Friends and Fellow Boaters Find Us at Paddington Basin

"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget." ~Unknown

   We arrived in Paddington Basin to a warm welcome from friends Jacquie and Stein on Like Ducks 2 Water, accompanied by Lou and Sharon on Midsummer. After an hour nattering over wine we wove back to our boat on the other side of the basin and settled in for an amazing week.
  We knew our friend Carol Ives would come visit as she lives in Stratford and always comes to see us whenever we make it to her neck of the woods. Arriving with a gorgeous bouquet of roses and a lovely bottle of White Zinfandel (Les likes dry white wine; I like sweet white wine or Shiraz. But we both enjoy White Zinfandel or Merlot Rose. Mmmmm!), Carol blew in like a fresh spring breeze and we had a lovely afternoon catching up over a lunch of Tapp Sandwiches, potato salad,  and freshly baked-still-warm Cherry Almond Bakewell tart.   What didn't we discuss? Carol loves narrow boats and has had many a good holiday on the canals. She is definitely thinking about selling up and buying a boat someday. So of course the conversation eventually came around to loos! It always does with narrow boaters.
  Earlier in the day while we were watching enthralled and delighted by the mechanics of the rolling bridge, another boater came up and said hello: it was Adam Porter from Briar Rose! Working in London and living in Surrey with his partner Adrian, Adam had read our blog and knew exactly where to find us. 

Adam and Les discussing Airhead composting loos!

   Over a cup of tea (sorry Adam the Bakewell tart wasn't ready yet!) he told us he wanted to interview us for a Canal Boat magazine article. Guess what the topic touches on???? Composting toilets! Of course we bent Adam's ear about how much we love our loo and how practical an Airhead is on a narrow boat. We also told him about boaters Ken and Sue Deveson on NB Cleddau who first showed us theirs, and our mutual friends Chris and Genny Gash whose boat Tentatrice is being built as I write, with a brand new install of an Airhead composting loo. Adam knew about George and Carol on Rock 'n' Roll, so he left with a lot of information and has our permission to borrow any info or pictures we posted on our web regarding our composting loo. 
   Two days after we arrived, Jacquie and Stein and Lour and Sharon said goodbye, heading for the splendors of the Lee Navigation. Arriving midweek after them it was Andante! 

Jacquie and Stein wave as they head out of Paddington Basin.

Lou and Sharon wave good bye!

Andante waving hello to us from across Paddington Basin. They were watching the Rolling Bridge.