SV Ostinato: We are Sorrry But The Tube is Delayed Due to A Swan on the Tracks

Its hard to believe that we have already been in London 3 1/2 months. Time continues to fly by without stopping to catch its breath. I'm actually not sure what the heck we have been doing but considering the expense, I decided it was time to get a few things down so when we look at our bank account we can console ourselves.

One would think that after my winter swim in the Thames, I would be less than anxious to stomp around its shoreline in boots and surgical gloves at low tide, looking for relics but always up for a new adventure,

The pipe hoard from a day Mudlarking on the Thames

I jumped at the opportunity to join Sue and Ed from Angel Louis and Ruth from MV Dora Mac to go Mudlarking. For our morning's toil, we were rewarded with 18th century pipes and pottery. Some quite ornate, most broken, as was the custom when these one use/throw away pipes were finished. Without a Mudlarking license, no digging is allowed. We could only pick up what was uncovered as the Thames tide ran out. Since this and a follow up visit with King, Barbara and Michele, we have since learned of another site that supposedly has dated Roman tiles. Saving that for the Spring.

London NYE Fireworks

December, as always was special. This was even more so this year with daughter Barbara and partner Michele joining us for the holidays. We caught up with CA friends Margaret and David in Ashtead in early December and did Christmas Eve again at Westminster along with the crews from Angle Louise and Shiret. For Christmas day, Gene, a new friend from San Diego, met while standing in line for a Benjamin Britten Concert at St. Paul's Cathedral, joined us for dinner.

December weather continued to be mild into the holidays. This is only mentioned here because we had complained so much about the cold last year that Barbara and Michele arrived at Heathrow both bundled up like the Michelin Man. Once unlayered, they didn't leave too many of the major sights untouched which was a great feat considering New Year's Eve an evil bug began an

Ostinato's new colorful spot in the West Basin

excursion through the boat, visiting each inhabitant for 24 hours of hell before skipping off to the next. Unfortunately, Michele was attacked first...just after midnight.... on New Year's Eve....on the Tower Bridge. As you can imagine, she did not get a lot of sympathy from passing revelers. Barbara and I at least got to do our time in the privacy of the boat. Well, as private as that gets. King was spared. What kind of deal he made with the devil to miss the fun, I have yet to learn.

The rest of January has been focused on the boat. King is determined not to leave his list of never ending boat chores to the last minute like we did last year. However, I have managed to get him out to a few museums, lunch time concerts and the theatre. Our favorite has been the musical Once. Yes, we did our early morning standing in line and sat on the front row. Brilliant! January is Boat Show month and there is no boat show that King doesn't want to attend. The London Boat Show was first. The highlight this year was the Turkey booth. Marinas all around the coast of Turkey were represented. As our Turkish Rep guided us from one desk to the next, at the end of several introductions he would proclaim "this marina is way too expensive but talk to him anyway". What's the poor guy gonna say after that. As we talked, we learned that he use to manage the marina in Turkey where Bob and Jean, friends from Shell Point, kept Patient Lady. Bob, he sends his best! What a small world. Of course, you can't just do one day so when Ivor and Denise, from Orwell Yacht Club fame, sent us the code to get free tickets on line, we grabbed the chance to meet up with them at the show. Afterward, they joined us on the boat to share their recent experiences visiting our friends and ABYC in Shell Point while we stuffed down some really awful grocery store pizza. Sorry guys.

The following week we were off to see friends from Copenhagen, Haakon and Judith, at the Dusseldorf Bot Show.....the Biggest Boat Show on Earth!! Airline tickets on Ryan Air were £29 RT to Weeze/Dusseldorf which one would think from the name would be near Dusseldorf but no, not really. We arrived late so I made reservations at the "Best Deal Airport Hotel".....which one would think from the name would be near the airport but no, not really. King was not amused by the hotel location, and insisted we take a taxi to get to it instead treking down a dark airport road (I will make you guess who suggested that). The following morning, when we made it to the train station 3 minutes after our train had departed, his humor continued to deteriorate. The fact that the next regularly scheduled train didn't run on Saturday added insult to injury and resulted in an hour wait huddled outside on the station platform. Did I mention the coffee machine at the hotel didn't work? By this time, my travel planning skills were being put into question so when I told him our boat show tickets could be used for free travel on the train, skeptical does not begin to cover it. Regardless, we boarded the train without tickets. You can imagine my relief when the herd of young boys in front of us pulled out their printed Boat Show tickets for the conductor as he strolled down the aisle toward us. I then got to give King my smug, I told you so look. The next trial was to get to the hotel via subway. Stops were not every few blocks which they seem to be in London so we ended up passing our destination several times before we were able to get off the damn thing. Finally, even with all of the travel drama, we still managed to arrive at the show within an hour of its grand opening. King quickly laid out his strategy and we were off and running, cruising up and down each

Nothing like a little Champagne
after a hard day at das bot show

aisle with purpose. I was relatively relaxed knowing that since we were traveling Ryan Air, where luggage costs more than your ticket, there would be minimal purchasing going on here. If it didn't fit in the backpack, it wasn't coming home. We crawled back to the hotel at 5 p.m. where we finally caught up with Haakon and Judith. They had champagne waiting for us! All of a sudden, I was no longer tired.

The following day, we were up early to say goodbye to Judith and Haakon and make our final run through the show. Books for the Rhine and Danube were purchased. While not in English, the drawings are great. A few other items, including a passerelle (boarding ladder) have our attention but require some additional homework.....not to mention it does not even come close to passing the backpack test. By 3:00 P.M. we are on our way back to Weeze. A great trip......until we were reminded at Stansted immigration that our time is limited in the UK. Hard to complain since its even harder in the State's for visitors but wintering over is becoming very difficult for American cruisers in Europe.

2013 St Kat's alumni, Liz and David,
visited Ostinato in January

After the boat show frenzy, Liz and David (Lazy Tern) our neighbors from St. Kat's in 2013 shared some time with us as part of their whirlwind visit home to see family. Plans were made to meet somewhere in the Med., not sure when but for sure it will happen. We shared a bottle ...or 2 of champagne and spent a wonderful evening sharing our summer sailing experiences.

In mid January we did a quick trip to Glasgow. First Class on Virgin Train's was only £15 more so why not?

Someone thought it was cold enough that
Robbie Burns needed a hat and scarf

Whoa. King is in real trouble cause I really liked First Class. They wined and dined us from the minute we sat down till we rolled off 6 hours later. A great museum, good food and a bit of shopping and we were on our way home again. The Glasgow rain turned into lovely snow, making the return trip outstanding.

These last few weeks, the grey weather has made it very easy to be lethargic and stay around the boat. There's always something to do...or not. While saying this, I realize that the temps have been milder here than at home in Florida on many days so I need to stop whining. We did finally venture out. Of course, choosing the day of the city wide Tube strike was probably not one of our more brilliant moves. Unlike those we have experienced in the past, this one only closed down part of the Tube system. Unlike when the whole thing is closed, where you have a clear picture of what your options are. this resulted in mass confusion as no one seemed to be quite clear which tube lines were open and which were closed. And, of course, it rained all day.

Militant Swans?

A bus and 2 Tubes lines later, we were on the home stretch. Tower Hill station was only one stop away. Suddenly, the District Line came to a halt in the middle of one of its mysterious tunnels. Everyone in the crowded little box groaned. What now! Finally, the announcement came....the Tube would be delayed until a swan was removed from the tracks. This was the 2nd swan that had ventured onto the tracks over the last 24 hours. Could they be union members?

We are preparing for our annual pilgrimage home next week. Looking forward to seeing family and friends. If you are in the Tallahassee area we hope you will get in touch. For ABYC folks, we are working hard on this year's Summer Cruise presentation. Taking bets on if I will get a word in this year. Duct tape anyone? King doesn't allow on the boat so I'll have to borrow it from someone.