Time to Crochet.

Hi Friends.

Saturday was one of those days, I had plenty to do, but I just did not have the energy or the wear for all to do it. So I decided I would listen to my body and do very little.

First thing in the morning, I made up the stove and cleaned the glass. Many people suffer with blackened glass and can never get it clean. I tend to use a wet piece of newspaper. I dab it in the ash and then rub that over the glass. Once it is clean then wipe it over with a clean cloth, this usually does the trick. You can also open the air wash at the top of the stove door, this helps keep the glass clear. We do not tend to burn much wood on our stove, it is usually smokeless coal. Stove sorted it was time for our local marine engineer to arrive to have a look at our 4kw built in generator, which has been playing up.

When we went out for the month of October, it began not starting, and when we did get it started it would cut out and not start again. We changed the fuel filter, because we thought it may have been that, but it still did the same thing, so I suggested we get some help. Our local marine engineer heard the tale of the poorly generator, he suggested it sounded like a fuel problem and perhaps air getting into the fuel line. A quick check around with a couple of spanners, he discovered that the pipe fitting on the top of the fuel tank, which is underneath the generator, was a bit loose. Having explained that we had replaced the pipework for the cooling system at the start of his visit, he wondered if It had loosened it accidentally when fitting the new pipework, which was very close to the fitting, and Keith did struggle to get the new pipework in around that fitting. This tied in, as the problem had started after we changed the cooling pipework. He also tightened a few other joints whilst he was at it. Hopefully this has fixed the problem. We will know when we set off hopefully next month for our Spring/Summer cruise.

Because lunch had passed, we just had a sandwich and I would cook for dinner. I made a Sweet and Sour Chicken for dinner and put it on top of the saloon stove to cook slowly over the afternoon. Whilst that was cooking, I started a new crochet blanket as one of our Winter moorer’s is expecting twins in her family and would like a couple of baby blankets in neutral colours, because they do not know the sex of the twins. So I rifled through my wool box and came up with some white and pale green wool. Now putting wool in a bag and standing it on the floor is a game to Marmite. She cannot help herself, she just has to jump in the bag, so we had a lovely game for a while, before she ran out of energy and went back into her basket for a nap. By the evening, I was half way through making a baby blanket, I stuck at it till 9.30 pm. 10 pm and it was time for bed said Zebedee.

Sunday morning and it was brr in the back cabin. We had a substantial frost overnight, there was ice on the canal and the car park was slippery. Paddy and I went out for his morning walk and he was a little like Bambie on ice, so we abandoned the tarmac and headed on to the grass and yes I know they say you should not walk on the grass when it is covered in ice or snow, but it was either that or one of us breaking a limb. Back on the boat for breakfast, which for us was Porridge made up with Raisins for sweetness and mog and dog got their usual morning treats.

The frost did not really last very long, before it was washed away by the rain, which had been forecast. Both stoves were going, I had to re-light the back cabin stove because I had let it go out. But the saloon stove was still pushing out the heat and hot water. Being a Sunday and wet, there was little else to do but stay indoors and watch films. ‘Herbie The Love Bug’. I had not seen this film for years. A nice Sunday of doing very little.