotels, B&Bs plus flats and apartments as there is a large university there as well.

If you compare it to Bondi Beach in Sydney, well don't as the beach is heaped gravel, steep,with a horrible surf of brown coloured Atlantic ocean pounding onto the foreshore and as there is a real drift to the East there seems to be man-made groins built every few hundred meters or so to minimise the scouring. I guess in the heat of summer (if any arrives) there will be standing room only or in some cases you can hire pretty little coloured bathing sheds where you can sit out of the wind or store your belongings. To be honest it is like a step back in time as we stayed across the road from the Brighton Pier which is a huge appendage sticking out into the ocean. Gee it must cop some huge storms. This Pier is predominantly an amusement centre with the old slot machines and penny arcades etc.

Further west of this pier is the skeletal frame of the other pier which was almost as famous but sadly burnt down some few years back leaving the twisted steel structure remains to mother nature to destroy. In my opinion it is not only an eye-sore but very dangerous for any bathers who would choose to swim the hundred meters or so out to look at it and I am amazed that the owners have not been made to destroy and remove it completely.

After an afternoon and night spent in Brighton, we moved on as the famous Pavilion designed and built by George IV which looks like an Indian Taj or similar was closed for the winter months which was a pity as it looked quite amazing in that it has stood since 1822 when it was first used as a holiday castle and entertainment centre for royalty and the rich and famous.

We drove East towards the city of Hastings where we were to stay overnight where we viewed the original Butlins Family Holiday Park. Going since19?? this amazing family holiday camp with accommodation and entertainment which even had its own song to entice new visitors over all those years, almost a blue print for Club Meds in later years. It is a tribute to the company that this is still going and packing them in each summer period. We stopped in Eastbourne from where we took a diversion to Beechy Head based on a feeling by Rhonda that this could be an interesting area. I wasn't so sure but as usual the navigator was right as this area is like a piece of the White Cliffs Of Dover and is just amazing. Some of our photos will tell their own story and as it is so lowly populated that you can wander for miles along the cliff tops and look down far to the ocean and coast below. It is quite daunting really and usually while I am not bothered by this sort of landscape, I have to say that the way the cliff edges were not signed nor protected in any way made my stomach lurch when Rhonda and Harry got to be too close by my reckoning to the straight drop of several hundred feet to the beach below. People walk along tracks only which are probably two meters from the edge and despite the fact that every so often the cliffs do crumble it does not seem to stop the strollers even despite the freezing cold day and harsh wind.

Maybe the fact that there was a mobile Chaplain patrolling the local road in her Toyota 4 x 4 van gives a feeling that the area sometimes gets used for sadder happenings but the raw beauty of the area is something one must witness and if the cliffs of Dover are even more daunting then I am sorry we missed out but due to the weather forecast we headed north and home to our barge calling at a couple of pretty small towns which called for our attention but arriving safely before the bad weather arrived.

I have to say how we could not get over how much history is to be found in such small geographic areas and you no longer leave one thing before you are looking at the next. One would need a lifetime to absorb even half of what is on offer to see and to learn about, however, I also have to add that the bloody parking charges are a real pain and even are applied in the most rural areas and spoil the day really as most historic sights charge a visiting/viewing fee and then on top of that you have to pay to park the car which can often be many hundreds of yards away from the actual attraction. That is my only grumble but do wish better parking facilities could be provided at free entry.

Rhonda's Comments: Winning Sign of the Month

Winter on the Water

Hello Folks and Best Wishes to You All for a Very Happy New Year.

Before going ahead with new additions to our blog again we thank you all for your responses and comments. May we point out to those who have asked for bigger pictures that you have the answer in your own computer. Simply one click on any of the small photos and the photo will be very much enlarged, then click on back arrow in the top left hand corner to go back to our blog. Trust this makes them a bit more meaningful.





Now returning to Christmas, we can report that about 1.00 pm on Christmas Eve Day we had a visit from the couple who have their boat moored alongside our marina at Penton Hook. They came looking for us saying that they had missed us so came bearing gifts for us and Harry then about an hour later another couple from Penton Hook also turned up to visit saying that they too had missed us, so that was really nice and made us feel pretty warm and happy.

On top of that I can report that the weather had been fine for about a week with temps up to around 12 degrees but after waking on Christmas morning, we found that we had no power on board to even boil the jug so we eventually heated the boat with the gen set and ate breakfast in silence with the Christmas spirit fast diminishing toward the company who had "completed " the electrical fit out the day before. As they had agreed to come back on the day after Boxing Day to ensure all was good, we had agreed to stay for those extra days at Shepperton Marina which was fine but with this failure, we felt marooned a bit so a call to the manager who was away down the south coast on holiday gave us news that he would find someone to call and fix the problem that day so all would be well.

Rhonda's Comments: You can almost see him saying "Is that all I am getting for Xmas?".

We headed down river by car to Runnymeade where the Magna Carta had been signed and where there is a very substantial Air Force War memorial gardens and church plus museum, however, as you can imagine it was all closed for Christmas Day so off we went on to our hotel where we were booked to have our Christmas dinner with mixed feelings.

This hotel is sited on the banks of the Thames and our booked table looking over the river with expansive views was ready so we enjoyed a couple of hours dining and chatting so that coupled to the phone calls to and from family and friends at home and in Australia, we had a lovely day really although a bit lonely without family at our table. To finish the afternoon off we took Harry and walked for a couple of miles down the tow path and back alongside the Thames and this ensured we "walked " off any excess grog and food so went for a bit of a country drive home which filled in the afternoon and as we have said previously it is getting dark by around 3.30 pm.

Boxing Day saw us up early and off to the nearby suburb of Weybridge (Rhonda's Comments: Apparently Cliff Richard lives in Weybridge, will have to keep an eye out.) to a sound and TV specialist sale where we joined queues of buyers making offers for TVs and sound systems which were already well marked down. The shop is only small really with a showroom of approx 6m x 4m, so 20 people really filled it with the lines going from the counter to the street. While we were there buying a couple of speakers for our sound system which we had taken from New Zealand, we counted at least 7 or 8 x 42inch LCD TVs priced as low as 450 pounds which is cheap for here and lots of other sizes of all brands were being bought by customers who then struggled down the streets to get them to their cars which were parked some way off. As I have said before, parking is the worst problem of going to any built-up area and free parking is almost impossible to find.

I guess the point I was making was that despite the recession which has hit hard, this sale proved that people will still buy if the price is right. From Weybridge we went on to Staines to a big hardware store which also were having great sales and bought ourselves a Kartcher power washer for the boat, so we can keep the painted decks a lot cleaner than we had been able to especially with the trades people walking around on them for so long. Like a spoiled kid with a new toy I had to get back to the boat to try it out and despite the temps not getting above 4 degrees I enjoyed a couple of hours of blasting a lot of the crap off the decks and walkways. It sure seems to work pretty well.

The next day one of the Shepperton engineers and his wife called by and was able to determine that our mains power failure was due to a fault in the main jetty and pontoon wiring, not the boat except it had been off so long we lost the ability to draw 240 volt from the batteries so once he repaired that, normal service was resumed much to our relief. He was also able to tidy up another couple of matters and agreed to help us get the boat back to Penton Hook the next day. As the river still was running with a fair volume and speed we accepted his offer and made our way back upstream, about a 3 hour journey through some lovely countryside and past some magnificent homes. We negotiated through 2 locks which were not manned due to the holiday period, so it was a case of manual operations all round. It was great experience to be able to handle the boat in the conditions and as we all know there is nothing like experience to learn what and how a boat handles in various conditions. There are weirs which run like heck at every lock to allow the main river to work its was down stream, the currents sure push or pull the boat around and across the river so one has to be alert and ready to react quickly to avoid any collisions with walls etc and even the water coming into the locks can throw the boat around if the paddles are opened too quickly plus any rivers running into the Thames also have cross current effects which need to be watched and manoeuvred through . Having said all of that we did arrive without any real incident at Penton Hook Marina where we enjoyed being "home" after almost 4 weeks away. Even Harry was excited to revisit his old trees and bushes and in particular to run in the park again free of his lead.

The next morning dawned beautiful and clear with a full sun but with a frost which did not melt away until around 11 am so about noon I set to again with my power washer and special detergent to remove the last of the stubborn stains and all went well until around 2.30 pm when I noticed what appeared to be detergent solidifying on the off side of the boat. Believe it or not it turned out to be ice as the water from the washer was freezing on top of the detergent residue and hitting it with the power washer just saw it flaking off and flying everywhere. No wonder my hands were feeling numb as the temp turned out to be 0 degrees. No wonder the water was freezing once it hit the cold steel decks and walks so that was the end of water blasting and an hour later the whole boat was covered in frost and ice. This was around 3.0 pm so think about that while you are lazing in the sun with temps of around 30 degrees.

The weather forecast advised that temps for Tuesday would not rise above 3 so we decided that again despite the sun being out it was not to be a day to do much so at 12 noon we set off to go to the movies and after 15 mins we had the frost cleaned from the car using de-icer and water and a special ice scraper. It was unbelievable for us to see this frost turning to ice when we tried to wash it off and as the water hoses were frozen we just had to make do with the de-icer. Well, we went to the movie Australia which in our humble opinion was almost as bad as Pearl Harbour. We felt that the film had terrible acting, poor plot but with some great scenic shots but all in all would only rate it about 3 out of 10. Having said that, there will be no doubt that we will have plenty of viewers who will disagree. When we came out at around 4.0 pm there was the most beautiful red/golden sun showing but the irony was that the car had frozen over again and as we still had grocery shopping to do which was achieved in a rush and home we came to frosty docks and walkways and again the weather report advising that we should get temps tonight of -4.

As New Years eve drew closer we planned to have a few of our boat people friends over for drinks and niblets and this turned out to be great evening and we watched the New Year come in for the first time for about 10 years and finally hit the cot around 1.30 am New Years Day.


(Rhonda's Comments: Sorry, we were having such a good time I forgot to take any photos. Oh, well I'll get them back again for a repeat performance I'm sure.)


To you all we extend our sincere best wishes for 2009 and hope that when we enter 2010 we can look aback and say " well that year wasn't as bad as we thought it would be.




















We have just had the most beautiful fine day with absolutely no wind or cloud but with overnight temps of 4 below so woke to a marina with a centimetre of ice over it all and the biggest frost we could imagine. It is now 3.30 pm and the hoses and water pipes are still frozen so it will be salt on the docks and walkways etc as tomorrow is supposed to be the same but colder. Overnight with a bit of a breeze equates to a chill factor of 12 below. The marina is flying the red flag which prohibits movement by any boats and while I thought this was bit over the top as boats should be able to crush through this ice without any trouble we learned that the problem can be with boats moving through the ice and pushing large plates of sheet ice against plastic or wooden hull boats and could actually sink them. The folk here say that this is the coldest but best winter they have had for 30 years so all the bugs etc should be eliminated for the summer. In 1963 the Thames River actually froze over at Windsor which is about 15 klms from here. Old photos show this amazing period when waterfalls also froze over and trees looked like solid icicles. Also at that time, large areas of coastal sea froze over and kids where able to skate on these surfaces.



Yesterday we took ourselves off to Virginia Water which is a posh suburb about 5 kms from here and where many of the rich and influential live. It is on a direct and quick route to Heathrow one way and to Gatwick the other so has lots of pilots living there along with the upper crust of the business world as well. The size of the homes is amazing and while they are all hidden in groves etc the peeks one can get of them just makes you shake your head in wonder. It is also the home of the European Golf Headquarters and the famous Wentworth Golf Club with a clubhouse and grounds which takes your breath away. This club has enjoyed hosting many British Opens and other noteworthy events over the years. Well we drove in in our old Toyota among Maserati's, Porches, Lamborghini's and the biggest Range Rovers I had ever seen plus every other well known brand of car. There were security guards patrolling the drives and walkways along with Rangers and so on all driving in very flash enclosed buggies etc. As the course winds through some of the most beautiful forest I have seen you notice that again there are huge homes tucked into sections that made my eyes water they were so big and developed and we learned that this was the area where people like Elton John live plus a fair number of football stars etc. Apparently it was all developed by an Indian gentleman some years ago and obviously he made more money than you could poke a stick at. We took a few pics and fled in case they wanted fees or similar just to look.


We then went down to the village of Virginia Water looking for a coffee shop and found a small Italian Restaurant which was welcoming and warm so we ordered Calamari with warm bread and a glass of wine. I have to be honest and say that the food was the very best I had tasted since arriving here with the true Italian flavours and toppings and dressings enhancing the food to just right and the wine even though it was a house wine to be beautiful and we finished off with the best cappuccinos we had ever had, 30.00 pound was the bill including service tax so while it was expensive by kiwi values it was not by pommie pricing and we did so enjoy it. Tea last night was almost bread and scratch to make up for the indulgence.


Well as we were advised the ice and cold was even to be worse today with the ice increased to around 15 mm, with huge frosts which made walking through the park very interesting for Harry as the grass was snapping off as we walked through it and there was no chance of getting running water from any of the taps or hoses along the docks so fingers crossed for milder weather tomorrow.

After 7 days of being frozen in with the coldest temps experienced in England for 30 years we are very proud of how we have dealt with it. No running water so buying water at the supermarket is the only alternative. Minimal washing facilities as our tank is almost on empty while our black water tank is full almost to overflowing with no chance of pumping it out for fear of a 20,000 pound fine if caught doing so. Legs crossed is the order of the day until one can get to the marinas toilet/shower blocks.

Rhonda's Comments: Note the birds ice skating on the river!!

The locals are amazed at this weather saying that they can't remember temps at this time of the year to be so cold so we are glad to at least be accused of bringing a cooling to this planets area so there is no talk of Global Warming at present.



While we are talking doom and gloom we are honestly doing just fine and love the experience really and laugh at the way we layer up to go out Example, Singlet, Tee shirt, Shirt, Jumper, Underpants, Long Johns, Track suit, Heavy socks, Woolen lined boots, Swan Dri or similar, Scarf, Under Beanie, Over beanie, Heavy gloves. This is fine until you have to peel off at the loo or shower as you can imagine.

They are talking about rain coming which should melt the snow with temps rising to around the 5 degrees this Sunday which may help melt the ice. Fingers crossed particularly for the old folk who the NHS say about 5 or more will die throughout the UK every hour it is so cold as they can't or won't get the heating levels raised due to lack of funds etc. Just to cap this off, we went to Staines yesterday some 5 mins drive from here to find the whole shopping centre and surrounds covered in snow which was still falling at 1.0pm. Rhonda thought it was oh so pretty. I didn't quite make the same sort of comments, however, when we got back to the marina there had been another frost at 3.0pm but no snow.

Even a couple of big rugby games were cancelled yesterday as the grounds were still frozen despite the introduction of huge heating blankets and blowers being applied over the previous night. The players were far from impressed as one of the teams had just bussed in from far away only to be told to go home again. You can imagine the media reaction, however, that is what was done so we watched other games on TV but have to say that it is no wonder the New Zealand teams like the AB's do so well when playing here as the local general discipline and planned play is pretty poor by comparison.

Ok I will close off now and go off for my morning swim (yeah right) and hopefully our next blog will bring news of warmer temps etc. Take care of each other. Kindest regards.

Ken, Rhonda and Harry

CHRISTMAS IN LONDON

" We Wish You a Merry Xmas, We Wish You a Merry Xmas, We Wish You a Merry Xmas

and a Happy New Year "

Believe it or not the weather has been unusually mild for this time of the year around 11 to 13 degrees for the past week, so I do not think a White Christmas will occur, at least not in this part of England. As it is almost Christmas Eve and you will be closing down everywhere to enjoy the festivities of the season, so we would like to wish each and everyone of you a Very Merry and Safe Christmas and New Year. So remember take care of each other and when you are having that tot over Christmas lunch give us a cheer as well, as we will do for you.

The period of this blog is from 1oth December 2008 to 23rd December, 2008. I will start this off by describing our daylong visit to Portsmouth, one of England's most famous ports and lovely coast which faces into the Solent some 50 odd miles southwest from London. It is easily accessible from London using the M 25 ring road motorway or as we did via a hook up through the A3. Both allow excellent travelling times and the journey down is very pretty really particularly when you reach a few hills which allows views over the countryside like via (The Devils Punchbowl) rather than just the seemingly endless tree rows and thickets which envelop the roadsides allowing only very fleeting glimpses of what lays hidden behind.

Rhonda's Comment: No we are not in Dubai!!!!

Along the way we did see the world famous Wisley Gardens which are huge but not worth visiting in the winter I wouldn't think plus small cities like Winchester with its renowned cathedral and so on. All at once you seem to flash out from the trees and there is the coast and in this case when we travelled down, it was sparkling in the sunlight. We spent our few hours at the Old Portsmouth Docks really as there is so much history right before your eyes. From museums containing such things as the remains of the Mary Rose, a Henry VIII ship, then on to the Lord Nelson flagship, Victory, still maintained in magnificent condition to the Warrior built in 1860 as the first steam driven inter continental ship and so on and so on. There are museums and artifacts galore hence our promise to return to soak up some of this wonderful area of our history. Obviously, the area is scattered with pubs with amazing names relating to history and right in the middle is The Lady Hamilton Hotel from which our original family name was derived from (Lord Nelson's whore) as we are recorded descendants of her. We decided that we would have to go back again before we leave these fair shores and stay at least a couple of days in any one of the multitudes of B&Bs which are found everywhere along the coast line so we can visit so many of the displays as well as look into the D-Day Operation Overlord exhibitions which are so much a wonderful part of our history as the stepping off place for the re-invasion of Europe by the Allies on June 6 1941.

Rhonda's Comment: This sign says in case you can't read it,

"No Bathing Here at Low Tide". Who would want to

besides the water being to bloody cold you might also

be swimming around old relics.

All of this is of course surrounded by the Royal Navy bases which are huge and to be able to look out to sea sure shows why the area has for centuries made a wonderful port. It outs to the Solent and on to the Atlantic thus giving England its great position from where to launch attacks from or protect itself from marine attacks from the great seas which meet the coast here. We will offer much more in detail on this fascinating area when we re visit next year and to those of you who have already visited or are familiar with this piece of coast will well know how fascinating it is.

Our next big outing was as we had promised ourselves, a trip to stay for a couple of nights in London to see the lights and hear the choirs and bands playing Christmas songs etc so on the following Friday we drove to our old marina base where we left the car and caught the bus to Staines from where we caught the overland train to Waterloo then transferred to the Underground to travel to Holborn near Covent Gardens where we had our hotel booked.

It was quite an adventure as we were loaded with a roll wheel suitcase, a backpack, a camera bag, a plastic shopping bag and a large umbrella decked out in our winter clothes of 5 or 6 layers plus Harry. Yes,we always travel light when we move, just ask Daphne who chuckles about our inability to make do with small requirements of clothing etc. Harry was great even when faced with those huge escalators in the underground and all the new noises, but he like us, was glad to get to our hotel and to be able to rest in peace and quiet for a while.

After a short nap the navigator had us up and off to walk to Covent Gardens and then on down to Trafalgar Square to see the huge Christmas tree which is shipped from Norway each year and decked in white only lights as a symbol of peace and a token of thanks to the English people for their support in WW2. In front of the tree the choirs took turns to sing, however, just as we got there it started to rain steadily so while we watched from the sheltered steps of the National Art Gallery these poor kids did their best to keep a cheer in their voices while the temps fell to about 3 degrees.

We then moved off down passed Piccadilly Circus and down to Regent Street where we had been told the lights were great to see. Well to be honest they were poor so after about 10 mins we went past the top end of Oxford Street where we later found out that the lights further down the street were really good but of course we missed them in the rain and gloom. On we walked up through Soho just as businesses were closing and thus emptying a million folk out onto the streets as they made their way home or off shopping or out for the last evening of the working week. I have never experienced such crowds and as you can imagine in the rain and dark we were just hustled along by the throng like sardines swimming with the tide. Poor Harry, still at foot had to endure being soaked to the skin and black from his belly to his topsides due to the filth coming off the footpaths but he was wonderful in avoiding being stood on and was great really.

One of the things that stuck out was the huge numbers of people who still smoke here with so many of them being elder or seniors and as a result some 2000 people die of smoke related diseases per week in the UK. So sad isn't it when you think of the cost to health and finances. Many of these people huddle in the doorways of work having a fag and even more so at places of entertainment like when they go to the pubs as smoking indoors at pubs, restaurants etc etc has been banned since July last year. It is sad really to see them all standing in the rain like groups of lepers trying to enjoy themselves.

We eventually got back to the hotel looking like wet rats and calculated we had walked for about 10ks so as you can imagine we were knackered so it was baths all round for us including Harry, a take-away tea from next door and a big crash out for the night.

Saturday morning was no better weather wise but Rhonda took herself and Harry off to The Old Bailey(Courts of Justice) and then found the famous church where the Bells Of St Clements song and story originated from and she picked up a printed history sheet on how it all came about including the full song sheet. (If anyone is interested please let her know and she can scan the paper and send it to you, It is quite fascinating).

After viewing the Waldorf Hotel where the rich were breakfasting in the widows of the breakfast room and they watched us having our poached and scrambled eggs plus the obligatory baked beans out on the footpath at an open air eatery. Gee it felt good at about 2 degrees. Even Harry froze his bum off on the cold concrete but we soldiered on and then went to Drury Lane where all the West End theatres are situated. I still can't believe that she could walk so far over the two days but it just shows you how much fitter she has got and having lost 6 kgs like me is feeling the benefits of being able to walk Harry so far and to walk to do all the sightseeing.

Just across from our hotel was the biggest and most interesting Hobby Shop I have ever seen. Gee it was busy too with kids and dads buying Christmas gifts of all sorts from helicopters to soldiers to planes and ships to all the space invader stuff and so on. Just as well that I couldn't afford to buy some more train stuff as I could have gone quite mad.

Along with some long walks around the streets which run out from the hotel area, via the legal area with endless rows of buildings occupied by lawyers including the Law School which seems to be occupied 24/7, we found new parks which were open from 7.30am to 4.00pm where Harry could run off the lead and chase the squirrels and meet new dogs etc. This would have been great if the weather had been kinder, however, those are the breaks of a northern winter.

As you would know it, Sunday arrived with no rain, just cold and overcast so we packed up and trundled down to to the Thames to Somerset House and watched the ice skating and then on to Waterloo Bridge and then along to Westminster Bridge. Another good trot and while we enjoyed looking at the river traffic I have to say that most of the charter ferries which run and back over a set range don't seem to get started until around 11 am or so as people sure like having their mornings in bed rather than getting out and about. They love late lunches up to 3.00pm and it is not uncommon to see the eating of main evening meals well after 10.00pm.

We wended our way back to where our car was parked and safely got back to the boat around 3 pm so a good weekend was had really. I think we all slept for a good 12 hours that night but of course the memories will stay with us for so much longer.

Because of the very heavy rain which had fallen west of here, the Thames rose to a very high level and we were advised that travelling on this river until further notice was banned until the level dropped so we will be here are at Shepperton Marina at least until the end of the week while the level is still high and the current is very quick, up to about 13 kms per hour so the only things doing well are the big white swans which seem to handle it so well. Talking about the swans draws to mind that here at Shepperton Marina is a reserve next door where the swans are bred and raised so we get so many coming over here to the marina to make their pickings of scraps etc. They are truly magnificent particularly while taking off as they need about 50 meteres to get off the water when there is no breeze. They really are the jumbo jets of the bird world. You may be interested to know that while there are lots of birds around the hedgerows etc there is a a national concern over the loss of the common sparrows and to be honest we have not seen one in our time here. I don't know why they are vanishing but when you consider how well they do in New Zealand one wonders what is going wrong here.

The work on the boat is almost finished so we are glad about that. Just as well the weather has prevented us from moving on, however, we have enjoyed our stay at Shepperton Marina for a change as there are some great little shopping centres nearby so it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before we get back to Penton Hook for Christmas.

I have to tell you about a real win we had yesterday. We had been looking for a dehumidifier but they were all very expensive and not many stores had them but yesterday in Woolworth's while looking at the last of the stock before they close their doors for good I saw a dehumidifier, same model as we had borrowed from the old owner when we first came on board. It was labelled at 50% 0ff the old price of 140 pounds but I noticed a wee sticker saying a further 30% off, however, when we took it to the cash register to check if this was correct, it came up as being only 16 pounds total so needless to say we grabbed it and got out real quick and felt really smug. I felt like our mates the Cantelos really who seem to always strike on deals like this. The streets of Staines and Chertsey as you can imagine were very busy and already a number of High Street shops have started having post Christmas sales which has meant even more bargains for those who know their prices etc.

Last Friday night the navigator insisted we should go into Windsor to the castle gates on the hill to take part in the Carol singing etc. The Band of The Life Guards were playing and it was quite a sight as they were dressed in bright red full length winter weight woollen coats and all their regalia and about 3000 people turned out to add voice to the music. It was a very pleasant evening but I noted that while Queenie and Dukey were in residence neither of them bothered to come down to say Hi or to invite us in for a cuppa but that is the way things go I guess.

So once again in closing, Rhonda and I would like to wish you all and your families and wonderful Xmas and love to all.

Kindest regards

Ken Rhonda and Harry