Shiralee at Willington #10

Sunday December 26th

A good day yesterday, managed to get to the pub which, as you would expect for Christmas day, was very busy. Being sneaky of course, we arrived early so as to grab a seat.

We would like to thank everybody who sent us a card. Sadly some of you didn’t have our new address, which is strange because Sheila texted everybody with it quite some time ago. Also, some cards are ay Alan’s house and he will forward them just as soon as he can get to the Post Office.

Wifey, as usual, was very good to me; my presents consisted of a new waterproof cap, the latest book by Stephen King, a hone twizzler and a double egg cup. This last item because I have two boiled eggs for my Sunday breakfast and the twizzler because I also like hone and cinnamon on my toast and crumpets. For my sins and because I have found it rather difficult to get to the shops without her in tow, I settled for some CD’s, two by Chris De Burgh and one by Michael Buble.

For Christmas dinner the usual Turkey with trimmings, except that this time, as per instructions from the Hairy Bikers, steamed the carrots and sprouts in butter and oil. Whilst this method retained the flavour of both vegetables, it seemed to leave the sprouts less than crunchy. An excellent meal all the same and we have plenty of turkey left for today’s cold meat and pickle with bubble and squeek. This time Wifey will cook the b and s in a couple of chef’s rings. Sounds good to meee!

Having managed to get to the pub yesterday, despite the sheet of ice covering the marina perimeter road, we’ll probably do so again today. Well, it is Sunday and I’ve missed a couple of late.
Now that the shortest day has passed we’re looking forward to daylight lasting a wee bit longer and, once the ice and snow have gone which, hopefully, will be later in the week, I’m getting out there for some walks around the marina. Got to get myself ready for cruising in April; haven’t decided where we’re going yet, but we still have three months in which to do so.


Thursday 30th December and we are just two days away from another year.

I find it difficult to believe that 2010 has passed us by so quickly. Not only that, when you consider our arrival at Pillings Lock Marina in September 2009 and we only have another three months before we’ll be off cruising again, the time has raced by.

So much has happened in the intervening space of time. The main thing was having my knees sorted out. At times, I have to confess, I’ve wondered if it was worth the effort but, after just five months, I’m getting around much easier, sleeping better and no longer spending time in the armchair. Alright, so my time in bed is still not as comfortable as I would like, but I’m sleeping longer and not getting up so often, except for the usual old man’s problem.

Of course we’ve had our problems, not least of which has been the pump-out unit, the motor of which finally gave up the ghost. However, even that cloud had its silver lining.

Had it not been for our decision to remove the existing unit and replace it with a cassette loo, we would have been in serious trouble during the recent weeks of really cold weather.

We would have been forced to use our electric pump-out pump, empty some of the tank content into a plastic, 5 gallon drum, trundle it to the disposal unit, trundle it back and repeat the operation several times in a row.

Monday 3rd January 2011

So, what do you think of it so far? Apart from the change in TV programmes this year seems much the same as last. It’s still miserable weather wise and I’m still up and down like the proverbial bridge during the night. If it’s not my legs giving me trouble, it’s mother nature waking me up for a pee.

I’m still out of bed by 5.15 am on most days and I’m still pounding away at the laptop. Today I listed 16 language courses on eBay and they only cost me £0.20p each to list.

Today, in advance of the usual broody time of Spring, we had a bit of a clear out of the storage space under the dinette. We filled two carrier bags of stuff to take to the charity shop in Derby tomorrow and we filled a black sack with rubbish.

When the ice finally disappears from the marina, we’ll take the boat for a final pump-out of the now defunct tank. Then perhaps we’ll be able to remove the tank and create some more storage space.

My dearly beloved keeps a check on what books she reads. This morning after consulting her diary for 2009, she discovered she had waded her way through 70 books. Now, since I am a much faster reader than she is, I must have read at least 100 but, since I don’t keep count, I have no idea how many I have read. So, from now on I will be listing my finished books in my own diary. Watch this space for the end of the year.

Tomorrow Derby, to get rid of our junk to the charity shop.

Thursday 6th January and we didn’t get to Derby yesterday, instead we drove into Burton. The plan for Tuesday was to catch the bus in to town but, as the perimeter road was icy, we decided to leave it another day. By the time Tuesday morning came around, we had decided on Burton and managed to dispose of two shopping bags full of our junk. No doubt somebody else will find a use for it all.

Whilst in Burton we popped into the local Primark shop because I really could do with some new jeans. I have had to bow to the inevitable and go up a size to 38 inch waist. Anyway, at just £16 for two pairs – cheap and cheerful, that’s me – I thought they would do for sculling around the boat in. How wrong can you be? One pair, although labelled up as 38, were actually a very small 36, whilst the other pair were button up fly, which I hate.

Having missed out on Derby yesterday, Wifey will be catching the bus there this morning, when she will also return my jeans to the Derby branch of Primark. I don’t think I’ll bother shopping there again.

I won’t be accompanying Wifey to Derby today because I have a lot to do on the computer, mostly listing eBooks on eBay and catching up on emails. Talking about which, I’m having problems sending emails these days. There are times when they simply refuse to go and I get the nag screen at top left.

This morning I had the same problem and I had only just logged on. I have a feeling it’s an internal problem and so, just for a change, I’ve attached the modem to a different USB port and, so fat it seems to be working OK.

Friday 7th January and, lucky old me, I have a cold. Strangely my lungs have been feeling a wee bit congested of late and I was thinking of going to the doctor’s. But I suddenly realised that I had the beginnings of a cold, and so I grabbed the Beecham’s Powders and set to. I also am not too sparing with the Vick’s Vapour Rub on these occasions. In the past I have, on these occasions, suffered quite badly with breathing problems due to Asthma and now, if the quacks are right, COPD or Chronic Obstructed Pulmonary Disease.

Personally I think they are wrong on that diagnosis because, as has happened in the past, I have almost grown out of the Asthma. Indeed, it is now many years since I have suffered an attack, and that was prior to our buying the shop in Kent back in the late 80’s. Anyway, I am now fighting off a cold, not Man Flu, I hasten to add, just a simple snot-nosed cold with the accompanying cough. Lucky old Alan, he’s coming to visit tomorrow for a couple of days!!

Shopping today at Morrison’s.

Wednesday 12th January and I have to ask where the week has gone. Is it really five days since I pounded out my last missive on this blog?

Mind you, the cold didn’t give me much incentive for blogging and we had my kid brother down at the weekend. Naturally we took him to our local watering-hole and fed him with a rather delightful stew and dumplings.

That was on Saturday. On Sunday, without too much persuasion, Wifey agreed to a return visit. Bless her little cotton socks, all she has is a coffee then sits there watching me guzzle the Guinness.

On Monday we emptied out the storage box underneath Wifey’s side of the dinette and split it up into stuff for charity shop and rubbish. Thus far, since starting this clear out we’ve taken five full shopping bags to charity shops and three black sacks to the tip.

Alan kindly replaced a leaky radiator for us on Sunday morning, which we took to the Burton amenities site. The only thing left to get rid of is the waste tank from our defunct pump-out unit, but we can’t do that until we empty it out. All that’s in it now is water, which we’ll probably pump out just as soon as we can get to the pump-out unit. Once that job is done we can try removing the tank from under our bed and taking it to the tip. This will give us a huge amount of extra storage space.

Our next job is to sort through our CDs and dispose of the ones we no longer need, which means listing them on eBay, darned if I’ll see them go to a charity shop. Actually, since we tend to call in on them each time we go to Burton, we’ve noticed how much more expensive they have become. It’s nothing now to find ourselves [paying £2.00 or more for a paper back book. At other times we can still find them for as little as 99p.

I now have 16 foreign language courses listed on eBay, all for the princely sum of £2.25 each, with free post and packing. Thus far, for my first listing, I have sold three, but it’s early days yet. These courses originated from the Foreign Services Institute of America and were designed to teach their diplomats proficiency in the language of the country they were being posted to.

They were originally used in a classroom under the tutelage of a speaker of the language concerned and had student notes and audio tapes. These have been converted now into MP3 audio and include Student Notes in .pdf. You could pay hundreds of pounds for similar courses but, if you are looking for a good, basic grounding in the language, these courses really are ideal.

I also have a mass of other audio books that I’m almost ready to list, hopefully before the weekend.

Friday 14th January

Went to see the nurse yesterday for my annual COPD check up but, since I still had some congestion on my lungs from the recent cold, the obligatory flow meter effort was deemed superfluous. I now have to return in a couple of weeks. That will be another two weeks closer to getting some cruising in.

We’ve just read an article in one of the boating magazines, which has an eight page pull-out about the Chesterfield Canal. For those of you with a Waterways Map, you’ll find it running west off the River Trent at West Stockwith. We’re not normally too keen on tidal stretches of river because they can be somewhat unpredictable, but we might just give it a shot.

Alternatively, and if we’re feeling really brave, we might venture up to the Lancaster. Most boaters who have done this stretch of water, will tell you that it is a really pleasant run. However, there is the small matter of the Ribble Link. This is a stretch of tidal water on the River Ribble that joins the north and south stretches of the Lancaster Canal.

Passage along this part of the Ribble is limited to just once per day and it is necessary to book passage. Boaters are required to go in convoy and have a reliable means of communication, just in case of a disaster or two. A good anchor is also a necessity.

Of course, we could decide against either of these options, and we do have a rather good reason to consider this, because we may want to try finding next winters mooring a wee bit further south. It would be nice to be able to visit with family for a change. What with having my knees replaced, it took some considerable time before I could drive again and, even now, I’m rather reluctant to take long drives and Harlow is at least two hours away from here.

There’s also the matter of fuel costs to consider. We topped up today and, even though we still had a quarter of a tank full, it cost us just over £60, £40 of which would be used up driving down to Harlow.

We are also considering selling the car before we go cruising in April. Apart from the fact that it needs a little work carried out on it, such as brakes and transmission, there’s Road Tax, MOT and Insurance costs, not to mention depreciation. We think we’ll probably save over £500 if we sell it and keep the money until next winter, when we can look around for another one at a reasonable price.

Anyway, the weekend is now upon us and so I’m going to post this, the first blog of 2011.

Cheers for now.

Oh! Before I go, here’s a very nice little recipe from my own book.

Colne Chicken

A grilled chicken dish from the villages in the Colne Valley near Colchester in Essex.

The Colne Valley has a flood plain which spans approximately 385 ft by the time it enters Colchester. This area is used as pasture, as the river at this stage has no safeguards against it rising the two feet it needs to burst its banks, although it is split between two pasture areas in Spring Lane, Old Lexden. Roughly to the south of Colchester North Station, the river passes under a bridge and into a concrete-lined area that was used as an open-air bathing facility until the 1960s, and is now used by canoeists.

Ingredients:
Serves: 4

4 chicken breasts (boned and skinned)
8 rashers of streaky bacon
juice of one lemon
½ tablespoon chopped sage
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
grated rind of one lemon

Method:

Set the grill to hot.
Flatten the chicken breast with a wet knife and cut in half lengthways.
Brush the chicken pieces with lemon juice.
Mix together all the herbs and sprinkle each piece of chicken with the herbs and lemon rind.
Wrap a rasher of streaky bacon around each piece of chicken and grill until cooked.
Serve two pieces of chicken to each person with roast or sauté potatoes and a green vegetable.