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