Washing Machine and Painting.

Hi Friends.

I am not going to start with the weather, because there is no change (oops sorry I mention the word weather). Instead I am going to begin with our washing machine which as you now know is poorly, it was was collected this morning by a very nice man from Appliance Corner (CLICK). Whilst we waited for the man with a van, Geraldine and Michael on NB The Cheese Boat came past us, heading for the basin so once the man with a van came and went we walked down to see if Geraldine and Michael were in, sadly they had gone off shopping. We did however go and see if there was any mail for us and had a natter to everyone at the hire company. With the washing machine gone for at least a few days, we decided to head out into the countryside to await its repair. Having moored up at Gallows Hill, we had some lunch before I changed into my painting clothes and got down to rubbing down the blue paint work ready for its new colour, Keith and I managed to get a first coat of the new blue on the starboard cabinside, which is the last bit that needs painting. Well when I say last, not quite, the cants need painting, but we can't do them until we go into dry dock and have to take the rear fenders off.

With the first coat on the starboard side, and apart from a further 2 coats to go on, and the cants, Hadar is now looking like she should do, and we are so glad we decided to change the blue.

Just before we started to paint we received a phone call about our washing machine, they had found the spider (whatever that is) was corroded and needed replacing. One has been ordered and we await the phone call to say it has been delivered and fitted. The bill for its repair is not going to be cheap.

Having painted the cabin side, there was much discussion about the cants. We have decided not to wait for dry docking to paint the cants, if the weather is fine tomorrow we will start on them and just paint around the fender chains for now.

As we were drawing to a close with the painting Geraldine and Michael on NB The Cheese Boat came past heading for Blisworth. We had a quick chat before they headed off into the distance. We will see them next in October, when we go to the Village At War Weekend at Stoke Bruerne (CLICK).

With the painting done and dusted, it was time to erect the ariel to see if we had a decent signal for tonight's TV. Low and behold we have digital and Film4 so I am now a very happy girl. Dinner this evening is going to be Fish Fingers, Mash Potatoes and Peas, so nothing special. As we are staying put for a couple of days, I hope to get a few jobs done, so keep your fingers crossed for good weather.

Chat soon xx.

Election Fever.................. Bah Humbug

Good evening.

I bet I am not the only one, who is already sick, tired and fed up with the Election. The BBC news decribed it as Election fever. I don't think so some who. This is just day One and I am already fed up with it. 20 minutes of the 6pm news was taken up with the flippin election. Surely there was more important news to cover. We have a whole month of this arghhhhhhhhh. And now it is on the local news. grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I think I may hibernate for the coming month. So this is going to be an Election free blog from now on, because it really is very boring.

My day today started with me as usual walking the mutt. He loves his early morning walk. In fact I could have probably have walked him at 4am, because I was wide awake. Sleeping is a problem at the moment. I blame the Menopause, which disrupts my sleep for at least once week in every month. The night sweats tend to keep me awake, so I end up trying to sleep with no bedding on me. Anyway P was glad of a nice stroll. I then had breakfast, which consisted of toast and a cuppa. The fire was tended to, as it is still a little chilly to let the second fire out, especially with K not feeling 100%. I cleaned the back cabin brass whilst drinking my early morning cuppa and then some welcome guests arrived on the Cheese Boat. Geraldine and Micheal had been at Foxton for the weekend gathering and it appeared they had sold a lot of cheese. Thankfully I had contacted Graham on NB Tia (Ecover Boat) and he asked Geraldine to put some cheese by for me. They duly moored alongside, whilst the sanitary station was occupied. I unloaded some coal for them, whilst they gave K our Cheese order. With the Sanitary station now free, we all moved over there and carried on our conversation about anything and everything. Not only did we come away with Cheese, we also bought some Chutney as well and it is all very yummy. Geraldine and Micheal are staying a couple of days out on the towpath, so we may see them again before they head off to Milton Keynes. I have been selling Toilet Blue quite a bit of late, so I made a phone call to my supplier, because I really don't want to run out. He hopes to deliver next week all being well. Whilst I was in the shopping mood, I did a food shop online at Tesco, which should be with us tomorrow. This shopping online with Tesco has made my life so much easier, since K has been poorly. It means I do not have to trudge backwards and forwards with heavy shopping on my own. But I still like to shop for my bread, meat, fruit and veg. I just like to handle and choose it myself.
My good deeds of the day was to supply a couple with a pump out card. They were desperate to pump out, as there were five of them onboard and the tank was full. Unfortunately the office for the cards was closed and they needed a card. We decided to buy some cards and keep them on the boat, in case this situation should occur. I was only to happy to help them out and they were extremely grateful. My second good deed came a few minutes later, when a couple of teenagers, were looking to use the Sanitary Station toilets and they could not hang on, but did not have a BW key to get in, so I opened the toilets up for them. I am not sure they would have made it down the town to use the publice loo's. Would a third good deed come a long?
Well it is now 7pm and nothing so far. Usually everything comes in three's.
It has been a good day in many ways. I even spoke to the gentleman who had been running his engine till late at night. It seems he was unaware of the byelaw, as it was not his boat, it belongs to someone in the family and he was not told about not running his engine after 8pm. Considering it was running till 11pm last night, I am amazed I managed to keep my temper. So I explained to him that you should not run the engine between 8pm and 8am and he was grateful for the knowledge. As to whether he knew or not, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that was my third good deed. I always like to see the good in people, as I am not a confrontational person generally. But considering I am Menopausal at the moment, he may count himself lucky ha ha ha.
So it is now evening and I am going to chillout until bed time.

I would like to wish my daughter B a Happy 21st Birthday for tomorrow. Happy birthday darling xxxxx