Hungerford

I am now a member of the West Berkshire County Library and I have my plastic card complete with bar code to prove it. This morning I came in search of free Wi-Fi at Hungerford Library and found that I had to be a full time member to enjoy the service, even though I shall probably only use it once.

But on thinking about it a little more, in fact the idea is fine since when I get to Newbury I can immediately log on to Wi-Fi at the library there by just flashing the same white card with bar code since that will be in the West Berkshire area as well.

But here the library is small and there are many people using it today for different reasons. There are the young mothers with toddlers in the play corner facing me and, as well as myself and one other lady trying to concentrate while using our computers, right behind me is a large ladies knitting circle; here I refer of course to the size of the circle rather than that of the ladies and all those people who know knitting circles well will immediately understand what I mean when I suggest that knitting is always accompanied by lots of happy contented chatter as well as the ardent noisy click of knitting needles.

So the small Hungerford Library is not one that advocates or encourages silence on this particular morning and I shall need to concentrate very hard on writing as my tiny brain will continually wish to join the ladies behind me or the little ones enjoying themselves in the corner.

 

The Stanton St Bernard White Horse

 

Reflections along the Kennet & Avon Canal

 

We arrived here yesterday afternoon having spent the morning and early afternoon travelling down through the ten locks from Great Bedwyn. The weather, as is usual in my experience as soon as September begins, remained autumnally cool all day, though magically the rain held off for the whole passage. Nonetheless we were very pleased to see that two separate berths, with the luxury of rings for our mooring lines, were available just ahead of us, as we moved through the swing bridge, just above Hungerford Lock, by the parish church. We then spent the rest of the day walking up one side of the high street visiting the numerous antique shops while searching for a decent pair of 7 x 50 binoculars for Janis. As it happened there was lots of choice and she found a good pair at a suitable price too. These antiques bazaars are like Aladdin’s caves to me (boat chandlers are too but that’s another story) and I spent a great deal of time just browsing whilst concentrating in particular on the particular job in hand.

 

Roots and Wings overtaking

 

As I have already mentioned the weather is becoming considerably cooler now and when I awake in the mornings the temperature is recording less than ten degrees which I fear is a shuddering foretaste of things to come. For the last two nights I’ve had to dig out the spare blanket (my winter blanket) and spread that over my bed for comfort ……

This boating is a hard life you know, but some of us are forced to do it and therefore we must stalwartly carry on I suppose….. Oh dear!