Douglas Diary Wednesday 11th May 2016 (Day 21 and 22) The more observant will notice the absence of my diary page yesterday (Tuesday 10th May) I do apologise, some have even suggested that I had been detained for trespassing on Mr Tesco’s sacred shop floor on Monday, assuredly this is not the case. The truth is, yesterday I could well have been on the dark side of the moon except the weather was appalling I can tell you, it did not stop raining. We had engine trouble, for the second time and able to travel only in short spurts and this meant little walking. We had two problems successively which are both now resolved and with details of which I will not bore you, I don’t understand it anyway, being rather technical. When our unrelated problems with my long kennel in turn manifested themselves the timings could have been better. My bearded one yesterday had no communication with the outside world to deal with these problems, no wifi and very poor telephone signal. (Wilds of Shropshire Cheshire border) Then, his Spanish phone on which he relies and was in use most of the day before talking with our RCR help line ran, out of money today! This in itself was another frustration because at 06:00 yesterday morning he topped it up with a further fortune and they (his provider) credited it to the wrong phone, my long haired one’s. This has a flat battery then and does more often than not.
Anyway, back to today. It was still raining this morning when another engineer called to finally resolve the second of our crises (coolant not circulating) which he had completed by midday and, we were once again on our way, leaving Wrenbury, headed for Nantwich 4 hours away.
It stopped raining and it was a lovely cruise I did quite a lot of walking. In fact my bearded one, enjoying himself continued past Nantwich. Photo today one of the many lift bridges operated by my long haired one. We are now moored at Hack Green. I will tell you more about this tomorrow – very interesting! Love Douglas
Sent from my iPad
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Douglas. I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been to run out of tech, battery, signal on top of the mechanical failures in your long kennel. Hope the bearded one is recovering
It all started after you left with Bumble and Trooper but I don’t think they had anything to do with it. Anyway pretty well all sorted we believe and we had a glorious day today the weather was perfect we cruised for eight hours! Love Douglas
Oh, Douglas!!!
Such adventures you do have! I have been following your progress, if that’s what it’s called om Auntie Lesley’s Eye patch i think she calls it. My desk top I patch has not been working since the nice developer man who has bought the house opposite sliced through the telephone cable and the electric mains cable with a JCB machine. What jolly fun ( not). Both are back now but the lights flash on and off a bit so I am not sure they put enough sellotape on it. Glad you are all up and running again. Put your woolly coat on at nights.. it going to get a bit nippy again!
I am off to Portugal early next week just as you will be coming to the end of your epic voyage. Do have a good trip back to Hawkhurst and Spain. Does your bearded one, or indeed your long haired one know when you will be in the Hawkhiurst area in case it’s possible for a reunion. I think we are back around 26th of the month. I look forward to hearing from you. Take care..Uncle Peter
Hello dear Peter thank you so much , sorry to hear about the JCB I just hate it when this happens. Anyway hope you have a lovely time in Portugal. My bearded one, normally a quiet, retiring chap and level headed not an ounce of superstition in his body may have changed his mind this Friday 13th he is acting strangely and so is my long kennel which is why he is sitting on the tow path being quite grumpy waiting for the nice mechanic man. I will report later on my diary.
Lots of love Douglas
I’m doing a masters in law That is so hot where they both lick her and kiss each other. Next time my buddy and I get drunk and do things we later pretend to regret, that will detilifeny be one of them.
Hi there bruvver – we have not been getting email reminders about your diary but one came this morning ! We have been very busy running away as much as possible and adding to our tic and thorn collection which our Captain keeps in a little jar. If you have a spare boat we could do with one here because the stream by the house has been filling up with all the rain. We don’t care – we just get very wet and the Captain is spending all day drying towels for us. Yesterday he went out to a friends house to try and download the Bafta awards from the stupid BBC iPlayer and said he could see his son getting handed the award but could not record it for us to see at home.
You may remember we had six little waifs and strays (refugees – we hear it is a problem everywhere) that stayed with us and were a bit of a nuisance at first – jumping all over us, diving into our food bowls and wanting to play but just as we were getting fond of them they have all gone to wonderful new homes. Try not to get marooned in that long kennel of yours – we feel safer on dry land even if it rains !!
Our Captain posted the last letter for us but it shows up as coming from him – you know he can’t write like us so why don’t we show up ? We logged in as Napoleon and Juno (Fergus and Tilly on the side) There is something odd happening with our connection here…………and usually we can see our stunning photo too…….
Hi there bros. we did see Mark get his BAFTA he did well,.your Captain’s internet is always dodgy and we have very spasmodic wifi here on his dongle I think he calls it. Sorry you have rain in Spain it usually happens this way. Glad all your mates got good homes we were monitoring it.
Love Douglas
My, my you have been having problems; engines that refuse to start , rescues from the canal and mobil telephones that always run out just at the moment you most need them!!!!!!
We too are having problems with rain, It’s rained almost continuously since last weekend. Keith has had to let water out of the pool and Blanca’s walks are becoming shorter and shorter, We’re planning to go to
lunch at El Deo with Joan and Ray today. I guess I shall have to wear my souwester..
Not sure if it’s my computer not liking the rain, but some of your photos show you a trifle blurred Doulas; yesterday’s was fine,so maybe the paws have stopped shaking?
We’re enjoying your adventures,
much love.
A,K and B
My dear A K and B always lovely to hear from you. I am so sorry the English weather has moved south to you and I am very pleased to say that the normal Spanish weather has arrived here in England at least for today. It has been warm and lovely. We have cruised a lot today as I will tell you in my diary thank you for writing. I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Lots of Love Douglas
Hello Douglas
Well, I don’t know. This silly business with passwords: my daddy can’t remember what it is and, when he asks for a new one, nothing appears. Never mind.
I enjoyed reading about the fun you had in Tesco’s although I think I would have been a bit scared if it happened to me.
Anyway, I think you know that I am feeling very lonely at the moment because my mummy and daddy have also gone off cruising on a river – but they don’t take me with them, worse luck. But they tell me that they don’t have problems like your bearded one because there are lots of experts around who sort them out, feed them, make their beds, pour them drinks and goodness knows what else. Lucky things.
Hope to see you soon –
Love & scratches
Millie
I’m going to send your bearded one a nice picture of me to show you.
Well I suppose it’s G and T on the Poop deck again, I hope your M and D are having a good time with M and T but I bet they are not having so much fun as I am I have met many friends to day because we did 25 locks! Talking of G and T must go now thank you for writing
Love Douglas
Dear Douglas:
Hopefully, your engine problems are now resolved. The weather has not be coöperating at all. Just hope you don’t mildew before heading back to sunny Spain.
We are finally getting a taste of warmer weather. Have already put in some long hours working in my garden.
I attended a lecture on long kennels at the local yacht club. I had no idea you had to manually move the locks nor did I realize how precarious it can be while inside the locks. Please tell your bearded one and your long haired one that I am now in awe of their abilities to control and turn such a long vessel.
Am thinking of locating one of my books in Spain. Who knows, but the hero may need a dog called “Douglas”!
My dear Nancy. I did not know they had long kennels in Your neck of the woods. But we have met lots of two legged humans from all parts including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, USA and of course many from Europe who seem to enjoy driving long kennels.
Lots of love Douglas
Dear Douglas, well, you cannot say that you lead a dull life. There is always something going on. I bet your bearded one got a little hot under the collar when the wifi wouldn’t work and the phone ran out of dosh. But as always you all spring back. I heard that your long haired one was a little under the weather. Are you and him taking care of her? I do hope that you will all be in fine fettle for the end of the month when we are to meet up again. That is if the flood barriers come down!! We are marooned now on the Wey, but we are in a happy place, a very pleasant mooring opposite a marina where we can replenish our water supplies and The Anchor pub is a very nice and popular place. Today we found all the shops that we need just a short walk away in Byfleet. Now we are provisioned again. Have a great day, xx
Dear B and M I was going to ask where you were and how you might be coping with all that water. I don’t like water that much and I avoid it if I can. Glad you are safe and well I hope M has fully recovered from his excitement. We have had a very long and active day today 25 locks and I helped my long haired one all the way. She is feeling much better thank you and sends love too
Douglas
Thanks Penny, the &qoui;chtna" story is a very good little anecdote from my childhood, I am glad the humor was appreciated. Almost as glad about that as I am that Greg likes Prince Eric too.
Dear Douglas, we have many laughs over your adventures on the Llangollen canal and concern for your bearded one’s level of stress over things technical and trust all goes well from now on. Very few people now how exciting canal boating can be!
We have been looking over your wooden kennel reserved for your visit and there is not a Tesco’s in site but there are many tribes of your kind walking quite close by and there are a few delicatessens you might want to explore with wonderful smells and food. We look forward to spending some time with you all.
Have a great time Lots of love to you all.
Hello Bob and Sheila how lovely to hear from you. My bearded one is as well as can be expected under the technical circumstances on this day Friday 13th – he is normally quite level headed and not in the least superstitious but his blog today might indicate a change of mind. I am writing this on the towpath somewhere in Shropshire , I have no idea where exactly, I hope the nice mechanic man knows. Thank you for your research as to the interesting facilities available on our next visit with you to which we are all looking forward.
With love Douglas
In a radio interview two weeks ago RA was asked if he would be involved in the cliffhanger at the end of the season and if he would be in a possible series 10 and his answer was that he honestly didn’t know. From that you could conclude that at least LN won’t be killed off during the series and even if he should be involved in the cliffhanger it do&1ne#82s7;t mean he won’t survive. I mean, what’s the point in having a cliffhanger when you tell everybody what the outcome will be?