Shiralee at Willington #3

Wednesday 15th September

Despite the promise of rain from the so-called experts at the Met Office, today has dawned clear but rather windy. The prevailing wind at Mercia seems to be coming at us from directly astern, which makes it rather difficult when we need to reverse out and go for a pump-out. Hopefully it will be a little calmer later today or even tomorrow morning, because we not only need the pump-out but diesel as well.

In future though, we’ll have to reverse into the mooring slot, which will place our side hatch in line with Brimar. However, I do not expect my earlier predictions, of a couple of fish-wives nattering across the gap, to amount to anything. For one thing Marian is usually far too busy to stop for a chat, except on the odd occasion when we invite her and Brian in for a coffee.

We’ve received a reply to my email to Lee Sanitation regarding the warning light in the loo. Hopefully they will be able to supply just the light, as opposed to the whole unit, which would set us back about £70. This is only the second time in the four years we’ve owned Shiralee that the LED has blown, so I suppose we shouldn’t grumble.

I am pleased to say that I am now able to drive with very little discomfort. This should help in strengthening my calf muscles a little, but I’m still concerned about the thighs, which seem rather weak. Whilst I’ve been hobbling about on dodgy knees for the past three years, they really haven’t had much to do. I suppose I’ll just have to do as much exercise as possible until they become more useful to me. I also must spend more time in a horizontal position to help alleviate the water retention problem. Perhaps my doctor, to whom I will pay a visit tomorrow, will be able to come up with some suggestions regarding both problems.

We’re having a wee problem locating a decent mini-market that is anywhere near as good as the one in Quorn. Our nearest is the Co-op in Willington which, to be honest is less than useless. The store in Repton is not much better, but the village does at least have a decent butchers.

We have yet to find a pub we like for our Sunday drink, but there are still two more to try in Willington. Sadly, neither of them has a large car park, so we may have to walk from the main one in the village.

Thursday 16th September

Sadly another rather windy and cloudy day, but then Autumn is well and truly on its way.

Like many thousands of people in the UK I have an email account at Yahoo. It’s true to say that I don’t use it very much, but it’s also true to say that it has been useful in the past.

Anyway, whilst I was online a little earlier this morning, I thought I had better catch up on any mail I might have there. Imagine my surprise when my details weren’t recognised. I’ve been with Yahoo and had the same user name and password, ever since I first had a computer that plugged into the Internet and, not once in all those years have I had this problem.

Of course I now had to go through the rigmarole of finding out why I couldn’t gain access. The first thing was to tick the box where it said my Password wasn’t recognised. This was followed by typing in those weird squiggles in a box that only somebody with wonky eyes could possibly understand. This procedure took me about 7 attempts and, with glasses, I do have pretty good sight.

Once this was done I then had to await the message Yahoo sends so that I could then go back to the same page and reset my password. I then entered the same password I originally used, which was accepted.

But it didn’t end there, oh no! I now had to set up two new security questions, a procedure that finally allowed me to access my account, only to discover I had nothing of importance in my Inbox or Spam Box. Deep Joy!

No doubt this was all as a result of not using the account for a certain period of time. There was a time, back when I was a complete novice, that I had more than 10 Yahoo accounts, but that was when I was fishing around for new money making ideas, the vast majority of which were, and still are, total rubbish.

We live and learn!!

Friday 17th September

I received an email from cousin Pauline this morning, although, with my current settings in Outlook, it found its way into my Junk box.

I have to say, she does sound positive, but also has many more visits to hospitals and a lot more treatment to endure. My own experiences with the big C were quite tame compared to what she is going through and we’re rooting for her here on Shiralee.

I’m not too sure what we’ll be doing today, apart from the pump-out and diesel top-up that is. We had planned to cruise up to Alrewas and back for a few days, but the weather does not look too promising for the weekend. Still, we do have six months here at Mercia Marina, so there will be ample time to do so later.

I’ve just taken my first look at the outside world, and all seems calm with not a trace of wind, so we should get to the pump-out station without difficulty. But that’s a couple of hours away and the situation could change dramatically by then.

Monday 20th September and another cloudy and windy day has presented itself this morning.

Sadly, although Friday started out as a very bright and mild day, the forecasters, who seem to get it right far more often than wrong these days, assured us that the weather was not set for a fair weekend, so we didn’t bother cruising off to Alrewas. This decision was a very good one as it happens because, when we tried to run the heating yesterday, it refused to start.

This system is run on diesel and is fired up electrically. The trouble with this type of system, is that it is prone to coking up inside with all the tar and such associated with diesel systems. In the four years we’ve lived on ‘Shiralee’ we’ve had the system serviced twice. Each time it has cost us over £200 and, in an effort to delay the inevitable, and on the advice of the owner of a fleet of hire boats, we installed an in line filter. This time around we have lasted about two years without a service, so the filter has certainly paid its way.

Fortunately for us the engineers here at Mercis Marina are not greedy, they charge just £140 and that includes VAT and, if necessary, the fitting of one of the pipes that can also become coked up. Had we gone off on our cruise therefore, we would have had no heating and would have had to rely upon running the engine for our hot water.

On Saturday we did much of nothing and simply chilled out, after going in to Willington to buy the paper and a few other bits. On Sunday however we decided to be a little more adventurous and drove into Findern, which is all of a mile away in the opposite direction, and we called in to The Wheel, which is their local hostelry.

From Monday to Saturday The Wheel offers up some pretty attractive fare but, on Sunday, the order of the day is a rather attractive looking Carvery. Judging by the clientele it is also an eat-as-much-as-you-can type of Carvery, because I spotted at least three customers going up for more.

The chef came out from his hidey-hole when it was necessary to carve the meat, but customers helped themselves to vegetables. There were three choices of meat there, beef, pork and gammon and it seemed that for just £5.95 a slice of each could be had. Next week or the week after could very well see us taking advantage of this very generous, state of affairs.

Yesterday afternoon I accompanied Wifey on her doggy walk and made it as far as the workshop, which is where we have to take the boat for pump-out and diesel. I do believe I overdid it a little bit, because my thigh muscles have been complaining very loudly about this treatment. Wifey assures me I am doing the right thing, but today I do not think I will be taking her up on her offer of walking to the café for a cup of coffee. Instead we’ll be driving over to Morrisson’s for some shopping, and that will be the extent of my exercise for today.

And now for our feature spot, the recipe:

Stilton Pears

This delightful dish is from Cambridgeshire

Ingredients:

Serves: 4
2 large dessert pears, ripe but firm
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 oz curd cheese
3 oz Stilton cheese, crumbled
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp mayonnaise
1 pinch of mustard powder
1 pinch of sugar
1 tsp poppy seeds
Salt and pepper

Method:

Using an apple corer, remove the cores from the pears.
Sprinkle the cavities with 1 tbsp of the lemon juice.
Cream together the two cheeses.
Press as much mixture as possible into the cavities, then cover
and chill until ready to serve.
Just before serving, whisk the oil, mayonnaise, remaining lemon
juice, mustard, sugar, poppy seeds, salt and pepper together.
Spoon on to 4 individual plates.
Cut each pear in half lengthways then slice, fan out and arrange, cut side down, in the dressing.
Serve at once.

Wednesday 22 September

Yesterday was a pretty bad day for me, all aches and pains and difficulty walking. My own fault really, because I walked too far the day before, resulting in my thighs giving me trouble. I suppose I should remember that I haven’t done any serious walking for a few years due to the dodgy knees. Now that I have new ones I’m keen to get fully mobile but, as the surgeon told me last week, this could take six months or more, so I suppose I’m just going to have to be patient.

We telephoned the local workshop yesterday to remind them about our heating problem. They have promised to come and take a look this afternoon, but although their service only costs £140 (only?) it could cost even more if the burner has to be replaced. Apparently it is best to have the unit serviced every year, preferably during the summer months when it is not being used so much.

The weather forecasters have told us to expect some really cold stuff from the north at the end of the week, so we really do need this to be carried out within the next couple of days.

I have my first appointment with the Diabetes Nurse this afternoon. Actually I’m quite proud of myself lately, especially where my blood glucose readings are concerned. I have managed to keep the readings within single figures for quite a while now, except for the occasional hiccup, which is usually due to Marian’s cakes and such. But I think I’m doing really well on that score. Now all I need is for my legs to ease up and allow me to get a proper nights sleep.

Thursday 23rd September

Well, nursey was not best pleased with me, despite my own feelings that I was doing pretty well. My cholesterol was too high at 5.4, with the good stuff being too low and the bad stuff being too high. So, more oily fish to raise the good stuff and more pills to lower the bad stuff.

Another blood test to be taken tomorrow to determine my average blood glucose level, because doctor forgot to include it in the last one. Considering the fact that the Phlebotomist had four stabs at finding a vein, finally resorting to asking a doctor to take my blood, it will probably be a lot of fun tomorrow.

The engineer turned up yesterday morning and checked the heater which, to everybody’s surprise, actually fired up. But, since it really does need a service, we asked him to take the unit away. He phoned soon after to tell us it really does need a new burner, so, instead of £140, we’re now looking at £280.

It is now almost 5.30 am and, with the weekend coming up and, with eight pages already written, I suppose it’s time to post.

Have a good weekend people.

Dave, Sheila and Rusty.