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!