Into the marina who saw that coming ?

It's funny how the universe operates .... I'm a planner by nature and as I get older I worry more and plan more. Not sure why that is, I've seen it with people older than me who seem to have to get everything 'sorted' maybe because they have the time  and the usual work distractions are not there so they replace them with other works .... or maybe it's a 'being in god's waiting room' approach to sorting affairs out subconsciously who knows. I try and fight it, it's good to plan but when anxiety rears its head then the planning is getting too involved and I have to really work hard at stepping back and seeing the bigger picture.

We (I) am incredibly lucky in what I have in all aspects of life, health, love, relationships, family income, chattels, security. I do genuinely count my blessings and they are all anchors to remind me when my imagination and planning reaches anxiety point to 'rest and be thankful'  - as an aside I've always thought that to be a great name for a boat so don't  pinch it.

Here is the actual Rest and be Thankful. 

This year on my Himalayan 

On My Honda ST1300 in 2015 

Anyhow I digress. On the way back from the Stone dry dock Percy's engine sounded different. I was once told by a mechanic the best tool you have on an engine is your ears. So I diverted into Great Haywood marina and hovered in the entrance and called in and asked if they had a berth. The ever helpful Julie had a look and sent a nice fella out - not got his name yet to help identify a free mooring and grab the bow rope to help to tie up. As can be expected right now at the height of silly season in boat usage as well as buying and selling engineers are very busy and as the family we brought the boat from are vintage diesel engineers and the same engineers Tony and Paul who put the lister into Percy, it made sense to give them a call. So we are in a queue for a visit. 

We are in no great hurry as we took the educated decision over a chicken balti and two pints of Doom Bar (me) fish and chips and ginger ale ( Rachel) to relocate our mooring from Shebdon to Great Haywood. A little surprise to us and possibly those readers hardy enough to have been around a while as we have been on line moorers since we've owned boats 14 years - all three of them. 

For the majority of that time we used the boat(s) as our country cottage as we were living in a city suburb. A trip to the boat was an escape to the country and we didn't move the boat just stayed aboard in countryside. Now we live 365 days a year in that countryside so the visits to the boat to just get a rural fix are redundant. We decided in the Clifford arms that marina life ( albeit more expensive but with other fringe benefits) was the logical thing to opt for - especially as we were waiting for the engine to be checked and if work is needed might see us the wrong side of months of stoppages on the Staffs and Worcester. A hard but reasonable decision made all the easier as were were within a few weeks of the end of our current mooring contract at Shebdon.

So no more Shebdon but more Great Haywood. Will we miss Shebdon, a little but we've been there three years already. Great Haywood gives us still the four counties option plus the nice top end of the Staffs and Worcester. It also puts us a day away from the Coventry and all points south plus the nice stretch of the Trent Vale to Stone. Finally we are closer to the boat for checks and works. So sad but practical and a little bit exciting all the same.

Final bit of logical planning was within the week we will have, all being well, another grandson plus our youngest and his fiance will be moving back north from their raid on London's property and jobs market. 

Exciting changing times - a challenge to reign in my levels of anxiety but a world of new challenges and opportunities - life is so fleetingly short so grab every last chance for change and grab all experiences.

So the sun sets on our time at Shebdon