Osney, 0 miles, 0 locks
Managed to keep down a cup of tea at about 8am then went back to bed. Other than a couple of trips to the loo, I managed to stay there until 11am, gradually feeling better. When I finally got up I had more tea, but couldn't face food, so just had liquids. By midday I was back in bed and slept until 3pm, again having strange and unpleasant dreams.
To take my mind off things I started playing Animal Crossing and was amazed to find the tent of Katrina the Fortune Teller pitched outside the town hall. I'd never seen her before, but her 100 Bell Tarot card reading sounded like a bargain. Of course it was all far too mystical and elliptical for a poorly bear like me to understand. Then she asked if there was anything else she could do for me and offered her 10,000 Bell "Cleansing Ritual". Now this sounded exactly like what I needed to detox my system, except that I didn't have 10,000 Bells on me. Promising to return, I went to my cherry orchard and harvested enough cherries to sell to Tom Nook to raise the necessary, then it was back to Katrina's—assuming that she was still there. She was; and sensing the Bells in my pockets, was extra mystical and all big eyes and psychic whiskers—like Cher but in cat form. I duly handed over the money and she completely went off on one, wailing and howling, and falling briefly into some kind of trance, before coming to and pronouncing that I was cleansed. It was all over so quickly and I couldn't believe that she could work that fast, but she seemed to think that it was done and that I could go. I left the tent not knowing whether I felt better for having my psyche cleansed or stupid for blowing ten grand on such an obvious fraud. She was entertaining though and, strangely, I did feel better for it. Just shows: it's all in the mind.
Got up to light the fire and have more tea. By now I felt more restored so I had a melba toast with a Baby Bel cheddar, which was comforting. The fire didn't take, so I had another go at lighting it, then started the engine to charge the batteries.
Had quite a long conversation with Paul in Hull about the previous night and we also talked about my magnetic lettering idea. While he was on the phone I plugged in the printer and printed out a few sizes of letters to see what worked, and eventually picked something I liked. The plan was to print the letters onto acetate sheets, which I'd then cut out and draw around on the magnetic sheet, then I'd cut the letters out with scissors. I did one to prove that it was viable, then retired to the Waterman's Arms for dinner. I didn't want anything fancy, so I had steak with just a few mushrooms and onions.
Back aboard, I cut out the rest of the letters ready for fitting. In theory all I needed to do was attach them (see picture above for the end result), fill up the water tank, buy a licence from Ray, then I was off down the Thames. Shame that the weather forecast is for rain.
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