Chutney and music.

Or panic if you have done nothing so far :-).

Hi Friends.

There was a welcome appearance in the Arm at 8 am this morning. It was Mark on the coal and diesel boat Callisto. Mark had not been able to get to the boaters in the Arm. Hatton bottom lock was being worked on and because the Arm was losing water, due to boaters coming up through Cape Locks, winding and then going back through Cape Locks or mooring up, our water was disappearing, which meant we were on the list a lot. So C&RT closed Cape Locks to stop the water loss and the moorer's complaining to them about no water beneath our base plates. So whilst Mark was late in getting to the Winter moorer's and Residential boaters, he was very welcome to some.

Coal and diesel boats work incredibly hard at this time of the year, supplying to boaters around the country. When we did the coal run on the Leicester Line, we were supplying coal to boats, houses and a pub once every two weeks and our run was from Market Harborough to Crick and back again. We both loved the job we did and the customers we had were fantastic.

Up and about after the morning refreshment and the news, which at the moment is pretty gloomy, so we will not dwell on it. After all the usual stuff, we walked up into the town as I wanted to get a jar of Caramalised Red Onion Chutney. I had only planned to buy one jar, but with a 3 for 2 offer, I came home with three jars scrummy.

I love it with cheese, but it goes well with Turkey, boiled Gammon. I reckon you can have it with pretty much anything. As you can tell as I wax lyrical I am a huge fan of this chutney 👍.

Deep Heat was bought for Keith's neck which is playing up and has given him a headache for over a week now and I got a new waterproof mascara, as I had heard that mascara, like our toothbrushes, should be replaced every three months. How many of us changes these items every three months?

When did you last toss your Mascara in the bin?

It turns out that every time you use your mascara and put the brush back into the tube you are transmitting bacteria into the tube. I will be honest, I do not toss my Mascara every three months, but I do have a friend whose eyes were becoming irritable and she was asked my her GP about when she last changed her Mascara. Thankfully having changed her Mascara and some drops her eyes got better. I guess it is up to the individual.

We did the usual stroll around the charity shops and I picked up these heart decorations for 50 pence for the four. I am a sucker for anything with hearts on it. With nothing else required from a very quiet Warwick, we strolled back home and I made us both a warming coffee. Lunch today was Sardines on toast for a change. Once a week, we like to have something on toast for a change. I spent the afternoon downloading more music for my MP3 player and enjoying a rather loud sing song. I was rather surprised that the boat was not surrounded by hoards of cats, hoping to join the cats choir. When I was a child I belonged to a church choir and would always join the choirs at school for singing events. I do not pretend to be a good singer, I just love singing. I guess to know if I am any good I should tape myself and listen to myself. Ha ha tape myself, blimey that is really ageing me, we have not used tape recorders for donkey's year. I suppose I should have record myself instead. Maybe I will do that, just to see how bad my singing actually is 😉😉😉.

Before I knew it, it was mog and dogs tea time and ours too. It was dark outside and the fire required stoking. They say time flies when you are having fun and it certainly did for me today.