Had quite a time......

Hello dear friends and followers.

Yet again I find myself apologising for not posting for a couple of weeks. It has been a difficult time of late with the death of four people we know, three of which were good friends. It makes you realise just how fragile life is and we must all make the most of it. Old age was no part really in any of their deaths and one was a real tragedy. We lost two of our Winter moorers over the past few weeks, which has deeply saddened us all. Some of you on the cut will have known of Trevor Maggs.

Trevor was one of the nicest gentlemen on the cut. He owned the historic working narrowboat Corona and had done so for some 50 years. Trevor was very much respected by the boating community and many people knew him. He sadly passed away after ill health at the age of 84. We spent many an hour nattering with Trevor. He was a mind of information about the trips he did and what he carried to where. Sadly all that information and history has gone to the waterways in heaven, where we hope Trevor has many happy cruising hours.

Then just last week lovely Alex Bennett died on her boat after a fire engulfed her boat, whilst moored in Stone, Staffordshire.

Alex was vibrant and bubbly. But sadly we will not be seeing Alex or Dexter her dog at any boat festivals again. Alex bought her historic working boat Tench to the Saltisford Arm last year as part of the Idle Women event performed by the Alarum Theatre. We had such a wonderful time and helped them up the Hatton Flight. We last saw Alex in October. So many people knew and loved Alex, so she will be very much missed on the cut.

2018 has had such a sad start in many ways and I for one only hope it improves.

So have you been touched by The Beast from the East?
I am of the opinion that the media love to hype up the weather. After all it is not the first time we have had a cold Winter spell and we have had far worse winter's. As many may know I love and adore snow, so it can do its worst as far as I am concerned.

At 12.30pm we thought ok here it comes and then some 20 minutes later, it was gone and the sun was out. It is more like Wimp from the East so far. Mind you I was glad it waited to come, because this morning I had to go for my regular breast screening. Boob squishing time, which if you are a woman of a certain age, you will know all about it. Still needs must and all that. It is all done for three more years anyway.

So the snow has been and the sun is shining as I draw this posting to an end. If you are however experiencing some dreadful weather, please stay safe.

Pop back soon xxx

It is coming.

Hello Friends and Followers.

Hasn't it been nippy?
We have had the overnight temperatures down as low as -6.5 C and ice on the canal. I do so love this time of the year. There is something wonderful about seeing ice on the canal and yet knowing you are nice and snuggly inside. Although most people I know think I am barking mad, because I am wandering around in my shirt sleeves. I am a hardy soul I guess.

So as my title says "It is coming".
"What" you shout?
Valentine's Day. Yes it is that time of the year again. My better half, surprised me yesterday with the beautiful Red roses in the photograph above. We do not really bother with these sort of celebrations, because it is just another way to get you to spend a huge amount of money and in my opinion it is over commercialised, but hey that is a whole different post. I am not going to say how much he spent on those beauties, but it was not a lot and I bet on Monday of next week you can treble the price all because of Valentine's Day. It is the same with going out for a meal. Places tell you they are doing deals on if you book for Valentine's Day. What utter rubbish. They are not doing a great deal they are just ripping you off. So we never go out for a Valentine's meal. I would rather go way before or way after. After all these years I do not need to be told he loves me, I know he does. We do not even bother with cards anymore. You may think it is a little sad, but that is just how we are and feel.
Ok rant over.

So here we are, almost at the end of another week. We have spent it working in the hold. It is coming along nicely, although already my paintwork is showing signs of needing work done on it. I am glad we have some paint left.
Our shower has decided to spring a leak. We have tried to find a direct replacement, and we thought we had done so, only for the company to tell us that is was no longer available, even though they were showing it on their website. We have found a shower bar which will do the job and it should arrive Monday. It is actually half the price of the other one, so providing it works well, we will be very happy.

With the weekend almost here, I think I will be spending it watching the Six Nations Rugby, or the Winter Olympics. I sat and watched the opening ceremony this morning and thought it was stunning. The flag bearer from Tonga was a brave man, bearing his chest in freezing conditions, as were the team from Bermuda who wore shorts brrrrr. I sincerely hope the GB team have a good games. I love watching the Winter Olympics. My favourite events are the Curling, Biathlon and Speed Skating. I can see I am going to be torn over what to watch. Of course there is also Dancing on Ice to add to the schedule as well. What is a girl supposed to do?
Have a lovely weekend.

Pop back soon xx

It is all done.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Yippee, it is complete. I finished the painting and it does not look to bad, even if I do say so myself.

With the painting all done, it is now time for Keith to take over and start building his layout bed.

This will probably take some time.

Keith is keen to get on with it.

If you wish you can follow the rest of the build on the railways blog. I am going to get my blog back on track and talk about me things from now on, so if you want to switch over to the railway blog, please feel free, I will not be offended.

It was a nippy old start to the day today. -6.5 C outside and ice back on the canal, but we were snug inside at 3.15 am. Why this time, well we were both awake and sat in bed drinking tea. I have no darn idea why we were awake, but we were and it took some time to get back to sleep again. Maybe it is old age setting in, or I just had to much on my mind. 

I have a lot going on in my life at the moment and to many decisions to make in one go. With the recent loss of friends, who have passed away it kind of focuses the mind. Anyway I will enlighten you more possibly in time, or I may just keep it to myself and switch my blog off. I am still mulling that possibility over in my mind, because I have become tired of social media and all it brings. I actually feel sometimes I am being spied on, which I guess I am with people reading my words. At the end of the day whatever I write and post is up to me and I do not have to post at all. So we will see.

Pop back soon xxx

Paintbrush at the ready.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Our big build has been something of a revelation to us, as neither of us thought we would be able to do it ourselves, so last night to celebrate it almost coming to an end we went out for a Thai meal in the town. The last time we went for a meal there was in 2013 with friends Irene and Ian off of Narrowboat FreeSpirit. It was definitely time to revisit the Thai and we were not at all disappointed. The meal was sublime and the service was excellent. We will not leave it so long next time before eating there again.
Yesterday also saw me getting on with the painting of the woodwork with a sealing coat of paint.

I love painting, not in the art way, but give me a paintbrush and I will set about painting, walls, ceilings, boats etc.

To seal the timber, I used one part water to five parts paint, which was recommended on the bucket of paint. My next task will be to seal any joints and then on with the top coats of Magnolia. We want to keep it as light as possible.

Today I had to pop up into town and whilst I was away Keith began to build the door frame.

We have decided on how we will make the door and that will be fun. In the meantime I can get on with all the paintwork. We have already noticed a change in the temperature, now that the insulation and walls are all done.

As a temporary measure e have put a piece on insulation in the doorway to keep the cold out and the heat in.

It has been a bloomin nippy old day, so we have both the stoves going. This has of course pleased Marmite no end, because she is lounging out in the back cabin on the side bed, like she owns the place.

There is no peace for the wicked though, because the water tank needs filling and the toilet cassette needs emptying, so I had better get myself off of the computer and out into the cold.

Pop back soon x