Food

 Lyssa I will try peppermint oil on the back of the boat.

Beano is very reluctant to let me near his feet, I may try a microfiber towel next.

I see a lot of bloggers are  posting about cutting back on their food bills.

Obviously not having a car has saved us some money but it also means I can't shop around and hunt for bargains but I still try to be careful.

Last weeks meal plan was as follows-:

Sunday, roast pork, I cut the joint in half, froze half and sliced the rest thinly. The half I didn't freeze served Sunday lunch with yorkies, stuffing and roast pots, parsnip, sprouts and peas. It also made sandwiches for lunch for 3 days. Cheese or egg sandwiches on the other days. I can't eat pork so I had the roast without it.

Monday, Lamb chops one tiny one each with a sausage, boiled spuds with carrots, sprouts and peas.

Tuesday, Fish pie with carrots and peas

Wednesday, Burgers inna bun with salad because the shopping was delivered and the buns were fresh. I don't eat burgers so I had salad in a bun.

Thursday, Beef casserole, I added lots of extras and froze half.

Friday, Chicken pieces. I went to DD2 for a cuppa so didn't eat these.

Saturday, Liver and onions with mash, sprouts and carrots. There will be enough for two meals so I will freeze half.

Sunday, I have a small turkey breast that I will cook for a roast dinner.

Very plain food but it's what Steve will eat.

I shall put a loaf on to prove tonight, I've been using up two part baked baguettes that Steve wouldn't eat because they were sourdough.

The next food delivery will be on Tuesday, I still have carrots, onions, cucumber, salad leaves and sprouts in the fridge.

Webbed feet

 I was very excited this morning as it wasn't raining when I got up but it's due to rain again tomorrow. Beano has sore feet as they are constantly wet, I've tried balm but he licks it off and I've tried doggie shoes and he tears them off. There is nowhere dry to walk him and he will soon have webbed feet I'm sure.

The marina is still struggling with rats, over the weekend many people visited their boats and left food around which made the situation worse.

The stove was sluggish yesterday, it went out overnight and it's always difficult re-light. It picked up eventually and I cooked a beef casserole on the top. It was a huge casserole, we ate half yesterday and froze half for another  day.

Today I did another wash load, little and often as it's difficult to get stuff dry.

Weaver asked on her blog whether people consider themselves a town dweller or country dweller. I was born just outside a small Lincolnshire town, I moved from there to London and then to Bristol. After that I moved to the outskirts of a small town. Despite this I consider myself a country dweller for preference.

Horrified

I was horrified and sickened to read this morning the Tony Blair has received a knighthood.

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.