Aug 7th

Buckden Marina.

OK everybody we seem to be up and running again.  I have now managed to put photographs into the gallery at last, the problems with the website are hopefully now resolved!  There are some photographs of our holiday in Mallorca which are in the July album and there are also a few in the August album, mainly of Indy's birthday celebrations when we went to see Thomas the Tank Engine at the Nene Valley Railway - indulge me, she's my only grandchild! 

This isn't really a blog as there is not a lot to report.  We have been out and about in the TR6 but the weather has been apalling!  Clive's poor little car has seen more rain in the last week than it has in the whole of the thirteen years that he has had it!  The one bit of good news is that he managed to get the windscreen wiper fixed back on and this time it has stayed on and functioned beautifully. 

We drove all the way down to Cranfield yesterday to visit our friends Shirley and Barry.  We actually put the top down for the drive as it wasn't actually raining.  We left the car parked outside Shirley and Barry's house and we all walked to the pub for lunch, then we heard the thunder!  Clive dashed off to put the hood up on the car and did manage to get it secured before the rain started, alas he didn't have an umbrell nor a jacket and arrived back sopping wet!  We had lunch, which was delicious, then Barry borrowed an umbrella from the landlord and went back to fetch his car.  When we arrived back at their house Clive, who was still dripping, changed into a dressing gown and Shirley put his clothes in the tumble dryer!

The rain continued all the way back to Cambridge.  We went to Gareth's first to spend a bit of time with him then drove back to the marina in the pouring rain, it wasn't much fun! 

Fortunately it didn't rain at all today.  I had to go back to the dentist to get my gold filling replaced by something a little more permanent.  After that we drove up to our storage facility and were delighted to find that first of all everything was still there!  Secondly it was all in excellent condition, no dampness etc, so we were very relieved.  Then we went to visit our folkie friends Rosemary and Vernon.  Vernon hasn't been very well this year and has spent quite a long time in hospital, Rosemary has been keeping us informed of his progress by email over the months.  It was great to see him today looking so well and even practicing his songs, so hopefully in the not too distant future he may be able to go back to the folk club and give them all a song.  We wish him all the best for a speedy recovery.  Rosemary also gave us a bag of scrummy plums from her garden!  Vernon also had another visitor from the folk club this afternoon, Sandy.  It was great to catch up with her too.  We are hoping to get the folk club again before we leave the district but by the time we got back to the boat today it was just too late, plus we weren't sure whether the guitar would fit in the TR6, certainly not with the hood up!

Tomorrow Clive is driving up to Huddersfield to return his TR6 to the care of my brother.  It is a shame he hasn't been able to enjoy driving his little baby, the weather has just been dreadful since he fetched it.  He has only managed to have the top down about three times.  However, it has been really useful having some transport whilst we were here, in fact we are going to really miss it next week until we actually leave the marina and set off on our travels again.  Never mind, we are expecting a few visitors next week so I am sure we will be fine.

So, that's all there is to report for the time being.