a slow voyage into autumn

I've slowly moved down the Avon valley from Bradford on Avon to Bath, as late summer turned to autumn. The jays are all busy in the woods, gloating over their acorns and bobbing to and fro with them; if the valley isn't reafforested with oak trees, it won't be for want of their trying.

Where around midsummer at 4:30 in the morning the sun would be streaming into the forward window, casting a beam the length of the cabin, it is now decidedly dark with no hint of the dawn. Yesterday I lit the fire for the first time since spring, to banish the feeling of chill and damp that came as much from inside me as outside the boat.

Dashing to and from Bristol to sort out various admin things, like an overdue eye test and then picking up the new specs; the latest ones are reactive. You know, the ones that go darker in bright light. This will be a challenge; I rarely use sunglasses because I prefer my light unmodified as much as possible. 

Driving back from Bristol, I stopped at the Waitrose on the Keynsham bypass. Returning to the Moggy and setting off along the A4, I suddenly had misgivings that I'd left my phone on the roof of the car. But I could hardly scrabble round in my bag, and the traffic was norrible so I kept on going. Up round the top of Bath and down Brasssknocker Hill. I'd been avoiding this route since the first time I went down it in the Moggy; it was a really hot day and by the time I was approaching the static queue of traffic at the traffic lights at the bottom of the hill, the brakes had faded so that they scarcely worked at all. Managed to avoid pranging the van in front of me by putting it into low gear and switching the engine off.... anyway, I've improved my survivability by going VERY SLOWLY down the hill and be damned to anyone fretting and fuming behind me.

And on arriving at Dundas I searched high and low and ...the phone was nowhere to be found. I took my laptop round to Craig's boat and piggybacked his internet, and logged into the 'find my iphone' thing. And lo, my phone was showing itself to be on the side of the A4 between Saltford and Newton St Loe.

So I drove back there. It is really a Very Unfriendly Road for anyone but motorists who are doing a hurtle. But I managed to pull over, and to find the phone.

Poor little thing; all mashed and smashed, but still presumably sending out its last faint SOS...

...so it's been an expensive old week. And, since (I tell myself) it's never too late to unlearn learned behaviours, I am determined to:

• always put my specs back in their case as soon as I take them off, to avoid scratching the lenses
• never EVER Put The Phone On The Car Roof For Just A Moment While I Sort Out The Keys

Look! This is me arrived at Bathampton and about to set off for Bath proper, having filled up with water.

And now I'm on Darlington Wharf, and Chris and Jinny are moored up next door too, and there's proper internet for the first time in weeks and I can catch up with admin of all sorts. And get on with some ART.