Shiralee at Willington # 12

Monday 1st February and a right downpour we are getting. I still have to be a wee bit careful in wet and icy weather, so I have to leave Wifey to take the pooch for her call of nature when such weather comes about. Today is one of those days.

My body may be almost 69 years of age, but my mind is still somewhere in the lower teens. This puts something of a strain on my temper, as you can imagine. Not being able to walk over long distances without a stick is one such curse. Another is not sleeping as well as I would like. As a teenager I could sleep all day if mother would have allowed it. These days I’m up at least twice during the night and I’ve just about had it by 5 am and am on the laptop enjoying my first cuppa of the day before 5.30am.

I’ve been onto eBay this morning, checking up on the CD’s I listed almost 10 days ago. Of the nine I listed I have bids on just three. Oh, whoopee! The rest will probably go to a charity shop when next we go into Burton.

I’ve also been downloading stuff and managed quite a few Mb before it rained. Then, just as I was going through eBay, my connection dropped. How odd that it had just started that downpour. I am now going to change over to 02 for my Internet connection and cancel my account with Three. I’m aiming for a complete deal with 02 because I already have my mobile account with them. With a bit of luck I’ll save some money.

We plan on leaving here on 1st of April, assuming the weather is kind to us. Since we are going to be needing the car up until 27th March, if only for the family do, I’m hoping Alan will be able to sell it whilst we are cruising. This will also save us quite a bit if cash over the six or seven months we’re away. With the cash from the sale we’ll be able to buy another one when we moor up for the winter again.

Wednesday 2nd February

Well, of the nine CD’s I listed on eBay, five have sold and that’s not a bad result. Only one of them am I awaiting payment for. So, we’ll probably pop into Willington this morning to post four of them off. Rather than give the others to a charity shop; I do believe most of them are being far too greedy these days; I’ll put them back in the rack until further notice.

Amongst those I listed – and I really am pleased it didn’t sell – is a 6CD set of George Gershwin music. The first two discs, which come as a set, include songs sung by the likes of Fred Astaire and his wife Adele and also Judy Garland. There are also a few instrumental numbers by the great man himself on piano. The other four are orchestral arrangements played by The Hamburg Radio Dance Orchestra and include works by Gershwin, Cole Porter, Lerner & Loewe and Irving Berlin. Yep, I can safely say I’m pleased they didn’t sell.

Monday 7th February.

On Friday after shopping, we popped across to B&Q to buy a new lock for the front door but, having studied them and found them rather wanting in price, we settled for a hasp and staple type with an integral lock, to which they supplied two keys.

Having bought the new lock we then needed some wood with which to support the new shoot-bolts. These are necessary in order to secure the second front door.

Later in the day I decided to have a go at fitting the shoot-bolts. After all, how hard can it be? Sadly my temper got the better of me, as it often does when attempting a bit of DIY. I really don’t know why I bother sometimes, these sudden plunges into the depths of sod-it-I-can’t-be-bothered attitude, are the main reasons I usually do not do my own engine maintenance or any other essential maintenance work.

Anyway, knowing I was only going to make a hash of it if I continued, I downed tools, it’s a lot of years since I went out on strike, I can tell you.

Sunday, as you know, is my one and only beer day, and attempting such things after a couple of pints, well, you get the picture. So, just as soon as we’ve had breakfast, or maybe after reading the paper, I’ll have another go today.

Having survived over four years without a lockable front door, you would have thought we could well do without it, but it’s just one of those things we’ve been meaning to do and simply haven’t got around to doing. Actually it is lockable, but not from the outside and there are times when we would prefer to use the front.

We still have the dubious privilege of removing our waste tank and taking it to the tip, but that’s for another day. It’ll surely be fun though and I’m not convinced we’ll get it in the car.

I am still working on the recipe book and adding pretty pictures to some of the pages, but I have now decided to include a section that lists all the recipes under their relevant headings, such as meat, poultry, sweets and game, etc.

However, whatever I do now to complete this book, it’s doubtful I’ll have enough time to actually list it on eBay or Amazon, who now do electronic books, or so I’ve been told. As you know, getting online whilst cruising is not always easy and I would hate to have an unhappy customer, just because I was offline for a few days, which does happen and far more frequently than you would think.

The only sure way of getting this book out there, would be for me to set up a mini web site with a download page, and I might still do that. That would leave me in a position whereby I could monitor the site on a fairly regular basis. Ah well, we shall see what we shall see.

Wednesday 9th February.

I very nearly forgot to mention our wee faux pas on Monday. Why is Monday almost always washing day? Well, anyway, there was Wifey, diligently watching over a hot washing machine when, having had enough of staring at the whirling dervish behind the window, she decided to make a cup of tea. This lazy so and so was far to busy on the laptop to consider such a menial task.

All of a sudden the tap started spluttering and the pump was making a rather gasping and wheezing sound, all of which pointed to even more expense. After we started breathing again and I stopped pulling what is left of my locks out of my scalp, we calmed down and realised we had simply run the water tank dry. In more than four years of living on a boat we have never run out of water. Even in the icy weather, when outside taps tend to freeze solid, we still manage to keep enough water in the tank. So, that’s a first for us, never to be repeated, we hope.

Yesterday we drove into Burton for a few bits and pieces. Whilst there we also called into the 02 shop and asked about combining our phone and Internet in one deal. No deal available and, just for once, the nice lady behind the counter actually told us the truth. You see, I happened to mention that Three, the company we have our Mobile Broadband with, ride on the back of the 02 system, which is why we were looking to change to 02. “Oh no”, said the nice lady, “Three have their own masts and everything”.

So, off we then trotted to the Three shop and, without further ado, upgraded the dongle to a new one.

Today, simply because the new-fangled dongles only have direct attachment via a USB plug to the laptop; unlike the old one, which has another small socket at the opposite end, into which can be plugged an extension lead; we took the bus into Derby so as to buy another extension lead, this time with a USB plug at one end and a socket at the other. I can now hang the new dongle up at the window, thus ensuring clearer reception.

Tomorrow I will set the new dongle up and hope against hope that it is an improvement on the old one.

Sunday 13th February

Thursday I tried programming in the new dongle, with it attached to the extension lead we bought in Derby. Useless!! That’s the only word to describe it adequately. Of course, having tried the lead with the new dongle, I tested it with the old one and that didn’t work either.

Now, this lead only cost me £3 but, even at 3 quid, I think I have the right to expect it to work.

On Friday, which is our usual shopping day, we first did the Morrison thing and then we popped around the corner to PC World. When I explained our dilemma to the nice floor-walker, he was not in the least surprised that my lead didn’t work. His look said it all, “what can you expect for £3?” Anyway he led us to a rack that carried all kinds of extras, including a 3 metre Belkin extension lead which, he assured me, would indeed work.

So, on Saturday morning I attempted to programme in the new dongle, having first checked that the new lead worked with the old one. It did. But I could still not get online with the new dongle, even though it was connected.

I am not a happy bunny. I suspect that, because this is a new dongle the settings in Outlook and IE possibly need adjusting, which is a job for the customer services people, and that means a ‘phone call on Monday.

Funnily enough, when I called the shop in Burton to tell them that, even with an extension lead the new one wouldn’t work – not knowing the lead was duff – she offered to give me the ‘phone number of the Help Desk, but I turned her offer down. I was pretty convinced that the dongle was at fault.

So, tomorrow I’m going to have to call again for that number and hope the engineer can help me set it up properly.

Meanwhile, it’s Sunday, a rest day and pub day, so I’ll give it no more thought. At least the old one still works.

Thursday 17th February

Yesterday, being a nice day and all, we topped up with diesel. As expected, the amount of fuel we had used since our last top-up, confirmed our belief that our heating system uses just ½ a litre per hour. At 82p/litre, that ain’t bad. When we get to cruising in April, we will be able to calculate the combined usage of cruising and heating. This is because, as is our normal practice, we will keep a running check of hours cruising and heating. Simple!!

Unfortunately, and to our utter annoyance, the damn heating stopped working again, this was on Monday evening. Linden came along on Tuesday afternoon and discovered that the heater fuel-pump and stopped. Luckily all it needed was a sharp tap and it burst into life.

We now have a quote from Linden’s boss Justin for supplying and fitting 4 new batteries, the rewiring of same and a complete engine service. In total, including labour, we are looking at £575. Phew! Sounds a lot but actually, considering the price of sealed batteries and engine spares, this is pretty reasonable. We are still awaiting a quote for the same from Sam, that’s the bloke who tried to repair our pump-out unit, without success. Well, he probably would have succeeded had it not been for the fact that he was quoted £500 just for a new pump.

Today is a lazy day in that we’re not going anywhere, not even into Burton because, all the stuff we need can be purchased at Morrison’s tomorrow. Success on a plate and a saving on petrol.

The sale of language courses is doing quite well and I have another two orders to fill today. Whoopee!!

Friday 18th February and I am not a happy bunny. Why?

Well now, I have just received a message from Three telling me I only have 20% of my Internet allowance left. How can this be, I muttered to myself? I’ve not had a problem with Three since the huge debacle over the Data Card back in 2006. At that time, after only a few weeks of usage, and not very successfully at that, we were told we had used three times our allowance for the month.

However, as angry as I was at this latest piece of news; quite naturally thinking they were trying it on again, having only upgraded to three times our previous allowance; I had a chat with Wifey before flying into high dudgeon. It seems our new tariff of 15 Gb doesn’t come into force until tomorrow, the 19th of the month. So, that’s alright then? We shall see. On reflection though, I have downloaded an awful lot of stuff of late, so it really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. With the new tariff though, it should all be plain sailing. Pardon the pun!

Saturday 19th February and the weather has changed somewhat, it’s now persisting quite heavily but, since we have no plans for cruising or shopping, all’s well with the world.

Sam phoned yesterday with the news that he cannot beat our price for batteries. We have now given the job to Justin at our local yard and Linden will carry out the work Wednesday 2nd March.

Talking about cruising, this is a fitting moment to appraise you lot of our plans for this year.

Weather permitting we will leave Mercia on 1st of April. If we experience sleet or snow; which has happened to us in early April before now; we will stay until it clears up to our satisfaction.

We are currently on the Trent and Mersey Canal and will proceed to cruise from Willington to Fradley Junction – Great Hayward – Stone – Kidsgrove and Middlewitch.
Then Shropshire Union to Wardle and Hurleston Junction and the Llangollen and Montgomery Canals.
Back to Shropshire Union to Autherley Junction and onto the Staffs and Worcester to Stourport on Severn
River Severn to Hawford and onto the
Droitwitch Canals to Hanbury Junction and the
Worcs. and Birmingham Canal to Worcester.
From there we will join the River Severn again and go on to Tewkesbury, where we will join the River Avon.
Next stop will be Stratford upon Avon, that’s assuming the Avon is not in flood.
From Stratford we enter the canal of the same name and plough on to Hockley Heath and the Grand Union Canal.
Onward and upward to Braunston and on to the North Oxford, which will take us to Hawkesbury Junction and the Coventry Canal, where we intend to visit Coventry first, then return to Hawkesbury and on to Marston and the Ashby Canal, which takes us down to Snarestone, which is the full extent of that canal.

This trip is only about 500 miles, so we might decide to investigate other options or, depending upon how much time we have left, return to Mercia or, if we have found alternative moorings, go on to those. However, if we do find alternative moorings, they will have to compare very favourably with Mercia pricewise.

Now, without further ado, I’ll post this latest scribe.

Luv and stuff from

Dave, Sheila and Rusty