Busy start to Sunday.

Brrrr and cold start to Sunday. –4.5c over night and it is still below freezing at 10.52am. It must have been cold this morning at 3.30am when Keith got up, because he got out of bed and Marmite climbed in beneath the duvet for a warm, she was soon ousted out when Keith came back, much to her disgust.

7am cuppa in bed and discussions on allsorts of issues, many of them boating, but I will not bore you with my ranting.

8.45am up and dressed, with Paddy waiting for his walk, which took place across the field near the boat. Paddy went off like a scolded Rabbit in search of anything worth sniffing at. Whilst we walked on a very chilly morning, Keith got on with grilling large Mushrooms and Bacon which we had on toast. I do love it when my breakfast is cooked for me, it is always a perfect way to start a Sunday. Having eaten a scrummy breakfast, I relit the back cabin stove and riddled the saloon fire to get it going again. With the back cabin stove roaring away, I put some Lamb chops on for dinner, once they were fired, I put them in a dish covered with Lamb gravy and then put them in the oven to cook slowly for the day. Next job for my Sunday morning, was to get coal in from the hold for the back cabin and the saloon fires. On the gunwale was snow like little Polystyrene balls, so before standing on the gunwale I cleaned the snow balls off. A bag of coal filled with loose coal and the coal scuttle filled with house coal were then deposited on the back counter ready for use. Our loose coal is going down slowly and as soon as it is low enough I will bag the remaining coal up, we can then take on more bagged coal, which will be for sale. Back inside a nice warm boat, I had a pile of hand washing to do, which got hung in the shower room to drip dry, once most of the water had drained out, I will then hang it in the back cabin to dry, which is one of the best drying places when the stove is going, I know by the end of the day I will be folding the clothes up and putting them away. I am beginning to think I do not need my washing machine after all, but I know as soon as it comes to getting the duvet cover washed and the crochet blankets I will be glad of it again.

As I type the chops are cooking, I have just stewed some Apples for a crumble which we will have for tonight’s pudding. Phew now I wonder what I should do for the rest of the day??

The cold I mentioned yesterday seems to have died a death, which I am grateful for, but I do still have a bit of a headache, so not sure what that is all about.

Well done to England yesterday, they beat France in the 6 nations. It was not a pretty match but we did what we had to do, so well done lads.

Ant and Dec are back for “Saturday Night Takeaway” yayyyy. What a fantastic nights entertainment. Robbie Williams looked fantastic, he looks so well these days, married life and having a child clearly agrees with him. Great show and looking forward to the next 6 weeks.