Rain, Rain Go Away.....

....... and DON'T come back another day!!

I'm sure that old nursery rhyme was composed when rain was probably a fairly regular occurance, but only in small doses. We have now had rain every single day since I arrived back in the UK. Most days it has rained continously without a break and it has on occasion been of a velocity that I am more used to seeing in places like India and Malaysia during the monsoon season.

Apart from the people who have been affected by the floods, the impact on us is minimal except that we find it hard to find opportunities for getting out and chopping wood for the fire. However, it is just so depressing to go through the day surrounded by dark, grey, wet weather.

I did manage to get out for a short walk last week and all the fields were flooded:

At least the canal is full

We have booked a holiday in sunnier climes next week, so hopefully will be able to get some sun and much needed vitamin D!

The inclement weather has also prevented me from getting out to stake out the Otter and Kingfisher properly, but the wildlife camera is now operational again and we have heard the Otter swimming under the boats on several occasions in the early hours of the morning. I'm just hoping that it will pop up in front of the camera one night! As for the Kingfisher, it is often seen fishing off the front of our boats. I caught some pictures of the heron one day sitting on our front button, so I'm thinking it may be worth setting up the camera at the front of the boat to try and capture the Kingfisher.

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We had an interesting experience of synchronocity yesterday. When the caretaker is not here, we look after requests for fuel from passing boaters. A continuous cruiser dropped by to buy some coal. We know most of the people who live on their boats on the canal, but we hadn't seen him before. It turns out that he is a student in his final year at the University. While I was on the other side of the world, I used my days off to explore and on one occasion I had taken the ferry over to one of the many small Pacific Islands and cycled around it. It turns out that his parents live on that island and I had probably cycled past their house!

On that note I will leave you. More when I return from my holiday....

Al :)

Storms and floods

I arrived back from the antipodes just before Christmas to unprecedented bad weather. Storms Desmond, Eva and Frank had already wreaked terrible damage on homes near to us. One village was completely cut off for several days, after the river which flowed through it burst its banks and flooded all access roads. Our village was without power for two days and the city centre was inaccessible. There was some shortage food because the Supermarkets near us were either closed, due to being flooded, or because they had run out of food and supplies couldn't get through.

We felt so sorry for those people who have temporarily lost their homes. We realise how lucky we are, since living on a boat is probably the best place to be at the moment. As the canal has risen all we have had to do is to slacken the mooring ropes, to prevent the boat from tilting. We were also not really affected by the loss of electricity, as we lived off our batteries for a few days and recharged them by running the engine.

However, not all boat owners were unscathed by the situation. We are reasonably safe in the Marina because we are moored to solid jetties, but those on the towpath were not so fortunate, as the force of the water pulled out their mooring pins and when the water went down, this was the scene in a number of places along the canal network:

I feel so sorry for this boat owner whose boat was completely submerged

I was also shocked to see pictures of our city centre. Here is a street that I often drive down, completely submerged.

I was saddened to go into town last weekend in the aftermath of the floods to see so many shops near to the river, shut due to flood damage.

I just hope that 2016 is a better year weather wise and that these devastating scenes do not reappear next Christmas.

On to more positive matters now. The Otter is a regular visiter around the boats, usually early evening and in the early hours of the morning. I have had to take the wild life camera down, due to rising water levels threatening to swamp it and high winds which could have damaged it. However, I have a new tactic. I was talking to a fisherman who was fishing on the canal side when I went for a walk the other day and he told me where the Otter's Holt is. I am planning to take a chair down and sit opposite it for as many hours as are neccessary, in the hope of getting a picture. I plan to do that over the next few days, so watch this space.

We have some Goosander who are feeding on the canal and I did manage to get some pictures of them, but because they are wild ducks, they never let me near enough to get a decent picture before taking flight. I have also seen a Kingfisher fishing regularly up by our locks, but again I can never get close enough. I plan to go and sit quietly up there one day to see if I can catch a picture. I have decided that that really is the only way to do it.

While I was overseas I managed to get a few serendipitous pictures of some lovely birds which I thought I would share. Here they are:

White Throated Kingfisher

Bell Bird

Red Billed Gull

Kereru

Tui

Variable Oyster Catcher

I now have a break from work, until I get my schedule for the coming year (if I get any work!). I am self employed so rely on being invited to undertake work by the company I am contracted to, but there are no guarantees.

Until I get any work I will at least have the time to post more frequently.

It just leaves me to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

Al :)