Getting in cruising mood.

Hi friends and followers.

What a beautiful day I have had. It all began at 6 am with a mug of tea and the BBC 1 news and weather on. Carol Kirkwood was happily telling me, it is going to be a lovely day and how right she was. The moment I opened the back cabin doors and stepped off the boat with Paddy, it was evident the temperature had gone up significantly on a Winter’s morning, or can I now say Spring, because that is exactly how it has felt today. Even Paddy had a spring in his step this morning, whilst we walked and listened to the birds singing. Because it was so warm, I was in no hurry to stoke up the fire, instead I went and did a laundry wash first thing. Having hung the washing to dry, I then swept the saloon flue, which was clean and required no added cleaning. It will not be long before I am letting the fire out in the saloon. I will then just have the back cabin stove going when we are on the move, for hot water and cooking. Before getting on with boat jobs, I made us a Cottage Pie for lunch and prepared the veggies we would be having for lunch.

With it being so lovely outside, I felt the need to get out and tidy the pontoon, ready for when we set off. I like to leave a tidy home when we are away, because visiting boaters may stay on our pontoon, whilst we are away. Firstly I put the remaining six bags of coal which were on a pallet into the hold. On top of the pallet, I arranged our pot plants which I like all in one place when we are away. It was at this point I discovered that someone had half inched our watering can. At first I thought maybe it was in the bunker, but no it had gone. Who would want a rusting watering can? To say I was annoyed is an understatement. I was fuming. Pontoon all tidy, I started to sort out the things we would be taking with us on our cruise this year. So shears, spade, fenders, ant powder and life ring all went on the boat. I have a mental list in my head, but I just know I will forget something.

Whilst doing jobs and listening to BBC Coventry and Warwickshire our phone went and it was Jenna the researcher. On the Lorna Bailey show today they were asking “are dog owners more sexually attractive”?.

According to this study of 1,000 singletons. The research found that 63% of people find dog owners most attractive, in comparison to 18% of totally wrong people who fancy cat owners. Keith sent a message saying where did we stand we have a cat and a dog. Jenna rang back and asked if I wanted to talk about Marmite and Paddy on air, which I have done before, so was happy to oblige. Of late if I am on the phone, Marmite see’s fit to come and join in the conversation. She loves to meow and purr down the phone. I have no idea why she thinks this is fitting, or maybe she knew she was being spoken about. Anyway I do not think the study is correct.

Lunch over with, it was back to working outside and this time our garden got my attention. The ground was way to wet to get on to, so I just did a bit of hand weeding and tidying up. No doubt when we come back from cruising, it will be full of weeds. But hopefully we will have lots of Strawberries and Blackberries. Although I say it myself, everything was looking much tidier and I was satisfied with my day’s work. I will have a new list for the weekend, which include polishing our brass, which has not been done all Winter.

Tonight’s TV viewing will be ‘Question of Sport’, ‘Carry On Barging’ and whatever else we fancy after that, looking at the TV Guide it maybe Non-Stop with Liam Neeson but we shall see. I may just be ready for my bed by then, having been awake early for two days running.