Racer

This is me aged 50 on my way to a runner up trophy in my first year of racing in the 600cc Steel framed Championship. I never won a thing after that apart from a few endurance events finishes medals. I carried on for the next three seasons and then gave it all up(been there done that sort of thing). Now I'm looking forward to life in the slow lane cruising at 4mph along the canals of England and Wales.

Updates

Betty is doing fine and managing at home on her own. She has been offered chemo but has refused this as surgeons say they have removed the tumour and there are no secondaries present,why go through all the sickness Chemo would bring if it is not really necessary.

The cars alarm was fixed but it developed another problem, the battery keeps discharging ,so it is back in the garage having this sorted. We will put her up for sale when we get her back as we don't need two cars now Sue has stopped work probably sell the other one once we have settled into life on the canals too.


Just got to book the flights and car rental for our boat hunting expedition next week.

Hunt is on

Went to see the boat on eBay I blogged about last week but it wasn't suitable. It was an owner fit-out and he had done a first-class job apart from the insulation(Rockwool) and I really prefer spray foam also the saloon was too small and had no stove. We looked at a few others in Thames and Kennet marina but they didn't come up to scratch either.  It might be just me but boats in marinas south of Watford and especially on the Thames seem vulgarly overpriced?

Sue has come home with me so plan is to fly to Birmingham in 3 weeks time hire a car and have 6 days boat hunting, so if anyone knows a suitable boat out there for us to look at please let us know.

Dinner date

Rang Betty last night and have persuaded her to come out for dinner Saturday evening. This has cheered her up no end, but I will have to take her to her hairdressers first. She ventured outside her home for the first time yesterday and walked around the garden, so well done Betty.  She is not getting breathless quite as much so I presume she is slowly getting used to her smaller lung capacity.

Party

Just got back from my latest and hopefully last hospital appointment for awhile. Had to go into theatre and have my colon stretched, without going into to much detail this involves sedation, a balloon and some compressed air. All free on the NHS, bet there area few MP's and Lords who would pay top dollar for that kind of party.

Anniversary

Can't believe it's nearly a year since I was diagnosed with a  tumour in my bowel and the resultant meeting with the scalpel wielder. My darling wife nursed me through, without Sue's physical and emotional support I would not have healed so readily and now she is doing the same for her mother, we both owe her a great deal.

Love Amazon

My Chromebook's screen was playing up and as I  had it less than a year(11 months and 3 weeks) I rang Amazon and they told me to send it back for a refund as they no longer stocked that model.

So I ordered the latest model £229  what a result I'm getting a £349.99 refund for the old one. The new one came today and as Chromebooks have all my info and settings in the cloud I just start it up and off I go.

Insulation

The hospital rang Betty yesterday to confirm an appointment for her chemo! That was a bit of a shock because as far as she was concerned the surgeon had told her he had removed all the cancerous bit and the scans had shown it hadn't migrated anywhere else. This has knocked both of them for six and they won't find out any more info till the 28th Feb.

On a lighter note, I watched England beat the Scots at rugby in the six nations competition yesterday.

Whilton Marine sent details of this boat today


http://www.whiltonmarina.co.uk/used-narrowboats/details/2431.aspx

but it uses Thinsulate as insulation which I think is unusual for a 2006 craft much prefer spray foam as (or so I believe from research) that it creates a moisture barrier. Have been on boats that use polystyrene Thinsulate and Rockwool and have noticed watermarks in the panelling where the slabs of polystyrene etc join.