January 13th

Today I visited the boat as it had, only three days earlier, moved into the dry dock to be painted by Dave Bishop.

What was pleasing?

• To chat with Dave - I think he will do an excellent job.
• To learn that Dave had found some flaking - the expense of going back to bare metal had been worth it.

What was edifying?

• To see how huge the boat looked in the dry dock.
• To begin to see where £7500 was going!

It was a delight, also, to see life returning to the canal at Braunston -and to see the Gongoozlers' Rest taking on its new appearance.

31st December

I visited Braunston today.

Bob Mitchell was working on the hatch doors for Strumble 2 and we chatted over a few further details; he is very patient with me.

It was good to see progress being made on Gongoozlers' Rest. This excellent narrowboat cafe is in dock presently so that it can be refitted for the new season; its new shape will certainly surprise a few.

Elsewhere it was jolly quiet: there was a little ice-breaking, a few puffs of desultory smoke, barely even a walker.

The scene was ripe for Thomas Hardy to write a poem on it.