Pillings Lock Marina 2009#6
Hi folks, when you receive this blog, hopefully you will still be looking forward to the cebrelations, hic! If not then the new year will be almost upon us.
Today is Friday 18th December and we only have a week to go to the great day, but before then, this coming Sunday, I’m heading off to Harlow for a pre-Christmas drink with Alan. I’m also popping in to see my good friends Dave and Les and their daughter Colette. I’m also planning on dropping off cards to David and June.
The above statement of intent does depend upon the weather of course, and that’s not looking too rosy at present. You lot who live in the south east look set to bear the brunt of the snow, which puts me in a difficult position because, if it’s fine up here but heavy snow cover down there, I could be stuck and unable to get back to the boat.
Yesterday the timber pontoons here were pretty lethal to walk upon, although that was later in the day. We did manage to get out for the paper around midday, but our neighbour Marion had to take Rusty for walkies, because Wifey was slipping all over the place. Marion, in her infinite wisdom, has a pair of boots that grip really well on icy surfaces, whereas Wifey does not.
As you all know, I’ve enjoyed a drink or two in my time but, as I’ve grown old and, perhaps, a little wiser, I’ve slowed down considerably. Nowadays I only insist on my Sunday lunchtime tipple, and that doesn’t really amount to much, although, we do enjoy a glass of wine with dinner some nights.
The pub that we usually visit on Sundays, is the Quorndon Fox, which is quite a big place with rooms going here and there in all directions. In a normal year we would be there on Christmas Day but, since it is always quite busy on any normal Sunday, I rather think we may have trouble finding a seat, and so we might just give it a miss this year, and that will be a first. I absolutely never, ever miss Christmas Day at the pub.
Anyway, back to the weather which, at the moment is looking pretty cold and frosty and the snow will probably reach us later today. With a bit of luck and a tail wind it will have gone by Sunday morning, but that is in the lap of the gods.
Wednesday 23rd December and we’re still in the grip of bitterly cold conditions.
It’s almost 7 am and I enjoyed the best sleep in ages last night, going right through from 10 pm until 3.20 am before Mother nature intervened by insisting I do the right thing. After that it wasn’t until 5.30 that I woke up again, but that was to the sound; all too common of late; of our wee pooch scratching at the side of the bed.
Like I said, that’s the first real, good nights sleep I’ve had for a while, and that’s because the man flu has finally given my body and head back to me, with the help of plenty of Beecham’s Powders, which are always on standby in the medicine cupboard.
Yesterday, despite the icy conditions, which only really applied to our lane, we paid a quick visit to Tesco for the bulk of our Christmas shopping. We much prefer Morrison’s but, as it is across the other side of town and their turkeys and ducks are probably no better in quality or price, we took the easy option. Any other small items we need today or tomorrow, we can pick up in Quorn.
Our 12 volt refrigerator is not that big, built as it is for use in caravans, bit my dearly beloved manages, somehow, to cram everything into it every time we shop. Sadly, after all her best efforts yesterday, she was beaten by the lowly crumpets. She just could not squeeze them in and refused to remove my beer cans to make space for them. Ain’t she just the sweetest wife I could have?
Today we are dining out at the Marina Restaurant, which now has an Italian draught lager on sale. For the general public this costs – wait for it - £3.40 a pint!! Whaaat? But, to us lowly, hard-up boaters, with our 10% deduction, it’s only £3.07, which is OK by me, although even that is a bit steep when Guinness at the Fox is only £2.95. However, it does mean I don’t have to drive into the village and risk a tug by Mr. Plod.
I have to confess that, with the heavy cold gripping me for a few days, I have done nothing to the recipe book and I’ve had no guitar practice either. But that will change over the following few days, yes, even on Christmas Day. But, also due to the cold, I didn’t get to visit Harlow for our pre-Christmas drink and this is the first we’ve missed in many years, including our time on Shiralee.
Now, it is very doubtful that any of you, my dear readers, will be anywhere near your computers on Christmas Day but, since I will still be up at my usual time, that is when I intend posting this, the last blog of 2009. So, please try to be in attendance when it drops into your mail boxes.
Cheers for now!
Christmas Eve and no let up in the icy conditions but, strange to say, we had a short smattering of rain last night. Hopefully, up here in t’ north, it will thaw out soon. I really don’t care if it persists for days on end, just as long as it’s not icy or snowy.
Yesterday we managed a drive into Quorn for last minute bits and pieces, as you do and we followed that by a visit to our marina restaurant for lunch. Well, heck, it’s Christmas and we’re not likely to drive into the village tomorrow, the Quorndon Fox will be bursting at the seams.
Our restaurant though has two sittings for Christmas Dinners tomorrow, one at 12.30 and the other at 3 pm. The later one is fully booked but, in order to give some of us residents a chance to call in for a beer or three, they haven’t filled all the 12.30 spots. So, just so that I can say I haven’t missed a Christmas Day drink, I will probably be there. Whether Sheila will join me is another gether altomatter, ‘cos she just might be slaving over a hot stove.
The problem with Christmas dinner on a boat is the size of the cooker and the available work space. I think that, after the last time back in 2007, she might decide to cook the bird today and just have the veg, sausage rolls and mince pies to do tomorrow, in which case she’ll join me for a drink tomorrow.
Did you see the programme about Grumpy Old Christmas, or something like that, last night? Now, I have to agree that the whole thing is far too commercialised, but it is only once a year. Still, they do have a point when they show hoards of people manically filling up shopping trolleys, after all the shops are only shut for the one day. Then there are the family rows, the tons of wrapping paper, the left-over food and the gifts that some folks don’t really want.
On top of that, and this has nothing to do with celebrating Christmas, you have the C of E holding it’s hand out for money for a restoration project. This is one of the richest landowners in the country and their going around with the begging bowl. And it’s not just aimed at parishioners and regular church-goers, it’s also aimed at the tax payer. Here we are, virtually bankrupt as a country, indeed, we’re almost at Third World status, and this lot expect us to bail them out just like we did with the banks. Is there no end to the greed and stupidity of some of our, supposedly, highly esteemed organisations. If the church wants money then they should sell some churches and sack some cardinals and vicars, every other big organisation has had to do so, why not them?
That’s that off my chest then!
Tomorrow is another day and, to some, a time of celebration. As for me, I just go with the flow and try to enjoy the atmosphere. The only thing I’ll miss is the drink with Alan, but that will have to wait until after the festivities.
Now, we had some bad news a while ago regarding our cousin Pauline, who has now had an operation to remove a tumour from the neck of her pancreas. If any of you, my esteemed readers’, is of a praying disposition, not just now but at any time of year, please offer one up for Pauline’s speedy recovery. For anyone else, please give her a kind thought when sitting down to dinner and wish for her speedy return to her loving family.
At last, the great day has arrived and I hope you are all well. It is now 7 am on Christmas Day 2009 and, as promised, I’m going to post this, my last blog of 2009. We both hope you have had a good year so far and wish you all well for the future.
Happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to you all!
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday, 24 December 2009
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Pillings Lock Marina 2009 #5
Today is Tuesday 1st December 2009 and, as is to be expected at this time of year, winter has arrived with a great show of frost and fog. Well, that’s how it is at the marina and, I daresay, on the canal.
Tomorrow I’m off to see my old friend John barefoot in Weston-super-Mare and will be staying overnight with his youngest son Colin and his wife Sue.
John, as I have no doubt told you, now lives in a Nursing Home because, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease as he does, he is unable to care for himself now. According to Colin, John has his good and bad days but, he assures me, he’s looking forward to my visit. I just wish it wasn’t so far away, but at least it’s mostly motorway and shouldn’t take me more than about 3 hours or so.
On Thursday, as the Emperor has its fortnightly jamming session, I’ll be staying with Alan and coming home Friday morning, after I’ve done a bit of Christmas shopping.
Tuesday 8th December 2009. Is it really a week since last I wrote to this blog? So much has happened since then that I’ve been rushed off my feet.
Last Wednesday was the start of 470 miles of driving over a three day period. My first stop was at Weston Super Mare in Somerset, as I have already mentioned. Colin and Sue have an upside-down house overlooking the valley and the Mendip Hills beyond, which is a quite spectacular view.
John however is confined to a nursing home in town and doesn’t seem too happy about it. For the most part he’s surrounded by people who seem to need far more care than he does, and who don’t have much to say for themselves. For a man who still has all his marbles, but still needs full time care, this situation must be boring him to tears.
After a most enjoyable stay with Colin and Sue, along with a pub meal, which was quite unexpected, it was off to Harlow the following morning. Although only about another 20 miles further than Weston is from the marina, the trip took me at least an extra hour than that trip. The M4 was mostly to blame for this delay due to heavy traffic and the M25 was no better. My drive was followed by a bit of shopping, which I really didn’t want to be messing with on Friday morning.
In the evening Alan and I enjoyed the jam session at the Purple Emperor. I have to say, my ears are not used to the deafening noise these days, but I simply can’t resist watching semi-professional musicians giving it their best. On the wall opposite the stage is a decibel monitor which, for the most part, was sitting in the red zone. I love it!
My first introduction to really loud music was many years ago, when my sister Carole took me to the Roundhouse at Chalk Farm. I don’t know if it is still standing, and I certainly don’t remember who we saw, but my ears were ringing by the time we left. For those of you who have never been there, The Roundhouse was built as a Shakespearian Theatre and, as the name implies, is round with the stage in the middle; well, it was then.
When we were still living in Harlow, and when Joy owned the Emperor, Alan and I spent most Thursday evenings there when they held live music sessions. Those sessions were never quiet, Folk or Country, always heavy Rock. Great times were had by all.
While I’m still in the mood for reminiscing, The Greyhound Pub in Harlow or, as we liked to call it, The Inn on the Park, because that’s where it lived, used to put on a three piece Jazz band at Sunday lunchtime. That’s where we headed after an early morning swim. Great days, sadly life ain’t like that any more, and more’s the pity.
Friday morning and it was off to the Shiralee which, despite using the A414 as far as the M1, I managed to complete in less than two hours. This journey, via the M11, M25 and then M1 would normally take a little over the two hours, so I was pretty lucky that day and I was home by 11 am.
Today we’re off to Melton Mowbray to buy some decent meat pies and such. The sausages are second to none and, it being market day, we’ll be bringing home some really strong Cheddar cheese.
After a few upsets with my book compiler, which actually refused to work for me yesterday, leaving me with no alternative than to re-install it, I’ve now started it from scratch. This is because, unbeknown to me when I purchased it, the programme is incapable of handling my 340 pages of recipes. I have therefore had to break it down into four volumes.
I have also discovered that, rather than have to convert my Word documents to web pages, they really need to be copied into Notepad and then transferred to the book compiler. This is a bit of a pain because, rather than Times New Roman as a font, which is the default in Notepad, I prefer Comic Sans. But, I’ve just thought, Notepad can be reset to an alternative font as a default, so I really must get that sorted. I’m afraid my little grey cells take a while to see the obvious these days. Youth really is wasted on the young.
Ah, but, it’s not Notepad that’s at fault, it’s the compiler that has TNR as its default. I must look into that and see if the template default can be altered.
Wednesday 9th December and I arose from my pit at 5.45 am, but only to turn the heating on. Our poor wee pooch was, at the same time, throwing up a messy white goo and, by the time I had cleared it up, I was wide awake. Besides which it was pretty obvious she needed to go out and I was pretty sure Wifey wasn’t about to undertake that task. We really must get our Rusty to the vet as soon as possible, if only to have her checked over and given a clean bill of health. We are pretty sure she’s getting a bit hard of hearing; some mornings she doesn’t even hear Sheila rattle her food dish.
Yesterday, at Melton Mowbray we managed to find a few more books that we haven’t read, which came courtesy of the Age Concern charity shop. This shop has recently been extended to include a café and, soon after sitting down, I was joined by a very nice man, who had popped into town to have his car serviced. We touched on several subjects, including boating of course, which he has some experience of as he lives close to a river. It’s not often that a complete stranger sits beside you in a café and strikes up a conversation.
Friday 11th December 2009 and winter has arrived again; outside it is foggy and frosty, which is just as the forecasters predicted. There are times when I wish they would get it wrong, with my knees I’m going nowhere on icy wooden pontoons. What I think I need, is a pair of those spiky overshoes that they use in the good old U S of A and Canada. I rather suspect that the lane leading from here to the main road will be a wee bit slippery this morning too, so the daily paper is a no-no until later.
Now, I’m sure I’ve mentioned before about my love of the guitar, goodness knows I’ve owned one for long enough, but have never been very successful at learning to play it. Probably as a result of frustration more than anything else, I’ve left it alone for a while, but I have now picked it up again and am practising for at least an hour a day, but I’m doing so in three short sessions.
At present I am using a book by Frederick Noad, which goes back many years, and is by a man who is considered to be one of the better teachers of Classical Guitar. However, the style of guitar that I also have a fondness for is the Blues, which really requires a steel strung instrument, but they come with a much narrower neck. Unfortunately the first two fingers of my left hand are somewhat bent, and I am probably the only person in the universe who can give a two fingered salute without actually spreading them. You do see my problem?
Anyway, last time I was in Harlow I called into Gig Gear, which is a shop down near Tesco and The Range, and I asked why there are no country and blues guitars with wide necks like those on a classical, nylon strung guitar. The answer came back, quick as a flash and without any hesitation that it is probably because there is only one person in the whole wide world who wants one, and that’s me.
So, it looks like I’m stuck with the classical version, at least until I am a little more adept at playing the thing and can play in higher positions where the neck is wider. Incidentally, it’s my first digit that’s bent and that’s due to a touch of arthritis. It can also become quite painful if I play for too long. Learning to play left handed is not an option because that would simply increase the pain, because I would then be using that finger for plucking the strings. Perhaps I should try learning to play a wind instrument instead but, then again perhaps not as that would probably drive my neighbours potty. Can you imagine me sitting here blasting away on a trumpet? No, me neither!
Tuesday 15th December and Christmas is only 10 days away and the weather looks all set to be much colder. I suspect though, that it will only be a covering of frost that will give us a white one.
Yesterday was our usual shopping day and off we went to Morrisons, which is further away from us than either Tesco or Sainsbury, but certainly has a far better range of goods. Their in-house bread, pies and cakes are a vast improvement on the other two and that’s for sure. They do a particularly delightful meat pie that’s in the shape of a triangle with rounded corners, filled with good sized chunks of meat.
For the past couple of visits we have had to take a detour around the housing estates to get to it due to road-works, but it’s always worth the trouble. This week the road was clear, we think they’d been strengthening a bridge for the past few weeks.
Today we have to go into Quorn or Barrow for drawing pins so that we can put up the pretty lights that we bought yesterday. What a deal that was, 100 bulbs on wire and with a mains plug, for just £4, so we bought two sets. We’ve even got a Christmas tree which stands about a foot high, is covered in snow and has flashing lights. Of course, other boaters have gone a bit potty with their decorations, Dave and Jackie have a Santa and reindeer along with a chimney stack and a snowman, so we’re small beer compared to them.
As it happens we didn’t need the drawing pins because, living on a boat, which is covered with timber boarding inside, all we had to do was to wedge the wiring between joints. With just two hooks screwed into the ceiling we were able to loop the lights across the middle, job done.
Yesterday we received a text from our old pal Pixie, who’s still at Bulbourne, to the effect that our boat is on the front cover of Canal Boat Magazine. Hopefully you will all have received an email with attached photo, if not then please let us know and we’ll re-send it.
Wednesday 16th December and, despite dire predictions from the Met Office, it is only wet out there, rather than a thick frost. However, since it’s only 7 am, that situation has lots of time to change.
Wifey is off for a boob job today. No, not an implant or reduction, just a scan, which has been set up by the NHS in Morrisons car park. I tell you this just to remind you ladies that a regular breast screening should be carried out every three years. So, if you haven’t done so, now’s the time to make that appointment.
Now, with just nine days to go to the festivities, if I post this blog some time today, I’ll just have time for another one before then. Sadly I am unable to do so tight now, because my lady Wife is about to surface and so later will have to do, if I think of it!
Cheers for now.
Well, I’ve said it many times before, this b….. modem is pretty darn useless, and today is one of those days, I simply cannot connect to the Internet and, until I can; hopefully later today or tomorrow, I can’t post, so there!!
It is now Thursday 17th December and, at last, I am able to get online. So, without further ado, and hoping it doesn’t drop out before I go there, here goes.
Hopefully I’ll get another blog in before Christmas but, just in case I don’t, here’s wishing you all a very happy one. Especially Big Ian, who is not having such a great time of it right now. We’ll all be thinking of you.
Love and Stuff
Dave, Sheila and Pooch
xxx
PS Sorry folks, still no photos 'cos this modem is running right slow - again!
Tomorrow I’m off to see my old friend John barefoot in Weston-super-Mare and will be staying overnight with his youngest son Colin and his wife Sue.
John, as I have no doubt told you, now lives in a Nursing Home because, suffering from Parkinson’s Disease as he does, he is unable to care for himself now. According to Colin, John has his good and bad days but, he assures me, he’s looking forward to my visit. I just wish it wasn’t so far away, but at least it’s mostly motorway and shouldn’t take me more than about 3 hours or so.
On Thursday, as the Emperor has its fortnightly jamming session, I’ll be staying with Alan and coming home Friday morning, after I’ve done a bit of Christmas shopping.
Tuesday 8th December 2009. Is it really a week since last I wrote to this blog? So much has happened since then that I’ve been rushed off my feet.
Last Wednesday was the start of 470 miles of driving over a three day period. My first stop was at Weston Super Mare in Somerset, as I have already mentioned. Colin and Sue have an upside-down house overlooking the valley and the Mendip Hills beyond, which is a quite spectacular view.
John however is confined to a nursing home in town and doesn’t seem too happy about it. For the most part he’s surrounded by people who seem to need far more care than he does, and who don’t have much to say for themselves. For a man who still has all his marbles, but still needs full time care, this situation must be boring him to tears.
After a most enjoyable stay with Colin and Sue, along with a pub meal, which was quite unexpected, it was off to Harlow the following morning. Although only about another 20 miles further than Weston is from the marina, the trip took me at least an extra hour than that trip. The M4 was mostly to blame for this delay due to heavy traffic and the M25 was no better. My drive was followed by a bit of shopping, which I really didn’t want to be messing with on Friday morning.
In the evening Alan and I enjoyed the jam session at the Purple Emperor. I have to say, my ears are not used to the deafening noise these days, but I simply can’t resist watching semi-professional musicians giving it their best. On the wall opposite the stage is a decibel monitor which, for the most part, was sitting in the red zone. I love it!
My first introduction to really loud music was many years ago, when my sister Carole took me to the Roundhouse at Chalk Farm. I don’t know if it is still standing, and I certainly don’t remember who we saw, but my ears were ringing by the time we left. For those of you who have never been there, The Roundhouse was built as a Shakespearian Theatre and, as the name implies, is round with the stage in the middle; well, it was then.
When we were still living in Harlow, and when Joy owned the Emperor, Alan and I spent most Thursday evenings there when they held live music sessions. Those sessions were never quiet, Folk or Country, always heavy Rock. Great times were had by all.
While I’m still in the mood for reminiscing, The Greyhound Pub in Harlow or, as we liked to call it, The Inn on the Park, because that’s where it lived, used to put on a three piece Jazz band at Sunday lunchtime. That’s where we headed after an early morning swim. Great days, sadly life ain’t like that any more, and more’s the pity.
Friday morning and it was off to the Shiralee which, despite using the A414 as far as the M1, I managed to complete in less than two hours. This journey, via the M11, M25 and then M1 would normally take a little over the two hours, so I was pretty lucky that day and I was home by 11 am.
Today we’re off to Melton Mowbray to buy some decent meat pies and such. The sausages are second to none and, it being market day, we’ll be bringing home some really strong Cheddar cheese.
After a few upsets with my book compiler, which actually refused to work for me yesterday, leaving me with no alternative than to re-install it, I’ve now started it from scratch. This is because, unbeknown to me when I purchased it, the programme is incapable of handling my 340 pages of recipes. I have therefore had to break it down into four volumes.
I have also discovered that, rather than have to convert my Word documents to web pages, they really need to be copied into Notepad and then transferred to the book compiler. This is a bit of a pain because, rather than Times New Roman as a font, which is the default in Notepad, I prefer Comic Sans. But, I’ve just thought, Notepad can be reset to an alternative font as a default, so I really must get that sorted. I’m afraid my little grey cells take a while to see the obvious these days. Youth really is wasted on the young.
Ah, but, it’s not Notepad that’s at fault, it’s the compiler that has TNR as its default. I must look into that and see if the template default can be altered.
Wednesday 9th December and I arose from my pit at 5.45 am, but only to turn the heating on. Our poor wee pooch was, at the same time, throwing up a messy white goo and, by the time I had cleared it up, I was wide awake. Besides which it was pretty obvious she needed to go out and I was pretty sure Wifey wasn’t about to undertake that task. We really must get our Rusty to the vet as soon as possible, if only to have her checked over and given a clean bill of health. We are pretty sure she’s getting a bit hard of hearing; some mornings she doesn’t even hear Sheila rattle her food dish.
Yesterday, at Melton Mowbray we managed to find a few more books that we haven’t read, which came courtesy of the Age Concern charity shop. This shop has recently been extended to include a café and, soon after sitting down, I was joined by a very nice man, who had popped into town to have his car serviced. We touched on several subjects, including boating of course, which he has some experience of as he lives close to a river. It’s not often that a complete stranger sits beside you in a café and strikes up a conversation.
Friday 11th December 2009 and winter has arrived again; outside it is foggy and frosty, which is just as the forecasters predicted. There are times when I wish they would get it wrong, with my knees I’m going nowhere on icy wooden pontoons. What I think I need, is a pair of those spiky overshoes that they use in the good old U S of A and Canada. I rather suspect that the lane leading from here to the main road will be a wee bit slippery this morning too, so the daily paper is a no-no until later.
Now, I’m sure I’ve mentioned before about my love of the guitar, goodness knows I’ve owned one for long enough, but have never been very successful at learning to play it. Probably as a result of frustration more than anything else, I’ve left it alone for a while, but I have now picked it up again and am practising for at least an hour a day, but I’m doing so in three short sessions.
At present I am using a book by Frederick Noad, which goes back many years, and is by a man who is considered to be one of the better teachers of Classical Guitar. However, the style of guitar that I also have a fondness for is the Blues, which really requires a steel strung instrument, but they come with a much narrower neck. Unfortunately the first two fingers of my left hand are somewhat bent, and I am probably the only person in the universe who can give a two fingered salute without actually spreading them. You do see my problem?
Anyway, last time I was in Harlow I called into Gig Gear, which is a shop down near Tesco and The Range, and I asked why there are no country and blues guitars with wide necks like those on a classical, nylon strung guitar. The answer came back, quick as a flash and without any hesitation that it is probably because there is only one person in the whole wide world who wants one, and that’s me.
So, it looks like I’m stuck with the classical version, at least until I am a little more adept at playing the thing and can play in higher positions where the neck is wider. Incidentally, it’s my first digit that’s bent and that’s due to a touch of arthritis. It can also become quite painful if I play for too long. Learning to play left handed is not an option because that would simply increase the pain, because I would then be using that finger for plucking the strings. Perhaps I should try learning to play a wind instrument instead but, then again perhaps not as that would probably drive my neighbours potty. Can you imagine me sitting here blasting away on a trumpet? No, me neither!
Tuesday 15th December and Christmas is only 10 days away and the weather looks all set to be much colder. I suspect though, that it will only be a covering of frost that will give us a white one.
Yesterday was our usual shopping day and off we went to Morrisons, which is further away from us than either Tesco or Sainsbury, but certainly has a far better range of goods. Their in-house bread, pies and cakes are a vast improvement on the other two and that’s for sure. They do a particularly delightful meat pie that’s in the shape of a triangle with rounded corners, filled with good sized chunks of meat.
For the past couple of visits we have had to take a detour around the housing estates to get to it due to road-works, but it’s always worth the trouble. This week the road was clear, we think they’d been strengthening a bridge for the past few weeks.
Today we have to go into Quorn or Barrow for drawing pins so that we can put up the pretty lights that we bought yesterday. What a deal that was, 100 bulbs on wire and with a mains plug, for just £4, so we bought two sets. We’ve even got a Christmas tree which stands about a foot high, is covered in snow and has flashing lights. Of course, other boaters have gone a bit potty with their decorations, Dave and Jackie have a Santa and reindeer along with a chimney stack and a snowman, so we’re small beer compared to them.
As it happens we didn’t need the drawing pins because, living on a boat, which is covered with timber boarding inside, all we had to do was to wedge the wiring between joints. With just two hooks screwed into the ceiling we were able to loop the lights across the middle, job done.
Yesterday we received a text from our old pal Pixie, who’s still at Bulbourne, to the effect that our boat is on the front cover of Canal Boat Magazine. Hopefully you will all have received an email with attached photo, if not then please let us know and we’ll re-send it.
Wednesday 16th December and, despite dire predictions from the Met Office, it is only wet out there, rather than a thick frost. However, since it’s only 7 am, that situation has lots of time to change.
Wifey is off for a boob job today. No, not an implant or reduction, just a scan, which has been set up by the NHS in Morrisons car park. I tell you this just to remind you ladies that a regular breast screening should be carried out every three years. So, if you haven’t done so, now’s the time to make that appointment.
Now, with just nine days to go to the festivities, if I post this blog some time today, I’ll just have time for another one before then. Sadly I am unable to do so tight now, because my lady Wife is about to surface and so later will have to do, if I think of it!
Cheers for now.
Well, I’ve said it many times before, this b….. modem is pretty darn useless, and today is one of those days, I simply cannot connect to the Internet and, until I can; hopefully later today or tomorrow, I can’t post, so there!!
It is now Thursday 17th December and, at last, I am able to get online. So, without further ado, and hoping it doesn’t drop out before I go there, here goes.
Hopefully I’ll get another blog in before Christmas but, just in case I don’t, here’s wishing you all a very happy one. Especially Big Ian, who is not having such a great time of it right now. We’ll all be thinking of you.
Love and Stuff
Dave, Sheila and Pooch
xxx
PS Sorry folks, still no photos 'cos this modem is running right slow - again!
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