Monday 31st December
January: The “usual suspects” on the annual narrowboat pilgrimage to the Royal Docks. Sadly this was Lynx’s last cruise though we didn’t know what tragedy lay ahead when this photo was taken…
Well, 2012 has been a year of extremes for the Indigo Dreamers – the highs, such as the Jubilee Pageant and the Olympics, have been very high; the lows, such as losing Lynx, Poppy and Lou, have been very low indeed, underpinned by a background gloom caused by the weather and the rigours of nursing sick dogs from March to December…
[A rare edit from Richard: I don’t cope with losing our dogs at well but what can I say about these three, the pain is extreme. Don’t talk to me about them, it is still too fresh, sorry; but do talk to Sue, she is the opposite, needs to talk. And how can that be possibly set against the amazing highs? We have been down the tideway in the dark (Greygal’s fault – ha ha!), the pageant was something yet again, amazingly tiring but a life-long memory. But I agree with the Herbie’s that the rehearsal was the business. As to the Olympics,well, I and the guys from my office met Greg Rutherford recently (the Olympic gold long-jumper who can clear two double locks effortlessly and was single at that time) and he was so enthusiastic about Games Makers, was stunned that Aga had done so much work under the park in various tunnels and that (single at the time) Karolina had worked on the designs of King Yard. Yet I have to say that it was an absolute privilege to be a games maker. That leads nicely into the Sports Day Opening Ceremony (saw that 3 times) – an amazingly late night after a working week enough to make me lose hair, yet people came along to help get me the boat to Barking Creek- fantastic people, thank you. Work-wise we have gone from looking like we would have to sack half our wonderful staff to wondering how we would cope with the next tidal wave of work – has there ever been a year of more contrasts?]
Back to Sue – we now look forward with hope to 2013 – we haven’t settled our cruising plans yet, but we will have a little refresher down to the Royal Docks with the St Pancras Cruising Club in January then we will settle down to some serious plotting! As I always sigh – “so many waterways, so little time”!
We are determined to get away from London this year, and, as no-one has yet predicted a drought, we’re hoping that there will be enough water for the BCN Challenge – we’d love to take part again. After that who knows – maybe revisit our old share-boat stomping ground on the Macclesfield/Peak Forest/Huddersfield Narrow – onto new waters down the Rochdale? But then the Bow Back Rivers will hopefully be opening in the late Summer and we’d love to take part in the inaugural convoy cruise there.
People often say to us “ah, but the waterways have been there for hundreds of years so there’s no rush” but, in the case of the Basingstoke Canal, local boaters fear that “use it or lose it” applies – as our friend Kathryn from nb Leo No2 has blogged. So, river conditions willing, we will try to join the Easter convoy along the Basingstoke – but Easter is early so still plenty of time for exploring northwards…..
On the hound front, who knows? We are still nursing Herbie, who needs re-bandaging every 48 hours, and needs a bit of peace and quiet to give his wounds a chance to heal. He is a superstar at the vets – partly because he’s keeping them in business, but mainly because he’s so good – his wounds look
February: Success – Richard’s fundraising efforts raised £2,000 for Greyhoundhomer!
dramatically horrible (though clean and healing), yet he just lets the vet bathe and treat them without moving a muscle or making any complaint. El Disho Vetto says Herbie is amazing; the other vets have said that he’s remarkable. However, proud Mummy and Step-mummy (since promoted to co-mummy in Herbie’s case – I’m truly honoured) have been quick to remind the vets that:
- Herbie is altogether too interested in live cats and suchlike
- Herbie is quite psychotic with squeaky toys
- You can trust Herbie with your life but not with your ham sandwich…
Ty and Ollie are very quiet – I think they’re both very sensitive to the recent changes to the pack – Ollie, in particular, seems to be missing having a top girl around. Ollie is also quite nervous after Ty bit him at the beginning of December; thought Ty is not showing any outward signs of dominance. So, when Herbie is well enough to go home, do we maintain the status quo and see how the two boys settle or do we adopt a new lively girl to balance the pack? Decisions, decisions….
March: Poppy and Ollie arrive – as fosters of course!
April; The start of the Spring Odyssey – up the Thames…
May: Stranded in Wallingford – the water came up another 10″ but Indigo Dream was fine!
June: The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant – a great event, even if it did rain unpleasantly and incessantly the whole day! Of course the real highlight was winning a Herbie Award for the rehearsal the week before 🙂
June: We said a sad farewell to Poppy – yet we also celebrated a joyous 15 weeks with her…
July: We attended our first ever Olympic event – it was fab and these guys went on to be gold medallists!
July: Lou finished her intensive treatment and went into remission..
August: Richard’s amazing experience as an Olympic Gamesmaker – we may have to take a slow boat to Rio 🙂
September: Barking Creek – always a memorable experience – but we also met other virtual friends Snowy and Dudley hounds (oh, and their staff, Marina and Si!)…
October: The autumn odyssey and the chance to find some new dog-perfect moorings and pubs…
November: The end of the autumn odyssey and prophetically beautiful sunrise…
November: A cold snap – time for houndie pyjamas maybe – uh, maybe not, judging by Ollie’s expression!
December: having 7 greyhounds for a month was definitely a highlight 🙂
December: Saying goodbye to Lou was an awful wrench, but also a relief given how ill she was – this was a tragic end to the year – we’d so hoped for longer….
Indigo Dreaming 
