Verdict.

Dear family, friends and followers.

Before I go off on a ramble, I said I would give you my thoughts on Conan the Barbarian which we watched Thursday night. It starred Jason Mamoa from Game of Thrones, Aqua Man et cetera. Now as I said Jason Mamoa is very pleasing on the eye and that still stands in this film. The film from 2011 has a lot of violence and bloody scenes in it, which I am not usually that good with unless they are in context with the film as in this case. Yes some of it was a bit over the top, but on the whole very good. Conan (Jason Mamoa) was left without family and his tribe when they were all killed by warlord Khalar Zym and his tribe. He was after the last piece of the Mask of Acheron which had been broken up and scattered to keep it from causing harm. If Khalar Zym had gotten hold of the last piece of the mask and put it back together he would have the power to rule the world. Conan was seeking revenge for the death of his father and tribe and therefore to stop the mask being found. In all of this Khalar Zym was searching for the pure-blood of Acheron, which would activate the mask for evil. The mask was put back together, but of course Conan saves the pure-blood Tamara and defeats Khalar Zym in the end destroying the mask in the process. It was so much better than the Arnie film and was definitely more believable. I will say I did enjoy it, but could of done with less violence and blood, but that is just me.

This morning we woke to pitter pattering on the back cabin roof. I wish I could say it was birds playing on the roof, but sadly it was yet more rain. The forecast for today is wall to wall rain, which for those stuck in the floods at the moment is not something they need to hear. For us it would mean another day inside the boat, doing little jobs when I want to be outside doing big jobs and getting the boat ready for the off.
Once we had consumed our morning cuppa and watched the morning news, which at the moment is full of the flooding and coronavirus or Covid19 as they are calling it now, which is spreading across the world, we decided it was time to fold the bed away and to get on with the day. I began with putting the feeder out for the birds. There was no sign of Bob the Robin. I reckon he was sheltering out of the rain somewhere. The next thing to be done was getting a laundry wash done. We are lucky to have our laundry room in the Arm. I like to sit and wait for the laundry to finish, it gives me some me time and a time to think and contemplate. I always find things to wash when it gets close to leaving time. I like to get all the big things done in the laundry, because we only have a 3.5 kg washing machine on board. Today I got the towels done and some of the heavier items. This is another consideration when cruising. I tend not to wear jeans when we are out cruising, because to wash them in the machine, they are quite heavy. So I will either hand wash them or wear lighter trousers. This year I acquired a couple of pairs of denim dungarees, which will be to heavy to wash when out cruising, so they will be going into the storage box until we get back. Laundry done and hung up to dry, there was a definite chill in the back cabin, so I decided to relight the stove to keep the damp air away. Living on a boat, it can sometimes feel damp in the air inside the boat and so the lighting of a stove can make all the difference. It does not take long to warm the cabin and we are soon feeling snug again. The bilge nappies got changed, taking any water away which can also cause it to feel damp. I do not use expensive nappies. At the moment I am using Aldi newborn size nappies. Time for a coffee and a catch-up with e-mails and social media and family.
Lunchtime, and it was still pouring with rain. We were waiting for an Amazon delivery. Two cans of Oil were due to arrive between 12.30 and 2.30 pm. This oil is for the engine oil change we will have to do when we are out cruising. We still have the oil for the generator to arrive, that is coming from someone else. During the afternoon, I had hoped to go shopping for further items we need before we head off, but with the lashing rain I decided it was not worth getting soaked for, so that will have to wait for another day.

That another day came today (Saturday). We had a wakeful Friday night. At 4 am Saturday morning we were sat in bed having a cuppa whilst watching the International news and listening to the wind and rain. I had been tossing and turning on and off, but was happily sleeping when I felt Keith get up and open the back cabin doors. I turned on the light to find out what on earth he was doing. Apparently he heard creaking outside. It was the boat creaking on the mooring in the wind. So now we were both awake and the only thing for it was to have a cuppa. We did settle back down under the duvet and woke at 7.30 am and another cuppa was enjoyed.
Plan for the morning was for Keith to walk to the post office sorting office to pick up his parcel and for me to walk down to Torry's our local DIY shop, where you can buy a nail, screw of something bigger. It is a brilliant little store. We had ordered some stove blacking. I set off after Keith had left and made it to the racecourse, when the rain began to fall slowly to begin with, but then it got heavier and was accompanied by strong gusts of wind. Before I made it to Torry's I was soaked. As I walked through the door of the shop my glasses steamed up so I could not see a flippen thing. I asked about the stove blacking and was given a tiny 100ml can of the paint, which was nowhere near big enough, so I decided to leave it. I did however come away with some black sealant, which I could not get in leamington-Spa, so it was not a completely waited trip. I then walked up into town and down to Sainsbury's to pick up a few items we wanted before we head off up the cut. These are things we cannot get in Aldi, such as shredless Marmalade, because I do not like the peel in the ordinary Marmalade. By the time I got back to the boat, I felt a bit like a drowned rat, but it was lovely and toasty in the boat, which meant it did not take me long to dry out. Keith had come back with his parcel wet through, so we looked a right pair.
Having cooked and enjoyed lunch. I baked some Lemon Drizzle Muffins for tea and got the washing up done. The rest of my day will be spent watching afternoon movies and waiting to see what Storm Jorge will do.

Pop back soon xxx