Old Lyme Barge is now a beautiful colour - dark blue and white. Her bottom is blacked and her welds and anodes sorted out. So definitely ship-shape. However there was a bit of a Bilbo Baggins moment last week. What? Well, as he described his adventures we went 'there and back again'. Having carefully coaxed OLB out of dry dock and had her towed up the Thames, round the corner into the Grand Union, we realised that the lock-keeper on the Thames Lock at Brentford had gone away. This despite being booked to help ease our passage. So, nothing for it but to tow our shiny and beautiful boat back to the dock yard.
We did it all again on Monday - and our lovely vessel is now back home in her mooring. This is fortuitous indeed - we are due to move house next week, however... the manse is not ready to move into and will not be for another two weeks (at least!!!). So we will move our many (too many) possessions out and have them stored in the half finished house, whilst we will live on the houseboat.
Boxes seem to have overtaken our lives and I am not really able to get any work done on the day job. There is a strange unreality about this liminal place. Moving but not a new start. Moving out but not in. Expected to keep the show on the road but not having access to the things I rely on to prepare worship, funerals and meetings. Using our 'escape place' for normal living - including commuting Tamsin back to her old school for the last two weeks of term. All a bit weird and disconcerting.
So this is going to be an odd summer. Roll on our holiday, but only when all the other stuff is sorted.
