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It is hard to believe that we have been at Decize for a month, the time is just flying by. We moored up on the 27th October and had some lovely warm sunny days where we were able to sit outside for lunch and Ben could enjoy the sunshine lying on the grassy area near to the boat. We have a pleasant mooring with some nice countryside around us. There is a supermarket 5 minutes walk away and the town centre is a 15 minute walk away alongside the basin where we are moored and the basin is alongside the River Loire. The daily walk to buy an English and French newspaper, and of course a baguette, is very pleasant. There is a market every Friday morning with some good fish, cheese and vegetable stores.

Having moored up for the winter we needed to deal with some practical issues including organising coal. We discovered that we were able to arrange delivery of coal from a nearby town called La Machine but we did not have a name or telephone number of the coal merchant. However at a nearby bus stop we discovered that there was a number 38 that went to La Machine. We duly arrived at the bus stop in good time. The bus was a few minutes late and the driver was full of apologies. We gave our destination but the driver did not know how much to charge us. He looked in his paper work but to no avail. He asked another passenger who got onto the bus a couple of stops later and she did not know either. Eventually the driver made a telephone call to his headquarters and we were able to pay for our journey. When we arrived at La Machine the driver asked where we would like to be taken. We explained that we were looking for a coal merchant but did not know where it was. He indicated that we had passed a sign advertising the coal merchant that we were looking for. Without any hesitation he did a U- turn. dropped us off outside the shop and then did another U turn to continue the scheduled journey. Such service! After a lovely chat with a charming woman we ordered the type of coad that we wanted which, as promised, was delivered the next morning.

On the 7th November the locks were closed and reopen on the Canal Lateral de la Loire on the 26th December, not that we intend to boat during January and February. We will be remaining at Decize with a very nice Italian couple who are also moored up for Winter. We have started to really get to know each other with a mix of English and French languages. Marco and Carmen are dog lovers and have two dogs of their own but that doesn't stop them from making a lot of fuss of Ben when they see him. Carmen was kind enough to take Diane and Ben to the vet in their car so that we could determine the ongoing treatment following his stroke.

We have been going through a very cold spell similar to England with some heavy frosts. We have been okay though and the boat has been warm and our friends will testify that. It is good to know that we are within easy driving distance of Moulins and we have been delighted to have visits from Alain and Suzanne and their daughter Marie. We also had a visit from Alain, Suzanne and two other friends Yolande and Jean who joined us for lunch. Not a lot of room for 6 but it worked out well and we enjoyed their company.

Paul has been busy transferring negatives of photographs on to a CD for safe keeping. That has brought memories flooding back from the 1980's. Diane now has a 10 year old pupil, Lucas, who wants to learn English. He had his first lesson on the 23rd November and although occasionally a little distracted by the surroundings of the boat he worked very well.

We have begun to discover things about Decize like the Promenade des Halles which is lined with plane and lime trees some of which were planted in the 1770s. It is almost a kilometre long, plenty of room for the market stalls on a Friday. It was also where earlier in the month a livestock show was held with some very big beasts competing for the first prize together with stalls selling regional products and displays of areas of local interest. There are other points of interest to visit which we will do over the coming months and meanwhile we watch with interest the displays in the shop windows changing to depict Christmas which is not far away. This is perhaps a little early but in case we do not up date the web until after Christmas, Seasons Greetings to you all.