Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age.
Before posting a review. I've been reading the reviews of the lodge we have booked in November.
Ones reviewer complained about the lack of places to walk their dog, I'm struggling to work out what sort of dog needs more that the 2000 miles of towpath available.
Another reviewer complained about the lack of view, the lodge webpage states there are stunning views across the marina, the reviewer was not happy as all he could see were boats!
We went out for breakfast today, we are moored near a canal side cafe so we didn't have to go far.
There is a waterpoint in the cafe garden, the CRT promised to move the fence so the waterpoint outside of the cafe gardens. That was a couple of years ago a nd the cafe owner is still waiting.
Whilst we were enjoying our breakfast another boater came along with a bucket. He turned on the tap and proceeded with his weekly wash. Some of the cafe customers were horrified, I just kept thinking how cold his hands must be doing all that washing in cold water.
I helped at a jumble sale today, an outdoor jumble sale, brrr.
It's 9 degrees here, we have the stove lit, Mrs Grumpytits has been standing on her balcony complaining!
I bought myself an Abercrombie and Fitch hoodie, a DVD The Favourite with Olivia Coleman and two pairs of hi-vis socks. They came to the grand total of 60p, I paid extra as it's for a good cause.
The socks are proper hi-vis, I bought them to put over our mooring pins when we moor up, we worry that people will trip over them.
There is a DVD player in the lodge so I will take The Favourite with me to watch.
We are still working out the logistics of Steve's friend visiting us at the lodge. If he's out of hospital we may go and collect him and take him with us.
About 18 months ago he had a motorbike accident and broke his back, last week he raced again for the first time and broke his pelvis. I think I it's probably time he gave up bike racing.
But we are currently listing the other way, we could adjust our ropes but it's raining again so we will probably be back on an even keel soon.
Four hire boats passed us today, two of them hit us, Steve went out to help them regain control before they got jammed across from bank to bank. I didn't go to help, I will lock people through but all the boats had at least six people on board so I thought they could manage.
We've booked a week away, a treat for my birthday, we may take Steve's friend with us, he's had an accident but hopefully he'll be out of hospital in time. He may bring his girlfriend which could be hard work. He likes his women skinny, stupid and adoring!
TV problems are ongoing, I can watch BBC 2 or Channel 4, I have to get up to change channels as the remote control doesn't work and the subtitles are sporadic!
Fortunately I have a blanket to finish, a capelet only just started and a book by Jim Butcher to read.
Cooking on the piss is very challenging, I wasn't on the piss, the boat was. A drop in water level found us with the middle of the boat resting on a gravel ledge.
The heavy rain we've been having has meant that boaters, marina staff and CRT have been kept busy managing the water levels. Opening and closing locks and sluices.
The levels have been up and down like a bride's nighty, ropes have to be tightened and slackened off regularly depending on the levels. We have had two days with no rain so the water level was stabilising.
We were listing this evening when I was cooking our evening meal. I have to hang on tight to the pan handles to ensure nothing slides off the hob. I was only preparing a simple meal, ham, egg, beans and hash browns.
When everything was ready I served up, Steve and I were sat side by side at the breakfast bar eating.
Suddenly with a glug we slid off the bank and we were level again. It was quite disconcerting but more comfortable to be floating again.
It's now raining again!
We have short bursts of intermittent wifi, we went to the marina for a pump out, I spoke to someone who used to live there on her boat. She has to work from home because of covid, she has phones on Vodafone, O2, Three and EE she still cannot get enough signal to work from her boat so has had to move in with her mum. So it seems to be a general problem, not just us.
We went to town to get Steve's phone sorted out yet again. Into the Three shop, all masked up and plastic screens between us. That's fine but there is music playing which makes it difficult for us to hear and I can't lip read because of the masks. There is a very voluble African matron at the next desk, she keeps repeating that she is a queen in her own country and so deserves respect. In the queue behind there this is a chap who is heatedly discussing a recording contract that has gone tits up. I have no idea if the problem with Steve's phone has been sorted.
We are also having TV problems, the satellite motor stopped working so the dish wouldn't open or close or turn to lock on to a signal. So I could only watch programs I'd recorded. Then Steve's friend Bob visited and suggested a fire stick, we already have one so Bob tried to get it working, this meant finding an electric extension because our tv is so old. Eventually he got it working but he could only get one line of subtitles showing so not much good for me. Also I only watch tv occasionally and having to press eleventy billion buttons across three different channel changers really put me off. So Bob persuaded Steve to buy some Bluetooth headphones, these duly arrived, in attempting to set them up Steve used the handle of a wooden spoon to ram a cable through a hole in the shelf and in doing so disconnected all manner of other things! Now I am unable to change channels, the DVD player doesn't work and there is no volume at all for the headphones to transmit and there are now even more buttons to press.I
We have torrential rain it's forecast to last until friday, parts of the river and canal are yellow boarded as it is too dangerous to navigate. We cannot move because the flow is too fast. Someone in a nearby house has complained about the smell of woodsmoke, we aren't burning wood but she wants us to turn the stove off even though it's our only means of heat. She has also complained about us running the engine for an hour a day so we can charge our kindles and have lights on at night.
I just love people who buy a house near the canal and then complain endlessly about the boats, the fishermen, the people on the towpath and the noise of the ducks quacking!
I shall post this quickly before I lose signal again.
