Getting cloned.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Well what a day weather wise. It has been more like October than August, but that is the joys of the British weather, because we never really know what we are going to get. That is what makes the UK weather so interesting and I personally would not change it for the world.

This past few days have been pretty uneventful. I had to go for an appointment with the practice nurse about my HRT. I got my weight checked, that has gone down which is a good thing. I have been cutting down on portions sizes and I am not eating crisps, chocolate or sweets as much either. My BP was nice and low, mind you it has never been high, so I am doing just fine. Over the past months I have been thinking about coming off of my HRT. My first attempt was a total failure all because my male GP told me to just stop taking it. Now whilst this may well have worked for some women, it did not work for me. I went into meltdown, with the Menopause smashing down on me like a tonne of bricks. Because of hormone overdrive, I was immediately put back onto my HRT, which I was so thankful for, but now I feel I want to try again, but this time with the help of the female nurse practitioner, I am going to do it slowly. So Saturday was the first day I did not take my HRT and I will do the next couple of Saturdays, before adding another day and then another. You get the picture until I am off it and then we will see what happens. I have been Menopausal now for Ten years and so I am hopeful that I am possibly through the otherside. I have only taken the HRT for Three years though, so it has not been long. Now if this attempt to come off fails, I will go back onto the HRT and stay on it for a while longer. I know you are probably thinking, why bother coming off of it?
Well I am not one for taking tablets or medication unless I absolutely have too, so for me this is the right time.
The rest of my weekend was spent watching the Athletics World Championships and films. I decided to take it easy. I still think of Sunday as a day of rest, unless I have to be busy.
Monday and the weather was not helping me get my paintwork done, so I caught up with some tidying of the boat. I grouted around the flue of the chimney in the saloon ready for the Autumn and Winter fires, which are creeping in on us all.
After lunch I went online and had a message from someone telling me I had been used on Instagram. Apparently my facebook photograph and name had been used on Instagram to publicise a naked lady page. I was not only upset I was also furious. How dare someone do this not just to me but anyone else. Immediately I asked people on my Facebook who use Instagram to check their profiles for my name and if I was on it, then they should block and report it. I do not have an Instagram account, as I do not have a smartphone, so I have no idea how this happened. Anyway I found a way of contacting Instagram and asked them to take the profile down.
This morning I was told that the account had been taken down because of its content, which I am so pleased about.What makes people want to do this to others. The content of this page was not at all nice and I found it offensive that my name should be associated with it. I am hoping this is the end of it now. It did make me think though about the pages I do use and how secure they are though. I think we all must be aware that there are some not so nice people out there.

I do not get much time to read other boaters blogs, but when I do, I tend to binge read. One of my favourite blogs is that of our good friend Jaqueline on NB Valerie. She has been through so much this past few years and having been left on her own after the death of her husband and our friend Les, Jaqueline is cruising the canals as a single hander. She is an amazing lady and writes in such a beautiful way, so if you get the chance and the time do read her posts.

So here we are into August and you just know that the shops will soon be putting the Christmas fare on their shelves and trees in their windows. In away I am in Christmas mode, because I have just started making my cards for Christmas. I wanted to make a range of Winter cards for the Heritage Weekend event in September and so I need to start them now. I will not post the photographs yet, as I would hate for you to be thinking Oh My Goodness she has joined the Christmas band wagon. It will not be long before we are lighting our fires and hunkering down on the cold nights.
Where has this year gone?

Bye for now x

The Mischief Elf.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Have you ever noticed, that you plan things for the day and then nothing ever goes according to that plan?
Well I am putting it down to the mischief elf. On a regular basis I make plans for the day and I can pretty much guarantee that the plan never happens. Take to day.
We were awake at 7 am, so as per usual I got up and made us both a cup of tea. I fancied tea rather than coffee this morning. I allow myself one cup of tea a day due to to my Nickel allergy. Tea is the biggest offender for having Nickel in it, so I have to make sure I do not over dose on Nickel each day, otherwise I become poorly. This is a long and painful story, which I will not bore you with right now. Back to the start of my Wednesday. We sat in bed drinking tea, whilst listening to Trisha Dodo on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. Marmite decided that having slept on my feet for most of the night, she was not done with me yet, so she plonked herself down on my lap, curled up into a ball and immediately began dreaming. I knew she was dreaming because she was growling in her sleep and her paws were twitching. I wonder what cats dream about?
8 am it was time to fold away the bed and get on with my jobs list for the morning. Before I could even pull the bottom sheet up, Marmite had pounced on the corner of the sheet, she felt like this was a threat and needed to be attacked along with my hand. Sheet wars seems to happen regularly for a few weeks, she then goes off of it, probably because it is hard work. So we had sheet wars and then I was allowed to put the bed away, whilst she had a morning cuddle with Keith. There was a time when she hated being cuddled by Keith, but she has clearly mellowed and realises it is actually nice.
On with the morning list.

1. Take dog for his walk.
This morning we took a different route which completely befuddled Paddy, because he gets so used to his routes, so when I change it he looks at me as if I am completely crazy. He does enjoy a new route though, because of all the new smells, which of course he has to smell and then pee on. Paddy does make me giggle, because he has to pee and walk at the same time these days. I think it must be an age thing. I am thankful that this does not happen with men, well not as far as I know and no I am not talking about my other half.

2. Fed mog and dog. I put mog first because she hates to be second best when it comes to being fed. She has been known to pince Paddy's food if I keep her waiting. Paddy on the other hand will just sit and wait. At the moment he is eating pretty well again, which is a joy and so we have stopped worrying about him.

3. On my list today was going to be Saltie Day Boat polishing day. Yes I have said I will give Salties paintwork a much needed polish. There was a slight problem with this idea though and that was the weather forecast. It was not favourable. But I am not one to be put off, so at 9 am I gathered my rags and polish and headed off to polish Saltie. I did the bow, which showed a marked improvement in the shine on the paintwork. I had just started on starboard side and the weather thought it would throw a spanner into the works, because it began to drizzle. You know the little stuff, that gets you very wet. So I had to down tools and go back home, feeling ever so slightly miffed that it was only 9.30 am and my plans for the day were already turned upside down. There was only one thing for it and that was to make a cuppa and wait and see. Coffee in hand the rain stopped and I got back to the polishing of one side of the boat up until lunchtime, when I had to of course cook lunch. It was very exciting we had beans on toast, with fruit and yogurt for pudding. After lunch I finished off polishing the starboard side and was rather pleased with the outcome. Another job off my list.

4. With the polishing done, I was in the mood to do some weeding in our garden, so sorted that out, then strimmed the edges of the lawn behind our garden. I then trimmed our hedge and made it look nice and tidy. I do like a tidy garden.

That was it on my list for the day, so now I am sat typing this update and thinking what shall I do tomorrow?
The rest of today will be spent watching the TV as we have the news and DIY SOS on later and if I am still awake, I may see a movie on film4.

Pop back tomorrow xx

Another Job For Women

Beauty And The Barge (1945)

An odd kind of day.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Have you ever had a day when you think. What the heck happened there?
That was my day yesterday.

We were up at 8 am and the usual stuff happened, walking the dog and boat chores for me. Keith decided to nip off to Royal Leamington-Spa for me as Marmite needed cat food and cat litter. So whilst he went off, I hoovered the saloon and galley, washed floors and tidied. I had just sat down with a coffee, when I heard a voice shouting my name. It was a neighbour asking if I could help him rescue a caterpillar (yes I said a caterpillar).

The Eyed Hawk Moth caterpillar was on his fence rail and he wanted to move it to somewhere safer, but everytime he tried to move it with a £20 note it lashed out in attack mode, which meant he was then scared of it. I asked "Would you mind if I borrowed your £20 note", which he duly handed over. I slide the note under the caterpillar, who was less than impressed at my help. I lifted it up and put it into the plant container which the Willow tree was in. The day before another of the caterpillars had been seen by me burrowing into the pot, so I thought that if I put this caterpillar in the same pot, he would do the same thing, because this is what they do. Having put the caterpillar into the pot, at speed it went round and round the pot a couple of times, before settling on a spot to begin burrowing. It was an incredible thing to watch, but my neighbour was very pleased that we had saved the caterpillar from being eaten by the birds. One life saved I went back to my coffee and e-mails, only to five minutes down the line to be hailed again from outside. It was yet another neighbour requiring my help. This time it was to lift work bench and move it to another location on his pontoon. Phew I was already exhausted and it was only 10 am.
Keith arrived back at the boat around 10.30 am with cat food and cat litter, only to tell me he had chest pains. I stashed away the cat items and he rang our GP, to be told by the receptionist that he needed to ring an ambulance. He dialled 999 and spoke to the person on the other end of the line, who asked him all sorts of questions and decided that she did not think it was life threatening, but would send an ambulance out anyway. Some 5 minutes later a Paramedic car arrived, with a lovely young lady driving. I met her in the car park and helped her with her bags of equipment. Blimey it amazes me that they do not suffer with extended arms and back issues, because it was quite a weight to lump around. Having gotten her into the boat, she began to ask Keith questions, she did an ECG and other tests and also decided she did not think it was life threatening, but because the pain was getting worse and it had extended through to his back, she thought she should take him down to the hospital. So whilst she settled Keith into the car, I closed the boat up and joined them for a trip to A&E. We arrived there at 11.30 am and Keith was immediately seen. Another ECG was done and blood tests. We then had the wait for the blood test results. Eventually the results came back and there was something not right with the heart test, so they wanted to redo it. More blood taken and another wait. The ECG came back ok, which was good news. As we waited more and more people were arriving and it seemed that chest pain in the men was top of the list of problems for the day. Because we only needed to wait for the results, we were moved to Ambulatory Care on Guy Ward, where others were sitting waiting for results. Keith was then seen and examined by a junior doctor and asked yet more questions. I enquired if Keith could possibly have a drink, as neither of us had had anything all day. The junior doctor very kindly made us both a cup of tea. It got to 6 pm and I thought I needed to let paddy out, so walked back to the boat, sorted Paddy and Marmite, got a quick drink and then walked back to Guy Ward, where keith was sat waiting still. He had been for an X-ray though and the consultant had seen him. In the bay there were six people waiting and four of them were waiting on results due to chest pain and they were all men. 8.10 pm we finally were allowed to leave, after the blood test came back normal. So we were no further forward to knowing what was causing his chest pain, but thankfully it had eased a bit.
Once we got back to the boat, we had our first meal of the day and to say we were famished was an understatement. We both went to bed at 10 pm shattered. I always find sitting in a hospital tiring and yet I have no idea why.

This morning we woke up at 6am to the fact that it was the 1st of August and I had an appointment with the practice nurse at 7.30 am. It was my appointment for my HRT and a discussion on whether I can begin to come off of it. I have been Menopausal for Ten years now and on HRT for at least Three years. Last year my GP told me to just stop taking it, but this had a dreadful effect on me, bring on all the Menopausal symptoms in one go, hence the fact I was immediately put back on my tablets. I am ready to give it a try again, but this time I am going to do it at a more sedate pace. For the first month, I will stop one tablet a week, for the second month two tablets a week and carry on until I am down to one a week and then stop. So wish me luck. BP was low and weight was down, so all is good in my world right now. I am not one for taking pills and as I am paying for my prescriptions, I could save £8.60 a time, so that is a bonus. I am still on my Omeprazole though and I will be long term. I have booked my Well Woman check-up, so will find out what my Cholesterol is doing. If these things are offered, then why not take them?
Having returned to the boat from the medical centre, I had my breakfast and then set off into town to pick up my pills. I had a quick walk around the town charity shops, I nipped into Holland and Barrett to talk about good Cholesterol and what were the best foods to eat. Whilst in there a woman was standing outside with a greyhound. As I went to leave the shop, she asked "Would you hold my dog for me, so I can go in and shop". I of course said that I would be only to happy to happy to look after her dog, whilst she went in and did her shopping. The woman explained to me that her dog was very nervous and was not good with people, but I assured her she would be fine with me. I took control of the greyhound for a couple of minutes, then the shop assistant said that he would take over, so i could be on my way. My good deed for the day done.
By the time I got back to the boat, I was well and truly ready for a coffee. It was only 10 am, but i felt like I had done a days work already.

I wonder what the rest of the day will have in store for me?

Pop back soon x

Jack of all trades.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

Remember my last post about our cracked tiles in the bathroom. We have progress. They say when living on a boat, you need to be a jack of all trades and a master of none, and I think I am beginning to believe I am that jack. The diamond tile cutter arrived and there was nothing for it, but to get on with the job in hand. Now when you do any job on a boat, you have to remember it will probably take twice as long, so we began the process of cutting the tiles in the morning, thinking it would probably require a couple of attempts due to cracked or broken tiles. So you can imagine how amazed we were when having measured everything to within an inch of its life, Keith managed to put the tile first time, and no cracks or breaks. It was a miracle.
Next job was to take the toilet out, which was screwed to the floor. We have had the toilet out before, but this time the screws seemed determined to hold fast. With lots of huffing and puffing, they finally relented, but it was clear they would not be going back after the tiling was done. So Keith nipped down to Torry's our local hardwear store to buy new screws and whilst he was gone, I got on with cleaning the toilet and then getting all the sealant off from around the shower and toilet area. By the time Keith got back, I had done the job and was ready to begin the next step.
We needed to make sure we got the holes for the toilet to be screwed back down in the right place on the new tiles. So my suggestion was, put down a piece of paper down and mark the holes in the paper, then transfer the paper to the new tiles, mark the holes and drill them ( I do come up with good ideas sometimes). This was the process we went through and low and behold it actually worked. With the new tiles sitting in place, we put the toilet on top and again made sure everything lined up. yes it was a slow process, but it was much better to get it right the first time.
Next step was to smother the old tiles with tile adhesive and put the new tiles in place, with match sticks as dividers. It all went incredibly well.

New tiles in place, the adhesive was left to dry. According to the plastic container, the adhesive required at least 24 hours to dry. I know your think, what are they doing for a toilet? We have set it up in the hold for the time being.
This morning with the adhesive pretty much solid, I got on with grouting in the tiles, which will again take time to dry. If all goes well I will be able to seal everything in a couple of days.

Whilst all of this work has been taking place, I have also been doing all the other boat chores, walking the dog, cooking, cleaning and pottering in the garden. The one job I have not done yet and that is to get on with some painting. Since we returned from dry dock, the weather has not been playing ball, so I sit with paint brush ready to get on with the paintwork, which requires attention before the Winter. This morning I did a laundry load and hung it out, but it soon became clear we were in for some of the wet stuff, so I decided to hang the washing in the engine room just in case. Sods law the sun then came out. To late I thought I would leave the washing hung in the engine room.
Because our boat is still all over the place, what with the generator and now the bathroom repairs, our hold is a right state and although I want to do work in there as well, I cannot really do anything until inside the boat is straight. Hopefully this will happen this coming week.

A definite change.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

There was I planning ahead whilst in dry dock. I had lots of painting of the boat planned out, but it seems the weather has had other ideas, and so since we have been home on our mooring the weather has definitely been changeable, so no painting has yet taken place. The weather forecast is for this weather to continue over the coming weekend as well. On the plus side, it has meant I have done very little, which has given me a chance to get my energy levels back up.
Having been home for a few days, I discovered a worrying problem in our bathroom. We have floor tiles under our toilet and whilst we knew we had one crack in the tiles. It appears we had three more since being in dry dock. The first crack was our fault. We changed our radiator a couple of years ago, and Keith dropped the new radiator. I have managed to seal the crack and it has not caused us any issues. But the new cracks are a bigger concern, so much so that on Sunday we bought new tiles from Homebase for the floor. At the moment we are waiting for a cutter to arrive to cut the tiles, so I have sealed the cracks, so we are able to still use our shower. We are pretty sure these cracks were caused by us being in dry dock, because we noticed we were having problems closing the bathroom door, but at the time we could not figure out why. Since being back in the water the door closes just fine. Our think now is that the sleepers in the dry dock, which we were sitting on are not level and there for our boat was twisting, this would account for the door not closing and for the cracked tiles. Thankfully it looks like the wall tiles in the bathroom, galley and around the stove are fine, but I have yet to inspect them with a magnifying glass.
The buying of the floor tiles was a story in itself. We walked down to Homebase from the Arm, which is well over a mile. We found the tiles we wanted and asked an assistant if we could have two of them, only to be told we had to buy a whole pack of five. When we explained to him that we only needed two and why, he did go and ask the manager if we could buy just the two tiles. The only way this would happen was if there was already a broken tile in the pack, or the packs packaging was torn. Unfortunately for us, neither was the case and so we had to buy the pack of five. I did suggest having the extra tiles maybe handy, in case one should get broken whilst cutting them and we did get them at a discounted price. Our next hurdle was how to carry them home, because they were bloomin heavy and the box long. We decided to take it in turns to carry the tiles. Then Keith thought about catching the bus, but on a Sunday they are every hour and sods law we had literally just miss a bus. Rather than waiting, we carried the tiles so far home, until we saw a woman sitting at a bus stop, so we figured the buss must be coming soon. Keith took the tiles and waited for the bus and I carried on walking home. The reason why Keith took the bus and I did not was because he has his bus pass. It turned out that his bus met me outside the Arm at the same time, so we arrived home together. At present the tiles are waiting to be cut and fitted.
I have such a lot I could be getting on with, but really do not have the energy or the where with all to bother. I have done the laundry, hoovering and general tidying etcetera, but that is my lot.
This morning I sat and finished the latest book I have been reading. 'Secret Lives' by Diane Chamberlain was given to me by a boating friend. I had read 'Necessary Lies' by her, which was brilliant and I have also enjoyed 'Secret Lies'. I am not going back to Annie Murray. I have read most of her books in the past. The one I have now is 'Now the War is Over'. I am hoping it is up to her normal high standard.

Bye for now x

Kineton Freedom Parade.

Hello Dear Friends and Followers.

My aim for this weekend is to do as little as possible, after the exertion of the past few days. So this morning having walked the dog, done breakfast and tidied a little, I thought I would walk up into Warwick to watch and photograph the Kineton Freedom Parade. The men and women of Defence Munition (DM) Kineton would be marching through Warwick to mark the MOD station’s 75th anniversary. Keith had to go into Royal Leamington-Spa on the bus, so I set off with him, leaving him at the bus stop, I strode off into town to find a good spot on the parades route for taking photographs.

I positioned myself opposite Castle Street and the Oken tearoom.

I got my first photograph a few moments later, after chatting to one of the local policemen, who was on duty for the event. We had a lovely chat about family history and the parade itself. I then got nattering to an elderly lady who had come into Warwick from Birmingham to have her hair done at her favourite hairdressers. We nattered about Birmingham and again family history. It turned out she had grown up around the area of Birmingham my family had come from on my mothers side.

The parade was due to start from Castle Street at around 10.25 am, but it was running a little late, but lots of people were arriving, including councillors, mayor and the Army itself.

The town crier and dignitaries began moving into their positions near the war memorial.

The band then arrived. There is something amazing about seeing a live band up close and personnel.  There were 80 troops with weapons and bayonets fixed and with their colours flying, drums beating and bands playing. It was amazing too see so many people out to watch.

Following on behind were the troops. The Kineton base is a specialist centre for bomb disposal. In all the years it has been in Kineton it has trained thousands of service personnel from around the world in bomb disposal work, which as we know is vital work.

The Women and Men do an incredible job and deserved the freedom of Warwick. Five years ago, the Kineton station was awarded the Freedom of Warwick. This was done so they could mark their anniversary. it gives Warwickshire people and visitors the chance to show their support and appreciation.

Having left Castle Street, they marched along High Street, Swan Street, Market Place, Old Square and Church Street where they took the salute.

It was brilliant to witness and to see so many people taking the time to come out and applaud the army for all the hard work they do.