Poor George

George is an elderly, vulnerable man who lived on his boat on the Kennet and Avon near Bradford on Avon.
A short time ago two hire boats full of pissed up Hooray Henry's on a stag weekend caused so much damage to George's boat that it sank.
The pissed up twats were told to slow down and take more care.
They shouted abuse and said that as  boaters don't pay council tax it was just tough.
George is now living in a tent on the towpath.
There are some arseholes around.

Lethal combination

Novice boaters and strong gusty wind is a lethal combination.
Yesterday it was very windy, it was also return day for the hire boats, actually they had to be back at 9am this morning but most of them like to get within spitting distance the day before.
It was interesting watching them trying to get in the lock.
Narrowboats are buggers in strong wind, they are basically a 70ft sail with a mind of their own.
Most of the poor sods got their boats in sideways.

I got very little sleep last night, the water levels kept dropping.
I dropped off for an hour just after midnight but was woken up at 1:30 as the kitchen drawer flew open as there was another drop.
At 4 am it dropped again and all the stuff fell of the kitchen shelf.
We got up and spent a couple of hours poling the boat off until it was afloat.
We got to back to bed about 7:30 but I couldn't sleep as I couldn't get warm.
We moved the boat at about 10 this morning in the rain, I'm still cold and now I'm wet as well.

Oops

For her birthday we bought DGD a rolling pin and cookie cutters to go with the play doh she was given.

There are all sorts of very complicated things available to go with play doh but  they tend to get clogged up and require more skill that DGD has to keep them working. So DD particularly requested a rolling pin and cutters. As I couldn't find a child's set I purchased an clear acrylic rolling pin designed to be used with icing and some metal cookie cutters.

As I have said before DD works for a company that manufacturers sex toys, one of their most popular items is a glass dildo. Something to do with being able to heat then up and cool them down.

When my son in law got in from work the rolling pin was on the table. He picked it up and said to DD. 'I wish you would stop bringing you work home with you'. She often does bring things home so she can write a description but doesn't leave them where the children can find them.

DD looked up and said ' My mum brought it over'. My son in law's face was a picture as he first thought I'd left a sex toy at their house. DD had to explain that it was a rolling pin!

Who's looking after who

I collected DGD from nursery today, as CHS is home with his damaged ankle I brought her back to the boat.
He has to spend  lot of time on the bed as there is nowhere else on the boat where he can sit with his leg elevated.
DGD sat beside him with my kindle and they watched Peppa Pig together.
It took his mind of the pain.
CHS gets sick pay and an accident form was filled in, he just missed his footing.
We are ok to stay where we are for now, CRT get a lot of bad press but I've always found them very helpful.
CHS keeps asking if I can get him crutches but I won't as he will only try to walk before he should if I got him some.
DGD was four on Monday, she is so pleased, her twin cousins were four in May and she's been desperate to catch up with them.
We bought DGD an acrylic rolling pin and some cookie cutters for her birthday as she loves play doh and was also given a box of 36 tubs of it.

Deep joy

My poor CHS has fallen at work, I collected him and drove him to our nearest MI unit.
The ankle is probably not broken and despite breaking his fall with his forehead he hasn't got concussion.
Getting him along the towpath and onto the boat was an interesting experience!!
He has to keep his leg elevated for 48 hours and if it's no better he must return to MI.
I now faced with moving the boat by myself or contacting CRT to see if we can overstay our time.
I am caring for dgd this morning she is now 4 and keeps asking 'how many am I now?'

I've finally got my Sloe gin going, I've made lots of elderberry cordial and I have hops drying around the curtain rails.

Knackering

Due to staff illness CHS has had his working times altered. His shift pattern has changed yet again. He is now expected to work alternate Saturday's instead of one Saturday in three. He will no longer get Monday's off when he's worked a Saturday. Yes he will get paid for the extra hours but to add insult to injury he has been asked to take on some cleaning duties as the school is five cleaners short.
On top of this we had to move the boat on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
We are going to find it difficult to move the boat with CHS working so many extra hours. CHS should be working a 38 hour week, now he is expected to work between 43 and 51 hours a week.

Baaa

There is a car park near where we are moored, it's a public car park, not specifically for boaters.

Yesterday I went to see DD1, I walked to the car park to find it full of people, it was a walking group.

Unfortunately the walk leader was running late and hadn't yet arrived so the walkers were all milling about.

As they were expecting to walk, walk they did, to and fro, like a heard of blessed sheep.

Just like sheep, when one stopped they all stopped.

It took me ages to manoeuvre around them, they kept stopping at the back of my car, not on purpose just out of stupidity.

Drugs and alcohol

I had a disturbed night last night. I kept waking up with toothache but once I was awake there was no pain. I was probably sleeping with my teeth clenched. I often find my self with clenched teeth during the day and night, it's very uncomfortable.
I shall have a glass of Sloe gin before I go to bed tonight and see if that helps.

I bought a book, a real, proper book not a kindle book.
I love my kindle and couldn't manage without it but some books need to be real.
I bought Grow your own Drugs by James Wong. I'm surrounded by plants so I might as well take advantage of them.

I looked after Dgd today and I'm caring for her tomorrow as well. Today it was so DD1 could work a few extra hours, tomorrow it is so DD can attend a hospital appointment with her husband. He has a long term chronic condition so the news is unlikely to be good.

A wedding or a marriage

When I was organising our wedding we wanted it to be all very low key. Apart from the legal bit everything else happened in our garden. I made my dress just two weeks before the wedding and I bought the food the day before. I didn't have to arrange a venue or music or flowers. I carried a few sprigs of lavender and rosemary cut from my garden just before we set off for the register office. We spent £800 mostly on food and drink.

My tenant got married over the bank holiday weekend, God knows how much the event cost. Amongst other expenses they hired an entire hotel albeit a small one, it cost £7800 for one day/night. They hired it for the three day weekend!
Then there was the cost of the wedding dress, suits for the menfolk and the bridesmaid dresses.
Add on the flowers and the honeymoon, the mind boggles.

This weekend I read a brief article that said the more you spend on your wedding, the shorter time your marriage will last.

I'm not sure if it's true, but I do know a few people who have had very short-term marriages and yet spent thousands on their wedding. 

Stumped

I took CHS's hearing aids to be re-tubed yesterday, this meant a trip on two buses, one into town, one out to Royal Berks Hospital.

As I was in town I went to Fabricland and bought some muslin to strain the blackberry vodka and sloe gin through. I don't need the muslin for about a month but I don't go to town very often so I got it whilst I was there.

I was stopped by a lady with a clipboard. 'Could you tell me who supplies your gas and electric?' she enquired chirpily. 

'Yes' I replied, 'my gas is supplied by Calor and my electric is supplied by solar panels'.

She thanked me and turned away, her script obviously didn't cover my reply so she was stumped.  

Yet another shift change

There is a possibility that there will be changes to CHS'S shift pattern.
There is talk of bringing in a company to run events after hours in the school.
If it happens the lates CHS would have to work is 7:30.  Bring it on is all I can say!!

Waiting in

Today I have stayed on the boat waiting for Ozzie's fuel boat to come along.

Ozzie wasn't far away but was waiting for a diesel delivery.

Someone had been spreading rumours that he had diesel bug, but we've never had any problems and we think it's important to support small traders otherwise next time we need them they could be gone.

The fuel boat is two boats bolted together, the back boat is the living area, the front one is the fuel storage.

The boat trundles between Wooton Rivers and Burghfield, if we need anything we phone Ozzie up to see whereabouts he is, we tell him roughly where  we are and he honks his horn as he's approaching.

We needed diesel, a gas bottle and a bag of logs, the bank account is now £112 lighter.

The gas will last about 5 months, the diesel will depend on how far we travel and if we use the central heating/immersion tank.

I had a cuddle with Max, Ozzie's dog whilst the diesel was being pumped in.

Southern Wool Show

DD & I went to the Southern Wool Show on Saturday, it was held at Newbury Race Course which is not far from us.

It opened at 10 but I collected DD at 9 as she had some last minute shopping to do for when the children return to school.

We arrived at the show at 10:05 and the carpark was already filling up.

There were in excess of 50 stalls there so plenty to look at.

There were stalls covering knitting, weaving, crochet, spinning, felting & dyeing, so lots of choice.

DD bought a throw and some other bits and pieces, I was very restrained and bought just 4 skeins of yarn and a pattern for a shrug.

The show was well organised and very well attended, in fact by the time we left a about 1ish it was heaving.

We popped upstairs to the food court for a cup of tea at 11:30, we would have eaten there but found the food choices a bit disappointing, there seemed to be a choice between a pasty or a slice of cake. 
I feel a little more thought could have been given here, but maybe as they had a captive audience they didn't care.

I could happily have stayed longer browsing the stalls but the noise levels were affecting my hearing aids, I couldn't take them out as I wanted to talk to the stall holders.

I don't know how much it cost to stall out but the footfall was huge so I assume everyone was happy.

I dropped DD home and collected my bedding that she had washed for me, I returned to the boat clutching a black sack full of clean washing and poor CHS nearly had heart failure as he thought the bag was full of stuff I'd bought. 

I could see him wondering where the hell I was hoping to put it all!