Shiralee at Willington # 11

Saturday 15th January

We have woken up to a very strong wind, but no rain as yet; since we are not planning on going anywhere today, except perhaps to pick up some coal and a bottle of gas, this will not affect us greatly.

This morning I’ve been designing labels for the discs I will, hopefully sell. The take up of language courses has been slow, having only sold three from my first listing, but it’s early days yet. Of course the beauty of eBay is the fact that, if something doesn’t sell too well, you can simply look for other markets. I’m even considering software sales through drop-shipment, or even CDs and DVDs, but I’ve been there before and received more than my share of dissatisfied customers and was forced to sack my supplier.

I’m still working on that recipe book and have been gently pushed into finishing the project and selling it on eBay. I have to confess that, up until recently, I didn’t think it was good enough. It’s a nagging feeling that something is missing and not quite right about it. Of course, since the programme I was using was simply not up to taking so many pages, I have since converted the whole thing to PDF, but I still am not quite satisfied with the end result.

Now, bearing in mind that most of the recipes are fairly old and they are all English, I am now looking for late 19th and early 20th Century pictures of food and some of the towns from which some of the recipes originated. I’ve actually found some old stuff on Project Guttenberg, which is an American based public domain site, so I’m now hoping to find more of the same. As for old photos of old English towns and villages, that’s another story.

Tuesday 18th January

I can’t say I’m doing too will with finding old food images, although I have managed to download a whole load of old recipe books from Gutenberg, some of which contain pictures, most of which I have copied to a separate folder. I’ve also picked up some interest info from Wikipedia, which will come in useful.

The weekend went quite well and we enjoyed our usual hour or so at our local oasis. Monday we didn’t do much at all except to take the boat for a fill up of diesel. We think the engine must have been running on fumes, because we managed to cram 135 litres into the tank.

Over recent weeks because of the icy weather, we’ve been taking a couple of Jerry Cans around to the diesel pump as and when we needed it. We didn’t suspect for a minute that the tank was so low. It doesn’t pay to allow the level to drop too far, especially in warmer weather, because of the fuel bug and the build up of condensation. Fortunately, at the cost of goodness knows what, we’ll be replacing our batteries and having a full engine service.

We’ve also asked Sam, our engineer, to rewire the batteries whilst he’s here. The New Boat Company, from whom we purchased the boat, do not seem to have much idea about wiring batteries, it really is like a bunch of red and black spaghetti down there. It’s so bad that I have a great deal of trouble removing the caps when it comes time to top them up. Not that it will be a problem with the new ones, because we’re having sealed batteries fitted, and we’re going back to four domestics instead of the current six.
It seems that, although he meant well by the suggestion, the engineer who added the extra two didn’t thing to suggest a more powerful alternator. Even if he had done so, with the way the engine is laid out, it’s doubtful if we could have fitted anything more powerful.

Our neighbour has four 200Ah batteries, but only a 90Ah alternator, which means he has no hope of keeping the batteries charged up when they are cruising.

In future when cruising, we plan on mooring up in a marina every two weeks or so, just in order to keep the batteries as healthy as possible.

The sales of language Courses is just about managing to cover my costs, but I’m hopeful it will pick up the longer I keep them listed.

I’m still awaiting a price for a disc from my American friend Debra – she of Pirates of the Public Domain fame –which has to do with selling recipe books via blog. This information comes on a video which, as you all know, can be a bit of a pain when downloading on slow speed Internet access. Our Debra, unfortunately, does not now have the backing of Logan, who was her partner in the ‘Pirates’ enterprise, so she’s pretty busy. Last I heard she was awaiting a price from the originators of the video for putting it on a disc and posting to me.

Thursday 20th January

I think I’m cracking up. Wifey is certain of the fact. Finding it necessary to drive over to Shardlow for a new water filter this morning, we popped out to the car and grabbed the scraper for de-icing the windows. One side was clear because it had the sun on it, so I left Sheila to clear the other side.

I was about to climb in and start the engine when I noticed some gravel on the carpet. I hate it when I’m driving and can feel something under my feet that shouldn’t be there. Anyway, I quickly pulled the carpet out, gave it a quick shake to dislodge the offending article and replaced the carpet.

I then started the engine and had the surprise of my life when the revs shot up to 3000!! After a bit of stamping on the throttle it soon came down and I sat there waiting for the automatic choke to cut out. Well, it did so eventually, but it still continued speeding up all on its own.

Not to be beaten by a silly old engine, we continued on our way, with me cursing and swearing all the way to Shardlow and threatening to put the damn car up for sale at the earliest opportunity. I swore blind I would never, ever buy another Alfa.

That was, until we arrived at the chandlery in Shardlow, when, upon climbing out of the car, I noticed that the corner of the carpet was sitting on the throttle. What a plonker!!

Needless to say I am not now getting rid of my lovely little Alfa.

Saturday 22nd January and I have another stinking cold and cough. I really must get out more, I’m convinced that being cooped up in this boat during the icy weather is doing nothing good for my health. So, from today, regardless of the weather, I am going for a walk around the marina, or part of it, every day.

Now, I’m not one for reading my daily Horoscope. However, when we but the Daily Mail on Saturdays, Wifey does read Mr Cainer’s offerings and this Saturday was no different. Anyone reading his column on a regular basis will be aware that he has a sense of humour and so, without more ado, I give you Sheila’s horoscope for today.

Cancer June 23 – July 23.

“They say that what counts is not what you know but who you know. Yet what matters most is neither what you know nor who you know, nor even what who you know, knows. It is all down to who you know knows! With me so far? OK. This is where it gets tricky. If who you know knows what you know, they can tell what you know to who they know. But you want who they know to know you! So, don’t tell all you know to you-know-who. Just get them to tell you what they know about who they know! Remember that and this will yet be a surprisingly straightforward and satisfying week.”

I leave you to ponder!!

Thursday 27th January.

My, doesn’t time fly? As you all know, I’m an early bird, usually falling out of the pit at around 5 am. This means I’m on the laptop before 5.30 and have lots of time to investigate eBay and any sales I may have made with my Language Courses. It’s a bit slow I must confess, but I’m making a few bob.

Anyway, there was I burning French and Swahili to disc, when it suddenly occurred to me that it had been a while since I last posted a blog. In fact, looking at the start date of this one, which is already five pages long, it’s almost a fortnight ago.

But, five pages is not really that long and so, since it will only be a few minutes before Wifey rises from the murky depths and I have labels to print before I get breakfast ready, I will leave this until tomorrow or, just to make it the full 14 days, do it on Saturday morning.

We’re off to Burton again today, just to have a mooch around and possibly call in to B&Q for a Yale lock for the front door. We already have a lock on the inside, but that forces us to use the back door when we go out. With a proper lock on the outside front, we can slip out that way, which is more convenient whilst we are moored bow first in the marina.

I’m sure there are other things Wifey needs, otherwise we probably wouldn’t bother today. Besides, I do like Burton, and it makes a pleasant break for us both.

Monday 31st January

Well, so much for promises, it’s now Monday, the weekend has gone and I still haven’t posted this blog. No matter, the weekend went smoothly for us, as I hope it did for you lot.

Wifey received an email from Wee McSis up there in Haggisland to the effect that the family soiree will be on Friday 25th march. Why Friday I ask myself, and I think I’m cracking up.

Hey, I’m kidding, it’s really Sunday 27th. OK? Looking forward to it too. Mind you it doesn’t give us much leeway, only four days before we set off on our cruise to who knows where. Probably the Llangollen and Montgemery Canals to start with and then make our way south to the Rivers Severn and Avon, which we failed to complete way back when.

Our usual Sunday visit to our local went very well this week, being inundated as it was with yompers. They had walked from the other side of Repton – which was once the capital of the old kingdom of Mercia – and were staying for lunch. Mind you, I don’t think they were really serious about their walking as they were catching the bus back. Still, they were a happy bunch and certainly livened the place up for a change. The pub is normally quite quiet but they really had it buzzing.

Today is a chill-out day for us. We have nothing in particular that we want or need to do, so we’ll just toddle over to the shop for the paper and settle down for a lazy day.

Now, I’ll get this thing posted. But first another recipe.

As it is still showing signs of being winter, we have a quite heavy frost here, I offer you a warming meal from Devon.

Exeter Stew with Parsley Dumplings

A typical beef stew from Exeter in Devon

Ingredients:

2 lb braising steak, cut into bite size pieces
2 heaped tbsp flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper
4 tbsp dripping
2 large onions, peeled and sliced
3 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 pints beef stock
1 tsp vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

For the dumplings:

6 oz plain flour
3 oz shredded suet
¾ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
¾ tsp dried mixed herbs
2½ tbsp chopped parsley
Milk to mix dumpling ingredients

Method:

Toss the beef in the seasoned flour and brown in the dripping in a large frying pan
Add the onions and carrots and cook gently until the onions begin to soften
Stir in the remaining seasoned flour and cook for a few minutes, stirring continuously
Whilst still stirring add the stock
Add the vinegar and bring to the boil
Cover and simmer for about 1¾ hours over a very low heat
Mix the dumpling ingredients together and make into balls of size preferred
Add the dumplings and simmer until done

And there you have it, another blog complete and ready to go. Enjoy your week folks.

Luv and Stuff from

Dave, Sheila and Rusty, our faithful but belligerent pooch.