Nest building time is here.

I was watching the Coots building their nest in the canal. When new reeds were added it was quite amusing to see them stamping them down to bed them in. I am not that fond of Coots as they are rather noisy creatures. They also bamboozle us by making a sound just like a pin being hammered into the towpath, amazing.

Well the weather is behaving at the moment, things are warming up, and we are now mud free at last. I have washed and buffed up the roof, bow, stern, and towpath side of Oakfield today. Don’t know how long it will look good though as we are moored in the only free space under a tree and birds may pepper it with pooh again. Carmen and Ian on Kara Sea managed to squeeze their boat in front of ours, but their stern is sticking out a bit. It was nice to meet up with the fellow boaters that we were moored with during the winter freeze-in and catch up on each others news. I’ve never seen the moorings quite so full at Thrupp before.  The TCCC have extended their permanent moorings almost up to Shipton Bridge since we were here last time. The toilet and Elsan rooms have been tiled and painted very smartly. The electrifying lift bridge seems to be very high maintenance, two chaps were working on it again today. Annie's Tea Rooms have been taken over and the tea and home made goodies continue to be as scrumptious as ever. The Boat Inn is now run by the same people who run The Jolly Boatman and rumour has it that Guinness is £3.60 per pint, so I don’t think we will be venturing in either of them! Bottle and I have now got a trolley each, so it was off the the supermarket on the bus to stock up yesterday, what fun.