We got back at 3.30am today after a very long drive up from just south of Dijon back to the Dunkerque Ferry for 10pm then the drive back to Oxfordshire! We’re pretty tired but it was worth the effort.

We had four glorious days of sunshine on the canal. We moved the boat most days to a different mooring. While P worked I lazed about enjoying the scenery and doing the odd crossword! Apart from cooking one meal I really did have a fantastic rest!

The views were beautiful – here’s a typical evening sunset over the canal.

Here’s a link to more photos – including one of how you get a small car on and off a barge! MORE PHOTOS

Well dear friends – life is feeling better again – apart from an achey shoulder and a bit of the jitters, I’m more over the accident now. The insurance have made an offer and I have a courtesy car for now. My car is completely written off.

We’ve just had a couple of days in London. P was working on a barge at Battersea and I spent time whizzing up and down the Thames on the Clipper Ferry as the tubes were on strike. This was a great way to see London. On the second day, I went to the Globe by the Tate Modern and accidentally managed to go and see Romeo and Juliet! I hadn’t planned it but they had tickets due to people not being able to get there due to the strike – here’s a link to loads of lovely photos from London on Facebook.

LINK TO PHOTOS

Today we had a drumming workshop near Birmingham and on the way back we popped into Leamington Peace Festival and saw Rory McLeod playing – brilliant.

P’s working on a barge on the Burgundy Canal all of this coming week so I’m going along for the ride – hope to get some good pictures of that too.

Thanks for all your lovely messages of support about the accident – it really was wonderful knowing how many people out there in the virtual world do care!

Bye for now.

Yesterday I had the closest shave I think I’ve ever had with death.

I was driving in Bristol when a huge lorry intruded into my lane and clipped the back of my Golf on a roundabout slewing me round in front of his cab which then made contact with the whole driver side of my car and carried me sideways up the road while he started braking. I could actually feel the pressure of the lorry on the door as the momentum pinned me onto that side of the car and I felt the car starting to tip over but somehow it didn’t and he managed to stop. I had to climb out the passenger side as the lorry was up against the driver side and the doors couldn’t open. Miraculously I was very shaken but uninjured!

The police came and said it was his fault (well I KNEW that) but he didn’t deny it and admitted he hadn’t seen me at all but “felt” something on the blind side of his lorry. Someone called an ambulance but they just told me to go home and rest.  These huge lorries are a menace on town streets but I suppose they’re just doing their job.

Thankfully he wasn’t speeding and after we’d stopped he told me that if it had happened the day before it would have taken longer to stop as the truck had 40 tons load the previous day but happened to be empty when we collided.

I was shaking like a leaf and couldn’t sleep very well last night but apart from a few aches and pains I feel fine today – though I keep flashing back to looking up at that huge lorry thinking my moment had come – it was a very weird feeling of disappointment that it was all going to end like that without being able to tell anyone I’d finally found some tenants for my house!

Weird, you’d think I’d have thought of something a bit more important for a last thought!

The car’s pretty mashed up on that side of course and the insurance have provided me with a courtesy car already which is pretty impressive. Anyway – that was my day yesterday – it’ll take a while to get over it I think but I’m counting all my blessings that I’m still here at all.

I’m sitting in my old house in Bristol – it’s completely empty and feels very weird. I’ve mowed the garden front and back – I have to keep it tidy for when I find tenants – it’s slow because of the dreaded credit crunch there’s a glut of houses to rent but I’m sure someone’ll come along.

The house in the country is gorgeous and I’m enjoying the peace and quiet though it really feels strange after a lifetime in the city – I’ve lived in Bristol for 30 years and London before that and now I’m not even in a village and the nearest shop is 40 minutes walk away.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m loving it – but it’s just a huge shake up and change of lifestyle which will take time to adapt to. Fortunately, we know quite a lot of people round about the area and yesterday evening I went to a local meeting of the meditation group I belong to and that was lovely to find so near in Banbury.

This weekend we went up to Cheshire to collect an engine for the boat P’s working on in London and I met old friends of his which was lovely – the weather’s superb (it was sweltering mowing today!).

I’m spending a few days sorting out things here in Bristol and return home on Friday morning – there you are – I’m already calling the new place HOME!