Pillings Lock Marina#7

Pillings Lock Marina 2009#7

Boxing Day 2009 and at last the ice is melting, which means we can now go out and buy a paper and a loaf. Bread is, as they say, the staff of life and you would expect on large loaf to last a pair of old wrinklies like us for several days, wouldn’t you? But then the vast majority of wrinkly olduns are not surrounded by ducks and moorhens, and I simply cannot resist the little darlin’s. Sometimes, when we do a big shop at Morrisons or Tesco, we buy a small, sliced, white loaf just for them. Well, what is life all about, if not for sharing?

Last Wednesday, when we dined at the marina restaurant, I went out of my way to ask the manageress there if all tables had been booked for Christmas Day. She assured me that, although the 3 pm sitting was fully booked, they had left some spaces in the 12 noon booking, although she didn’t say why they had done so. “That’s good” said I, “that means we’ll be able to come over for a couple of drinks before we have our own dinner” “You’d be more than welcome” she replied.

Armed with her blessing, or so I thought, we popped along yesterday just as they were opening the doors and, what did we find? Yes, you guessed it, all tables were laid out for dinners and, as a consequence, we were obliged to sit outside. Naturally I reminded the nice lady of our previous conversation but, as you would expect, saving time and making money were the order of the day and, on this one, special day of the year, residents of the marina could make do with a cold seat outside. We had one drink and went home. Needless to say the restaurant has seen us for the last time.

Other than that we had a really good day and made sure that, just for a change, we maintained a sensible level of food consumption. Wifey bought me a couple of CD’s whilst I purchased for her a new watch, which will need about four links removed because she has such slim wrists.

Today we can look forward to a mixture of turkey and duck with our bubble and squeak, along with pickles, which is our usual Boxing Day fare. Oooh! I do like my cold meat and pickles on Boxing Day.

And that, as they say, is that. It’s all over for another year and life can return to normal, whatever that is!!

Monday 28th December 2009 and we’re off to find Glenfield Hospital in Leicester, which is where I have an appointment on 5th January. This is to see a specialist about having a knee replacement, but first, having been warned about limited parking on site, we need to recce the area for alternatives. According to the nice liaison lady I spoke to a few days ago, most people go there by public transport and so we also need to check out bus time-tables. The board on the bus stop at Quorn showed times of departure but, for some stupid reason, neglected to tell us when they arrive. And, in any case, they only go into the town, which means we also have to discover when they leave Leicester and when they arrive at Glenfield.

Yesterday, after our usual Sunday visit to the Quorndon Fox; which showed a much reduced client base; we returned to a chill-out afternoon. For our late meal we once again dived into the turkey and duck leftovers. This time my beloved wife’s offering included pasta with an Italian sauce. Pretty good actually. Today it will be the turn of a meat pie containing more of the leftover birds, and we’ll follow that on Tuesday with a leftover bird meat curry. We will finally run out of the stuff on Wednesday when we have the second half of the pie, this time with a pile of chips and to hell with the blood sugar levels.

Talking of which, I’m still awaiting a home visit from a so-called expert on the condition to determine whether an alternative Insulin regime would bring my readings under better control. It’s very true what they say about Insulin dependency, the amount injected seems to be forever increasing. From my original 40 units I am now on 50 units, twice a day and with no improvement whatsoever. Even though I do not overdo the carbs, my readings still hit double figures most days and, short of going on the Atkins Diet, I’m at a loss as to what to do for the best. Cutting down on carbs would probably do the trick, but the experts tell us we shouldn’t do so but, if I don’t hear from this person soon, then that’s what I’ll have to do.

At this point I was going to give my take global warming, but I’ve changed my mind. It really is such an emotive subject and gets me steaming, that I’m quite likely to call the so-called experts a few choice invectives. So, for now, I’ll put it on the back burner.

Tuesday 29th December 2009 and, with it being market day, we trotted off to Melton Mowbray, a trip that is now becoming something of a habit.

Listening to the news and weather forecast before leaving, we were undecided whether to make the trip or do our weekly shopping at Morrison’s. However, since Wifey’s Christmas present needed a few links taken out of the wristband, and since, despite the website telling us they do exist, there are no jewellers in Loughborough, we decided to go.

Later today, or so they would have us believe, we can expect heavy snow showers which, apparently, will be coming in from Wales, a wee principality that lies to our west. Strangely, the clouds I now see scudding across the sky are actually coming from the east. We have had a few drops of rain but, at present, the temperature is hardly conducive to snow. So, we shall have to wait and see. Tomorrow we will go shopping although, should the 10 inches or more of snow actually appear overnight, that adventure is not a foregone conclusion. Wifey has kindly informed me that, even should we be confined to barracks for a few days, we won’t starve. Now that’s a comforting thought!!

My long awaited recipe book is now in the final process of compilation and, with luck and a tail wind, after adding a few essential web links, I should have it finished by the weekend.

Friday, day 1 of the new year of 2010, and I’m afraid I have been unable to post this latest blog because I have, yet again and it’s the third time this year, gone down with a bout of food poisoning.

On Tuesday, after returning from Melton Mowbray, I partook of a sausage roll, not thinking for one minute about how long since they had been baked, which was on Christmas Day. Later that day the tummy started playing up, very much the way it did on that last and best forgotten day earlier in the year.

So, out went the rest of the sausage rolls, to feed the ducks and fishes, as did the rest of the pie. Today I am almost back to normal although, in order to reach this happy pass, my bottom has been firmly planted on the lavatory seat, which has succeeded in limiting the amount of sleep I have been able to enjoy of late.

I am now firmly sworn off pork pies and sausage rolls, along with most other savoury and spicy dishes, I just don’t see that my innards are happy with them any more.

OK. You can consider this the last blog of 2009. 2010 has started out very cold with a sheet of ice covering the marina although, when Wifey took Rusty for her midday walk, the canal itself was clear.

More later and meanwhile, for the second time, we all wish you the best for 2010.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.