Winter in the marina

Winter so far in the marina looks very much like this most of the time, and feels distinctly chilly!

In previous years, we've winterized the boat and taken ourselves back to the house before today, 4th December. Not so this year, though. We've just woken to another frost dusting boats and rushes and pontoons with a gentle layer of white under a clean blue sky. The temperature was only just below zero, so Kantara would have been fine if we'd not been here. But we're not going to go through that faffy rigmarole of winterizing this year. Instead, we'll bounce back and forth twixt house and home as fancy or necessity dictate.

Last weekend we were in St Albans, cleaning and re-proofing the cratch cover. Saturday evening was the occasion of Jess's 30th birthday party, so we spent the evening ensconced in our bedroom, watching TV and listening to the hoots of enjoyment from below. We were awoken in the wee small hours by the sounds of singing and ukulele from an impromptu band of Jess's many musical friends. When we got up in the morning, we found several of them sleeping on various floors. Most amusing was the sight of Jess, in her pyjamas and sitting on a sofa, with two other members of The Company of Players snuggled down in their beds (of sorts) on the floor next to her, all three involved in a CoP planning meeting!

We came back on Monday, returned to St Albans on Thursday, and came back again on Friday after my AAA screening - passed with full marks. We'll be back there again some time this week, this time to put up the Christmas decorations and, hopefully, for Grace to do her painting. On Friday, we'll be driving out to Bishops Stortford to see an exhibition of silver jewellery made by Jacqui, a former student of mine. After that, who knows?

This weekend, Said the Maiden are at The Great British Folk Festival, where, on Friday, they played to an audience of 2000 at the Main Stage, having been voted best act on the Introducing Stage last year. And just look at the names they share the lineup with!

It was late to bed, late to rise for us last night, having spent a long evening with Sarah and Trevor from NB At Last, so I've got a huge pile of washing up to do. I'd better go and do it! 😒