This was the final week of our two month trip to Oxford and back. Most of this adventure has been pretty busy. There are usually lot of jobs to do – moving the boat, filling with water, checking the engine, visiting a new town, shopping for groceries. You know the sorts of things. I like to be busy. Mandy laughs at me because when we have a day off, I normally make a list of things to do, and enjoy ticking them off. So for me this has been an odd week. We found ourselves well ahead of schedule and so had lazy days, with maybe an hour cruising, and including three days when we just stayed in one place doing nothing.

It was a good place to be. The sun was shining and at this time of year the nesting birds are all calling to their mates. Using the Merlin app I listened out for them and in one five minute period I could hear about twenty different species, from willow warblers to robins.

I went on some walks, cooked some food, watched some TV, read a couple of books. A thoroughly lazy time.

It was nice to be lazy. We are, after all, retired. We are allowed to be lazy. But I don’t think I am very good at it. I found myself twitching and needing to find urgent tasks. I touched up the paint on the outside of the boat. I cleaned and painted an old windlass, and the “napppy pins” we use to moor up against Armco on the towpath. I found a stately home to visit.

One morning when I woke up, I found an angler set up just in front of the boat, staring at the canal, lost in his own thoughts. He left about 4pm. I don’t think he spoke to anyone. I don’t think he caught any fish. I expect my son would tell me he was being “mindful”. My idea of hell.

So yes it has been a lovely lazy week, at the end of a lovely couple of months travelling on Narrowboat Thuis. But enough now. We have to return to the house for a busy month of May, filled with weddings, reunions and trips. I am looking forward to it.