New Year's Eve 2010

We are now back on the boat and ready for our first New Year's celebration on board. Sadly, however, I have brought back an awful cold and chest infection from UK and feelawful!! No partying for me.... We reached the boat at 4am yesterday having caught a ferry 2 hours earlier than we had booked. The journey was made longer by snow still being evident and thick fog bringing visibility down to very little at times. This was enhanced by my nose really waking up and it dripped and sneezed the whole way back!! Yesterday I didnt go out and today I havent even got dressed..... so hopefully tomorrow I will feel ok.  John has had to go shopping on his own so at least that has boostered his french (which is beginning to come on nicely) and today he brought me this back.

I thought he was being sooo romantic but evidently the town was doing a roaring trade and this is traditionally given for New Year!! Well, enough for now I shall return to the sofa and write more Next Year!!

monday 13.12.10

The weather has been very surprising, from snow to heavy rain to flooding of our river, to heavy rain, to now where it is cold but calm and sunny! The river level before the flood, and this is how the river looked at the flood.

We went into auxerre and saw the abbey there and the statue of St Nicholas the patron saint of boating people (Us!!!) and lovely old parts of the town.

The old town houses,

It really is the most beautiful town.

Yesterday was John's 60th birthday, we celebrated with a little party and had a really good time. I had to visit the cake shop where the window fascinated me, including a cake that was a lady in a hat!!

Well today we must secure the boat as we go back to the UK until 29th December, so must finish now, more next year!!!!

Friday 03.12.10

We went out to a Blues Club last night and had a fantastic time!  They had live music in the shape of Ezekiel Kelly, a folk guitarist from Alaska, he was absolutely fantastic Ive never seen a guitar played like that!! The beer was very expensive but the company was good, as we walked back at midnight there was no-one else out so we had the cold streets with their very pretty xmas lights all to ourselves!

We woke up this moprning to a snowy land, and very very cold..  The 'boys' ( a family of 3 swans who were babies when we first arrived), now come knocking on the boat for food, they are really hungry at the moment, and I buy bread from the supermarket for them every day.....
We saw a small barge delivered on the back of a lorry today, its quite the smallest barge we've ever seen, we also spent some time watching a cormorant fishing right outside our lounge window!

The small boat arriving!!