Sailing away

Hey, I'm back from the land of watery graves!. And guess what - Toni rang me! We were on the phone for an hour last night. And we've been texting each other today. And maybe we'll try and meet up soon. And...and...and... and that's all I'll say for now, folks. You'll have to wait for the next instalment. She liked the sound of my narrow boat though. Me and Tim had a great time. She's called Lone Star and there's a picture of Che Guevara painted across the stern doors (see, I know all the technical terms already) - current owner is a bit of a hippy and the one before was way out, man. She's 58ft long and built to last. There's a woodstove and a little sitting area, and a two ring stove in teh kitchen bit, and a kind of shower and toilet bit. I reckon the doggy smell will be gone in a week or so, and you get used to the damp after awhile. The dead cat was a bit of shock though - all wrapped up in cloths and stuck behind the woodstove - stiff as a very stiff stiff thing. I thought it was just a bundle of rags, but Tim had to get it out and unwrap it of course. I wanted to throw it in the canal and give it a water burial, poor old thing - but Tim wanted to hang on to it. He'll probably try to sell it on Ebay or give it to one of his wacko friends.

Tim didn't stop griping all night - he's got no spirit of adventure, that lad. He wanted to sleep in the camper but I told him he was being a wuss and what was the point of coming if we weren't going to experience the full experience. Luckily we'd brought two sleeping bags each, otherwise it might have been a bit chilly, what with the porthole windows not closing properly and the draft under the bow doors (see, there I go again). Hippy guy that owns it says he could give me a good price (about 20K), but I'll still need to borrow a bit from my mum (wonder if my dad will stump up a bit - I'll have to try and track him down. Last time he emailed me he and Sylvana (she of the curvy hips and come to bed smile, who's three years younger than me) were somewhere in the Indian Ocean). Anyway, hippy guy says I can try it out for a week or so before I make up my mind, so I'm going to come back next weekend and give it a go. Maybe I can take Toni for a gentle chug downstream...