Happy Friday.

Hello Friends.

Yes it is Friday. Where did the week go. The first weekend of February is almost upon us and I still cannot believe January has passed by. It looks like it will be another year which flies by. Whoosh and I will miss it no doubt.

Yesterday I forgot to post, I do apologise. It was a pretty uneventful day. The highlight being the sorting out of the bathroom sink hot tap. I know, I know I lead an exciting existence. The problem with the hot tap was it was running slower and slower, mainly due the fact that we were having problems with turning it on. So Keith decided to tackle it (not literally). The spanners came out and he was on the job. I did have to look on You Tube to see if they had a video on this tap, because Keith could not get the gubbins out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR6vnfNLr-8.

Eventually with a bit of effort, it did come out and the washer was fine, even though it has been in there for 10 years. I cleaned up the taps bits and Keith then put it all back together. Hey presto the hot taps works perfectly now and for once this was a boat job that only took 10 minutes and not hours, because something has gone wrong.

So here we are a little closer to the weekend and Storm Doris has not yet put in an appearance and I think she is no longer a storm, so maybe they will keep Doris for the next one, should it decide to kick off.

It was such a pleasure to see the sun this morning. It has been do drab of late and rather moist. I am really wanting to get out on the garden, but see little point of coming in caked in mud. One of my jobs this morning was to do the laundry. It was bed turning day. I like to turn the mattress and I therefore change the bottom sheet and pillowcases and turn the duvet. Our mattress is in three parts, so we can put it in our cupboard, so once a fortnight I change the three section around, so they wear evenly. Bed stripped and turned, off to the laundry for a quick wash. People on site always gather in the laundry and end up nattering. This mornings topics included Brexit, Trump and Sugar Free Farm. Such a diverse range. Not getting political on here, so not talking about Brexit or Trump. The one thing I will say is I know Brexit is used for short, but I actually hate the word. As for Sugar Free Farm, it was a good program and has made me and others here think. The interesting thing for me was the low fat spread and what goes into it. I am thankful I cannot have it and have to have butter. Laundry all done, and hung on the boat, it was time for a coffee and the usual catching up on e-mails and social media.

After lunch, I took myself off into town to get myself a trim. I had been putting it off, as I wanted to wait until we were about to go cruising, but today I just felt like I needed to get it done. I only ever have a dry trim. I have allergies to some shampoo’s, so prefer to wash my hair before going to the hairdressers. Having long hair means a dry trim only takes a few minutes and then I am done. Today it only cost me £10, so that was a bonus.

This was Paddy in 2007.

Home on the boat, Paddy our ageing Boarder Collie, so showing his age. He is being very picky with eating, and I am just hoping this is not the slippery slope to him leaving us for the Rainbow bridge. He has been dodgy on his back legs this past few weeks as well and at 13 years old, we know it is only a matter of time. We will know when it is his time and we are not going to let him suffer.

Well it is now time to sign off and put the laptop away. I wish you a wonderful weekend and I will see you on the other side.

Wet, wet, wet.

Hi Friends.

It is a soggy start to Wednesday and it is not going to improve for the rest of the week. We are being told, Storm Doris maybe coming to call, so we may need to batten down the hatches, but we shall see. Carol Kirkwood warned this morning that although the weather front for Friday has no name yet, it could be upgraded to Storm Doris. Doris was my grand-mother’s name and she was a meek and mild woman, so lets hope the storm has her traits.

Because of the weather forecast for the rest of the week, Keith decided he was going food shopping today, instead of tomorrow, so I did him a list and off he went with rucksack and trolley. Unfortunately it was already raining when he left, so he would be coming home a little soggy around the edges. With him off food shopping, I got on with cleaning out my cupboard.

When I say mine, Keith and I have a cupboard each in the saloon behind our chairs, which we use for all our bits and bobs. Mine has been getting very untidy of late, so today was tidy day. I have found the best way to do such a job, is to take everything out and then go through the contents, before putting back the things I wanted to keep. I always love it when I have tidied something and it all looks organised.

Next job was to clean out and stoke the fire, which is always a dusty job, so afterwards I got the hoover out and ran that through the boat. Floors and mats all hoovered, I got on with washing all the floors, including the engine room floor. Phew time for a coffee and a catch-up on e-mails and social media.

Blazing from a papers headline ‘Bursting balloons is louder than a shotgun blast - and can even make you DEAF’. Oh cone on, shall we all ban Balloons now? I have a vision of children turning up for parties and being supplied with ear defenders. Lets get real please. I know that some children and people are scared of balloons bursting and I completely understand that, but this is really getting silly. I thought it was madness, when children were told they could only play Conkers if they wore gloves and safety goggles. Stop, Stop wrapping our children and grandchildren in cotton wool.

E-mails and social media caught up on, Keith was back from his food shopping trip to Aldi. For anyone reading my ramblings for the first time. Keith has taken over the food shopping. We used to have Tesco deliveries once a fortnight, but since Keith got his bus pass, he has taken to going to Aldi, which has cut our food bill by quite a lot and it keeps Keith fit. When he arrives back at the boat, I always take the trolley and rucksack from him and stow away all the goodies for the week. Treat for this week is their Indian Meal for 2 for £3.49. We have had one before and it is very good. Tesco’s can be as much a double. Neither of us are huge ready meal fans, but sometimes it is nice for a change. Today’s lunch was Ham and Pineapple Pizza with added Red Pepper and Mozzarella Cheese and for pudding fresh fruit with Greek Yogurt.

I still have not started my cross stitch, this mainly because other things have taken over my life. 1 being my family tree, 2 crocheting new baby blankets.

This one will be lilac and white. I finished the pale green and white one. I now have something else to be doing. For Christmas my friend sent me a knit your own scarf box. In it there are knitting needles, wool and so called instructions, not that I need instructions to knit a scarf, but the instructions do not tell you how many stitches to use for the amount of wool they have given you, so I am going to have to guess.

I think 3 projects on the go is enough right now. The scarf will not take me long, although this funny yarn takes some getting used too. I think perhaps I will keep my cross stitch for when we are out cruising this year. I am already collecting DVD’s for the trip, as we do not use the TV when we are out, we just watch DVD’s. After lunch, we walked up into town and whilst in there I bought ‘The Deer Hunter’, ‘The Book Thief’ and ‘Last Knights’, all for 99 pence each. Our DVD collection is pretty eclectic, Keith likes things like Alien, but I cannot watch it. I end up having nightmares. I am more into chick flicks and things like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. I think that is why I am really into ‘Game of Thrones’ right now. I loved the first series and hope to get the next four series before we head out, that will give us plenty to watch.

Despite the gloom of the morning, most of the afternoon was dry and it actually felt more like Spring. The bulbs are coming through and the birds were singing. Unfortunately it is not going to last.

Canal Life - Past

Barging Along - WW II film promoting Britain's inland waterways

Renfrew and Lucy

British Waterways There Go the Boats

Fabulous film.

Coming back as a cat.

Hi Friends.

Soggy old day. It is definitely milder, because I am back to wearing my waistcoat when going out instead of my down jacket. But with the milder weather comes rain and more rain, plus heavily laden skies, which means no sunshine to warm our bones.

I was talking to a neighbour this morning and he has been abroad for a week. He had a week of sunshine and warmth, which I think all of us would crave right now.

You may remember if you read my blog regularly a post called ‘Getting your just desserts’, where a lady named Linda, had posters put up about her cheating husband.

Well it seems she has not forgiven him, because there are new posters around Warwick.

This time she mentions a dating site, which at first it was thought was fake, but it seems this site does exist and clearly Linda is really getting back at Graham. Warwick still has no idea who this couple are and the intrigue goes on.

How would you get back at a cheating spouse or partner?

With it being so miserable this morning, I was not exactly jumping out of bed and was only to happy to sit in bed drinking my first cuppa of the day, whilst watching the news, which is depressing watching as you will all know, I do not do politics on this blog, but it seems that the world has gone mad.

Once up Paddy and I headed out for our walk and at this point the rain was just about holding off. We like to go a different route everyday, which confuses Paddy no end. Today was pavement walking to keep his claws down. On the walk back we waited at the junction to cross the road a van from a local company passed us and I noticed the driver was on his phone as he pulled out away from the junction, this bothered me all day, because it is against the law to be on the phone whilst driving. Penalties for using your phone while driving. You could get 3 penalty points on your licence and a fine of £100. Your case could also go to court and you could be disqualified from driving or riding and get a maximum fine of £1,000. Drivers of buses or goods vehicles could get a maximum fine of £2,500, so to see this man on his phone really annoyed me as it always does when I see this. My first thought was to go and speak to the company, but instead I decided to e-mail the company. I for one would hate for this man to be involved in an incident, where injury or death could occur, or he could lose his licence, which could ruin the rest of his life. It just takes one careless moment. We will see if I get a reply.

Home and it was laundry day, so with my £1 coin for the machine and a bag full of washing, I walked up to the laundry and set things in motion. There is something therapeutic about watching ones washing going round and round, but I had boat jobs to do, so I locked up the laundry and headed back to the boat, where I sorted out the fire and put the second half of the Sausage casserole on top of the stove to start warming it through, before adding Dumplings. The ash bucket on the pontoon was full, so I emptied the cold ash into an old coal bag and got rid of that in the bin room, at which point may alarm went off to say my washing was almost done. Washing was hung in the engine room and back cabin to dry and a coffee was made. At this point it was a good time to sit down and catch-up on e-mails and social media.

Lunch was the second half of the Sausage Casserole with added Dumplings. I am a lover of Dumplings, I tend to use Vegetable Suet these days. Rain was now huffing it down, so I waited for a while before taking Paddy out for his afternoon stroll. I am non to worried about getting wet, but Paddy hates getting wet, and a soggy doggy on a boat is not pleasant for either of us. Marmite has spent most of her day sleeping in her basket, which was my planting basket, but she has decided she prefers it for sleeping in, so for the time being I have lost my basket to her.

I will get my basket back eventually, because Marmite has fads. On week she will sleep in the back cabin on the side bed, then she goes off that and sleeps in the engine room and her bed of choice at the moment is my basket.

She always looks so cosy in it and therefore I try not to disturb her. It is definitely a cat’s life on this boat. She gets fed when she screams, played with when she meows and sleeps where she likes. I am coming back as a cat

Miserable Monday.

Hello Friends.

It’s Monday and the weather is miserable and mild. I think you probably know me by now, I prefer the cold and frosty days to this miserable weather, where we do not see the sun for days.

Anyway it is Monday and I did not have anything major planned. So having done all my usual morning boat chores, I decided it was a good time to wash our Donkey jackets and hats ready for when we go off cruising. yes we are planning our cruising, having hopefully fixed our generator. We will be going into Birmingham for the Spring Cruise at the beginning of April, which we are both looking forward too. Both our Donkey jackets weigh quite a lot when wet, so I thought it best to wash them in the laundry machines. They only needed a quick £1 wash. When washed and spun they and our hats came up looking brand new. They were hung in the back cabin to dry.

Whilst walking back to the boat, it was lovely to see our Sparrow population using the Sparrow hotel, which was put up for them a couple of years ago. They have been over wintering in the hotel and we may even have babies from there this Spring.

On the boat, both Paddy and Marmite were snoozing. Marmite was curled up in her basket fast asleep. She always looks so lovely when she is sleeping.

After the morning coffee, I did a nappy change under the back cabin floor and under the floor in the galley.

The nappies were doing a fantastic job of soaking up the condensation. For the sake of spending £1.50 these value nappies, mean I do not have to mop out under the floors. It is a win, win solution.

After lunch and watching Bargain Hunt, Paddy and I went for a walk around the cemetery. I know it sounds a bit odd, but the Warwick Cemetery is beautiful.

The Snowdrops were out, brightening the miserable day. Usually when we do this walk, we see at least two squirrels, but today they were not out and about, they were probably snoozing. Paddy and I had a nice stroll, before heading back to the boat and another coffee, before putting my feet up and doing more of my crochet. Blanket number one almost finished.

As you know from my posting the other day about the sad death of our friend Les. Yesterday we heard of the sad death of another boater we know. Such a tragic loss to her husband and family and we are keeping them in our thoughts. January has not been a good start to 2017 so far with people we know dying. We can but hope the rest of the year is better.