Merry Christmas to all

We have now settled in on our mooring at Ocker Hill where we have been made to feel very welcome by those of the other residents that we have met so far. The site is divided by a road bridge so our contact with people from the other side of the bridge has been limited so far, let's face it the weather hasn't exactly been conducive to socialising!

We did do a bit of travelling in the time between my last post and arriving here. Our friend Sandra who is a solo boater was coming from Walsall into Birmingham so we met her part way to help her with the locks. We then went to Smethwick with her where she was trading at a community event and travelled into Birmingham with her afterwards.

Then it was time to head for Ocker Hill and our new home. We arrived here on the 18th which gave us a day to get a few things sorted before Ray's hospital appointment on the 20th. We are having a quiet Christmas Day but are expecting visitors tomorrow.

Ray's first chemo appointment is on the 7th January so fingers crossed that it doesn't affect him too badly. At least here we have everything we need, even a laundry room with washer and dryer so no more wet washing lurking. We even have a washing line for stuff that can't be tumble dried, weather is decent I'll use that rather than the tumble dryer anyway. There are two supermarkets within walking distance and three 'corner' shops even closer.  If we can ever afford it there is a pub and chippy very close too!

Since my last post we have travelled 19.1 miles, 14 locks and 3 tunnels

This year we have travelled 459.1 miles, 434 locks, 7 swing bridges, 15 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2537.7 miles, 2195 locks, 118 swing bridges, 76 lift bridges and 102 tunnels

A home for now

As usual everything changed,after I said we had no more hospital appointments to think about for nearly four weeks we got a phone call and Ray had a check-up with the nurse the following Thursday. Then we got another phone call to schedule an appointment with the oncologist on Tuesday so in the past couple of weeks he has had two hospital appointments.That meant that we didn't go very far. We hadn't expected to see the oncologist until after Ray was 'signed  off' by the surgeon. Everything is looking fairly good, none of the lymph nodes were affected by the cancer but there were some cancer cells detected in the blood vessels in the section of bowel that was removed. Chemotherapy will start after Christmas, Ray will have to spend a few hours at the hospital on a drip once every three weeks and then take pills for a couple of weeks, a few days off then back to the hospital for the next session. That will continue for six months, after that Ray will have surgery to reverse the ileostomy, probably about August or September.

As all this ties us to the Birmingham area for about nine months we decided to bid on the residential mooring at Ocker Hill. After a bit of  stressing with CRT who initially weren't happy with us having two boats on one mooring even though the mooring site is five feet longer than the combined length of the boats common sense prevailed. We successfully made a bid which was unopposed so we got the mooring for the reserve price. This means that from December 20th we will no longer be continuous cruisers but it doesn't mean we have stopped travelling. If you can't find Ocker Hill on a map it is almost due west of West Bromwich. Taking the mooring has meant we have transferred Ray's chemo back to Sandwell Hospital as it it a lot closer.

We did take a little cruise round the Soho Loop so that we were within walking distance of City Hospital for Ray's appointments but we are now back in Birmingham to complete the paperwork for the mooring and collect the keys because it is a secure site. My posts here will probably be infrequent, maybe once or twice a month as life will probably be rather boring for a while.


Since my last post we have travelled 3.9 miles

This year we have travelled 440 miles, 420 locks, 7 swing bridges, 15 lift bridges and 28 tunnels

In 2012 we travelled 876.9 miles, 675 locks,  55 swing bridges, 23 lift bridges and 31 tunnels

In 2011 we travelled 461.4 miles, 444 locks, 3 swing bridges, 34 lift bridges and 15 tunnels

During 2010 we travelled 740.3 miles, 642 locks, 53 swing bridges, 4 lift bridges and 25 tunnels

Since Ray retired we have travelled 2518.6 miles, 2181 locks, 118 swing bridges, 76 lift bridges and 99 tunnels