Thu 12th Dec
I can finally report that Andrew is now gainfully employed and started his job yesterday. Somewhat of a change in routines now, with Andrew up before the sparrows and back long after they have all gone to bed. As for me after months of applications, the occasional phone interview and a couple of second interviews, I now also have a job offer. Initially it was a bit awkward as the job was in Bristol (and interview in Andover) and Andrew had accepted his job in Winchester the day before. So with a very costly and time consuming commute for Bristol I had decided to decline the offer. The company however was keen and has instead reverted back to the initial job position in Andover but on a 1 year fixed term contract. I am happy with that as Andover is only about 20 minutes from Winchester and we will see what the year brings. So life back in the fast lanes.
We are still in Theale, having purchased a general towpath mooring licence for 3 months. We have a lovely little spot here by the lake. Once a week we tootle up to Tyle Mill to refill the water tank and occasionally to empty the other. Diesel was a bit difficult until we bought a little car on the weekend. Now we can go and fetch it in the car rather than taking the boat, which was a bit of a problem with the diesel being the other side of the closed locks at Tyle Mill. Now other issues come to mind with working and being away all day. We will have to make a decision on staying aboard or moving to land during the week. As most know, live aboard marinas on the Kennet and Avon are few and far between, never mind finding a free spot !! As such the decision might be made for us. I would much rather be in a marina while working, although Andrew does not mind one way or other. Starting to have to think about a commute and early mornings and late nights is making me shiver (and no it is not because it is cold inside
) but needs must.
Only having had the car for a few days before Andrew started work, it was quite different choosing where to go shopping rather than having to settle to where we could go either on foot or by public transport. Life is certainly shifting once more as we start out on yet another path. We are both looking forward to retirement now though, having experienced a magnificent year of fun and adventure. We have not got the boating bit out of our blood and will look forward to spending many more years out on the cut.
With our continuous cruising over for now, the blogs will be fewer and farther apart but I will continue the blog to keep family and friends up with the news and what we are up to.
Our plan is to spend time exploring some parts which were not able to get to by boat, but naturally this will be limited to weekend excursions
. Nevertheless we will do what we can.
Thanks to all who have helped us along our way this past year and to great new friends we have found on our travels. We will meet again sometime, we just hope it will not be too long
So I will leave you now with some pictures of our current mooring spot which has been very pleasant over the past month.
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| Southern Crested Grebe - in winter dressing |
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| Little Grebe - we have only seen him/her a few times |
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| Sunset :) |
