Shiralee at Willington #6

Tuesday 19th October.

It is now almost 3.30 pm and it has stopped raining, at last.

I am now working on another recipe book, this time devoted to the Irish, of which there seem to be as many recipes for Irish Stew, as there are people in that fair land. I doubt that I’ll be able to itemise the recipes by county, as I did with the English book. Instead I will probably sort them into groups, such as Soups, Main Meals, and Sweets etc.

Wednesday 20th October and we still haven’t managed to get to Derby. Wifey still has a bad cough but, I’m pleased to say that, apart from a slight cough, my man-flu has just about cleared up.

Yesterday, when we went to Tesco in Mickleover, we walked up a slight gradient to the bank. Having completed our business there, we then walked down that same gradient to Tesco, walked around the store, back to the car park and home. All of which gave my legs something to think about.

I don’t know what it is but, whenever I go for a walk of even a short distance, I tend to suffer for it. Today we drove into Willington and called into the Post Office and the Co-op, but even that short stroll has left me with painful calf muscles. I have been told by all and sundry, that in order to reduce the water retention, I need to exercise more, which is what I’m doing, but I can see no reduction in the swelling and, to be honest, it’s becoming a blooming nuisance. I suppose I’m going to have to make another appointment with the quack.

I won’t know until we see how Sheila is feeling in the morning, whether we’ll be going to Derby, but I’m hopeful.

Friday 22nd October

Earlier this morning, when most of you are still crashed out in your pits, the sky was heavily covered with cloud and it looked to be turning into a pretty gruesome day. It is now 9.15 am and the cloud is clearing and the sun is out. What’s more, there’s only a light breeze and Wifey reports that it is ‘quite nice’ out there.

Yesterday we finally made it into Derby and parked in the Westfield Centre. This is a basement car park, which meant a climb up a flight of stairs and, I’m pleased to say that I had no problem with these at all. Things are looking up!

I had hoped to find a stationery store, such as Staple’s or Ryman’s but, alas, these were conspicuous by their absence. Unfortunately these two stores are in different locations and I wasn’t really prepared to drive around looking for them. I have about 17 books to list on Amazon, so I really do need to find one of these stores soon, because I don’t want to pay Post Office prices for padded envelopes.

I think I overdid the walking though, even though I rested frequently, because my calf and thigh muscles were screaming at me yesterday evening. However, those same muscles are pretty quiet this morning, I’m pleased to say.

Do you watch Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Thursday evenings on Channel 4? Well, we try not to miss it, unless it clashes with something else of course, but that’s unlikely when you consider the rubbish being aired these days – (that will be a bit of a bitch for a future blog).
Last night Hughie was doing breakfast foods. He’s not a big fan of cereals and toast, which are the two items Sheila and I are most likely to consume. He’s more in favour of pancakes and drop scones and, after watching his efforts at cooking up these items, I decided to download a few from www.channel4.com/food this morning.

I eventually downloaded Drop Scones, which are a kind of miniature pancake, Honey and Peanut-Butter Booster Bars, which are similar to what our cousins across The Pond would call a Granola Bar and Blueberry and Cinnamon Scones., all of which I will print out for my dear wife to experiment with.

I didn’t much like his approach to splitting up the, almost sacred, Full English Breakfast. What was he thinking of? The concoctions he and his pet chef came up with struck me as rather dumb. Believe me, I’m a great fan of the Full English and, if I wasn’t so lazy and didn’t want to get any bigger than I am already, I’d get stuck in every morning. But, to split the usual ingredients of the FIB into sausage stuffed mushrooms and such, and turning the results into a 3 course meal for lunchtime consumption, well, words fail me.

This morning, sometime after Wifey has finished her washing, we might pop into Burton to see if we can find Staple’s or Ryman’s stores. Without those envelopes I cannot list my books on Amazon, because Amazon insist on posting within two days once a sale is made.

Saturday 23rd October and it has been raining for most of the night. No matter though because we had a very good morning out yesterday.

We had planned on going in to Derby but instead decided on Burton. There are a couple of really good indoor markets there and we enjoyed a good walk around them, picking up a few bits of shopping on the way. Of course, with my still rather tender knees, I had to stop and sit a few times, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hour and a half we spent there.

The object of the exercise was to find some large, padded envelopes so that I could list my books on Amazon. These we managed to find at Ryman’s, at a fraction of the cost of individual items at Post Office outlets. Later today I’ll be posting these books and, hopefully, will see a reasonable return on them.

Some books, those which do not have an ISBN number, or are too cheap to post on Amazon I’ll be posting on eBay. Unless you are a big seller on Amazon, books without ISBN cannot be sold there? Yeah, me too!!

As for today, well, if this weather continues we won’t be going anywhere, except perhaps our wee shop on the marina, just for the paper and a bottle of milk.

Tuesday 26th October and, after a gloriously sunny day yesterday, we have had plenty of rain today.

Last night was the first that I have been able to stay in bed all night, without having to spend time in the armchair. You have no idea how relieved I am about that. Of course, the night was not without the usual aches and pains in my knees but, rather than resort to the armchair, I simply spent 10 minutes or so relaxing at the dinette then returned to bed.

This evening we are off to Willington to their weekly auction, which is held in the Village Hall. We’ve not been before but, on hearing that Brian and Marian are going, we decided to tag along with them.
Yesterday we paid a visit to Morrison’s and, just for a change, I managed to walk around the store without having to stop and sit down. Things are indeed looking up at last.

Saturday 30th October

As you will probably have gathered, nothing much of interest has happened this week. I won’t belabour the point here but, despite one night where I managed to avoid sleeping in the armchair, I’m afraid I’ve had to return to that mode of sleeping. A visit to the doctor is called for I think.

Just for something to do, apart from the recipe books of course, I am now in the throes of starting to sell eBooks on eBay. There’s nothing really complicated about this, I just need to find suitable collections of eBooks to promote. The idea is to make a few quid extra per month, simply to top up our pensions. I have another five months to go before we go cruising again, and it would be nice to think I could amass some savings to help with the cost of diesel at least.

To this end I have purchased instructions as to how best to go about this venture. There is such a thing on eBay as a Power Seller. This is a person who achieves a minimum of 100 sales per month (bronze seller), which is the minimum level. I am NOT looking to be a Power Seller. This would entail working at it on a permanent basis, and that would not be possible whilst we are cruising. Internet access is not very reliable in some parts of the country, and this shows itself along many parts of the waterways.

Anyway, starting right now and once I have purchased some books, or even downloaded them for free, I will be going for it. Watch this space.

Now, how about another recipe? This one is from Cumberland

Apple and Bacon Pudding

Ingredients:

For the suet pastry:

8 oz self-raising flour
1 level tsp salt
½ level tsp dry mustard
4 oz finely chopped suet.
About ¼ pint cold water

For the filling:

1 lb streaky bacon, roughly chopped
4 oz cabbage heart, chopped fine
½ lb cooking apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 large onion, chopped fine
2 level tbsp black treacle
Pepper to taste

Method:

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl
Add the suet and water and make a stiff dough
Set aside enough pastry for a lid
Line two 2 x ½ pint, well greased pudding basins with the remainder
Mix the filling ingredients together and fill the basins
Cover the basins with the rest of the rolled out pastry
Cover with grease-proof paper and steam for about 3 hours
Serve with new potatoes and fresh vegetables

There now, that should stick to your ribs!

Monday 1st November and a new month is upon us, with a rather dreary start.

This morning I started the listing of all the books we don’t want, the first of which found its way onto eBay. This is a cheapy book about playing guitar.

Yesterday I ordered two DVD’s from an eBay seller, which will be the foundation of my new part time income. The first of these DVD’s contains 43 audio books, all of which I can sell individually or in small bundles if they seem to be related to each other. The second DVD contains 16 foreign language courses that include all necessary student notes in PDF format.

My next step will be to trawl through eBay to see how much these items are selling for and price them accordingly. I will also need to design labels for the CD’s or DVD’s that I burn them to. Initially I will be using sticky labels for the discs but, if I am fortunate enough to do well, I will outsource the burning of a design onto the discs; much more professional, don’t you think?

Thursday 4th November

Over the past couple of months we have had problems with our pump-out unit. Sam Matts, our friendly, neighbourhood engineer from Foxton Boatyard, has done his level best to repair it, but to no avail.

Last week, having discovered that a ribbon tape connector was damaged, he managed to circumvent the lead and got it working again. However, much to our dismay the toilet packed up altogether. When Sam visited us again he came to the conclusion that the motor is now incapable of pushing the contents of the bowl into the tank. After contacting Lee Sanitation for a price he tells us they want about £500 for a new one.

Sheila and I sat down and considered our options. On the one hand, when we looked back to when we bought the boat, we remembered why we had asked for a pump-out unit to be fitted. We realised that, following on from my cancer treatment, a cassette toilet – similar to those used in caravans – would not be adequate and would probably need emptying every other day, not an option when cruising.

So, yesterday we started looking around at the price of cassette toilets, because now, if we fit one of those it would not only save us £15 every fortnight for the pump-out, our boat would always be on an even keel and we wouldn’t have to suffer the smell from the tank exhaust when the wind is in the wrong direction.

Eventually we settled on a nice, new cassette unit that was on special offer at Shardlow Chandlery and saved about £70 on the normal price. £310 is a far cry from £500, don’t you think? All we have to do now is get Sam back here to remove the broken loo and fit the new one. We then have to find the nearest Public Amenities unit to dispose of the loo and the holding tank.

For reasons best known to ourselves and that would not be appreciated if they were included in this blog, we have decide to move to a different mooring spot. If I can find time later I may email friends and family about it. Suffice it to say that we are not happy about it. Not happy at all.

Now, a wee Irish joke and I’ll post this latest missive.

A young Irishman sat at a pub in the New World drinking beer and conversin' with the barkeep. Another comes in and sits besides him.

He says, "How you do", and hears the lilt and says, "You be Irish?"

"Yes I am".

The first man yells, "Barkeep, give us another round and one for my friend here, he's from the mother country as well."

The second man asks, "So where in the old country ye from?"

"Dublin", responds the first.

"Dublin you say - so am I" and the second man hollers "Barkeep, bring us another round and a shot of your best Irish whiskey for me and my friend here".

Afterwards the first man asks from where in Dublin and the second man responds with the street and the first man says, "Well I'll be - so am I", and yells, "Barkeep, another pair of beers and Irish Whiskey for the pair of us".

The phone behind the bar rings and the barkeep answers it. The owner of the pub asks, "How is business?"

The barkeep responds, "Not too bad, the O'Malley twins are here getting drunk again"

Cheers for now

Dave, Sheila and Rusty