Bartimaeus

When we arrived back at the boat we found the spiders had been making lots of webs outside. Most of the spiders that like to live inside are pretty small and do even worry Shane. This bigger beast had made his web across the from the tiller to the port side. We hoped it didn’t intend to helm. 

This one has found somewhere else to live and I have got the card and cup ready for dealing with anything Shane is unhappy with. Summer has more beasties. On these hot days there have been some great dragonflies. I didn’t see any mosquitoes but something that bites has found me. It doesn’t seem as itchy as previous occasions and Shane hasn’t complained at all.

At Nuneaton we were moored beside some yellow flowers and they were very popular with a few kinds of bee and some had amassed very full sacs of pollen, according to my book I think the flower is autumnal hawkbit, which I hadn’t heard of before.

We thoroughly enjoyed the circus yesterday, great acrobatics, somersaulting motorcycles and everything happened so fast it was hard to take it all in. The clown was slower paced and had some fly hunting elements ( been there) and later some spider battles from which he emerges triumphant as Spiderman, all skillfully done and felt like a bit of a theme of my week. The acrobats seemed like insects themselves able to climb vertical poles and fly through the air.

Shane had a couple of phonecalls to wait for and shopping to do today so we went into Nuneaton. I liked the approach with decorated bench and tree. There are a few very traditional buildings, an impressive town hall and much celebrating of George Elliot/ Mary Ann Evans ( she went by a few names I have discovered). It wasn’t as hot today but we thought this tree might be suffering from drought. A few spots of rain spat down occasionally but not while we were eating our stupendously large portions at a very low price on pavement tables.

Lucky Mary Ann was judged not pretty enough to marry easily so got educated well in stead. She had relationships that supported her writing and did find a husband, though he was somebody else’s, then another who was actually hers.

Once we had returned to the boat and Shane had taken his oncology call (more scans to be scheduled but thoughtfully they will aim to arrange them when we will be in in Edinburgh anyway for the pre immunotherapy blood test) we got on with a bit of charging up the canal. It was cloudy but not cold, just as well as I got well sprayed at the water point.

Shane seemed to be aiming to moor so I went out to take the front rope. As I was pulling in I noticed a few wasps and they seem to be circulating around a point at the edge of the canal now neatly lined up with our open side hatch. Shane seems very good at selecting spots next to a wasp nest. We aimed to move forward to avoid it and arrived at a more open attractive spot and settled happily there. It was soon raining and some insects seem to have taken refuge and I have been busy with the card and the glass . Shane caught a little moth but handed the tools back to me when he saw a large spider. I am not a fan but he is definitely not a spider man.