My perfect Sunday.

Hi Friends.

It has been a Sunday of doing exactly what I like. But before that could begin, I had the usual chores, of sorting out both the fires, walking the dog and then feeding the animals. Keith cooked us both breakfast which was very nice. He always does the cooked breakfast, as I do all the other cooking. The day began rather drab and cold, but this was not going to stop me going out with my tripod and camera. Unfortunately I had no luck with capturing any bird or wildlife, as the walkers and gongoozlers were gathering, so I went back to the boat and made a coffee instead. By the time I had prepared lunch and eaten it, the sun had put in an appearance, so I was keen to go out again with my camera, but this time I was going to my favourite quiet place. Not telling you where, otherwise everyone will want to go there 0;).

Whilst I went off with my tripod and camera, Keith was left to clear the prop of the rubbish we collected on Friday. No wonder the old girl was a little sluggish. I however was setting up my camera and waiting for the birds to come to me and I was not disappointed. The usual suspects of Blue Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Great Tits were in abundance, but then a small surprise put in an apperance.

Whilst this is not perfect, I was very excited to photograph a Goldcrest. It is the UK's smallest bird at 3 1/2" and has a lovely song zi-zi-zi-zi. It is officially smaller then the Wren which can be as big as 4". It looks like it was just about to take off.
I love photographing wildlife, so was pleased to get a photograph of a Redwing. Usually they fly off before I get set up.

Catkins announcing Spring is almost here.

The Gorse is beginning to flower. Gorse is closely related to the brooms.

Sleepy ducks dreaming the day away.

My afternoon was well spent as far as I was concerned. My day was made by getting the Goldcrest. That's another little bird to add to my photograph collection.

Back onboard the boat and in the warm, because as the sun is setting the temperature is dropping brrrrr. We have the last of the Lamb Shank casserole tonight. Tonight's TV will be "Dancing on Ice" and then we will see what else there is to watch. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.

Chat soon xx

Just another Saturday.

Hi Friends.

Well it is Saturday afternoon, the weather is dismal and all is quiet on the wstern front.
My day started at 5.30am. Keith climbed over me to visit the smallest room on the boat, which woke me. Paddy reckoned it was his chance to creep on to the bed for five minutes, so he curled up at the bottom of the bed, before I turfed him off. Keith made us both a brew, before we both managed to settle back down beneath the duvet. The next sound I heard was a gobby duck quacking her head off near the boat, something had clearly ruffled her feathers. A Woodpecker was hammering away at a tree close by and Mr/Mrs Robin was singing a merry tune. It was time to get up to start the days chores. Breakfast was toast and shredless Marmalade, I then started cleaning our both the fires ash pans, which always sends a plume of dust into the air. With both the stoves stoked up, Paddy was next on my list of things to sort out. He waited patiently in his bed until I got my coat on. As we stepped off of the boat, it was clear we had, had a heavy frost, as the ground was white and crisp. Paddy and I walked up the towpath and out into the field. It was then he got to have a run out.
Back on the boat I added more Potatoes and veg to the Lamb Shank Casserole we had for dinner last night, it will do another dinner with some Dumplings and for pudding we will have Orange Jelly with Mandarins, which I made and Keith added the Mandarin's. With little else to do as Keith was playing on my laptop, I made some fruit muffins, no sooner I put them in the oven my phone rang, one of my regular customers wanted to come and collect some coal, so I left Keith in charge of the oven whilst I was gone. Keith helped me load the coal on to the sack barrow, I then legged it down the towpath to the Foxton Locks car park to await my customer, by the time I got back to the boat Keith had removed the muffins from the oven, they were done nicely.
As the afternoon has worn on, the weather has taken a turn for the worst, it is now very overcast with drizzle, so there is no hope of taking photographs today, maybe I will have better luck tomorrow.
Over the Winter we have heard of four people leaving the waterways to live back on the dry land and today I met another one who is giving up his boat. He is leaving the water to join the army. He has decided that he needs some structure in his life and wants the chance to travel the world. He has been a customer on and off over the past couple of years as he has travelled the sustem, so it will be sad to see him go, but I am sure he will have a wonderful life in the army. I told him to keep his head down and stay safe.
With the weather being so naff, it is just as well there are plenty of flims on the box to watch, so I am off now to see what the channels have to offer.

Chat soon xx

Do you agree???

Morning friends.

A dear friend posted this on his Facebook page, so I just had to share it with my blogging friends. I cannot possibly agree with any of the statements because i am of course a woman, but I would be interested to know if anyone agrees with them?????

(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they areright and you need to shut up.

(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.

(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.

(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!

(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)

(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.

(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true,unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome' . That will bring on a 'whatever').

(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying F-- YOU!

(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement,meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself.. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to # 3.*

Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology.* Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, cause they know it's true!!!

Run down the flight.

Hi Friends.

I was left up a lone again last night as Keith went off to bed with his persisting cold. Thankfully he woke up this morning feeling much better.

A much brighter start to the morning, so we had a very pleasant run down through Foxton locks. We got chatting to a couple of gentlemen who were interested in how the locks work, because they were about to come up the flight on a hire boat and were worried about doing it all wrong. I explained how the locks work and that they must remember to work the red paddles first, then the White paddles. I told them if they were at all concerned then to ask the lock keeper for help. Gerald was on hand to give them any help. We got down the flight in 45 minutes to find moorings at the bottom of the locks still being taken up by boats which have been there for a number of weeks, which is very disappointing especially as the moorings are only for 48 hours. With one coal deliver at the bottom of the locks to make, Keith steered the boat into the arm of the incline plane and I delivered coal to one of our loyal customers. We moored up the Harborough Arm just after the swing footbridge, where we will be for the weekend. I suggested we had a coffee at bridge 61 for a change, so we locked the boat up and walked back down the towpath to the pub. It was all very quiet in the bar, so we sat reading the local newspaper. Back on the boat I was preparing lunch when the sun came out and stayed out all afternoon. After lunch Keith and I took Paddy off across the field, so we could collect wood for the back stove. Paddy decided he is a terrier, he started digging down a rabbit hole with no thought about how he was going to get out!! Stupid dog. Thankfully Keith noticed he was disappearing down the hole so got him out. He has taken a keen interest in Rabbits lately, but I know full well he would not have a clue what to do with one if it jumped out in front of him ;0).

As the afternoon has worn on, I went out with my camera to try and take some photographs of the bird life, along the canal. The only luck I had was with this dear little Wren.

I am going to go out with the camera over the weekend if the weather holds, so will hope to take more photographs. Dinner tonight is going to be a Lamb Shank Casserole, possibly with Dumplings. I left the Lamb Shank stewing in the back cabin over overnight, so the meat just fell off of the bone when I stripped the bone for the casserole. I have added Onion, Leek, Carrots, Potatoes and some left over Cabbage to the pot and it is now cooking through in the back cabin stove, ready for tonights dinner. The smell is something out of this world.

Right I am off to check dinner. Chat soon xx

Welford to Foxton Top Lock.

Hi Friends.

I often post photographs of Marmite, showing that she has the life of a pampered moggy, well today it is Paddy's turn. Here is is lounging in the back cabin on Marmite's blanket. He too leads a charmed life.

The day begun with a very chilly start. Keith was feeling a little better, so we were going to move off, but before we could even contemplate moving, I had to go and knock on a boat moored in the winding point to ask the owner if they would like to move into our mooring, because we needed to wind and with them there we had no chance. Thankfully they were happy to move, so we fired the engine up and reversed out of the mooring. We pulled on to the waterpoint mooring and the other boat slid into our mooring, giving us space to wind. We filled up with water and emptied the toilet cassette, and got to have a natter to a couple of fellow boaters and supplied coal to a new customer. In all we would sell 15 bags of coal along the way.
Keith winded the boat and we set off down through Welford Lock and on to the junction. As we headed towards Husband's Bosworth tunnel a British Waterway's boat was being hauled by men along the canal with Mike using a pole to keep the boat on the straight and narrow. Apparently they had run out of diesel. If we had been going in their direction we would have given them a tow, but as were were not we just waved them goodbye and set off into the tunnel. I was lucky enough to get this rather cute photograph of a Kingfisher, who was flying in front of the boat after Husbands Bosworth Tunnel. It seemed quite happy to sit there and have its photograph taken.

We got to bridge 57 and stopped to supply Six bags of coal to a regular customer, who is off on to the Thames for the Summer. We had a lovely chat with them before heading off to the top of Foxton Locks, which is where our journey for the day ended. We moored up and I made us some warming Cheese on Toast for lunch, which was rather late in the day, 2pm to be precise. With an excellent TV and internet signal, I can get a few jobs done online, one being a food shop for next week.

It was a very raw day weatherwise, but we are now nice and cosy inside the boat.

Chat soon xx.

What am I running from????

Hi Friends.

It is Tuesday evening 8.00pm and I am sitting here alone, as Keith has gone to bed with his cold. Mine seems to be improving little by little, not only that someone has to carryon regardless ;0).
We decided not to move today, as we both wanted to get our colds under control, not only that we are in no major hurry to be at our next port of call. The day has been very quiet, so it gave me a chance to catch up on e-mails, my business accounts and odd and ends. In my e-mails I got a message from a blogger, who felt the need to mail me rather than leave me a message on my blog, so I thought I would write a post on what she asked me.

In the e-mail I was asked "What are you running from?".
Is moving on to the canal away of escaping from something or someone?
Both of these were very good questions in their own right. I have replied to her e-mail to find out what she means. But it got me thinking and therefore this is my answer and some of the reply to her questions.

What am I running from???
I am not running away from anything, if anything I have run towards something, because this life was offered to me when I met Keith back in 2000. Keith had always had the dream of returning to the canal and having his own working boat. So when we got together, I either had to embrace his dream, or we would not continue with our friendship and then relationship, which I felt was fair enough. Keith hired a boat for a week to show me what I was I going to be letting myself in for. I was hooked, even though my first day was spent working 27 locks in the pouring rain. I loved every single moment of it and would not have changed a thing. I wanted the lifestyle and all it had to offer. At no point did I think I was running away from anything. I have run towards a lifestyle which suits me down to the ground.

Is moving on to the canal away of escaping something or someone?
I guess you could say I have escaped something and that is the rat race. But I feel this is where I belong. So in away it is a form of escapism, because I no longer have to follow others as they strive to survive in the modern world. I chose the life I lead, because I love being close to nature. I want a new view everyday and feel the wind on my face on a cold and crispy day. I love to feel the rain on my face as well. I know I am odd ha ha ha. But this is the life Keith and I have chosen and we have no regrets. I really do not need the trappings of a busy life with a house, a car etc, etc, etc. For me I feel these trappings take my freedom and sense of worth away. If I want to be a lone on the canal, I can be. Likewise if I want company that is very easy to find as well. Keith and I are so fortunate to have many friends on the canal. We probably have many more canal friends who brighten our lives, whereas our friends list on dry land was very limited.
The life Keith, I and many others lead is not of course for everyone, and you do still have to follow rules and regulations like in other walks of life. Our life is full of new adventures everyday.
I hope this answered my readers questions, and I hope that she will reply to my e-mail.

If you have any questions about my life on the canal, please feel free to ask them and I will do my best to reply to them honestly.

Mountain Barn to Welford Wharf.

Hi Friends.

It was another cold start to the day after a chilly old night. I have reached the coughing stage of my cold, and Keith has just come down the the sore throat, so looks like he has the dreaded lurgy now.
Neither of us was up until after 7.30am. First job of the day was to get dressed and then put the kettle on for a cuppa. I made us some Porridge for breakfast, which was needed on this chilly morning. Paddy then got a run out across the fields, which not only cleared the cobwebs out of his head, but it also cleared my sinuses. I could near a Buzzard somewhere close by, but could not see it until I stood on Mountain Barn Bridge. It was flying over the wood, so I wonder if it has begun nesting there?
Back on board, I made up both the stoves and emptied the ash pans. Copper Kettle was then filled and put on the back cabin stove, so that we could have Coffee on the move. As we moved off of our over night mooring, Keith steered the boat and I got on with preparing tonight's dinner of Pork Loin Chops in Gravy with Apple sauce. After the chops were browned in the pan I put them in an oven dish and covered them in gravy. They are still slow cooking in the back stove and the smell is mmmmmmmm.
I did not have any takers for coal along the way, so I got to enjoy the views and a nice hot Coffee. We turned into the Welford Junction and cruised the One and half miles to the wharf. Because there was a boat on the water point and another moored in the way, we were unable to wind the boat, but we were fortunate to find a spot empty on the wharf moorings. NB Warwick had been in the mooring, but was filling up with water on the water point, so we pulled into their mooring and moored up. We got chatting to NB Warwicks crew before they left for their days cruising. I then delivered coal to one of our regular customers. Another gentleman came and knocked on the boat asking for a couple of bags of coal. Regular customers are so important to me, they are what keeps me doing the job I do. The gentleman asked Keith for the coal and Keith told him "My wife is the coal merchant", he then went to pay Keith for the coal, Keith told him it is my wife's business, I just steer the boat. I think that some people find it strange that I am the one who runs the coal business. Keith steers the boat and helps with deliveries if needed, but I do everything else to make the business work and I love every minute of it.
As the day has worn on, I delivered coal to a regular customer in the marina and got to catch up on all the news. The towpath telegraph is a wonderful thing, it works much better than news papers or telephones.
Some good news today was that Bruce on NB Boston is back home on his boat after being poorly in hospital. I am hoping to see him before we leave for Foxton.
The TV channel situation is not brilliant here, we have channels Two, Four and Five, so we may need to watch a DVD later if all else fails.
Paddy and Marmite are both horizontal at the moment. They certainly have a charmed life.
I now have to think about what we are going to have with our Pork tonight. I have boat jobs to do, but finding the enthusiasium to do them is not going to be easy, maybe they will have to wait until tomorrow or even the weekend.

Chat soon xx.

Crick to Mountain Barn Br 27.

Hi Friends.

We are now moored at Mountain Barn bridge 27 after a short hop, skip and a jump. The chill in the wind made it a cold run, but we are now toastie warm inside the boat, with both fires stoked up.
The morning began early with a Robin singing a merry little tune outside. He was then followed by a Wren, who was trying to sing louder and longer it seemed. Before we knew it the bird song was filling the dull morning air. I got up and made us both a coffee, and returned back to bed to enjoy it under the duvet (The coffee that is).
The temperature over night dropped to -0.6c, so it was a chilly start as we set off from our weekend mooring. First port of call was the sanitary station to empty the toilet cassette and to get rid of rubbish. Jo and John on NB Acen were moored opposite and John gave us a cheery hello and a wave as we set off towards the tunnel. Just as we approached Crick Tunnel, we were hailed down for two bags of Taybrite, which I delivered on the way back. When we are going through tunnels, if I am not at the tiller, I usually potter around in the cabin. The kettle is usually on the stove boiling ready for the next cuppa.
Due to the cold start to Monday, there was nothing else moving until we reached Yelvertoft, where NB Euphoria was just leaving their Winter mooring. They are off to do the Leeds and Liverpool, so we wished them a safe journey and hope to see them sometime throughout the year.
Having arrived at the Mountain Barn mooring, we tied up and closed the boat up against the weather, which has gotten worse, it is now raining and there is a breeze blowing. Paddy has been running up and down the boat like a loony because their is a gas gun going off in the field close by. Gas guns are used by farmers to scare the pigeons off of their crops.
What ever happened to the good old scarecrow?
Paddy does not like loud bangs, so this is driving him nuts, but he must learn to live with it. Marmite is fast asleep in the engine room on her bed which has a lovely view out of the engine room porthole. She has a nice view of the birds.
As the afternoon is wearing on, my mind must drift towards thinking about tonights dinner. I have Apple Crumble for pudding, but not sure what to have for dinner. I guess I will have to do a raid on the cupboard to see what delights are hidden.
Tomorrow we are heading for Welford, so I will post more then if we have a signal.

Chat soon xx