River, ice and my local town

My ideas about using the boat in winter have so far come to nothing. Either it's so cold I can't get anyone to join me, or it's impossible to get to the mooring, or the strong stream warnings put paid to any romantic ideas of a gentle cruise down to Reading.

Maybe I should have had the boat hauled out for the winter. At least I would have been able to check all the things I've been meaning to inspect since I bought the boat last summer.

But I'm hopeful I can borrow a trailer for a week or two. This will allow me to get the boat out, put some fresh antifoul on, and service the outdrive.

I live in Newbury. It's an expanding town with a shopping centre currently under construction, a newly opened cinema and the Kennet and Avon Canal running through it. All in all, it's a very nice place to live. But there are an extraordinary amount of people who still like to think of it as a quaint market town and want to freeze it in time, no matter what economic or social pressures it faces.





For instance, there's an opportunity to have an arts/community building, financed at little cost to the taxpayer, on the edge of the local park and overlooking the Canal. I think it's a great idea and lots of people agree with me. But lots don't like the idea of a building in the park. I struggle to see their viewpoint. A park is more than just grass and playareas for kids.

But my point is that connected to this plan, is a project to return what is now a car park back to the Canal Wharf, with moorings, a pub and a restaurant. I think it would be a huge boost for Newbury and would strongly differentiate it from, say, Reading or Swindon. Fingers crossed it goes ahead sometime in the future.

*The photo by the way is of Newbury taken yesterday showing Victoria Park, and the new Parkway development under construction. I've been told it's one of very few (if not the only) large scale shopping and housing development currently being built. It's a huge vote of confidence in the town and I'm very pleased to see it happening.

Keith Floyd RIP

Heard this morning about Keith Floyd dying last night. Very sad news. I've got all his cookery books and his style of cooking resonated with me many years ago and I feel I've lost an old friend.

He came to Newbury a couple of years ago and performed at the Corn Exchange in his one-man show. He looked very old and frail, but mentally very alert and he kept the audience enthralled for two hours.

I watched the Channel Four documentary and it felt to me like an obituary - all very apt.