Wet and Windy Tuesday.

Hi Friends.

It is a real Autumn morning, wet, windy and down right chilly. So pleased we are not having our coal delivery today, as it is no fun loading coal when you wet and cold.
I slept like a baby last night after a nice hot shower. Yep we bought a new shower yesterday and after a couple attempts got it fitted and leak free. It was such a pleasure to stand under hot water pouring over my head. After doing coal deliveries the water was a little black. But that is the joys of my job. So having enjoyed a good nights sleep, we were up early as we wanted to mop out the bilge in the engine room. This is another job that most boaters hate doing, but it has to be done. But before starting our first job of the day. Paddy asked if he could go for his morning walk. Every now and again he will yodle a little tune and it is usually because he wants something. This morning it was a walk in the rain, not his favourite weather, but he had no choice if he wanted to cock his leg. Marmite on the other hand was being extremely vocal because her food dishes were empty and she wanted feeding. I told her she would have to wait till we got back from Pads walk. Not that she of course understood or did she?
Breakfast eaten, animals fed and fires stoked, I climbed into the hold to get the mop and bucket out, whilst Keith removed the floor in the engine room. Keith then mopped as I used an old ice cream carton to scoop out the oil and water out of the bilge. It cut the time the job took by half and we soon had the floor back down and the bucket emptied into the hedge. Another job conquered without a hitch. Yesterday when we bought a new shower, Keith also bought himself a new shaver to replace his broken one. All in all this month has been very expensive for us. I am hoping that over the coming month's we will be able to spend less on emergencies, as I think we must have had most things go wrong. I must not tempt fate thought so saying that in a whisper.
By 9am we were ready to head off towards Market Harborough Basin to our overnight mooring. We arrived to find an almost empty basin. Many of the hire boats are out on hire as it is half-term. Our usual berth was empty for us to go into, so we are now ready for our coal delivery tomorrow morning. Already since being here we have had three customers for coal. Everyone is beginning to feel the cold now and it does not help with it also being damp. When we come into the basin we always go on the electric, so I can get all my washing done. Today I have sheets, towels and boat ropes. Boat Ropes I hear you cry. Yes I wash our boat ropes in the washing machine. We have a set of Summer front ropes which are made of cotton, so they wash up nicely on a hot wash. Being on the electric is an ideal time to do them. I then hang them in the back cabin to dry slowly. They will then be put away until next Spring. Once all the washing is done, I will then put the hoover around later, so the boat is spick and span for the off tomorrow. We have a Dyson hoover onboard, but this only really ever gets used when we are on the electric. I normally use a dustpan and brush. The joys of being able to use the hoover, is I can get to all the dusty areas. Dust can be an issue onboard when you have a coal stove and we have two so double the dust you might say. But I would not be without our coal stoves, because we always have heating. So many people we know have diesel stoves or heating and they have been known to pack up in very cold weather, and with no back up heating they have to go cold until their heating is fixed. My advice to anyone having diesel heating, is to also have a coal stove as a back up for heating. You can also cook on the top and keep a kettle warm. Potatoes also bake nicely in the ash pan.
Right it is now almost 11.40am and we are heading out, so I will draw to a close and wish you a good Tuesday.