Valentine’s Day.

Hi Friends and followers.

HAPPY  VALENTINE’S DAY. I have never been one to go wild over Valentine’s Day. Keith and I used to buy each other and a small gift, when we first got together, but we then decided that we would not bother. Last year bought me a lovely pair of earrings, I had seen in an Antiques Centre. This year Keith bought me a very pretty charm.

I have not decided whether to put a Silver chain with it or to wear it on my earrings. I took Keith out for lunch. I said “we can go anywhere you like”. His choice of place was Wetherspoon’s. We did both have a lovely meal, Keith had the Singapore Noodles with extra Chicken and I had the Chicken Tikka Masala. Both dishes were as good as always.

I have never been over the top with Valentine’s Day, because like other celebration days, it has been over commercialised. It is written that In the UK, just under half of the population spend money on their Valentines and around £1.3 billion is spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent. Just think of all those tree’s which were chopped down to make the cards?

Another Monday.

Hi Friends and Followers.

Last night (Sunday), we had a late night having been to a pub quiz. When we got home, I made a cup of tea and we sat down and watched ‘Live at the Apollo’. I did not get into bed until 12.30 am, which is incredibly late for me. I am normally in bed by 10 pm.

7 am and I was awake, so there was only one thing for it and that was to make the first brew of the day and watch the BBC 1 News and Weather. As always it was hard to find any good news, but the weather was looking more hopeful for the middle of the week, when we are told the temperature will get back into double figures.

Today was Paddy’s weigh-in day, so after he had been for his first stroll of the day and had his breakfast, we set off to the vet’s. I am sure he knows the route we take, so I took him a different way, that got him confused and it was not until we got close to the surgery, he began pulling on the lead. Paddy loves the vets. His weigh-in revealed he has gone up to 16.1 kg, which I think is the highest he has ever been. Now whilst this was great, we do have to think about keeping it under control, because if he puts on to much weight, it will affect his week back legs. This past couple of weeks he has been playing with his food, so I was told to cut his food back a little for a while to see if he gets back to his normal eating pattern, so we will give that a go.

Back home, I got on with sorting the fires out and Keith was working on things for his railway. Tom and Jan came into the Arm to get Waiouru pumped out. We arranged to have a coffee and a natter in the afternoon. Tom arrived during the afternoon, with the sad news that Jan was not feeling to well, which was a real shame. I think between Tom, Keith and I we managed to put the whole world to right in the space of two hours. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are having fun. All to soon we said cheerio to Tom. Both he and Jan will be heading off tomorrow, so we may not see them again this year. We of course wish them well on their travels and with the future.

Miserable.

Hi friends and followers.

Blimey what a damp and dank Sunday. No sign of the sun and the temperature was cold, so I stoked up the saloon stove and re-lit the back cabin stove, to keep the chill off the cabin. It must have been chilly last night, because Marmite decided to sleep at the bottom of the bed last night. She spent ages going round and round and scratching at the duvet to make her bed. I think she eventually settled, as I fell asleep so have no idea if she stayed on the bed or moved. She was not on the bed when I woke up.

Paddy got his walk and on a Sunday through the Winter I open the site up, so the car park and middle gate needed unlocking. It was raining, so Paddy was not best pleased and was quick to do his business, so he could get home quickly. Marmite was sat on the step in the back cabin screaming for her breakfast, she really hates to wait, whereas Paddy got into his bed and just sat there waiting for his biscuits. I really think Paddy could teach Marmite a bit of patience. With them both fed and breakfast done, I got the coal in for the day, emptied the ash buckets and got rid of the rubbish. Oh joy of joy when I walked into the Elsan shed. Someone had taken the hose off of the tap and left the tap running, so there was water everywhere. Thankfully we have a drain in the floor, so most of the water had gone down the drain, but why do people have to do things like this. They should leave it as they find it. The hosepipe is on the tap for a reason and there is absolutely no reason why it should be taken off. I cleaned up the surface around the Elsan, before leaving. Grrrrr

Lunch today was to be Liver and Onion’s. Once prepared, I put it on the stove to slow cook, the smell was wafting through the boat, which made my tummy rumble. I do love Liver, which is a little odd, because as a child I could not stand it. I am the same with Sprouts. I could not eat them as a child, but I love them now.

The afternoon was spent watching Rugby. Poor Scotland got beaten by France. I felt so sorry for the Scotland players who got battered at time by France, whose pack was a lot heavier than there’s. Greig Laidlaw limped off with an ankle injury and from then on it was down hill, with head injuries to follow.

Our evening entertainment was a pub quiz, which we almost came last in. We were saved by half a point. It is true to say we missed Maria in our team, she had to work.

It snowed.

Hi Friends and followers.

As the title say’s. It snowed, not a lot, but we did wake up to a dusting of the white stuff. If I had my way we would have five feet of the stuff and I would not be able to see over the top of it, unless I stood on my tippy toes, because I am five foot tall. The last time I recall that happening, it would have been in the 1980’s, when where I lived the snow was over the hedgerows and it was like walking and driving through a toboggan run. It was really fabulous. Yes I know it is not for everyone, I appreciate that, but I am just saying I love it. Maybe I should be living in the Artic?

So yes we woke to a dusting and nippy temperatures. It did not get down below zero, but the temperature did not get over 3 c all day and we kept having flurries of snow and sleet. This sort of weather does not stop boat chores having to be done though. So my chores as usual were stoking the fires, getting rid of the ash and rubbish, emptying the toilet cassette and a laundry wash. In this morning’s wash were the Summer cratch ropes. We have two sets of ropes, a Winter set and a Summer set. The Summer set are white, whereas the Winter set is off White. I wanted to get the Summer set washed ready for when we set off in March. White’s all done and drying, I turned my attention to a nice warming coffee and a catch-up on my e-mails. I always giggle at the junk mail. I never open anything that I know nothing about, but I do enjoy the titles and subjects. Today’s treats were for flowers for Valentine’s Day, Erectile dysfunction and PPI. On Social Media, the new Channel Five program Carry On Barging seemed to be top of the discussion list. Many people complaining about the title and the use of Barging, because it is narrow boating and no one is barging anywhere, depending on how you read the word. Anyway once you get past the title. it is about four celebrities Debbie McGee, Simon Callow, Lorraine Chase and Nigel Havers learning the fine art of narrow boating. This week they were on the Kennet and Avon Canal. There was also complaints about them hitting a moored boat and possibly going to fast. I think people have failed to realise that they are like first time hirers. They have to learn the fine art of mastering a boat which can have a mind of its own. Of course hitting someone’s boat is not something anyone should do, but I bet every first time hirer has done it at one time or another. They did not show the response of the boat owner, but I got the impression from listening to Simon Callow, the boater owner was less than impressed, which I can also understand. My reaction would have been to go out and fend them off and explain to them in calm terms the error of their steering. There is little point shouting and screaming and particularly if it includes bad language. Nothing is gained by bad language. It clearly affected Simon’s confidence, because he did not steer the next day.4

After lunch, it was time to get settled in for the long haul. With the weather being so miserable, there was nothing else to do but watch TV.

Rugby Six Nation’s again this weekend. So my afternoon and evening were taken up watching Ireland V Italy and England V Wales. The Ireland game was slow compared to the England V Wales, which was played at quite a pace, with England coming out on top in the end.

The evening’s entertainment on TV was so poor, that we sat and watched ‘The Hunger Games’. We had seen film one several times, but Keith bought me the collection for Christmas, so we decided to sit and watch those until we could not keep our eyes open any longer and our bed called. We watched three out of the four discs and really enjoyed the films.

Nippy days and coffee with friends.

Hi Friends.

After yesterday’s coal stacking escapade, I thought this morning I would be waking up as stiff as a board, but no I was actually quite good, even my ribs and sternum were alright, which was a bonus, because I am hoping to stay off the Amitriptyline.

Nippy day, so both the stoves were lit early doors, to make sure we stay nice and snug. Keith was off to the DIY shop Torry’s to get some paint and brushes for his railway, but before he left, we lifted out the empty gas bottle from the front locker. We will get the gas bottle replaced tomorrow by Ian, who was not in today. For some odd reason I had thought we needed two replacing, but much to my surprise it was only the one, so the bank balance will not be hit to hard, before we head out cruising.

We had a bit of list on this morning, mainly due to us not stacking the coal evenly, but also the water level was down a little, so I moved some coal over the starboard side, to level us up a bit. I dare say I will be moving it back once we are level water wise.

Before I go any further, I want to comment on something that happened yesterday. There was breaking news on the BBC that Tara Palmer-Tomkinson had died at the age of 45 after being diagnosed with a brain tumour last year. That is so incredibly sad, to die so young. What annoyed me was that having said that she is the God-daughter of Prince Charles, the reporter then began to talk about her life, which is fair enough, but I really felt there was absolutely no need to go into her drug addiction. It was totally irrelevant to the fact this poor woman had died. Everyone does something in their life, that later they regret. I just felt it was crass and out of order. Ok rant over for now. May TPT as she was known by rest in peace.

Jan on Tom off of narrowboat Waiouru are out on the towpath outside the Arm and the plan was to go and visit them whilst they are here. At 2pm we closed the boat up and headed off to join them on their lovely boat. It is amazing how quickly three hours goes by, when you are nattering about anything and everything. I think we must have put the world to right in that three hours. Hopefully we will see them again before they head off. I will be making the coffee this time.

The weather forecast for this evening is for a chilly night, with a frost and possible snow flurries. Bring on the snow please, I would love it. –1 c they are saying, so it will be icy in the morning and a cold weekend. I am never cold whilst living on the boat. How can I possibly be cold with two coal stoves? It always fascinates me how the forecaster say it is freezing when in fact it is not really that cold, well not in my opinion.

Busy old day.

Hello Friends.

According to Carol Kirkwood on the BBC1 Weather forecast, the weather is set to get colder over the next few days, so today was the day to make a start on getting our boat ready for setting off on March 1st.

One of the biggest jobs, was to put all the remaining coal on the boat and as far forward as possible to bring the bow down in the water, this will make it easier for me to get on and off the bow with my short legs. At times being short is a wonderful thing, but not when you are trying to climb on the bow when the bank is a little suspect. We had stored some of our coal in the bunker and on a pallet, it amounted to almost a tonne of coal. Keith and I got the coal out of the bunker and whilst I stacked the bags in the hold, Keith handed the coal to me from the pontoon. We work well together, so it did not take us to long.

Whilst doing this the postman came with my card and envelopes for my photographic cards and with the ‘Game of Thrones DVD’s I bought off of Ebay. Like a small child. I was eager to open my DVD’s and check they were in good condition, because you never know when buying from Ebay, even if the seller say’s they are in good condition, what they consider good and what I consider good are to different things. I opened the parcel and checked through season’s 1 and 2 and all was fine. Got to seasons 3 and 4 and there was a disc missing from 4. Oh joy thought I. So onto Ebay I went and left a message for the seller. I said to Keith “I bet they have left it in the DVD player and forgot to check that all the discs were in the cases”. Low and behold sometime later I got a reply to my message, apologising for the missing disc, and yep I was right, it was found in the DVD player. The good news is they are going to send it to me ASAP, so no harm done.

With the coal all stacked and hold tidied, we put everything back in the bunker, it appears we have had visitors of the rat variety. So Keith put a board down on the floor to cover the hole in the floor, I would love to see them get through that. Job done and all washed up, we left the boat and walked into town to buy some batteries and to get Keith’s waterproof jacket dry cleaned and re-waterproofed. The dry cleaner suggested we washed it ourselves and he would then waterproof it for us, because according to the numerous symbols on the label inside the jacket, it cannot be dry cleaned. I looked at the symbols, but apart from the washing machine and temperature one the others were double dutch. So I will wash the jacket and the dry cleaner will waterproof the jacket for us for £3.

As neither Keith or I had, had any breakfast, we decided to have an early lunch in Wetherspoon’s. We both went for the large Vegetarian Breakfast and a mug of tea and to say it went down well is an understatement. Having enjoyed a splendid breakfast come lunch, we walked around the Charity shops, picking up a couple more DVD’s for £2, a light weight jacket for Keith for £3 and a fleece for £4.99. Keith’s old fleece is going to be cut up to make a new mop head for the boat. Nothing gets wasted on our boat, if I can find away of recycling something I will.

Back home, I needed to tend to the saloon stove, which I had forgotten to make up during the morning. I also relit the back cabin stove, because the temperature was most definitely dropping. Some places are possibly getting snow, I wonder if we will have any?

During the afternoon, I looked on Ebay for season’s 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones, they are going for pretty high prices, so I may well wait for a while, or look in the charity shops. But I will get them eventually.

I think Paddy got a little confused, or he just felt like lying under his bed. He does do some funny things. Marmite walked past him and you could see what she was thinking. That dog is losing it big time.

It’s a start.

Hi Friends.

Beautiful start to the day today. The sun was out and all was well in my world.

Morning jobs included laundry, stoking fires, emptying bins, cooking lunch and making coffee several times.

When I sat down for my 10 am coffee, I was checking through my social media and came across this picture, which was posted by a friend.

This is not yet going to be rolled out across the country as far as I know, but in Lincolnshire they are going to tackle to problem of dog poo. I reckon it is one of my biggest pet hates, because if you own a dog you should clean up after it. I have dog poo bags in pretty much every pocket of clothing and I have been known to offer dog owners a bag if they have not got one. I do not use doggie poo bags, I buy the scented nappy bags. You can buy something like 200 bags for £1, so what is the excuse?

I do have issues with this new ruling though. How many patrol officers will there be and can they really police this?

I agree wholeheartedly with owners being made to keep their dogs under control. In my opinion, no dog should be off its lead unless it is in the middle of open ground somewhere and no dog should be running free in a children’s play area. No matter how well you think you know your dog, the slightest thing can make them turn. Our old boy is an angel, but do I trust him? No

I hope other councils watch and learn and maybe roll this out, but to make it work, they need people on the ground.

Rugby all the way.

Hi Friends.

What a fabulous weekend of sport. Of course if your not a rugby fan then it will have passed you by without any recognition. Saturday’s match Scotland v Ireland, was a brilliant match, with Scotland coming out the winners 27-22. Greig Laidlaw’s face said it all about the win and how much it meant to the team and fans. It was a great way to start the 6 nations. The England v France match in some ways was more brutal and not as pretty, but England kept up their winning streak with a 19-16. I cannot help but feel they will need to do better than they did against France though. Match three was Wales v Italy. the 33-7 score line does not really tell the story of an Italy who really were up for this match and how hard they worked, but in the end the number of penalties they gave away meant Wales got the upper hand in the second-half and a much needed win. If the games were anything to go by, we are in for a great 6 nations.

With the Rugby being on, all jobs got done in the morning over the weekend and then it was Rugby all the way, oh and films. Sunday evening we went and joined in with a pub quiz and got to the dizzy heights of 2nd place out of 7 teams. Last time we played we finished 4th out of 6 teams. The only problem with doing to well, is your expected to keep it up.

Monday morning arrived again, and because of us getting to bed at midnight, I was not awake until 8 am, which for me is late. With it being 8 am I still enjoyed my cup of tea in bed, whilst watching the morning news and weather. Mind you it was so nippy in the back cabin, I did not need Carol Kirkwood to tell me we had a heavy frost over-night and our temperature got down to –3.5 c. Just past 8.30 am Paddy began to stir, so it was time to crawl out from beneath what was a lovely snug duvet and climb into my boat working clothes, because today I was in the mood to get a few jobs done.

Back from walking Paddy, he and Marmite got their breakfast, and I got on with job one, which was to sweep both chimneys. It was a pleasant surprise to find both of them pretty clear. Job two was to take the nappies out from under the floor in the back cabin and in the galley. All the nappies were full of water and ready to be changed. I disposed of them and the cold ash from the stoves in the bin store. I always put our cold ash in old coal bags as we do not have anywhere to put it here on the mooring. Time for coffee and a thought as to what other things I could do. Lunch was put in the stove to cook, we were having left over Chicken stew and Dumplings. I always love Dumplings on a cold day. Whilst I did that, Keith got on with trimming Paddy’s paws. We keep the fir on his feet trimmed and his claws cut. We have done them since the day we got him, although I am thinking I may get the vet to do his claws next time, because he is getting non to happy with me doing them these days. I think it is his old age. Like all men he is getting grumpy (JOKING). With the remains of Paddy’s hair on the floor, it was time to hoover through the boat, which sent Marmite fleeing to the back cabin. She hates the hoover.

After lunch, which was scrummy, I got on with some crochet whilst watching Film4. Oh talking about films, I have become hooked on ‘Game of Thrones’. You may remember I got the first series from a charity shop. Having watched the first series, I decided to get the next three off of Ebay, they should be arriving this week. When we will go out cruising in March, we can sit and watch them as we do not bother with the TV when we are out. We have a large DVD collection, which keeps us amused on miserable days.

Today marks The Queen's Sapphire Jubilee.

It has been 65 years since Her Majesty acceded to the throne.

On 6 February 1952, King George VI sadly died following a prolonged illness. Princess Elizabeth immediately acceded to the throne, becoming Queen Elizabeth II and taking on all of the responsibilities which came with her new title.

In the photograph, The Queen is wearing a suite of sapphire jewellery given to her by King George VI as a wedding gift in 1947.

What an incredible reign this amazing woman has had. I love this new photograph of her, she looks so beautiful. Long may she reign.