Tale of woe

My last post was fairly optimistic, Ray was working, all was well. All that changed on December 10th when I managed to total my car! Black ice + bend + brick wall !! One of those silly incidents, luckily at low speed so no damage to me. If it had been a more expensive car it might have been worth repairing but £600 of repairs on a car which only cost £400 didn't seem worth paying out. What made it worse was the fact that just we had paid nearly £200 to replace the exhaust. Losing the car has meant that Ray is now not working, but we are still both looking. Being without a car has also made things a bit harder when it comes to visiting family. We had planned to spend Christmas aboard anyway but now visiting Mandy for New Year is off the agenda.

We are moored by Cassiobury Park so have a nice view out of our windows, no houses! We had a quiet but enjoyable day yesterday with lots of good food and drink. Not many presents but being together is what counts.
We haven't travelled much this month. Just pottering around the Watford and Rickmansworth area. I can't believe the contrast in  the weather to last year. There were buds on the honeysuckle in the cottage garden by Lot Mead Lock last week.

Since my last post we have travelled 4.6 miles and 7 locks

This year we have travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 1192.1 miles, 1093 locks, 58 swing bridges, 38 lift bridges and 40 tunnels