Retirement with No Problem

Moored Ely, River Great Ouse

Well here we are on day 23 of our lengthy stay in Ely. I can’t believe that
we have been here so long, and I even had to go look on the blog just to check!

Never before have we been stopped in one place for so long, I really am getting
quite anxious. Just not used to not moving after 7 years living aboard as a
continuous cruiser.. the longest we have ever been stopped before has never
been more than 14 days.. Well I am trying to think hard, but you know what..
I don’t think we have stayed more than the British Waterways limit of 14 days
in one place.

Funnily enough, we have not been approached by the Environment Agency about
our stay here.. the only person we have seen is a lady from the Council presumably,
who passed by on day 3, when we explained to her that we would be here for a
week or so.. not seen that lady since.

In fact I have heard.. as you do after being in one place for a while.. that
there was a narrowboat moored further along in the parkland area for over 4
months! In the end the Council took them to court and the owner was fined £200.
Apparently, and I say that with tongue in cheek, the owner of the narrowboat
was well pleased with that as the mooring fee for the otherside of the river
for that amount of time would have been over twice as much!!

Blimey you hear these stories, never really knowing if the facts are right,
so let me just say, ’tis only what I have been told by others!!!

Look at this dog!!…

What an odd looking dog.. of chinese origin I am told, this little fella has
not been shawn by the owner, this is what it is like.. tons of hair on the head
and ears and lower legs and as bald as a badgers ar*e (as Vic would say) on
it’s back!.. This is a rescue dog, the original owner needed a status symbol
for a short time, then had no more use for it.. sheeeeeeeesh some people eh?…

Oh the grass was cut today.. was about time our lawn got some TLC…

Mind you, they don’t use a nice mower with a grass collector.. nah ’tis just
brute strength and tools to lop the grass off. We need to push No Problem away
from the side or the grass cuttings will stick like glue to the sides, and it
is a devil of a job to get it off! By the way, the EA put in this new type visitor
mooring here in Ely, there were moorings here before with a few bollards.. now
there are tons of bollards and a hard edge with a sort of non slip grid.. look where the guy
is standing in the pic.. cost £20,000 to do that.. a huge waste of money
I feel.. there was nothing wrong with what was there before..

And No Problem’s gearbox? …. gawd.. well it should be back tomorrow. I am hoping that someone
will put it in tomorrow afternoon after the guys in the boatyard have turned
their hire boats around in the morning.. But I am not a betting woman….