Happy New Year

I'll wish you all a Happy New Year now as we won't be staying up to see the New Year in, we'll be in bed by 10:30 I expect.

There will be fireworks nearby I expect but we will sleep through them.

After days of rain we had a dry afternoon and as the office was open we got a pump out, the marina still have one person off sick but the others are back at work. We  bought some more coal and a bag of sugar. I'd forgotten to add sugar to my shopping list. The marina office sells tea, coffee, sugar and oat milk, useful in an emergency.

I haven't attempted any more bread because we ordered some part baked baguettes and when they were delivered on Thursday they were sourdough and so Steve won't eat them so I'm using them up and we'll order some more in our next delivery.

I made another pan of curried parsnip soup this morning, next I shall make lentil I think. 

See you in 2022.

Yet another grey wet day today.

Still it's not cold.

I went for a walk with another boater this afternoon, Beano was most confused as he's already had two long walks but he's always willing to go out.

Beano after three walks and a play with one of his doggie friends.

She misses walking her dog so comes along with me sometimes.

Today we got talking about food, her husband is very ill and eats very little. She asked what I was cooking this evening, gammon ,egg, chips and beans. I'd cooked a gammon joint yesterday, cut it in half, sliced one half and put t'other in the freezer. There's enough for sandwiches for a few days.

Still on the subject of food she finds bagged veg too much, as do I.   I offered her a couple of small parsnips and a handful of Brussels, she offered me a few lemons. We will share our veg from now on, we both hate waste. 

Visitors.

 Keth, I'll try that next.

JanF, no I didn't hint, I'm just very lucky.

Col I should imagine it would be extremely difficult to source experienced marina staff at short notice this close to Christmas.

We had visitors today, the couple we travelled with during the summer. They arrived mid morning and brought lunch with them.

We had a great catch up and made plans to meet up again soon.

Plague

The marina staff have gone down with covid, no one feels unwell but they are all self isolating.

 So no pump out or diesel for a few days.

I've emptied the fridge to accommodate today's shopping delivery, it didn't take long as the fridge was almost bare.

It's raining here, Beano walked about 6 feet from the boat, widdled, turned, returned to the boat and went back to sleep. Further invitations to leave the boat have been studiously ignored.

Thats it for another year..

My bread still resembles hockey pucks, I used to be able to make nice bread.

I've ordered some new yeast to see if that helps.

The grandchildren seem to have received their desired gifts. These included a dolls house, two guinea pigs and some painting by numbers sets made by a talented older sister.

I received two gifts, two pairs of fingerless gloves, I'm delighted with both of them.

Beano

Wendy, thank you so much for your kind comments in glad you enjoy my blog. 

Much as I love Beano I have to admit he's not a pretty dog so I hadn't thought of theft when I said about leaving him outside. He gets very scared if he's left alone, even if he's on the back of the boat and I'm just the other side of the gate. He would be terrified if he was tied up outside. He can easily slip his collar as his head is narrower than his neck. He would run away as he's be too scared to stay put. So leaving him outside is definitely not an option.

If Steve came with me Beano would stay with him but it's too far for Steve to walk so Steve is having Pot Noodle for lunch for the foreseeable future or until he runs out of them. The next food delivery is due on 27th I think. I shall continue to make bread for myself.

Chinadogs, unfortunately I don't have a microwave but thanks for the suggestion.

No knead bread

Marlene my oven has two temperatures off any very high so I can't use it to prove the bread.

Siobhan, thank you.

Chris, that's a good idea.

Ellen, I stood it on the hearth beside the fire but it was still not warm.

The bread took all day to prove as it's so cold on the boat but I eventually baked it at about 7:30 it was perfectly edible.

From now on I'll start the bread just before I go to bed, leave it to prove overnight and bake it in the morning when I get up.

I shall tweak the recipe a little until I get the flavour how I like it.

Steve doesn't like home made food he prefers fried, beige or shop bought. He wouldn't eat the parsnip soup and had a Pot Noodle instead!

We've run out of bread so his choice is to eat it or walk three miles to the nearest shop. No doubt he will eat it for a few days until our next supermarket delivery arrives.

I'm happy to walk to the shop but I can't take Beano as he's not allowed in the shop and I won't tie him up outside

Cold and frosty morning

I was up just before 8 am, I turned the heating on for an hour, boosted the fire and had my breakfast of shredded wheat.

Beano and Steve were still in bed so I decided to make a loaf of bread and some curried parsnip soup.

I'm not sure if the bread will be any good, I'm trying the no knead recipe and the bread should rise in a couple of hours but the boat is so cold I'm expecting it to take a lot longer. I'm hoping it will rise by tomorrow morning.

Beano has had two walks, one before Steve got up and one after. We delivered gifts to the marina staff.

Steve wants chicken chow mein for tea, I shall eat the parsnip soup, it's delicious.

Tuesday

 I bet that confused you.

I know it's not Tuesday but Steve finally has an appointment on Tuesday to get his hearing aids repaired. The local audiology department closed down at the beginning of the first lockdown, we were told to send hearing aids in for repair by post. This proved expensive, £14 each time and the hearing aids had to be sent separately as Steve couldn't manage without them both.

The postal repair service was discontinued some time ago and there was no information on the website at all. Eventually after some months had passed the website was updated and  informed us that although some parts of audiology would reopen repairs could only be accessed via phone or email.

Very bloody useful!

The drop in repair clinic was always full of elderly people, most of whom were at unlikely to have email and if your aids don't work now can you make phone calls!

Steve sent an email and eventually received a reply, he has to go to a different hospital but fortunately it is on a bus route.

A rose by any other name

As the saying goes.

Cheeky of me to use names actual dishes such as Dirty Rice but it sounds better than leftovers with rice.

I've been out!!

DD1 and I have been trying to meet up for a few weeks but what with the schools sending children home if they cough. One is asthmatic so coughs every time he goes out at play time.

Endless visits from social services, each of the three fostered children has their own social worker.

Also each child gets family visits with parents and siblings.

Medical appointments to deal with epilepsy and diabetes on top of any usual ones.

As I don't drive any more  our meetings all depend on DD1's availability.

We went shopping, DD1 had it planned like a military operation a list of shops she wanted to visit starting at the one furthest away from the car park. we visited Lush,  The Entertainer, Primark among others. We worked out a system,  I carried the basket and she threw things in. All of her six children will receive two pairs of pyjamas each, one in their Christmas Eve box and on one Christmas day. They will have plenty to open Christmas morning, most of it either useful or consumable.

The last stop before the car park was for lunch, we ate at Yo Sushi, it wasn't busy and I really enjoyed the meal.

One thing she was desperate to buy was a replacement teddy, the 9 year old had a specific toy, cheap but greatly loved, this had been thrown away by the previous carer as "he was too old for it now".

Food

 Chris, I served my camembert simply, I drizzled a little garlic infused olive oil over it and served it with toast and baby leaves.

Dirty rice is basically dry fried rice with all the fridge leftovers added and then seasoned.

Yesterday's contained onion, mushroom, some scraps of beef left from the Sunday roast along with a few peas carrots and fine beans.

I boil the rice,  soften the onion and mushroom,  chop everything else fairly small.

Then I add the drained, cooked  rice to the onions along with the chopped veg a fry it all together I don't add any oil as there is some in with the onions. I add an assortment of spices. If I add Cajun spice it's Dirty rice. If I add star anise and soy sauce  it's special fried rice.

Money

We had a pump out, we bought a gas bottle, we topped up with diesel and we ordered 3 bags of coal there are none in stock but they will deliver them as soon as their order turns up. 

Just short of £100 but we are warm and can flush the toilet again Steve filled the water tank up too.

I had baked camembert for tea I made dirty rice and chicken for Steve as he doesn't like camembert.

I may watch more films as we get nearer to Christmas, Steve doesn't mind what I watch or when. 

Boat life

I watch one film a week as it then seems like a real treat.

Last night the gas ran out whilst I was cooking tea, this meant donning hats, coats and gloves and clambering out on to the prow to the gas locker.

I held the torch whilst Steve swapped the tanks over. 

This morning I woke up needing the toilet, only to find the black water tank was full. We were expecting the gas tank to run out but we thought the black water tank to last until Friday, Hey ho, all part of the joys of boat life. 

I was planning a bus trip today but that won't happen as we will have to get the black water tank pumped out. By the time it's done Steve will be wiped out and need to rest.

Birds

Obviously we have a lot of ducks in the marina and a family of swans.

Yesterday the coots were squabbling, they were lovely to watch I'm pretty sure they were arguing over their conjugal rights though it's the wrong time of year. Maybe the mild weather confused them.

There are two herons on the marina, one sits on the same abandoned boat in the back pound all the the other the other chooses a different spot every day.

There are two flocks of sparrows and each flock has it's own preferred area, one flock is in the trees along drive,  the the other is in the trees on the grass that divides the pounds.

On windy days I love watching the crows, they fly above the trees getting blown and buffeted, they seem full of joy and enthusiasm, screaming and cawing at the battering wind.

There are always blackbirds in the undergrowth, sometimes a thrush. There are tits in the hedging. I can't see the small birds clearly now as they are gone too fast all apart from the robins they dig out worms and don't fly off.

Apologies

I have very little to write about as my life is very boring.

I read a lot, currently a Faith Martin book.

I walk Beano but seldom see anyone on my walks.

I eat a lot of salads at lunch time.

I cook a meal every evening, today was roast beef.

We have a Tesco delivery once a week and DD2 takes me shopping when she goes, that way I can buy anything missed from our delivery.

We now have strong Wi-Fi signal and tv reception, I watch the Repair Shop, Who do you think you are and a Christmas film once a week. This is why I didn't want to spend £3000 on a new satellite system.

Today Steve watched the Grand Prix, Beano found all the screaming and shouting a bit confusing but he soon got used to it and went back to sleep.

It's a comfortable life but not very exciting.

Breakfast.

 Yesterday we planned to have breakfast at the cafe on the wharf, it's a bit far for Steve to walk but he manages it because the sitting down for breakfast gives him a rest. Unfortunately when we got there they were not open so we had to return home. What a disappointment. Steve was knackered by the time we got home. I cooked him breakfast though by now it was lunchtime. Beano was equally disappointed as I usually share my sausage with him when we eat at the cafe.

It took a while to convince Steve to accept that he could have breakfast when we got home, he gets very fixed ideas. He would have eaten breakfast in the cafe at 11 but having to wait until we got home meant he'd be eating breakfast at 12:30. He got in a bit of a panic because he normally eats lunch at 1:30 and couldn't work out how he could eat at 12:30 &1:30. I explained that we'd call it brunch and then he could eat again at 5:30/6. Eventually I convinced him this would be ok. He gets confused and worried about the strangest things.

we both got confused when doing our last online shop, we needed kitchen roll, Steve was scrolling through the shelf of kitchen roll and selected one. I looked at it and said "Don't get Plenty," to which Steve replied, "I'm not, I'm just getting two". A few minutes confusion ensued until I explained to him that Plenty was the make of kitchen roll that I didn't want him to buy as it's too expensive, not a quantity.

On the bus

 I was allowed out unsupervised today, I'd hoped to set off about 10 but the safety lecture given by Steve meant i caught the 11:35 bus.

At one point I was convinced he was going to insist on coming with me. He is fine when I go out with someone else, he's just convinced I'm not safe alone.

You'd think I was 7 instead of 70, I was given detailed instructions on which bus to catch (there is only one). How to buy a ticket. Which stop to get off at (the one directly outside the shop seemed a good choice). Where to cross the road and many other random suggestions including stopping at MacDonald for lunch, I'm not a fast food fan.

I need to make this a regular occurrence and then he may calm down a bit.

I managed to get most of what I wanted plus the items Steve couldn't get when he went out.

Like a baby.

The weather that is, it's been wet and windy.

Steve stayed in bed until about 11, he was still tired from yesterday's shopping trip. It's partly the walking from shop to shop and partly the wandering around once in the shop as he never knows where anything is.

I shall go shopping tomorrow for the items he couldn't get, I'm not going into town but to where there only a few shops one of which is Dunelm there is also a supermarket and a Boots so I'm hoping to get everything I need there.

I had company on my dog walk this morning, someone who used to walk the towpath with her dog. She had him PTS a few months ago as he was unwell and she told me she missed walking him. I suggested she walk with me and she did. We probably could have chosen a better day as the weather really deteriorated during the walk. Hopefully she will join me again soon.

I took Beano out again about 2  by which time the wind was really strong, I had a bag of rubbish with me to take to the rubbish point. Beano only walked about 20 feet, then he turned, slipped out of his collar and retired to the boat. Steve let him back in and I disposed of the rubbish almost getting blown along at some points.

Shopping

Steve went into town today, two buses each way. He collected his prescription which was wrong as he only needed two of the five tablets he takes. The pharmacy issued all five tablets and doubled up on quantity, nemind.

His shopping was unsuccessful, everything he wanted, triple A batteries, net wire and parcel tape, was out of stock. He was knackered by the time he got home, I may go shopping myself on Wednesday to see if I'm more successful. 

Siebrie, I think I'd have got rid of the rat and the husband . Take care of yourself.

Flis I like feeding the birds too but I don't want to encourage the rats.

Oh rats!

Someone on the marina will insist on feeding the birds, he has numerous bits feeders hung on the trees beside his boat. He is also supporting a huge family of very large sleek and well fed rats.

The staff installed rat traps, he destroyed them.

Eventually he was told he would be evicted if he continued to feed the rats. 

I think he's stopped now but there are still a lot of rats around.

I'm not afraid of the rats but they do a lot of damage if they get into a boat.

Swedish death cleaning

The idea behind this is so you don't leave a load of crap for family to sort out when you die, cheerful little soul aren't I?

This has been confirmed as being a thing, by a commenter on the previous poster.

I'm afraid I don't like phrases such as passed on etcetera, I don't like lost either as in I'm sorry you lost your mum, like a piece of lost luggage.

Anyway I digress.

I remember when my ex's father died, his sons rushed over to remove his collection of pornography before their mum found it. This is a similar idea. Neither Steve or I have anything embarrassing for anyone to find when we die. My days of wearing leather and wielding a bull whip are long gone. And I know where Steve's embarrassing stuff is. The job would fall to my daughters both of whole are pretty unshockable, probably due to having me as a mother.

What I'm doing now is going through stuff that I haven't used for ages or can no longer see well enough to use.

I know someone who's daughter is taking up dress making, so I'm gifting her a book of patterns. Other books and all bar two dvds are going  on the shelf in the shower block for other people can help them selves.

I shall rootle through the draws under the bed to see what else can go.

Breakfast

Thank you for the info about the Alistair Sim film, I found it and will watch it on Monday as Steve is going in to town for hearing aid batteries.

This morning we walked to the local cafe for breakfast it's approximately a four mile round trip. It's too far for Steve to walk in one hit but he can manage it with a pit stop for breakfast.

That's three days running Beano has had a long walk, it's been cold but not too wet.

Once home Steve and Beano settled down to watch the snooker, I did some crochet and some housework.

Tomorrow I shall do an hours worth of Swedish Death cleaning, I'm getting rid of all my dvds, four of my 7  books and two items of clothing.

Thursday

 My feet have been cold all day, they don't warm up between dog walks. It's been sunny all day which is good.

I don't mind Steve watching the snooker it's just that he will tell everyone that he never watches tv and got it repaired just for me.

The supermarket shop arrived on time today, Steve ordered burgers and burger buns so he could have them for tea tonight, I had something different I don't mind burgers occasionally but not every week.

I've been looking at free standing shelves, I'm really short of cupboard space in the kitchen. There is one of those corner cupboards  that pulls out the shelves when you open the door but the door doesn't  open fully as it hits the oven door and the unit isn't fixed properly. All I keep in there is a bag of potatoes. I'm thinking of buying some free standing shelves to stand on the work surface. I'm also thinking of buying some fabric boxes for the bathroom shelves to disguise some of the clutter.

I may have a look on YouTube for some suggestions.

Here we go again.

On Monday we booked tickets to attend a local open air carol concert.

This morning we had a message to say it's been cancelled due to covid!

Steve watched more snooker today, I watched Who Do You Think You Are.

I'm hoping to find the Alistair Sim version of Christmas Carol somewhere to watch, it's my favourite.

Snooker.

 All Day Rover is a wonderful name for a doggy bus ticket.

We've had snow, not much but enough to confuse Beano who preferred to snuggle under his blanket.

I've convinced Steve to do our online shop on his laptop rather than on his tablet so hopefully we will get fewer random items appearing in the delivery.

On Monday Steve's friend Bob visited yet again and this time he solved our tv/Wi-Fi problems. Every time Bob told Steve what to buy, Steve would ignore his advice and either buy crap that was recommended on YouTube. Or go to a phone shop where some salesman would feed Steve a line of bullshit and encourage Steve to buy something twice the price that didn't work. This time Bob bought the correct items and got everything working!I

Not only do we have a working tv we have a shit hot Wi-Fi too.

Steve explained to Bob many times that this was all for my benefit as he's not interested in anything on tv.

Yesterday Steve watched snooker for hours!

Minus 3

 It's cold, here

Definitely Motown weather, as in I shall wear four tops today.

Chris, Beano's bus ticket cost £1 for an all day busabout ticket.

Yesterday it was so windy there were waves on the canal.

I need to clean the fridge out today, ready for a supermarket delivery this morning.

Siebre, the previous owners had used that , we are still trying to clean the black sticky residue off the window frames. When we replaced the curtains we purchased ones with thermal blackout linings, they are a definite improvement.

Neither of us have had any reaction to our booster jabs so I'm glad we've had them. I greatly appreciate living in a country and time where vaccines are readily available. I'm old enough to remember the terror of polio before the vaccine was available. 

Who knew.

When you take your dog on a bus you get a bus ticket!

Shopping

We should have had a supermarket delivery on Wednesday but for some reason the delivery address had reverted to our banking address. This was probably a PICNIC problem though Steve denies it. PICNIC as in Problem In Chair Not In Computer. Fortunately we were able to cancel the order before it was delivered to DD1. We then had to re-book, Sunday was the next available date and by now Steve was bordering on panic as he couldn't remember what had been on the list and had thrown the paper list on the fire! 

The online shopping is proving to be a bit of an adventure, the first week Steve ordered loads of chocolate bars and a kilo of sesame seeds, last week he did better and we got some useable food. Gawd knows what will arrive this week, nemmind I'll manage.

DD2 phoned yesterday evening to say she was on her way to the supermarket and did I want to go too. I did, I bought bread because we've run out. I bought spring greens and some fruit as I know Steve won't have ordered either. 

I also bought some new pillows as mine are very flat, a pair of jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt. The older I get the more difficult I find it to keep warm. Steve insists he doesn't feel the cold a sits around in a tee shirt, he's cold to the touch and sneezes so much he gets nose bleeds.

We rely on the multi fuel stove to keep warm, we have central heating but rarely use it as Steve worries about the exhaust from the diesel. I get really irritable when I'm cold so I'm hoping the new clothes will help.

A five day hangover

I've felt extremely under the weather for the last few days.

Totally self inflicted and I should know better at my age.

Whilst celebrating my birthday I overindulged in alcohol.

Prosecco to be precise, a glass and a half, small glasses at that!

Today is the first day I've felt better.

Today we went for our covid boosters. It took all morning, we had to catch two buses each way, they run hourly so there was a long wait between then. We travelled eight miles and it took almost five hours. It's a bloody nuisance not driving.

Well i made it.

 Three score years and ten. 

I celebrated with Steve, my children and grandchildren.

Eighteen of us in total. My son in law cooked up a storm and provided food suitable for a vegan, a vegetarian, two lactose intolerant, one diabetic, two with autistic food issues and a partridge in a pear tree. He's such a hero.

Dd1

DD1 brought the wrath of god down on to the school, or at least it must have seemed like it. The child that is diabetic is one of DD1's  fostered children so she has a lot of back up when fighting his corner. Social services contacted the school as did the diabetes team.

Finally

 After borrowing eleventy billion bits of kit from other boaters Steve has tracked down the problem with the TV/satellite it's not repairable. Our only option to watch tv is via the internet which we can't do because we are in a dead area, still, at least we know now.

DD1 is battling with her local school, they have altered the rules on the snacks for morning breaks with no notice. Dgs who is diabetic became unwell because of the unannounced changes. When DD1 went in to complain and to explain that she needed to be aware of changes in advance she was told it wasn't possible as he was the only diabetic the school.

DD2 is battling with the land registry, she can't finalise her mortgage despite already living in the house. She's being threatened with eviction. The land registry are blaming the solicitor, the solicitor is blaming the building company, the building company spent weeks saying Computer Says No.

Lame Wolf, I stopped colouring my hair when we moved on to the boat as our waste water goes directly into the canal.

Hair cut.

 Yesterday I had my hair cut, an early birthday present from DD2.

Such an exciting event induced me to have a shower.

DD2 was picking me up at 9 am so I got up at 4 am to turn the immersion heater on. I boiled the kettle to make a cuppa and to wash a couple of dishes left from the previous evening. 

By 6:30 the water was hot so I had a quick shower quick, but not quick enough as the water was stone  cold by the time I was rinsing my hair.

I walked Beano as he's not keen on walking with Steve and I wasn't sure how long I'd be out for.

DD2 messaged me to say she was on her way so I made Steve a cuppa, gave Beano his medication and set off to walk to the marina entrance.

My hair is now all one length and down to my shoulders instead of almost to my waist.

Steve thinks it was a waste of money, £12, he was expecting me to have it cut to a chin length bob. He doesn't understand the restrictions not having a hair dryer or straighteners place on me. 

My hair is extremely abundant and has a mind of its own, it is neither straight or curly, it's just bumpy.I'd quite like it cut very short but it grows so quickly it would lose its shape within a couple of weeks.

Steve, like a lot of men, likes long hair, he doesn't like my long hair, he like Jessica Rabbit style of long hair.  He thinks hair grows naturally in to a neat style with no help from lotions, potions or electrical appliances.

Buying new bosoms

 I've always been fairly well endowed in the chesticle area, despite only being 4'11 I always needed a 38dd bra.

As I got older I still wore the same size but needed to roll my boobs up to fit into the same size bra.

During the summer when I wear dresses with elasticated tops  I don't wear a bra, but when I'm wearing a tee shirt I do need one but I'm now looking for comfort rather than cleavage.

I looked on lots of websites at all different types and styles, I eventually settled on a sports bra style, a pull on, no fastenings as my fingers struggle with fiddly things.

I purchased a three pack, one each of shocking pink, purple and kingfisher blue. 

I didn't realise until I washed the first one that the filling was made up of two spongy triangles and not attached to the bra. They are separate entities fitted within pockets, or should I say a pocket. This means that when the bra is washed these triangles have great fun swapping sides, rolling themselves in to sausages, sometime clinging together fondly!

This means once the damn thing is on (quite a struggle at time) I look down to see what particular shape I'm in.

Sometimes I have a boob one side and nothing the other sometimes I have two huge boobs where both triangles have folded themselves in half, one is under one boob and the other is on top of the other boob.

There seems to be endless permutations!

Comments

Steve doesn't want to go back to stroke club at the moment I'm hoping he'll change his mind but it's not likely.  There isn't a volunteer with space to give me a lift.

Col I've spoken to the marina manger who explained that all the benches belong to the marina. He doesn't get involved in disputes between boaters. I'm not prepared to start a punch up over a bench. but now I know it's not his personal bench I will continue to use the bench and I will give him an assortment of hand signals when he complains.

We use our phones as a hotspot and tether to them. Steve's works fine mine doesn't. I assume it's because my phone signal is weak here.

Steve seems to consider it character flaw that I need human contact. He says he's fine and he never talks to anybody. In fact he wanders around the marina chatting to other boaters. I don't have this option as the other boaters are all men.

Mind you Steve also coming understand why I was bothered by the lack of Wi-Fi until he couldn't access the internet for best part of a day. 

DD2 is taking me to the hairdressers on Friday and I will ask her to take me shopping sometimes just so I get to see her. I will still get shopping delivered so we won't be stuck when she can't.

A day of getting nowhere.

Steve spent time yesterday and today trying to resolve the problem with the tv but to no avail, still nothing works.

We have a very old fire stick but it won't connect even using Steve's phone which has a much better signal than mine.

The Wi-Fi improved for a couple of days but back to very poor signal now.

We had one day when neither of us had a signal, Steve was climbing the walls with boredom. That's why he tried to get the tv sorted. He realised that this is my third winter with no tv and no reliable wifi. At least I can download books now though I need to be a bit sneaky as I need to sit at a specific picnic bench on the marina and the man on the boat nearest to it considers it to be his bench and chases me off!

Steve's decided to start online shopping as it's too much to expect DD2 to take me every week. It's true, but I will miss her. I haven't spoken to anybody since Saturday.

I'm still no nearer getting audio books as they need Wi-Fi for them. 

Stroke club has started up again, if Steve wants to attend they will arrange transport for him.  I can't go and cook for them as they don't provide transport for volunteers. 

It's almost 4am the wifi witching hour. If I hit post now it should send.

Struggling

 Our neighbours arrived on Friday about mid afternoon, they were planning on staying until Wednesday but in the end they left on Saturday. They were really struggling and couldn't cope with the lack of electric they kept tripping their supply by trying to run more than one appliance at a time. They may do better to buy a generator or find a marina that is residential.

I walked a few miles today to collect a parcel of bits for steve, only for him to announce, when presented with the items, that he'd ordered the wrong parts!

Today i spoke to people.

Our friends that we travelled with over the summer visited today.

We walked to the local cafe for breakfast and coffee and we walked back and we talked non-stop. They showed us lots of pics of their new granddaughter. They bought us some eggs from a farm shop near where they are moored. They also bought a loaf of bread as I'd run out.

Beano was so pleased to meet up with their dog Daisy, they set off for home at about 2:30.

All in all it was a lovely day.

I know a lot of bloggers post about their day, I rarely do as my days are very samey, all I do is housework and dog walks but today I had something to write about.

Beano's reaction to fireworks!

He sleeps through them, they are nearby and very loud. He only looked up because I called his name.

Beano

 This is Beano after a  long walk.

My husband would screw anything!

 Me? I'm more selective, my personal favourites are the 3M Command strips.

I'll admit it's not always easy, the walls of the boat lean inwards towards the ceiling and in the heat of summer the command strips lose their adhesion.

Steve's answer to this problem is his trusty screwdriver,  this would  be fine apart from Steve's tendency to change his mind about where he wants thing to hang.

My dressing gown is a fine example of this. The 3M Command hook had lost its sticky and my dressing gown had been hanging on the door handle. You'd think after 20 years together Steve would know how tall I am, but no.  He called me into the bedroom (no, not for that, don't get excited) to show me the hook he'd screwed to the side of the wardrobe.

I stood beside the hook, looked at Steve and then up at the hook. Steve looked a little sheepish. "I'll lower it shall I" ?

End of an era.

 I walked across to the marina car park yesterday to find my car had gone, collected by a mechanic friend of DD2's and delivered to its new home. It makes life more difficult, not driving.

We have our covid boosters on the 25th November, the pharmacy is next door to a bakers so we will treat our selves to a bacon roll and a sticky bun once we've finished.

I'm working my way through all your suggestions for free books, including YouTube, somewhat hampered by poor Wi-Fi signal.

Beano is sniffing cautiously at his collection of throws and blankets, they all smell different now they've been washed but he soon settles down on them. He doesn't like the vacuum and usually sits on Steve's knee when I get Henry out of the cupboard.

Beano.

 I foraged some apples yesterday and made a crumble and a cake but I thought you'd rather see a pic of Beano.

Samhain

I intended to give the boat a good bottoming yesterday but DD2 offered to take me shopping. As it's half term two of the dgd's came too so shopping too longer than usual.

It's important for me to start the new year with a clean house, I don't always manage it but I've done my best. It helps that we're in the marina so I switched the immersion on so I had lots of hot water all day.

I've put clean sheets on the bed, washed all the throws and blankets, descaled the bathroom and cooked slow roasted beef. 

I'll vacuum through in the morning, better late than never!

Tonight I have my candles lit (battery ones) and I'm about to burn an offering and think of those who've gone before.

Thank you for the suggestion of getting audio books from a library, unfortunately as we are classed as No Fixed Abode we cannot join a library.

Comments

 Ang, my DD's house is a new build with an endless snagging list. She has the right sort of locks but they are faulty.

Sue, that's strange, the locks would let the draft with out the paper.

Yes Chris they are decorations but not for me, I'm making them for something to do as I get bored in the marina.

Moving day.

If it's not raining tomorrow we will move back to the marina.

Once there I will have hot water on tap without boiling the kettle and unlimited use of the vacuum cleaner.

I shall also be able to tidy and dust the bedroom as we should be able to get the bedroom lights to work.

I'm hoping there will be some nice people staying in the marina but sometimes there are just empty boats, in which case it's going to be a long boring winter.

I've also cut out some felt hanging ornaments and large and small gnomes, I can't see to see they in the poor light on the boat but once on shore power I shall be able to run a brighter light during the evenings.

Three old ladies got

locked in the lavatory. Actually only one did and that was me when I was at my daughter 's house. One of the granddaughter 's managed to find a coin and rescue me.

I've felt rough for a few days, nothing specific, just a bit bleurgh and wiped out so I did very little and I'm feeling better now.

I'm having to limit my reading, I'm straining my eyes despite using the biggest font on my kindle.

I've weeded out some of the blogs I read, one in particular I feel seems to lost their grip on reality. A few others no longer write about subjects that interest me.

I've started listening to podcasts in the evening once Steve has gone to bed. I don't listen to them during the day as I can't hear Steve if he is talking to me.

Reading has always been a passion of mine and I'm really struggling to fill the hours without it. Resting my eyes also means limiting YouTube and catchup tv as I use subtitles when I watch them.

Zilch.

Today I achieved nothing, I had great plans, I was going to sort out the last kitchen cupboard. 

It contains all the crockery, mixing bowls, measuring jugs, enamel dishes etc.

I walked Beano this morning and it was such an effort, I was very unsteady and tripped a few times. I think I need to consider using a stick when my balance is that bad. There weren't many bits of me that didn't ache.

When I got back to the boat Steve was up and we hauled the boat along a few yards to make room for another boat that needed to moor up.

I transferred the food needed for today and tomorrow, from the freezer to the fridge and then made coffee. I sat down with my coffee and apart from cooking a meal and walking Beano I sat down for the rest of the day. I couldn't even be bothered to knit, sew or crochet.

I took advantage of the strong Wi-Fi signal and watched the first episode of the new series of Perez and a couple of episodes of Sherlock.

We will be back in the marina soon and the signal there is very poor so I cannot watch tv. We still haven't got a new aerial!

First frost

We had the first frost of the year last night and the stove went out over night. It's no fun getting washed in cold water in an unheated bathroom.

Looking on the bright side, I no longer drive so I didn't have to scrape the car wind screen.

I'm on childcare duties today, not that it's any warmer here, DD2 doesn't have the heating on during the day and her back door is always open so her dog can go in and out.

In the marina

 We came into the marina as Steve was worried about the solar readings.

The engineer checked everything over, there is nothing wrong it's just Steve being over anxious.

We had intended to leave today but it's been extremely windy and now we have heavy rain and possible thunder.

I've been vacuuming and working my way through the washing, not both at the same time, even when plugged into shore power I can either have the immersion heater on or the vacuum or the washing machine. I have worked my way through all the cupboards, throwing stuff away, cleaning the inside of the cupboards and putting stuff back neatly.

What a trollop

We're in the marina it only took just over an hour.

There were new people on the next jetty, we had a chat and their little dog came over to greet Beano.

She is a small black rescue of indeterminate breed.

After greeting Beano she turned round and reversed into Beano cocking her leg until she was sat on his face!

Beano promptly mounted her, he's never done that before.

Fortunately they have both been neutered but neither of them seen to realise this.

I'm no saint

The air was blue with muttered invective during the curtain shortening but I know so many wives who's husband's are unable to do the simplest task with out assistance.

Yesterday we had a pub lunch courtesy of Steve's brother, fish and chips, I had a small portion, it was delicious.

We caught up with news on his family and on our investment in the properties he's building. The first block of 8 apartments is finished and the apartments are either sold and occupied or SSTC. There are six more being built either side that that have just been started. He was aiming at the first time buyer market but has found that they are being purchased by people downsizing some of whom have suggested more storage space would be useful. So the next properties are being built with that in mind. We will receive the return on our investment within the next few weeks.

We are moving tomorrow, Steve thinks there may be a problem with the solar  panels so we will stay in the marina for a couple of days to get them checked out. I shall spend the two days running the washing machine, vacuum and having a shower and washing my hair without having to boil the kettle!

How to shorten a pair of curtains.

 I finally persuaded Steve to replace some of the curtains on the boat, the existing ones were dark brown and the linings were in threads. The fabric was also very bulky which meant the curtains  blocked a lot of the windows even when opened fully. The new curtains needed shortening so Steve and I discussed staying in one place for a couple of days as it would take a while.We decided to change the kitchen blinds as well, they were also brown, Venetian blinds which were a bugger to clean.

We were moored near a branch of Dunelm so went to choose some new blinds and curtains. We eventually settled on some in pale duck egg blue, pale, restful and most importantly, not brown.

We also purchased new blinds for the kitchen.

We agreed to stay on the mooring for three days, two days for me to shorten four pairs of curtains and one for Steve to fit the blinds.

On day one I cleared my knitting from the coffee table and got out pins, tape measure, scissors and chalk. I went to wash my hands before I handled the fabric. I returned to find the new blinds, Steve's drill and tool box on the coffee table, he decided to start putting the blinds up!

I offered to delay starting the curtains but no, Steve decided we would only stay one day, I tried explaining that shortening four pairs of curtains in a day was a bit of an ask, especially as he'd want help with the blinds. Steve totally refuted the idea of needing any help with the blinds whatsoever!

I cleared the breakfast bar so I had somewhere to lay out the curtains, I can't use the floor as there is no room. I also set up my sewing machine.

I unpacked the first pair of curtains.

Steve needed help measuring the window, that done I started to measure the curtains and mark the cutting line. 

Steve needed me to hold one end of the tape.

Then he needed me to move the curtains so he could spread the blinds out. 

Then he needed me to hold the fabric still whilst he cut it.

Then hold one of the brackets so it was level.

Then find his pencil, drill bit, bracket, end piece, pencil again make innumerable cups of coffee, offer constant reassurance and so on and so forth. 

Eventually the blinds were up, and it's early evening and by now we are hungry so I prepare a meal.

The first pair of curtains lay abandoned over the back of the sofa my sewing machine has been moved back to its usual place in the bedroom.

Steve looks around and comments on my lack of progress!

Not even one pair of curtains finished!

Earlier in the day Steve has received a text, informing him that his prescription is ready for collection. As we are moored near a train station I suggest we stay put an extra day and he can go and collect his prescription, he agrees.

The following day Steve sets off on the 9:15 train.

By the time he returns on the 2:20 train I'm just finishing the last of the eight curtains!

It's a pity you didn't do these yesterday like you were supposed to says Steve.

Comments

Thank you for your comments.

Our boat is 60ft by 10ft. I had to stand a long way back to get all the boat in the pic.

The living area is 50ft long, it's divided into kitchen, living area, bathroom and bed room.

Moved again

 We moved less than a mile but we got a pump out, filled up with water and bought gas, £60.

We are now moored outside the supermarket.

We will shop twice a day to fill the cupboards up and then move on again.

We then moved here under the willow tree.

It's a beautiful place but Steve doesn't like the leaves falling so we are off again.

Our new neighbours

 

At last

 Chris, it's the opposite bank from the towpath side.

We have new blinds and curtains, pale duck egg blue, I'll post pics once the creases have dropped out.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

 The towpath has recently been resurfaced, it's wide and flat and a lot of people use it.

Because of the resurfacing it's noisy when people walk past.

It sounds like someone crunching celery.

It was quite disconcerting to start with but we're used to it now.

A visit to the laundrette

 It's easy enough to run the washing machine, I tend to do it when we are travelling as it saves draining the batteries.

The difficulty is in getting large items like bedding dry.

We visited the local laundrette, wow, haven't things changed.

No need to search for coins to feed the machine, contactless payment is accepted. No need to take powder or fabric softener as the machine is preloaded with these.

All the bedding is now washed and dry for just £10.

Beano wants to go back again as the staff member on duty gave him a huge dog treat!

The best I've seen.

 I've seen many funny comments about the problems with Facebook and WhatsApp. My favourite is a comment from a friend.

She posted "Thank you Facebook and WhatsApp, until yesterday it had been an age since anything went down on me!

 

We often see this boat when we are travelling along.

Dont poke me

Keth I bought them from M&S, they were about £20, but so warm and safe.

 I finally managed to collect Beano's prescription this morning, it's taken ages to arrange. A weeks worth of phone calls trying to arrange a telephone consultation. Then finally a text saying an appointment had her made for 10:30 . We arrived today to be told there was no trace of the appointment, the implication being I'd made a mistake. I showed the text on my phone and I finally saw the vet, collected the prescription. £158 for 3 months, I shall try to get a paper copy next time and order online.

We walked back through the park where Beano met up with a deerhound and a Rottie. The Rottie got a bit over enthusiastic and poked Beano with a paw the size of a dinner plate. Beano did not approve and chased the Rottie round a few times but eventually they played together nicely.a

KFC for breakfast!

 No, not me, Beano.

We we're mooching along on his morning walk when I realised he was crunching on something. He gave it up without too much of a struggle, it was a chunk of KFC. I know this because there was a full tub of it along with two plates, a bottle of ketchup and assorted empty drinks cans and bottles.

I collected it all up and placed it in a nearby bin, much to Beano's disgust, he really couldn't understand why such largesse wasn't shared with him!

I often collect rubbish when I'm out for a walk, the strangest item I ever found was a pair of foreceps!

Comments

 That's sad Briony.

One of my sons in law was not treated well by his parents, he's never really got over it.

My mother did have a favourite child, a long list of them, either one of her pupils at school or a neighbour's child.

When my children were little my mother couldn't understand why I was always cuddling them she'd never done it to me so why did I do it? She often asked me this. My dad wasn't particularly demonstrative either but I knew he loved me.

Favourite child.

 Were you a favourite child?

Did you have a favourite child.

I was my father's favourite but not my mother's even though I'm an only child!

I was very lucky I didn't have a favourite child.

Once they were teenagers mine used to say that my favourite child was who ever hadn't pissed me off that day.

They all knew though that when they did something spectacularly stupid I'd always have their back.

New slippers.

My new slippers,  I have a very high arch so I've already snipped one of them so I can get my foot in. I really like the ones that come up to the ankle as they are warmer.

They have a sole with a rubbery feel as I find them safer. The hard plastic ones are hardwearing but very slippery.

 

Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

 Do you remember It ain't half hot mum?

There is a company called Lion Legion they sell an assortment of clothing and other items.

Steve discovered their tee shirt printed with a pic of Windsor Davies and the slogan Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

This is one of Steve's favourite sayings when people make a huge fuss about something silly.

I ordered him a tee shirt a while ago and it arrived on Tuesday, it's very good quality and arrived very promptly.

Steve is very happy with it.

Even more importantly the tee shirt fits, Steve so often buys really cheap clothes and then complains that they don't fit properly. This is not helped by him buying clothes 2 sizes too small if his size isn't available.

https://lionlegion.co.uk/products/oh-dear-how-sad-never-mind-unisex-t-shirt

I treated myself yesterday as I finally got round to buying some new slippers, warm feet at last!

Pat B

 I'm sorry your dog is so scared, Beano is a rescue also. Beano was also scared of other dogs and unfortunately this showed as aggression. With hard work and gentle encouragement Beano is now a different dog, he is friendly and sociable.

I'm sorry my light hearted anecdote upset you so much that you hate me.

Nowhere in my post did I say Beano raced towards another dog, I said he ran, Beano is a cross breed , mainly Jack Russell and therefore has the typical twisted front feet along with the luxating patella. He has an uneven gait and unless he is terrified and running in fear his running speed is slower than my walking speed. He was running towards another small dog who was also off the lead and running around.

Beano will ignore me if he's chasing rabbits and squirrels, before anyone else tells me off about this he doesn't have a cat in hell of catching them! He also doesn't chase cats. He is very respectful of cats so I assume he's lived with a cat at some point.

He has good recall, he won't come if he's called but he will stay still and wait for me to put his lead on.

Have you considered hiring a dog walking area, we used one when we had a reactive dogs staying with us. It meant she could be off the lead for a good runaround without worrying about other dogs.

Beano gets a scare.

The weather here is currently windy with occasional sunny spells and sudden outburst very heavy showers.

Because of Beano's well known opinion of rain we tend to make a mad dash into the nearby  park inbetween the bursts rain.

We did this yesterday, a few minutes into our walk and Beano spotted a small black dog. Beano has turned into a sociable little chap this year and he immediately ran towards the dog. 

Then Beano stopped in his tracks, when what looked like a low flying fluorescent yellow kite flew across the grass. Beano, deciding that discretion was the better part of valour, ran off in the opposite direction.

We carried on through the park, Beano sniffing happily. Suddenly the yellow kite reappeared and Beano took off at a run, the kite, now shown to be a Jack Russell in an oversized raincoat, in hot pursuit.

At some point Beano realised he was being chased, not by a flapping yellow monster, but by a small friendly dog so he turned back to enjoy a game of chase and what fun they had together!

Fishermen

To be fair we find fisherman and canoeists both as bad as each other. 

Not all of them obviously but I've had a fisherman tell me the canals weren't built for boats. 

I've had canoes launched practically under my bows and been screamed at to stop IMMEDIATELY. Canal boats can't do anything immediately.

My pet hate is cyclists, not the people who are out for a cycle ride but those who dress in lycra and terrify dogs and small children and treat the towpath as a race track!

Amongst the narrow boat community, I find the fragrant boaters the most annoying.

What is a fragrant boater I hear you ask?

These are usually on widebeams, they are a couple, he is of mature years, invariably pompous and frequently wearing a twat hat (a fake captain's cap).

She is dressed neither for the weather or for boating. Her goosepimples are covered only in swathes of diaphanous chiffon, her feet shod in strappy stilettos. These two navigate their way along the canals  cheerfully leaving every lock paddle up, every lock gate open and every swing bridge open!

This leave twice the work for whoever is following them

Very entertaining day.

Yesterday there was a canoe race on, it's a yearly event.

About an hour before the canoeists arrived a fisherman turned up, he set himself up on the wharf where the canoes were to launch from.

The wharf should be big enough for the fisherman and the canoes but the fisherman set up two chairs, a table and an assortment of trolleys slap bang in the middle.

When the race participants arrived they tried to persuade the fisherman to move but with no luck.

Then the trip boat arrived, so the wharf was full of launching canoeists, their families and supporters, boat passengers and the usual Sunday visitors. Chaos reigned for a while but eventually everything calmed down and the fisherman fished on.

Steve and I were sat on the back of the boat enjoying the weather when a man approached us and asked us.  "How much and for how long?"

He wanted us to take him and his wife on a boat trip, they'd seen the trip boat but didn't want to be on a boat with other people.

Steve explained that we weren't for hire and that the boat was our home.  He couldn't understand why not.

He kept saying "Why have a boat if you don't do trips".

Crap bins

 I bought some crap bins not bins that are crap. I bought bins to store Steve's crap.

Everywhere Steve sits a pile of crap builds up, the pots to store his hearing aids, glasses cloths, drill bits, twine, Allen keys, screwdrivers amongst other things. The problem is that when I want to wipe over a surface I have to pick up all this crap and then replace it. How all I need to do is lift the crap bin, wipe under it and then replace it, problem solved!

Mooring

 We are moored under a conker tree in the rain.

Moved again

We had no wifi at our last mooring spot so I couldn't post. It was a lovely spot and we were near people we know so Beano had a catch-up play with a doggy friend.

We moved again today four locks and a swing bridge, Two of the locks were really hard work as they are damaged. I shan't be able to crochet for a couple of days as my wrist are too painful.

Here are some pics of where we were moored.

Answers

Heather, we don't know if we will be allowed deliveries when we are in the marina, we will ask when we get there.

Lynda, My DD1 will only do long term fostering as she cannot face handing them back. She still has a 23 year old living with her, she started fostering him when he was 13.

I don't want to move back to dry land but I would love a residential mooring. Unfortunately they are a rare as hen's teeth round here.

Some pics of the horse drawn boat that operates along this stretch of the canal.

Stocking up

The wardrobes are gradually filling up with food, we will move on Tuesday I think as we should be stocked up then. It will take us two weeks to reach the next supermarket.

I only have a small fridge and freezer so it takes a bit of working out. I manage to make our milk last two weeks by buying a combination of fresh, Cravendale and long life. Steve doesn't like long life but if I mix it 50/50 with fresh he can't tell the difference and so will drink it. 

Bread is more difficult, Steve likes toast for breakfast or lunch a few times a week, he only likes a certain type of bread and each load has only 18 slices. I've not found a sliced bread that keeps for two weeks and I don't have room to freeze any. I use part baked baguettes but Steve doesn't like them toasted.  I keep popping n a selection of wraps and bagels for me as that leaves more bread for Steve. I am also capable of making bread but Steve won't eat it.

Once we are back in the marina I can walk to buy bread, it's only a couple of miles there and back.