Sunday 23rd December
I paid a pre-Christmas visit to Harlow on Friday. This included a stop off to visit Les and Colette and the usual scrounged cuppa and a chat. When you read this, I do hope you had a good time at Christmas and enjoy a pleasurable and easy going 2013.
Alan and I were supposed to be meeting his workmates in Old Harlow that lunchtime but, for some reason this was called off, so we popped along to the White Admiral pub, which has been run by the same woman for the past 30 years. Her name is Les and, when her and her husband Dave Roberts took it on, they were pretty successful. Some years ago Dave passed away and Les has a new partner named Ray.
Monday evenings at the Admiral are always pretty busy, probably because the beer is only £2 per pint. Friday and Saturday evenings are also pretty busy, but that’s because it’s such a darn good pub to spend a few hours in. The Admiral has always been a family pub and, I’m pleased to say, it still is. There are very few now that can claim that distinction.
The drive home on Saturday morning, all 135 miles of it, was horrendous, with rain all the way. This was probably the worst driving I have ever experienced, unless you consider a 100 mile trip in the back of a Mercedes, with my life in the hands of an African mine worker back in the late 60s. Now, that was an experience never to be forgotten. The speed that man reached, sometimes on nothing but dirt tracks had to be seen to be believed, scary doesn’t even come near to describing it.
Tuesday 25th December Christmas Day
Quite a few boaters have gone away for the next couple of days and our immediate neighbours have driven up to Blackpool, so we won’t hear anything from them. It’s another quiet Christmas for us this year and, to be honest, we rather prefer it that way.
Wednesday 26th December, Boxing Day
Christmas Day turned out to be most enjoyable, with a sudden urge to visit a pub in Willington. Had we known about the roast spuds and pigs in blankets, we probably wouldn’t have had to cook a proper Christmas dinner. Well, you know what I mean!
Apart from the dinner though, Christmas day was much like any Sunday, except it was Tuesday, which kinda messes things up for the rest of the week. Personally, I think Christmas Day should always come on a weekend, like Easter does. But, of course, that would spoil it for folks who still go to work, because they wouldn’t have all those extra days off. Shame!!
I had intended to back up the laptop this morning but, as usual, I was inundated with emails, all of which need to be replied to or dumped and so, once that’s been sorted, I don’t now have enough time before Wifey gets up.
Dinner today will be cold meat and bubble ’n’ squeak with pickles, our usual Boxing Day fare. No doubt we’ll finish off the bottle of wine from yesterday.
Thursday 27th December
Well, that’s it for another year. Christmas is over and the New Year is almost upon us. As usual, we will not be sitting up to see it in. It’s going to come anyway, now that the End of the World scare has fizzled out, so why wait to welcome it?
We still have loads of turkey left over from the crown Alan bought us and we still have a bacon joint to cook, so we won’t go without food for a while. Yesterday was the usual cold turkey and bubble, along with pickles and pickled onions. Lovely!
Saturday 29th December
Well, we are having fun at the marina. We have gale force winds and it’s been raining for most of the night. There are still loads of flood warnings in place up here in Derbyshire, as there are further south of us.
Yesterday we popped into Burton and whilst walking around the shops I spotted an Acer laptop in the display window of the newest electronics second hand shop. This is very similar to the Cash Converter shops, but laid out in a far more professional manner. Most of the items on sale are games and mobile phones, but the Acer gave us pause for thought.
At £310 it seemed a bit high priced for a second hand unit, and so we decided to check it out online and found a company that sell refurbished laptops with the same item for £270. However, when reading up on this particular model, a V3-531, some of the comments were pretty off-putting and we were not too impressed.
We then looked further down the list of items and found a Sony VAIO for the same price. I have now scanned the Internet for comparison prices between the two and have discovered that the Sony is usually priced at about £200 more than the Acer. Also, the spec on the VAIO is much higher and has Windows 7 Professional installed – we’ve read too many adverse reports about Win 8 to even think about any laptop with it installed. Besides, I don’t like touch screens, any more than I like touch pads, much preferring a mouse. I’m a wee bit old fashioned in that respect.
I had a touch screen phone for a very short while and every time I attempted to scroll to the item I wanted, the damn thing would open up on the first thing I touched. Similarly with the touch pad on the laptop, so I prefer to stick with the mouse. Maybe I’m a bit ham-fisted.
So, later today, rather than re-formatting the Toshiba, I’ll be purchasing the refurbished Sony. At £270 and with Win 7 Pro installed, I think this is a very fair price, and it comes with a 3 month guarantee.
Sunday 30th December
Well, we took the plunge yesterday and ordered the Sony laptop. But, we then had a bit of a scare. You know how it is when shopping online, especially when buying from a new source? You are never really sure if they are Kosher until you receive the goods.
As soon as the order went through I received confirmation along with the order number and destination. To my dismay; and that of my missus; the email suggested that not only was this Order #2, but that the billing address and destination were the same, but it wasn’t our address. Ooops! I really thought we had hit a bummer there and had parted with £270 for nothing.
Now, under normal circumstances I would not have included my mobile number on an online form but, for some reason best known to my brain’s inner workings, I did so on this occasion, which was just as well. Thinking perhaps that this may have been a con job I immediately emailed the site and threatened to cancel the order if they didn’t contact me immediately. This, by the way, had been paid through PayPal, so it’s pretty secure from con artists.
When I took another look at the actual Order Form on their site I realised that the two addresses I mentioned above were actually the address of the company. Anyway, the man did phone me later in the day and apologised for the flap his confirmation email had caused. Naturally he blamed it on a computer glitch and assured me that the item would be posted off that afternoon. So, we should have our new laptop by Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Hallelujah I say, this Toshiba is really becoming a pain in the ‘you know what’! All it really needs though is a total reformatting and reset to its original factory settings, which I shall do just as soon as the Sony arrives. After which I shall put it up for sale. Also I will then be able to grab the dongle upgrade or, assuming the WiFi is working, perhaps take their WiFi dongle instead.
Monday 31st December
Yesterday we popped along to our usual watering hole in Repton. Sadly, due to the flooded fields around here, there were none of the football lads in, so no chip butties. However, while we were sitting there my dear brother phoned, ostensibly to ask for our Aunt Mabel’s new address in Harlow. He was picking our sister Carole up and dropping her off there.
After telling him the address he then imparted some good news. Over the Christmas period the White Admiral pub ran a Lottery Bonus Ball competition of their own, something they have been doing for several years, probably since the Lottery started. Anyway, Alan bought four tickets, one each for himself, Valerie, Jason, his eldest son, and me. One of those tickets came up trumps and, after deducting the £10 ticket cost, we’re all £112.50p the richer.
So, after refurbishing the Toshiba and selling that on, with the lottery cash I have almost paid for the Sony, which means I can start building up my slush fund again.
Now, as New Years day is almost upon us, I’ll wish you all a very happy 2013. May all that you wish for yourself and loved ones come to pass. If not, well, there’s always 2014 to look forward to!!
All the best for now. See you in the New Year.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Sunday 30 December 2012
Thursday 20 December 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 6
Thursday 6th December
Having posted the most recent blog yesterday morning, we then continued with our day as usual. We drove into Burton, just for something to do and then, later in the evening I opened the laptop and checked my emails. Well, according to Google, somebody at some mining installation in Devon, tried to access my account. I actually followed the IP address in order to find them. But, I then looked at the time of day that they were supposed to have tried this and, lo and behold, it was at about the same time as I posted.
I am pretty sure this is a spoof email trying to get my password details and, since Google themselves believe my password to be very good, I think I’ll ignore this email, but save it for future reference.
Friday 7th December
From an iced up marina, to heavy rain and high winds overnight. What more could we ask for as Brits?
Saturday 8th December
Yesterday I paid a visit to my doctor who, as usual, was pretty blasé about my problems. Initially I simply went along for a review of my medication but, since I am having problems with painful legs and feet, I asked if there was any way of improving my circulation, because that’s what is probably causing the discomfort.
His response was, virtually, ‘heal thyself’. In other words, get rid of some of your excess weight and exercise more. Ah well, so much for the sympathetic ear.
In response to the exercise part, we do walk around the marina every day, just so long as it’s not raining. As for the losing weight part, well, since we don’t over indulge to any appreciable degree and I’, not about to join a sports club and throw weights about, I don’t see that changing any time soon. So I guess I’ll just have to put up with the discomfort.
Monday 10th December
Yesterday we returned a dog harness to The Range. We bought it as a means for lifting Rusty out of the boat but, even at its tightest setting, as we tried lifting her, the harness slipped forward and almost over her head. And that was the smallest one they did, so not a lot of use. We’ll have to find a jacket with a handle on.
We also popped into B&Q for some 12 volt bulbs as we were running low. Now, I’m not against charities raising money through volunteers but, outside both doors of B&Q were three young people, with boxes in hand and wishing all who entered and exited a Merry Christmas. No doubt they thought to ‘pleasantly’ intimidate people into paying up but, since we absolutely detest this smarmy approach, we didn’t even bother to look and see which charity they represented.
Walk through any town centre and you will find them, but they don’t usually stand in groups. Do these charities not realise how irritating they can be? I know they have to raise money somehow, but standing in shop doorways is guaranteed to annoy and probably loses more than it gains.
Tuesday 11th December
It looks like being a very cold week, so we’ll avoid going too far, except perhaps a drive into Burton sometime.
Yesterday we took the bus to Derby but, since we only get a bare hour before the bus back, we couldn’t do much by way of shopping. We called into the art shop for a particular colour pastel pencil, but they don’t sell single items, only sets. We also bought some heavy material so that Wifey can make some draught excluder curtains for the back doors. That’ll keep her busy for a while today.
Wednesday 12th December
We were expecting a very severe frost this morning, but it seems the experts have got it wrong again. They said it could be as low as -7 degrees this morning, but it’s barely hovering around zero.
We bought three items at the garden centre on Monday; two tops for Wifey and a pair of cargo pants for me – I’m changing my image! – but Wifey’s tops were both too long in the sleeve, so they had to go back yesterday. My cargo pants are lightweight and will be great for the milder weather and summer months. What I need now is a pair of lined ones for the colder weather. I’ve been wearing jeans and t-shirts for donkeys years as a matter of course, but I’m in need of a change and something of a more relaxed fit, something loser than jeans, hence the cargo pants.
I am gradually moving stuff from the laptop to my external hard drive prior to re-formatting. I’m trying to avoid buying a new one, at least until next year when we won’t have the expense of the bottom blacking on the boat.
During the course of our summer cruising I like to set money aside as a ‘slush fund’, something I’ve been doing for many years now, especially when I was bus driving for Chariots in Harlow, when any out of hours payment went into a tin. It’s always handy to have some spare cash around, especially when travelling, because you never know when it’s not possible to use a cheque or card.
When we returned to the marina back in October I had quite a bit put aside, some of which I have dived into for one thing or another. But, over the next 10 months, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, I’ll be able to buy a top of the range laptop, which means this Toshiba will have to suffice until then.
Saturday 15th December
We get The Daily Mail. We know that there are a vast amount of people who hate that particular rag, but we’ve become used to it. Yesterday we saw an ad from Staples, those office people, advertising a 32Gb Memory Stick for just £10. Gotta have one.
I have no idea where the nearest store is to us, but I’m sure I could find it if I search online. But, in the meantime I accessed their website and there it wasn’t. I am now thoroughly annoyed, because this smacks of a come-on. Advertise in the national press for a really cheap memory stick and they’ll come flooding into the stores. BUT, whatever you do, DON’T show it on our site.
Obviously, by the time I find their store locally, they will have sold out!
We called into the HMV store in Burton, hoping to pick up the Rod Stewart set of four CDs, which was also going for £10. Naturally, they too had sold out. Fortunately Wifey managed to pick one up when she took the bus into Burton later, all on her own too!!
Tuesday 18th December
We’re going on holiday! Yep, for the first time since buying ‘Shiralee’, we’re actually going somewhere other than by boat.
Next March ‘Shiralee’ goes in to have her bottom blacked. This takes four days, for which period she will be in dry dock and, since we can’t stay on board while this is happening, we’re going off for a week to a cottage in the Derbyshire Peaks. We could have, and probably would have gone much further a field but, since we’ve never holidayed in that area and, because Rusty kicks up such a stink when she’s in a car, we decided that the nearer to home, the better.
The BBC
We listen to Radio 2 and we often watch the BBC channels too. If you do too you would have noticed the increasing use of advertising throughout these radio programmes. O.K. they are advertising their own programmes and, I suppose, if they are to compete with all those other channels out there, they do need to put their own stuff across. But, do they have to spend so much time doing so? Our newspapers and magazines have programme lists, so why advertise them?
I find the radio far more galling than the television, but that’s only because the adverts break into whatever radio programme is on, whereas they only advertise between programmes on television. We particularly like to listen to the evening programmes on Radio 2, but even during an hour long programme; such as Mike Harding on Wednesday and Bob Harris on Thursday; we are subjected to at least three programme plugs. You can at least mute the TV, but have to endure this rubbish on radio.
Thursday 20th December
Well, only five days to go and it will all be over for another year.
We on Shiralee; that’s me, of course, Sheila, my wife of 30 years plus and our 15 year old Jack Russell, Rusty; wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2013.
Having posted the most recent blog yesterday morning, we then continued with our day as usual. We drove into Burton, just for something to do and then, later in the evening I opened the laptop and checked my emails. Well, according to Google, somebody at some mining installation in Devon, tried to access my account. I actually followed the IP address in order to find them. But, I then looked at the time of day that they were supposed to have tried this and, lo and behold, it was at about the same time as I posted.
I am pretty sure this is a spoof email trying to get my password details and, since Google themselves believe my password to be very good, I think I’ll ignore this email, but save it for future reference.
Friday 7th December
From an iced up marina, to heavy rain and high winds overnight. What more could we ask for as Brits?
Saturday 8th December
Yesterday I paid a visit to my doctor who, as usual, was pretty blasé about my problems. Initially I simply went along for a review of my medication but, since I am having problems with painful legs and feet, I asked if there was any way of improving my circulation, because that’s what is probably causing the discomfort.
His response was, virtually, ‘heal thyself’. In other words, get rid of some of your excess weight and exercise more. Ah well, so much for the sympathetic ear.
In response to the exercise part, we do walk around the marina every day, just so long as it’s not raining. As for the losing weight part, well, since we don’t over indulge to any appreciable degree and I’, not about to join a sports club and throw weights about, I don’t see that changing any time soon. So I guess I’ll just have to put up with the discomfort.
Monday 10th December
Yesterday we returned a dog harness to The Range. We bought it as a means for lifting Rusty out of the boat but, even at its tightest setting, as we tried lifting her, the harness slipped forward and almost over her head. And that was the smallest one they did, so not a lot of use. We’ll have to find a jacket with a handle on.
We also popped into B&Q for some 12 volt bulbs as we were running low. Now, I’m not against charities raising money through volunteers but, outside both doors of B&Q were three young people, with boxes in hand and wishing all who entered and exited a Merry Christmas. No doubt they thought to ‘pleasantly’ intimidate people into paying up but, since we absolutely detest this smarmy approach, we didn’t even bother to look and see which charity they represented.
Walk through any town centre and you will find them, but they don’t usually stand in groups. Do these charities not realise how irritating they can be? I know they have to raise money somehow, but standing in shop doorways is guaranteed to annoy and probably loses more than it gains.
Tuesday 11th December
It looks like being a very cold week, so we’ll avoid going too far, except perhaps a drive into Burton sometime.
Yesterday we took the bus to Derby but, since we only get a bare hour before the bus back, we couldn’t do much by way of shopping. We called into the art shop for a particular colour pastel pencil, but they don’t sell single items, only sets. We also bought some heavy material so that Wifey can make some draught excluder curtains for the back doors. That’ll keep her busy for a while today.
Wednesday 12th December
We were expecting a very severe frost this morning, but it seems the experts have got it wrong again. They said it could be as low as -7 degrees this morning, but it’s barely hovering around zero.
We bought three items at the garden centre on Monday; two tops for Wifey and a pair of cargo pants for me – I’m changing my image! – but Wifey’s tops were both too long in the sleeve, so they had to go back yesterday. My cargo pants are lightweight and will be great for the milder weather and summer months. What I need now is a pair of lined ones for the colder weather. I’ve been wearing jeans and t-shirts for donkeys years as a matter of course, but I’m in need of a change and something of a more relaxed fit, something loser than jeans, hence the cargo pants.
I am gradually moving stuff from the laptop to my external hard drive prior to re-formatting. I’m trying to avoid buying a new one, at least until next year when we won’t have the expense of the bottom blacking on the boat.
During the course of our summer cruising I like to set money aside as a ‘slush fund’, something I’ve been doing for many years now, especially when I was bus driving for Chariots in Harlow, when any out of hours payment went into a tin. It’s always handy to have some spare cash around, especially when travelling, because you never know when it’s not possible to use a cheque or card.
When we returned to the marina back in October I had quite a bit put aside, some of which I have dived into for one thing or another. But, over the next 10 months, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, I’ll be able to buy a top of the range laptop, which means this Toshiba will have to suffice until then.
Saturday 15th December
We get The Daily Mail. We know that there are a vast amount of people who hate that particular rag, but we’ve become used to it. Yesterday we saw an ad from Staples, those office people, advertising a 32Gb Memory Stick for just £10. Gotta have one.
I have no idea where the nearest store is to us, but I’m sure I could find it if I search online. But, in the meantime I accessed their website and there it wasn’t. I am now thoroughly annoyed, because this smacks of a come-on. Advertise in the national press for a really cheap memory stick and they’ll come flooding into the stores. BUT, whatever you do, DON’T show it on our site.
Obviously, by the time I find their store locally, they will have sold out!
We called into the HMV store in Burton, hoping to pick up the Rod Stewart set of four CDs, which was also going for £10. Naturally, they too had sold out. Fortunately Wifey managed to pick one up when she took the bus into Burton later, all on her own too!!
Tuesday 18th December
We’re going on holiday! Yep, for the first time since buying ‘Shiralee’, we’re actually going somewhere other than by boat.
Next March ‘Shiralee’ goes in to have her bottom blacked. This takes four days, for which period she will be in dry dock and, since we can’t stay on board while this is happening, we’re going off for a week to a cottage in the Derbyshire Peaks. We could have, and probably would have gone much further a field but, since we’ve never holidayed in that area and, because Rusty kicks up such a stink when she’s in a car, we decided that the nearer to home, the better.
The BBC
We listen to Radio 2 and we often watch the BBC channels too. If you do too you would have noticed the increasing use of advertising throughout these radio programmes. O.K. they are advertising their own programmes and, I suppose, if they are to compete with all those other channels out there, they do need to put their own stuff across. But, do they have to spend so much time doing so? Our newspapers and magazines have programme lists, so why advertise them?
I find the radio far more galling than the television, but that’s only because the adverts break into whatever radio programme is on, whereas they only advertise between programmes on television. We particularly like to listen to the evening programmes on Radio 2, but even during an hour long programme; such as Mike Harding on Wednesday and Bob Harris on Thursday; we are subjected to at least three programme plugs. You can at least mute the TV, but have to endure this rubbish on radio.
Thursday 20th December
Well, only five days to go and it will all be over for another year.
We on Shiralee; that’s me, of course, Sheila, my wife of 30 years plus and our 15 year old Jack Russell, Rusty; wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2013.
Tuesday 4 December 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 5
Friday 23rd November
Yesterday afternoon and evening we had a deluge of rain. The results of Wednesday’s rain could be seen when we drove into Burton yesterday morning. We’ve been mooring at Mercia for three winters now and. although we’ve had our fair share of rain, we’ve never seen the river so high before. It was very much like Kegworth in 2007, when we were stuck in the lock for 10 days, only much, much worse. The surrounding fields were totally waterlogged, to the extent that it was difficult to see the line of the river. I have no doubt that, following last nights rain those fields will be even more flooded.
Saturday 24th November
Well, so much for my visit to Harlow this weekend. The weather forecast is for more heavy rain, which is a mere fly in the ointment when living on a boat and snugly ensconced in a marina. But, taking a 200+ mile drive could prove disastrous for me if I want to get back to Mercia on Sunday.
This morning, in complete contrast, has started out with a thick, freezing fog, but we are told the heavy rain will be with us tonight. Global warming? Maybe! Man’s fault? Nah! Just a blip in the way the planet works.
Anyway, instead of enjoying a pint or three with Alan, it’s simply a case of following a normal weekend at home, which means some more painting and guitar practice. Of course, we won’t miss out on our Sunday drinky poohs, but we’ll probably stay local. Even driving towards Burton could be problematic if the rain is as heavy as has been suggested.
Sunday 25th November
Wow! What a night. From quite early yesterday evening we had torrential rain and high winds. This continued throughout the night and, at 6.30 am it’s still raining, although not as hard. Walking Rusty a short while ago, I noticed that the grassy areas nearby are saturated. Even the water level in the marina has risen by at least a couple of inches. When we go out later for a Sunday drink and chat, if there’s no traffic coming from Repton we’ll stay in Willington. We know the road to Stenson is flooded, so The Bubble is out.
Rotherham County Council.
What a bunch of snot-nosed, interfering meanies they are. Here we have a couple who, for the past seven years have successfully fostered a number of children needing some TLC. But, completely out of the blue, this council have removed the latest three from them, just because these loving foster carers belong to UKIP.
As that nice man from the Daily Mail is wont to say, “You couldn’t make it up”.
These kids are, supposedly, Euro migrants and, in their infinite wisdom, this council decided that they should not be influenced by the foster couple’s political beliefs. So, had this council been Conservative and this couple been members of the Labour Party, do you suppose these children would still have been removed? God knows what would have been the case had Screaming Lord Such and the Monster Raving Loony Party been in charge.
I have no doubt that heads will roll, or some pillock will fall on his sword. Of course, he/she will retain their overinflated pension!! Then, in the not too distant future, they’ll be re-engaged at a much higher salary. Such are the ways of our ruling classes.
Monday 26th November
Yesterday was a really disastrous day weather wise, with plenty of overnight rain, causing floods all over the place.
In Exeter a young woman lost her life when a tree fell on her tent. The initial report suggested that she was actually living in it and, had I not seen later newscasts of this event, I would have wondered why she was living that way. As it happens this unfortunate woman was camping and two male companions were injured at that time.
Elsewhere many homes were flooded and, in one area, although I can’t recall exactly where, a flood defence system failed to kick in, with the result that where, in the past, the people living in the area would have moved their property upstairs, they instead relied upon the system to work its magic. The Environment Agency has apologised for the failure, but that’s small comfort to those people whose possessions have been damaged or ruined.
Fortunately, although the water level has risen slightly in our marina, and some of the roads around the area have flooded, we boaters have experienced just the occasional puddle at the marina. At times like these there’s a lot to be said for living on a boat. However, even with their 12 ft mooring poles, I wouldn’t want to be living along the banks of the River Avon right now. In fact I wouldn’t want to be moored on any river these days, because the situation seems to be worsening year on year.
Like I’ve said before – probably ad nauseum – this planet has its own agenda and maybe it is warming up but, if you were watching Countryfile yesterday evening, you would have seen that this is not at all unusual. The sea came rushing in and flooded huge swathes of Somerset, and that was back in 1703. I also remember the Essex floods of 1953, or was it 1958?, when Canvey Island suffered serious damage.
Tuesday 27th November
Well, after even more rain yesterday evening and through the night, I doubt if we’ll be getting to Derby today. From what I have seen and been told, the road to Repton is still closed, as is 18 miles of the A38 and part of the M1. The bus between Burton and Derby may still be running, but it will probably take a detour or two, so we might not see it through here at Willington. Still the Derby trip is not urgent, but I do wonder if I’ll make it to Harlow this coming weekend.
Wednesday 28th November
On the whole, with the exception of a walk around the marina, yesterday was a pretty boring day. Some of it I spent trying to decide how best to approach my painting of Shiralee. Some I spent trying my hand at the dreaded ‘C’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ chords and some I spent reading.
Where the guitar is concerned I have always had problems with those three, very essential chords, and have never managed to master them. The situation is even worse now, what with my arthritic fingers. They’re not painful, but they are somewhat bent in places, making it difficult to place them where I want on the fretboard. So, what to do? Well, at my age I really don’t want to be spending months and months trying to master them, so I’m going to resort to the capo. You’ve probably seen these used by many guitarists, especially the folk and country singers. The capo wraps around the fretboard and can be moved along it to a position where the player can use easier chords for the same key. It’s not laziness that prompts these musicians to use the capo; it’s just easier and enables the player to concentrate on his/her singing, rather than the chords. And, no, I have no plans for singing!!
So, with that in mind I can now concentrate on playing some of the stuff I’ve downloaded from Mike Herberts’ site, using the keys of ‘A’ or ‘D’, where the key of ‘C’ is called for. Simple!!
Today, assuming the A38 is now fully open after the latest floods, we’ll drive to Morrison’s for our weekly shop. Sad to say we have not been able to take the bus to Derby, nor have we been able to drive into Burton. Hopefully today will be fine.
Thursday 29th November
The cold, dry weather is back, so I should be able to make that trip to Harlow tomorrow morning. Friday is a good day to go, because I get to have a drink with Alan and his son Jason.
Alan phoned me yesterday and asked me if I wanted a turkey crown. When I said ‘no way’ to his £20 price tag, he told me it was probably too big and would be happy to cut it in half. That’s better! He’ll keep it in his freezer for me, which gives me an excuse, if any were needed, to pay him another visit before Christmas.
Today, now that the roads to Burton are clear of flood water, we’ll be taking a drive into town. We have some books to unload onto a charity shop and, having bought two bags of dog food at Ellesmere some time ago; a dog food that until that point our wee pooch had been happy to eat, but then decided she hated; we will now be taking those to the PDSA. She really can be so ungrateful at times!
Friday 30th November
We drove into Burton yesterday and, on the way there called into the butcher’s at Repton. Unfortunately he had no pork pies ready and suggested we call again on our way back from town. So, having disposed of the dog food to the PDSA, picked up a few bits and pieces of shopping, and enjoyed a coffee and scone, we arrived back at Repton a couple of hours later. We were just in time to watch the butcher pour the jelly liquid in to the, still hot pies.
Sheila had to carry the hot pies in a box and, when we got back to the boat Rusty’s nose twitched at the aroma. Funnily enough Clarissa Dixon-Wright was on the One Show last night and said that she considered the pork pies from Melton Mowbray were the best in the country. Obviously she hasn’t sampled those from Repton, which are far superior in flavour. In fact I will try to locate her website and inform her of her mistake.
Sunday 2nd December
I drove down to Harlow on Friday morning and expected to arrive at about 12.30. However, with all the road works finished while we’ve been cruising, I shaved about 30 minutes off my usual time, even though I stopped off at a service area on the way.
So, having nothing better to do with my time while I waited for Alan to get home, I popped in The Admiral for a drop of sherbet, where he joined me later. Of course, we enjoyed a few pints and then went home to his place. We returned to the Admiral in the evening, fully expecting Jason to join us, but he cried off just after we arrived. This was most unfortunate because, had he told us earlier we probably wouldn’t have bothered. I’m not at my best when I’ve just eaten and didn’t really enjoy the extra drinks. I’ll know better next time.
Monday 3rd December
Yesterday we decided to drink at The Bubble at Stenson. We haven’t been there in a few weeks, so we thought it would make a nice change. The last thing on my mind when we left home was having lunch there but, quite out of the blue I said to Wifey, “Of course, we could always have lunch here”. To which she replied, “What a good idea”. So, that’s what we did and enjoyed their carvery. At £8.99 we think it’s a bit expensive, but we do know it is much cheaper during the week. Hey, what the heck, we can indulge ourselves now and again.
Later…
We took the bus into Derby this morning and one of the first things we did was to look in the market for vacuum cleaner bags. This was a good move, because, quite close to that stall was another one selling second hand laptops. The prices look to be pretty reasonable and so, if he has what I want and offers a
decent guarantee, I could save myself some money. I rather like the look of the Acer Aspire he had in the window and if it’s still there next time we go I just might make a few enquiries about it.
Wednesday 5th December
Well, at eight pages long I really should get this blog posted and wish you all well until next time.
All abreast from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
Yesterday afternoon and evening we had a deluge of rain. The results of Wednesday’s rain could be seen when we drove into Burton yesterday morning. We’ve been mooring at Mercia for three winters now and. although we’ve had our fair share of rain, we’ve never seen the river so high before. It was very much like Kegworth in 2007, when we were stuck in the lock for 10 days, only much, much worse. The surrounding fields were totally waterlogged, to the extent that it was difficult to see the line of the river. I have no doubt that, following last nights rain those fields will be even more flooded.
Saturday 24th November
Well, so much for my visit to Harlow this weekend. The weather forecast is for more heavy rain, which is a mere fly in the ointment when living on a boat and snugly ensconced in a marina. But, taking a 200+ mile drive could prove disastrous for me if I want to get back to Mercia on Sunday.
This morning, in complete contrast, has started out with a thick, freezing fog, but we are told the heavy rain will be with us tonight. Global warming? Maybe! Man’s fault? Nah! Just a blip in the way the planet works.
Anyway, instead of enjoying a pint or three with Alan, it’s simply a case of following a normal weekend at home, which means some more painting and guitar practice. Of course, we won’t miss out on our Sunday drinky poohs, but we’ll probably stay local. Even driving towards Burton could be problematic if the rain is as heavy as has been suggested.
Sunday 25th November
Wow! What a night. From quite early yesterday evening we had torrential rain and high winds. This continued throughout the night and, at 6.30 am it’s still raining, although not as hard. Walking Rusty a short while ago, I noticed that the grassy areas nearby are saturated. Even the water level in the marina has risen by at least a couple of inches. When we go out later for a Sunday drink and chat, if there’s no traffic coming from Repton we’ll stay in Willington. We know the road to Stenson is flooded, so The Bubble is out.
Rotherham County Council.
What a bunch of snot-nosed, interfering meanies they are. Here we have a couple who, for the past seven years have successfully fostered a number of children needing some TLC. But, completely out of the blue, this council have removed the latest three from them, just because these loving foster carers belong to UKIP.
As that nice man from the Daily Mail is wont to say, “You couldn’t make it up”.
These kids are, supposedly, Euro migrants and, in their infinite wisdom, this council decided that they should not be influenced by the foster couple’s political beliefs. So, had this council been Conservative and this couple been members of the Labour Party, do you suppose these children would still have been removed? God knows what would have been the case had Screaming Lord Such and the Monster Raving Loony Party been in charge.
I have no doubt that heads will roll, or some pillock will fall on his sword. Of course, he/she will retain their overinflated pension!! Then, in the not too distant future, they’ll be re-engaged at a much higher salary. Such are the ways of our ruling classes.
Monday 26th November
Yesterday was a really disastrous day weather wise, with plenty of overnight rain, causing floods all over the place.
In Exeter a young woman lost her life when a tree fell on her tent. The initial report suggested that she was actually living in it and, had I not seen later newscasts of this event, I would have wondered why she was living that way. As it happens this unfortunate woman was camping and two male companions were injured at that time.
Elsewhere many homes were flooded and, in one area, although I can’t recall exactly where, a flood defence system failed to kick in, with the result that where, in the past, the people living in the area would have moved their property upstairs, they instead relied upon the system to work its magic. The Environment Agency has apologised for the failure, but that’s small comfort to those people whose possessions have been damaged or ruined.
Fortunately, although the water level has risen slightly in our marina, and some of the roads around the area have flooded, we boaters have experienced just the occasional puddle at the marina. At times like these there’s a lot to be said for living on a boat. However, even with their 12 ft mooring poles, I wouldn’t want to be living along the banks of the River Avon right now. In fact I wouldn’t want to be moored on any river these days, because the situation seems to be worsening year on year.
Like I’ve said before – probably ad nauseum – this planet has its own agenda and maybe it is warming up but, if you were watching Countryfile yesterday evening, you would have seen that this is not at all unusual. The sea came rushing in and flooded huge swathes of Somerset, and that was back in 1703. I also remember the Essex floods of 1953, or was it 1958?, when Canvey Island suffered serious damage.
Tuesday 27th November
Well, after even more rain yesterday evening and through the night, I doubt if we’ll be getting to Derby today. From what I have seen and been told, the road to Repton is still closed, as is 18 miles of the A38 and part of the M1. The bus between Burton and Derby may still be running, but it will probably take a detour or two, so we might not see it through here at Willington. Still the Derby trip is not urgent, but I do wonder if I’ll make it to Harlow this coming weekend.
Wednesday 28th November
On the whole, with the exception of a walk around the marina, yesterday was a pretty boring day. Some of it I spent trying to decide how best to approach my painting of Shiralee. Some I spent trying my hand at the dreaded ‘C’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ chords and some I spent reading.
Where the guitar is concerned I have always had problems with those three, very essential chords, and have never managed to master them. The situation is even worse now, what with my arthritic fingers. They’re not painful, but they are somewhat bent in places, making it difficult to place them where I want on the fretboard. So, what to do? Well, at my age I really don’t want to be spending months and months trying to master them, so I’m going to resort to the capo. You’ve probably seen these used by many guitarists, especially the folk and country singers. The capo wraps around the fretboard and can be moved along it to a position where the player can use easier chords for the same key. It’s not laziness that prompts these musicians to use the capo; it’s just easier and enables the player to concentrate on his/her singing, rather than the chords. And, no, I have no plans for singing!!
So, with that in mind I can now concentrate on playing some of the stuff I’ve downloaded from Mike Herberts’ site, using the keys of ‘A’ or ‘D’, where the key of ‘C’ is called for. Simple!!
Today, assuming the A38 is now fully open after the latest floods, we’ll drive to Morrison’s for our weekly shop. Sad to say we have not been able to take the bus to Derby, nor have we been able to drive into Burton. Hopefully today will be fine.
Thursday 29th November
The cold, dry weather is back, so I should be able to make that trip to Harlow tomorrow morning. Friday is a good day to go, because I get to have a drink with Alan and his son Jason.
Alan phoned me yesterday and asked me if I wanted a turkey crown. When I said ‘no way’ to his £20 price tag, he told me it was probably too big and would be happy to cut it in half. That’s better! He’ll keep it in his freezer for me, which gives me an excuse, if any were needed, to pay him another visit before Christmas.
Today, now that the roads to Burton are clear of flood water, we’ll be taking a drive into town. We have some books to unload onto a charity shop and, having bought two bags of dog food at Ellesmere some time ago; a dog food that until that point our wee pooch had been happy to eat, but then decided she hated; we will now be taking those to the PDSA. She really can be so ungrateful at times!
Friday 30th November
We drove into Burton yesterday and, on the way there called into the butcher’s at Repton. Unfortunately he had no pork pies ready and suggested we call again on our way back from town. So, having disposed of the dog food to the PDSA, picked up a few bits and pieces of shopping, and enjoyed a coffee and scone, we arrived back at Repton a couple of hours later. We were just in time to watch the butcher pour the jelly liquid in to the, still hot pies.
Sheila had to carry the hot pies in a box and, when we got back to the boat Rusty’s nose twitched at the aroma. Funnily enough Clarissa Dixon-Wright was on the One Show last night and said that she considered the pork pies from Melton Mowbray were the best in the country. Obviously she hasn’t sampled those from Repton, which are far superior in flavour. In fact I will try to locate her website and inform her of her mistake.
Sunday 2nd December
I drove down to Harlow on Friday morning and expected to arrive at about 12.30. However, with all the road works finished while we’ve been cruising, I shaved about 30 minutes off my usual time, even though I stopped off at a service area on the way.
So, having nothing better to do with my time while I waited for Alan to get home, I popped in The Admiral for a drop of sherbet, where he joined me later. Of course, we enjoyed a few pints and then went home to his place. We returned to the Admiral in the evening, fully expecting Jason to join us, but he cried off just after we arrived. This was most unfortunate because, had he told us earlier we probably wouldn’t have bothered. I’m not at my best when I’ve just eaten and didn’t really enjoy the extra drinks. I’ll know better next time.
Monday 3rd December
Yesterday we decided to drink at The Bubble at Stenson. We haven’t been there in a few weeks, so we thought it would make a nice change. The last thing on my mind when we left home was having lunch there but, quite out of the blue I said to Wifey, “Of course, we could always have lunch here”. To which she replied, “What a good idea”. So, that’s what we did and enjoyed their carvery. At £8.99 we think it’s a bit expensive, but we do know it is much cheaper during the week. Hey, what the heck, we can indulge ourselves now and again.
Later…
We took the bus into Derby this morning and one of the first things we did was to look in the market for vacuum cleaner bags. This was a good move, because, quite close to that stall was another one selling second hand laptops. The prices look to be pretty reasonable and so, if he has what I want and offers a
decent guarantee, I could save myself some money. I rather like the look of the Acer Aspire he had in the window and if it’s still there next time we go I just might make a few enquiries about it.
Wednesday 5th December
Well, at eight pages long I really should get this blog posted and wish you all well until next time.
All abreast from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
Thursday 22 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 4
Wednesday 14th November
We took the bus into Derby this morning with the express intention of purchasing new jeans for me and jeans plus a top for Wifey. Having spent two hours there, a half hour of which was sitting and waiting for the bus back, all we had to show for our time was a pair of jeans for me. And I thought I was the difficult!
Having failed to find what she needed in Derby, upon our return to the boat Wifey dug out the laptop and had a look online, which was when she had one of her good, senior moments. Whilst looking up Cotton Traders Store Location she discovered that they have an outlet at the garden centre in Findern, which is a five minute drive from the marina. Guess where we’re headed tomorrow?
Thursday 15th November
Something I forgot to mention yesterday has just come to mind. We were obliged to sit across the aisle from each other on the bus to town because it was so full, most unusual for midweek. Anyway, I sat next to an elderly lady, who soon started up a conversation with me, talking about family and such. (I’ve never been chatted up on a bus before!)
One of the amusing anecdotes she related was about her granddaughter, who is at pre-school and who asked her mum if teachers were very clever. When her mum suggested that perhaps they were and why she had asked, her reply was, “Well, they don’t seem to know much, because they’re always asking us if we know the answers” How cute is that then?
This same lady has also given us the names of another five good watering holes, let’s see if I can remember them all. There’s The Bull and the Mount Pleasant in Repton, The Unicorn in Eton Solney and The Sump, which is just as you’re entering Burton. There’s also one in Willington which used to be a Scout Hut, or some such, but has now been turned into a pub. However, we both agreed that The Boot, in Repton, was a pub best avoided.
Our first port of call today; even before we visit Cotton Traders; will be the shop on site to see if our TV has arrived. In fact, it should have been at the Post Office yesterday.
Friday 16th November
Everything went well yesterday, a most unusual event for us, because there’s always something that doesn’t quite meet expectations.
Firstly, Wifey popped across to the shop for the Mail and returned with our new TV which, we thought we would have to collect from the Post Office. We then decided to see if the new cartridge was going to cure our problematic printer and, lo and behold, that also worked well.
Later in the day we took a trip into Findern Garden Centre and Cotton Traders where Wifey managed to find a pair of jeans and a top for less than the £40 our neighbour paid her for her guitar. All in all a successful day.
One of the first things we did after buying Shiralee, was to purchase some rubber matting with which to cover the back and front steps, but this is now wearing through so we’re taking a run into The Range today for some new stuff. I’ll also be looking for a suitable sized piece of carpet to lay under my car mat, which slides about somewhat, because the original backing carpet is missing.
I finally downloaded a few video guitar courses yesterday and practised the first lesson of the Fingerstyle set. This one, I’m pleased to say, came quite easy to me, and the next one doesn’t look too difficult either. I also have videos for Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll, so I’m not lacking in variation. Sadly it’s a bit late for me to become a rock star, but I will be able to keep busy, especially when I add the pastel painting to the ‘free time’ pot.
Saturday 17th November
After Andy lubricated the gear cable and linkages and returned the car, I can’t say I was impressed with the result. The gears certainly didn’t seem to be any easier to slip into. But, as Andy said, the ball ends of the cables were well and truly seized, so it could take some time for the lubrication to work its magic. By yesterday morning the gears were a little better, so I’m hopeful that more improvement is on the way.
Today we have rain; in fact we had rain all night long; so I don’t suppose we’ll be going anywhere this morning, which gives me some time for guitar practice. I’m concentrating on the Fingerstyle at present but, with all the freebies Mike sends, which I find it difficult to ignore, my ‘music’ folder is becoming rather full. There’s no point jumping from one style to another if I’m going to get anywhere, so I’m staying with finger style. I can always check the other stuff out if and when I become more proficient at the one style of playing.
Sunday 18th November
Now, what do you think the following photo can be? Is it really a loaf of bread?
The last loaf we had, which was a split tin wholemeal from Sainsbury’s, fell apart when I cut it. Well, the side under the top crust fell away, which amounts to the same thing. Do these stores actually employ professional bakers, I wonder?
A heavy frost this morning, which makes it kinda difficult when taking Rusty for a walk, because the wooden pontoons can be pretty lethal when they have a coating of frost on them.
Monday 19th November
We decided to pay a visit to The Bull at Repton yesterday lunchtime, until we saw the amount of cars in the car park that is. At 12.10 pm it was chock-a-block, so we went to The Red Lion instead. Next week perhaps we’ll take a run into Newton Solney and The Unicorn.
After the heavy frost yesterday, followed by a bright, sunny day, we’ve had rain for most of the night and this morning, although the rain has stopped, we do have a strong wind. What a shame, I was going to wash the car today!
Wednesday 21st November
Piddling down, absolutely piddling! More flood warnings on the way, I have no doubt
Yesterday we finally got rid of our two broken televisions. I also bought a new set of strings for the Eko guitar. This thing has been with me for quite some time. My sister Carole had it at her place for several years while I ‘borrowed’ her jumbo, also an Eko, but the jumbo size is far too big for sitting at our dinette, which is where I practice, so we swapped back a couple of years ago.
The one I have has now had a good clean up and the machine heads have been greased, so it should be good for another few years yet. They were very sturdily built were those Ekos, I think I had mine from my RAF days and, if it is then it only cost me 10/, that’s 50 pence in new money. My classical guitar is going to get the same treatment soon.
Friday 23rd November
Well now, as I’m going into Harlow tomorrow for the weekend, I thought I would post this blog, but first I needed to download that photo from Wifey’s camera. This is normally kept in her handbag, and that’s the first place I looked. But, it didn’t seem to be there.
OK, so, it’s time to take her a cuppa, so I asked where she’d hidden it. “It’s in my bag!” she said, as if it could possibly be anywhere else. “Nope!”, said I. “Well then, if it’s not there, I haven’t a clue”.
So, I turned out here nick-nack box, but no sign of camera. I then took another look in her hand bag, but still no deal, until I pulled out her notebook, and there it was. Now, I know I’m always having problems finding things that I’ve put away in a safe place. Don’t we all? But I have to ask myself, how do you hide a camera in a small handbag? This secret is only known to women with small handbags.
Anyway, you will already have seen the photo on an earlier page, but this did give me a problem, albeit a small one.
Have a good weekend folks.
Dave, Sheila and Pooch.
We took the bus into Derby this morning with the express intention of purchasing new jeans for me and jeans plus a top for Wifey. Having spent two hours there, a half hour of which was sitting and waiting for the bus back, all we had to show for our time was a pair of jeans for me. And I thought I was the difficult!
Having failed to find what she needed in Derby, upon our return to the boat Wifey dug out the laptop and had a look online, which was when she had one of her good, senior moments. Whilst looking up Cotton Traders Store Location she discovered that they have an outlet at the garden centre in Findern, which is a five minute drive from the marina. Guess where we’re headed tomorrow?
Thursday 15th November
Something I forgot to mention yesterday has just come to mind. We were obliged to sit across the aisle from each other on the bus to town because it was so full, most unusual for midweek. Anyway, I sat next to an elderly lady, who soon started up a conversation with me, talking about family and such. (I’ve never been chatted up on a bus before!)
One of the amusing anecdotes she related was about her granddaughter, who is at pre-school and who asked her mum if teachers were very clever. When her mum suggested that perhaps they were and why she had asked, her reply was, “Well, they don’t seem to know much, because they’re always asking us if we know the answers” How cute is that then?
This same lady has also given us the names of another five good watering holes, let’s see if I can remember them all. There’s The Bull and the Mount Pleasant in Repton, The Unicorn in Eton Solney and The Sump, which is just as you’re entering Burton. There’s also one in Willington which used to be a Scout Hut, or some such, but has now been turned into a pub. However, we both agreed that The Boot, in Repton, was a pub best avoided.
Our first port of call today; even before we visit Cotton Traders; will be the shop on site to see if our TV has arrived. In fact, it should have been at the Post Office yesterday.
Friday 16th November
Everything went well yesterday, a most unusual event for us, because there’s always something that doesn’t quite meet expectations.
Firstly, Wifey popped across to the shop for the Mail and returned with our new TV which, we thought we would have to collect from the Post Office. We then decided to see if the new cartridge was going to cure our problematic printer and, lo and behold, that also worked well.
Later in the day we took a trip into Findern Garden Centre and Cotton Traders where Wifey managed to find a pair of jeans and a top for less than the £40 our neighbour paid her for her guitar. All in all a successful day.
One of the first things we did after buying Shiralee, was to purchase some rubber matting with which to cover the back and front steps, but this is now wearing through so we’re taking a run into The Range today for some new stuff. I’ll also be looking for a suitable sized piece of carpet to lay under my car mat, which slides about somewhat, because the original backing carpet is missing.
I finally downloaded a few video guitar courses yesterday and practised the first lesson of the Fingerstyle set. This one, I’m pleased to say, came quite easy to me, and the next one doesn’t look too difficult either. I also have videos for Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll, so I’m not lacking in variation. Sadly it’s a bit late for me to become a rock star, but I will be able to keep busy, especially when I add the pastel painting to the ‘free time’ pot.
Saturday 17th November
After Andy lubricated the gear cable and linkages and returned the car, I can’t say I was impressed with the result. The gears certainly didn’t seem to be any easier to slip into. But, as Andy said, the ball ends of the cables were well and truly seized, so it could take some time for the lubrication to work its magic. By yesterday morning the gears were a little better, so I’m hopeful that more improvement is on the way.
Today we have rain; in fact we had rain all night long; so I don’t suppose we’ll be going anywhere this morning, which gives me some time for guitar practice. I’m concentrating on the Fingerstyle at present but, with all the freebies Mike sends, which I find it difficult to ignore, my ‘music’ folder is becoming rather full. There’s no point jumping from one style to another if I’m going to get anywhere, so I’m staying with finger style. I can always check the other stuff out if and when I become more proficient at the one style of playing.
Sunday 18th November
Now, what do you think the following photo can be? Is it really a loaf of bread?
 |
| Purchased from Morrison's Hmmm! Not very good for toasting either |
The last loaf we had, which was a split tin wholemeal from Sainsbury’s, fell apart when I cut it. Well, the side under the top crust fell away, which amounts to the same thing. Do these stores actually employ professional bakers, I wonder?
A heavy frost this morning, which makes it kinda difficult when taking Rusty for a walk, because the wooden pontoons can be pretty lethal when they have a coating of frost on them.
Monday 19th November
We decided to pay a visit to The Bull at Repton yesterday lunchtime, until we saw the amount of cars in the car park that is. At 12.10 pm it was chock-a-block, so we went to The Red Lion instead. Next week perhaps we’ll take a run into Newton Solney and The Unicorn.
After the heavy frost yesterday, followed by a bright, sunny day, we’ve had rain for most of the night and this morning, although the rain has stopped, we do have a strong wind. What a shame, I was going to wash the car today!
Wednesday 21st November
Piddling down, absolutely piddling! More flood warnings on the way, I have no doubt
Yesterday we finally got rid of our two broken televisions. I also bought a new set of strings for the Eko guitar. This thing has been with me for quite some time. My sister Carole had it at her place for several years while I ‘borrowed’ her jumbo, also an Eko, but the jumbo size is far too big for sitting at our dinette, which is where I practice, so we swapped back a couple of years ago.
The one I have has now had a good clean up and the machine heads have been greased, so it should be good for another few years yet. They were very sturdily built were those Ekos, I think I had mine from my RAF days and, if it is then it only cost me 10/, that’s 50 pence in new money. My classical guitar is going to get the same treatment soon.
Friday 23rd November
Well now, as I’m going into Harlow tomorrow for the weekend, I thought I would post this blog, but first I needed to download that photo from Wifey’s camera. This is normally kept in her handbag, and that’s the first place I looked. But, it didn’t seem to be there.
OK, so, it’s time to take her a cuppa, so I asked where she’d hidden it. “It’s in my bag!” she said, as if it could possibly be anywhere else. “Nope!”, said I. “Well then, if it’s not there, I haven’t a clue”.
So, I turned out here nick-nack box, but no sign of camera. I then took another look in her hand bag, but still no deal, until I pulled out her notebook, and there it was. Now, I know I’m always having problems finding things that I’ve put away in a safe place. Don’t we all? But I have to ask myself, how do you hide a camera in a small handbag? This secret is only known to women with small handbags.
Anyway, you will already have seen the photo on an earlier page, but this did give me a problem, albeit a small one.
Have a good weekend folks.
Dave, Sheila and Pooch.
Wednesday 14 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 3
Monday 5th November
I now have two full instruction books from Emma, one of which is her portrait, the other being the caravan. If, or when, I finish this sunset scene, I have no doubt Emma will send me her full book of this one. What I am really looking forward to, once I have finished this and the next exercise, is knuckling down to a painting of my own, which will give me plenty to occupy myself during the rest of our winter stay at Mercia and throughout our cruise in 2013.
Later……
Our trip into Burton this morning included a visit to Ryman’s to check prices of HP Inkjet cartridges for the machine Chris gave us. Having checked the printer out yesterday and found all cartridges empty or dried up, we have to buy some new ones just to run a test. However, the pack of genuine cartridges would have cost about £80 in total; there are six cartridges altogether. No way, Jose!
So, after lunch I decided to take a look at what’s on offer at eBay and, surprise, surprise, there were several dealers offering a variety of different selections. We eventually settled on ‘compatible’ cartridges, of triple capacity, for just £6.99 with free p&p. It seems pointless buying the genuine article just in order to test the printer out.
Watch this space for further details.
Tuesday 6th November
Our car is going in to the workshop today to have the gearbox checked out. So, I’ve just sent a query for the part we may need and await quotes for same. Andy probably has his own suppliers, but I don’t want to pay through the nose for them.
Wednesday 7th November
Quotes for gearbox linkage came back yesterday afternoon and ranged from £40 to £170. However, since Andy is unable to replace the parts until next week and, since I would prefer him to phone the traders concerned, just to ensure they are offering the correct parts, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
We decided to put Rusty back on the medication that we were given earlier in the year by a vet on our travels. She now seems to have a new lease of life and, in fact she’s driving us potty with her fidgets. She can’t seem to keep still and wants to be going out every five minutes. But she still sleeps through the night, so, how does that work? How come she wants to pee a thousand times a day, yet she can hold it in for 10 hours during the night? Do dogs semi-hibernate at night time? Can they shut off all feelings of discomfiture when it suits them and, if that’s the case, why can’t they do so during the day?
For the answer to these and other questions, don’t ask me!!
Friday 9th November
We received our cartridges for the HP printer this morning. After installing all six we received an error message on the printer screen telling us that the yellow cartridge was missing, or damaged. We tried fitting the old one, but the message then said the cartridge was old, or some such. Anyway, since we don’t know if this is a problem with the printer or cartridge, I asked Chris if he had experienced similar problems, but he hadn’t. So, I rushed off a message to the seller, asking if he would send another yellow, for which I would be happy to pay. As yet I have had no reply, but these things can take time.
After dashing off my message, we removed all the cartridges and compared the connections, and found that the yellow was not of the same configuration as the others, so we rather suspect the seller has sent the wrong one here. When I get a reply from him I will explain this to him. Meanwhile, we wait and see.
Saturday 10th November
Once again we popped into Burton yesterday and, on the way there, called into our favourite butcher’s in Repton for a pork pie, because theirs is just about the best I have tasted. We left that shop about £17 lighter! Gotta stay away from that place!
This year we are being treated to a regular Friday evening visit of a fish and chip van. Yesterday evening we enjoyed the best ever fish and chips that we had tasted, even better than Whitby, if you can believe that. I asked for, and received, two pieces of fish and one large portion of chips. The fish hung over the sides of our plates and half the portion of chips had to be put in a bowl, because we couldn’t get them on the plates. Wifey suggests I order one piece of fish and a small portion of chips next time. Yummeee!!
Sunday 11th November
We are now awaiting the replacement yellow cartridge for the HP printer. I have also received a reply to my request for the replacement, in which the seller has suggested a few things to try in order to get the printer to accept them. However, having swapped a different colour for the failed yellow and seeing that fail too, we are of the opinion that the printer is at fault, not the cartridge. It could just be clogged up at that point due to lack of use, which would mean trying to clear said blockage. We may yet have the thing sorted, but it’s looking less and less likely at this point.
Now, over all the years that I’ve owned a guitar, I’ve never succeeded is really playing it. Of course I can strum and follow the music in a classical tutorial, but I’ve always arrived at a spot where my ability is less than adequate to complete the piece.
Hopefully this situation is about to change for the better, because my next door neighbour has loaned me a DVD that he bought from a guitarist named Mike Herberts and, I have to say, I am very impressed. But, although this is an excellent DVD, it is aimed at strumming along to popular songs, whereas I would prefer a finger-picking style of playing, as per classical guitar.
Now, having visited Mike’s site, I have discovered several DVDs that fit the bill but, the ones I want are all download files, which, for me and my dongle, would take forever. The alternative to downloading them myself, is to do so through Alan’s Ethernet connection when I next visit heim
Later…….
Privet hedges cause of Ash Dieback??
Oh really??
This was an article in the Mail on Sunday this morning. Well now, just how long have privet hedges been a part of the British landscape? I remember them well from my youth, because virtually every garden; front and back; had them as separators between gardens, long before the wooden, or chain-link fence were ever used.
All of which obviously begs the question, why have these hedges not caused problems with Ash trees in the past? Has it really taken hundreds of years for Ash trees to suddenly be prone to attack by Privet spoors?
Birmingham City Council has been in the news recently. Apparently they have not been paying their female workers the same as their male workers for similar jobs. In fact, what they have been guilty of is not paying their females the same for jobs within the same pay scale. From what I have seen, this stupid Council allowed care workers to be classified as equal to refuse collectors. How daft was that?
BCC are now threatened with having to pay out around £750 million in com-pen-say-shun to these female workers. The inevitable result of these payouts will be more job losses. Do these women care? I very much doubt it, just so long as they can lay their greasy hands on some unearned dosh.
G4
Ah! that new Internet thingy, which supposedly has all the bells and whistles and, quite probably will download files before you actually double click on them. Unfortunately there’s a fly in this ointment. Well, there would be, wouldn’t there?
It seems that rather than set the transmitters up with sensible frequencies, you know those that won’t interfere with any other wireless frequencies, what do they do? Why, they use frequencies that are not only very close to those already being used to transmit TV programmes, they will actually block them out for thousands of viewers. Not only that, it’s going to cost millions of pounds to compensate those people who lose their reception. Aren’t they great?
Andy took the car away yesterday and applied lubrication to the gear change cables. I was hoping that this would make a big difference, because, apparently this is a common problem. It seems that when the gear linkages are assembled lubricant is applied and, over time, that lubricant dries out.
Huh! So far, after a ride out to Swadlingcote for my eye test, the difference is minimal, if at all. Perhaps the lubrication needs time to work its magic, so I’ll give it more time before asking Andy to have another look.
Meanwhile, I awoke at about 4.45 this morning and, realising I still had another half hour of kip, turned over and dozed off. As I expected, I re-awake at 5.15, had a wash and got dressed and, since Rusty was awake, took her for a walk. I saw a couple of people that I wouldn’t normally bump into at that time of morning, and thought nothing of it.
Even the fact that it was now getting lighter didn’t register in my newly awoken brain. However, on arriving back at the boat, I gave Rusty a treat and sat down at the laptop to enjoy my first cuppa of the day and then, taking a quick glance at my watch, I saw that it was now 7 o/clock. Ooops! Wifey should have had her cup of tea half an hour ago. I have never, ever overslept by an hour before. Shame on me!
I have successfully, albeit slowly, now downloaded all those guitar lessons I mentioned earlier. All I have to do now is get stuck in and rally LEARN. First stop is the course called Progressive Fingerpicking, my preferred method. I also have Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff, but they will come later.
My next door neighbour, Steve, offered his ‘3’ Wi Fi gadget which, he tells me, is so much faster than the dongle. So, why have I not been offered this before when I’ve upgraded?
Anyway, for some odd reason, despite having Wi Fi on this laptop, I couldn’t connect to this unit. So, that’s another problem to sort out.
And that’s that for this one but, just to show you what we expect later in the year, here are a couple of winter photos at Mercia Marina.
All the best from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
I now have two full instruction books from Emma, one of which is her portrait, the other being the caravan. If, or when, I finish this sunset scene, I have no doubt Emma will send me her full book of this one. What I am really looking forward to, once I have finished this and the next exercise, is knuckling down to a painting of my own, which will give me plenty to occupy myself during the rest of our winter stay at Mercia and throughout our cruise in 2013.
Later……
Our trip into Burton this morning included a visit to Ryman’s to check prices of HP Inkjet cartridges for the machine Chris gave us. Having checked the printer out yesterday and found all cartridges empty or dried up, we have to buy some new ones just to run a test. However, the pack of genuine cartridges would have cost about £80 in total; there are six cartridges altogether. No way, Jose!
So, after lunch I decided to take a look at what’s on offer at eBay and, surprise, surprise, there were several dealers offering a variety of different selections. We eventually settled on ‘compatible’ cartridges, of triple capacity, for just £6.99 with free p&p. It seems pointless buying the genuine article just in order to test the printer out.
Watch this space for further details.
Tuesday 6th November
Our car is going in to the workshop today to have the gearbox checked out. So, I’ve just sent a query for the part we may need and await quotes for same. Andy probably has his own suppliers, but I don’t want to pay through the nose for them.
Wednesday 7th November
Quotes for gearbox linkage came back yesterday afternoon and ranged from £40 to £170. However, since Andy is unable to replace the parts until next week and, since I would prefer him to phone the traders concerned, just to ensure they are offering the correct parts, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
We decided to put Rusty back on the medication that we were given earlier in the year by a vet on our travels. She now seems to have a new lease of life and, in fact she’s driving us potty with her fidgets. She can’t seem to keep still and wants to be going out every five minutes. But she still sleeps through the night, so, how does that work? How come she wants to pee a thousand times a day, yet she can hold it in for 10 hours during the night? Do dogs semi-hibernate at night time? Can they shut off all feelings of discomfiture when it suits them and, if that’s the case, why can’t they do so during the day?
For the answer to these and other questions, don’t ask me!!
Friday 9th November
We received our cartridges for the HP printer this morning. After installing all six we received an error message on the printer screen telling us that the yellow cartridge was missing, or damaged. We tried fitting the old one, but the message then said the cartridge was old, or some such. Anyway, since we don’t know if this is a problem with the printer or cartridge, I asked Chris if he had experienced similar problems, but he hadn’t. So, I rushed off a message to the seller, asking if he would send another yellow, for which I would be happy to pay. As yet I have had no reply, but these things can take time.
After dashing off my message, we removed all the cartridges and compared the connections, and found that the yellow was not of the same configuration as the others, so we rather suspect the seller has sent the wrong one here. When I get a reply from him I will explain this to him. Meanwhile, we wait and see.
Saturday 10th November
Once again we popped into Burton yesterday and, on the way there, called into our favourite butcher’s in Repton for a pork pie, because theirs is just about the best I have tasted. We left that shop about £17 lighter! Gotta stay away from that place!
This year we are being treated to a regular Friday evening visit of a fish and chip van. Yesterday evening we enjoyed the best ever fish and chips that we had tasted, even better than Whitby, if you can believe that. I asked for, and received, two pieces of fish and one large portion of chips. The fish hung over the sides of our plates and half the portion of chips had to be put in a bowl, because we couldn’t get them on the plates. Wifey suggests I order one piece of fish and a small portion of chips next time. Yummeee!!
Sunday 11th November
We are now awaiting the replacement yellow cartridge for the HP printer. I have also received a reply to my request for the replacement, in which the seller has suggested a few things to try in order to get the printer to accept them. However, having swapped a different colour for the failed yellow and seeing that fail too, we are of the opinion that the printer is at fault, not the cartridge. It could just be clogged up at that point due to lack of use, which would mean trying to clear said blockage. We may yet have the thing sorted, but it’s looking less and less likely at this point.
Now, over all the years that I’ve owned a guitar, I’ve never succeeded is really playing it. Of course I can strum and follow the music in a classical tutorial, but I’ve always arrived at a spot where my ability is less than adequate to complete the piece.
Hopefully this situation is about to change for the better, because my next door neighbour has loaned me a DVD that he bought from a guitarist named Mike Herberts and, I have to say, I am very impressed. But, although this is an excellent DVD, it is aimed at strumming along to popular songs, whereas I would prefer a finger-picking style of playing, as per classical guitar.
Now, having visited Mike’s site, I have discovered several DVDs that fit the bill but, the ones I want are all download files, which, for me and my dongle, would take forever. The alternative to downloading them myself, is to do so through Alan’s Ethernet connection when I next visit heim
Later…….
Privet hedges cause of Ash Dieback??
Oh really??
This was an article in the Mail on Sunday this morning. Well now, just how long have privet hedges been a part of the British landscape? I remember them well from my youth, because virtually every garden; front and back; had them as separators between gardens, long before the wooden, or chain-link fence were ever used.
All of which obviously begs the question, why have these hedges not caused problems with Ash trees in the past? Has it really taken hundreds of years for Ash trees to suddenly be prone to attack by Privet spoors?
Birmingham City Council has been in the news recently. Apparently they have not been paying their female workers the same as their male workers for similar jobs. In fact, what they have been guilty of is not paying their females the same for jobs within the same pay scale. From what I have seen, this stupid Council allowed care workers to be classified as equal to refuse collectors. How daft was that?
BCC are now threatened with having to pay out around £750 million in com-pen-say-shun to these female workers. The inevitable result of these payouts will be more job losses. Do these women care? I very much doubt it, just so long as they can lay their greasy hands on some unearned dosh.
G4
Ah! that new Internet thingy, which supposedly has all the bells and whistles and, quite probably will download files before you actually double click on them. Unfortunately there’s a fly in this ointment. Well, there would be, wouldn’t there?
It seems that rather than set the transmitters up with sensible frequencies, you know those that won’t interfere with any other wireless frequencies, what do they do? Why, they use frequencies that are not only very close to those already being used to transmit TV programmes, they will actually block them out for thousands of viewers. Not only that, it’s going to cost millions of pounds to compensate those people who lose their reception. Aren’t they great?
Andy took the car away yesterday and applied lubrication to the gear change cables. I was hoping that this would make a big difference, because, apparently this is a common problem. It seems that when the gear linkages are assembled lubricant is applied and, over time, that lubricant dries out.
Huh! So far, after a ride out to Swadlingcote for my eye test, the difference is minimal, if at all. Perhaps the lubrication needs time to work its magic, so I’ll give it more time before asking Andy to have another look.
Meanwhile, I awoke at about 4.45 this morning and, realising I still had another half hour of kip, turned over and dozed off. As I expected, I re-awake at 5.15, had a wash and got dressed and, since Rusty was awake, took her for a walk. I saw a couple of people that I wouldn’t normally bump into at that time of morning, and thought nothing of it.
Even the fact that it was now getting lighter didn’t register in my newly awoken brain. However, on arriving back at the boat, I gave Rusty a treat and sat down at the laptop to enjoy my first cuppa of the day and then, taking a quick glance at my watch, I saw that it was now 7 o/clock. Ooops! Wifey should have had her cup of tea half an hour ago. I have never, ever overslept by an hour before. Shame on me!
I have successfully, albeit slowly, now downloaded all those guitar lessons I mentioned earlier. All I have to do now is get stuck in and rally LEARN. First stop is the course called Progressive Fingerpicking, my preferred method. I also have Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff, but they will come later.
My next door neighbour, Steve, offered his ‘3’ Wi Fi gadget which, he tells me, is so much faster than the dongle. So, why have I not been offered this before when I’ve upgraded?
Anyway, for some odd reason, despite having Wi Fi on this laptop, I couldn’t connect to this unit. So, that’s another problem to sort out.
And that’s that for this one but, just to show you what we expect later in the year, here are a couple of winter photos at Mercia Marina.
All the best from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Sunday 4 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 #2
Wednesday 31st October
Yesterday we drove into Burton where I managed to find a decent pair of shoes at Clarke’s. Now, I’m not one for spending huge amounts of money on footwear, but I do like to own at least one pair of comfortable, waterproof shoes. This pair set me back £50 but, had they been at the ‘correct’ price of £99, I certainly wouldn’t have bought them.
I already have a stout pair of waterproof boots that I wear when cruising, and I have several other pairs of shoes, none of which I can say for a fact are waterproof. Surely even the cheapest of ordinary walking shoes should be waterproof, but that’s not always the case unfortunately.
The Sunday supplements run an ad for two pairs of shoes for the price of one, usually at a total cost of £30 or so. But I haven’t seen that ad lately, and that’s a great pity because, having bought them in the past and found them to be comfortable and waterproof and, what’s more, lasting for a good 12 month, I would dearly like to get some more. So, where are they?
Today I’m going into Burton again, this time to have a couple of pictures enlarged to A3. Why I didn’t think of it earlier I don’t know, but Ryman’s have a photocopy service and are able to enlarge from A4 to A3, which is very useful for my current ‘sunset’ project and for the next one, a picture of ‘Shiralee’ when we were moored at Luddington, on the River Avon, back in 2008.
The following is the pastel I’m working on now, and the one below is the Luddington one.
Yet another iconic British institution is being sold off, this time it’s Branston Pickle. When will this decimation of British businesses stop? Foreign companies already own a huge chunk of British companies, with Cadbury’s sold to America’s Kraft Foods only a short while ago, with the promise of no job losses, only for them to close down a factory here only two years later.
When is a British government going to put a stop to this disgrace? We’ve already lost all our heavy industry: cars and shipbuilding to name just two; now it seems nothing is sacred and anything is fair game for foreign companies to snap up.
Friday 2nd November
Another early morning wake-up call from our Rusty, this time at 04.30. This is becoming more and more regular now, which means we’re going to have to get her to the vet again. I can’t imaging what he’ll come up with this time, but the antibiotics only worked for a short while earlier this year. We’ve tried changing her diet, but that’s had no effect at all.
We can almost tell, the day before it happens, because unlike a normal evening, where she will hover around looking for scraps from our evening meal, if she’s heading for a tummy upset she’ll stay in her bed and ignore the smell of food.
Savile
So now Freddie Starr has now been arrested as a result of the police investigation into Savile’s behaviour. Sorry, alleged behaviour. Who’s next I wonder? Even the bankers holding JS’s millions have frozen them pending the outcome. So, the £3M earmarked for charities will not now go to them. Instead a whole bunch of money grabbers are lining up for their share of com-pen-sa-shun!
There’s one certain way of discovering the truth. All we need is just one woman to step up and PROVE, with DNA testing, that the child she bore is a result of being raped by JS. Otherwise I see no actual proof of any misdeeds by this man ever emerging. It’s a bit like a person being charged with murder, when there is no body. All circumstantial!
Only one bunch of people will come out of this any the richer, lawyers. Anyone who actually wins in a court case will come away with a pittance once the legal people take their cut, and the charities will go without. Well, I mean to say, all these claimants want is JUSTICE! Don’t they?
Saturday 3rd November
What a great start to the day, no service on the dongle and horrible, icy rain to boot. This is probably down to the icy weather, as the dongle is on the roof of the boat. Yesterday evening it worked just fine, this morning, useless.
Later…..
I gave it a few hours and tried again and we now have full service. However, there is still one fly in the ointment, Emma seems unable to send pdf documents to me. She is receiving a message telling her my mailbox is full. Of course, it is not, as I emptied all mailboxes when she first had this problem. Absolute email have been informed and will, no doubt, offer a reason and, I hope, a solution, otherwise it’s over to Yahoo.
The weather has now brightened up and we have full sunshine, although it is still a bit chilly.
Sunday 4th November
Another frosty start to the morning and heavy clouds overhead, which could mean snow.
Yesterday, after a conversation about computing with our neighbour Chris, he popped along later and asked if I would like his printer. We already have a cheap Epson, which is sufficient for our needs but, since his one is an HP and has six colour cartridges, as opposed to the Epson’s four, I popped along to his boat and had a look.
Well, I was very surprised to note that, although the HP is older than our Epson, it has far more features and cost him over £100. What could I do but accept his kind offer? All I have to do is purchase the cartridges; he tells me they are probably dry, because he has rarely used it; and away we go.
I’ve had a few problems with receiving lessons from Emma of late. Even though I have my incoming mail set to delete after five days on my server, it seems my Inbox was filling up too fast for a couple of her lessons to get through. Also, the finished ‘Caravan’ instruction book was too big to be accepted; my message limit is 20 Mb and the book was just short of that. Not to worry though, I still have a Yahoo account and have asked Emma to send it there.
Monday 5th November
My Aunt Mabel’s 90 something birthday today and, finally, after many requests by her family, she has moved back to Harlow, bringing her closer to them. Of course, nobody thought we other relatives needed to know she had moved, so all birthday greetings are now sitting on the doormat in her bungalow in Jaywick.
Now, back to that elusive book from Emma. This is the earlier one of the caravan, which my server would not accept because of its almost 20Mb size. There’s a lot to be said for Yahoo then, because she sent it to my address there where it was accepted without fuss or bother.
As for my ‘Sunset’ effort, well, up until I tried to add a second boat to the scene, it wasn’t looking too bad. However, my attempt at drawing a narrow boat looks more like a nursery school kid’s crayon job!! So, back to Emma for more advice, although, I’m seriously considering omitting that second boat and carrying on without it.
Meanwhile, Andy and Sandy are back from their run up the Coventry and Ashby canals, so Andy will collect the car on Tuesday and see what needs to be done regarding the gearbox. This means I will have to go and pick up a set of cartridges today for the printer Chris gave us. We do try to make Mondays our ‘big’ shop day, so it will be killing two birds with one stone today.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and, a still poorly, Rusty.
Yesterday we drove into Burton where I managed to find a decent pair of shoes at Clarke’s. Now, I’m not one for spending huge amounts of money on footwear, but I do like to own at least one pair of comfortable, waterproof shoes. This pair set me back £50 but, had they been at the ‘correct’ price of £99, I certainly wouldn’t have bought them.
I already have a stout pair of waterproof boots that I wear when cruising, and I have several other pairs of shoes, none of which I can say for a fact are waterproof. Surely even the cheapest of ordinary walking shoes should be waterproof, but that’s not always the case unfortunately.
The Sunday supplements run an ad for two pairs of shoes for the price of one, usually at a total cost of £30 or so. But I haven’t seen that ad lately, and that’s a great pity because, having bought them in the past and found them to be comfortable and waterproof and, what’s more, lasting for a good 12 month, I would dearly like to get some more. So, where are they?
Today I’m going into Burton again, this time to have a couple of pictures enlarged to A3. Why I didn’t think of it earlier I don’t know, but Ryman’s have a photocopy service and are able to enlarge from A4 to A3, which is very useful for my current ‘sunset’ project and for the next one, a picture of ‘Shiralee’ when we were moored at Luddington, on the River Avon, back in 2008.
The following is the pastel I’m working on now, and the one below is the Luddington one.
 |
| Sunset at Giffard Park on the Grand Union |
 |
| Shiralle at Luddington 2008 |
Yet another iconic British institution is being sold off, this time it’s Branston Pickle. When will this decimation of British businesses stop? Foreign companies already own a huge chunk of British companies, with Cadbury’s sold to America’s Kraft Foods only a short while ago, with the promise of no job losses, only for them to close down a factory here only two years later.
When is a British government going to put a stop to this disgrace? We’ve already lost all our heavy industry: cars and shipbuilding to name just two; now it seems nothing is sacred and anything is fair game for foreign companies to snap up.
Friday 2nd November
Another early morning wake-up call from our Rusty, this time at 04.30. This is becoming more and more regular now, which means we’re going to have to get her to the vet again. I can’t imaging what he’ll come up with this time, but the antibiotics only worked for a short while earlier this year. We’ve tried changing her diet, but that’s had no effect at all.
We can almost tell, the day before it happens, because unlike a normal evening, where she will hover around looking for scraps from our evening meal, if she’s heading for a tummy upset she’ll stay in her bed and ignore the smell of food.
Savile
So now Freddie Starr has now been arrested as a result of the police investigation into Savile’s behaviour. Sorry, alleged behaviour. Who’s next I wonder? Even the bankers holding JS’s millions have frozen them pending the outcome. So, the £3M earmarked for charities will not now go to them. Instead a whole bunch of money grabbers are lining up for their share of com-pen-sa-shun!
There’s one certain way of discovering the truth. All we need is just one woman to step up and PROVE, with DNA testing, that the child she bore is a result of being raped by JS. Otherwise I see no actual proof of any misdeeds by this man ever emerging. It’s a bit like a person being charged with murder, when there is no body. All circumstantial!
Only one bunch of people will come out of this any the richer, lawyers. Anyone who actually wins in a court case will come away with a pittance once the legal people take their cut, and the charities will go without. Well, I mean to say, all these claimants want is JUSTICE! Don’t they?
Saturday 3rd November
What a great start to the day, no service on the dongle and horrible, icy rain to boot. This is probably down to the icy weather, as the dongle is on the roof of the boat. Yesterday evening it worked just fine, this morning, useless.
Later…..
I gave it a few hours and tried again and we now have full service. However, there is still one fly in the ointment, Emma seems unable to send pdf documents to me. She is receiving a message telling her my mailbox is full. Of course, it is not, as I emptied all mailboxes when she first had this problem. Absolute email have been informed and will, no doubt, offer a reason and, I hope, a solution, otherwise it’s over to Yahoo.
The weather has now brightened up and we have full sunshine, although it is still a bit chilly.
Sunday 4th November
Another frosty start to the morning and heavy clouds overhead, which could mean snow.
Yesterday, after a conversation about computing with our neighbour Chris, he popped along later and asked if I would like his printer. We already have a cheap Epson, which is sufficient for our needs but, since his one is an HP and has six colour cartridges, as opposed to the Epson’s four, I popped along to his boat and had a look.
Well, I was very surprised to note that, although the HP is older than our Epson, it has far more features and cost him over £100. What could I do but accept his kind offer? All I have to do is purchase the cartridges; he tells me they are probably dry, because he has rarely used it; and away we go.
I’ve had a few problems with receiving lessons from Emma of late. Even though I have my incoming mail set to delete after five days on my server, it seems my Inbox was filling up too fast for a couple of her lessons to get through. Also, the finished ‘Caravan’ instruction book was too big to be accepted; my message limit is 20 Mb and the book was just short of that. Not to worry though, I still have a Yahoo account and have asked Emma to send it there.
Monday 5th November
My Aunt Mabel’s 90 something birthday today and, finally, after many requests by her family, she has moved back to Harlow, bringing her closer to them. Of course, nobody thought we other relatives needed to know she had moved, so all birthday greetings are now sitting on the doormat in her bungalow in Jaywick.
Now, back to that elusive book from Emma. This is the earlier one of the caravan, which my server would not accept because of its almost 20Mb size. There’s a lot to be said for Yahoo then, because she sent it to my address there where it was accepted without fuss or bother.
As for my ‘Sunset’ effort, well, up until I tried to add a second boat to the scene, it wasn’t looking too bad. However, my attempt at drawing a narrow boat looks more like a nursery school kid’s crayon job!! So, back to Emma for more advice, although, I’m seriously considering omitting that second boat and carrying on without it.
Meanwhile, Andy and Sandy are back from their run up the Coventry and Ashby canals, so Andy will collect the car on Tuesday and see what needs to be done regarding the gearbox. This means I will have to go and pick up a set of cartridges today for the printer Chris gave us. We do try to make Mondays our ‘big’ shop day, so it will be killing two birds with one stone today.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and, a still poorly, Rusty.
Tuesday 30 October 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 #1
Saturday 20th October
This will be our first full day back at Mercia Marina, and we’ve noticed a few changes already. For a start, a couple of new ‘Park Home’ style cabins have been erected. These are holiday homes which cost about £150k on a 100 year lease and, if the purchaser also owns a boat, the moorings come free – I think, but don’t quote me on it.
Also, probably due to the excessive amount of rain experienced during this summer, much of the foliage around the site has really spread out. This is good, because it breaks up the view of the marina sections and creates a rather wild look to the place.
We have also heard that plans are afoot to build a noise reduction fence along the side of the site that faces the confluence of the A50 and A38. This is a huge gyratory system, which can be really noisy during peak hours, so such a fence will be of great benefit to those closest to it.
Bonfire night will be held on the planned gastro pub site as usual, but, since the pub is to start taking shape fairly soon, it will be the last one on that site. With Rusty becoming deaf to all but the offer of food and walkies, she doesn’t hear the fireworks now, so we’ll probably attend the festivities this time.
Tuesday 23rd October
I mentioned in the last blog of 2012 cruise, the fact that I had caught a cold. Well, that has turned into the most horrendous cough and it’s been losing me precious beauty sleep over the past few nights. I’m spending almost as much time in the armchair as I am in bed, so I won’t be sorry when it goes.
The Savile Investigation…..
So, where is the Savile family whilst this furore is going on? Apart from tearing down his headstone very early on in the proceedings, we have not had a peep out of them. Could it be that they knew he was a pervert, or are they just so embarrassed by the whole thing that they are keeping a low profile? Whatever the case, all I’ve seen and heard is innuendo and claims by those who were, supposedly, molested by him. And you know what they say about rumour and innuendo, “Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear”. It works for me!!
Wednesday 24th October
Oh boy! We drove into Burton yesterday, partly for shopping, but also to see if I could find something to rid me of this hacking cough. To this end we called in to Boots and checked out the selection at the Pharmacy counter. There, sitting on a shelf, was an item called ‘Pulmo Bailly Oral Solution’, which claims to be a ‘Cough Suppressant Expectorant’. That, I thought, has got to be the bees knees of cough mixtures. Along with it, since it was offered at a discount when bought with any medicine, I purchased ‘Covonia’ Double Impact Lozenges.
Upon arriving home, being eager to try the stuff out, I checked the directions and opened the bottle. Phew! That smell. It reminded me of visits to old folks homes. It’s something that always seems to be there. If you have ever come across that smell, you’ll know what I mean.
So, ‘mix with a little water and add fruit juice or sugar if required’, it said. Ye Gods, you really wouldn’t want to drink this stuff without the sugar or fruit juice, it really is foul. I have never tasted anything so awful. Ughhh!!
Did it work? Well, I can safely say that my cough reduced in severity but, whether this was due to the efficacy of the medicine, or my fear of having to drink any more of the stuff, I have no idea. Suffice it to say, my cough has all but gone. Thank goodness.
Sunday 28th October
Well, just for a change we tried The Red Lion in Repton for our Sunday drink today. We have discovered that Saturday night is live music night there. Now, we’re not lovers of pubs that run live music nights, they are usually far too noisy for our delicate ears now. However, The Red Lion has a Folk night next Saturday and, on the following Saturday, they have Jazz Guitar and Harmonica, so there’s a good chance we will pay them a visit on one of those nights. We gotta get out more!!
Education
When I was at school, way back when, I was left in no doubt that my teachers had been fully trained in the 3Rs. After all, if a teacher of one subject was away sick, another teacher, who would probably teach a different subject, was perfectly capable of standing in for the absent one. Now, guess what, all teachers will now be expected to be well versed in those three subjects before being allowed to teach.
Now there’s a novel idea!!
I would have thought, being the logical person that I am, that as with any college or university course, an applicant would need to show that they have some grounding, i.e. recognised qualification, before being accepted onto the course, especially so when entering the teaching profession.
It seems I was wrong!
Tuesday 30th October
We took the bus into Derby yesterday morning. This trip was mainly to purchase a selection of nuts, but also because I was in great need of some decent tracing paper. (Not all budding artists are capable of freehand drawing, sad to say). Unfortunately, with only one bus per hour, our time is limited, because we really do not want to spend two hours in town.
We also visited our favourite book stand and exchanged five books for another five, at a grand total of just £5.25p, a bargain in anybody’s reckoning.
While we were away our friend Chris; he’s the one who took care of the car while we were away; borrowed ours because his is away being repaired after some clot bashed into him. White van man was the culprit.
Savile
I saw a picture yesterday where Esther Rantzen was with Jimmy Savile. This lady, allegedly, knew he was molesting children, well, at least strongly suspected him of doing so and yet here she is, right alongside him at some event or other.
Many other celebrities have come forward now who also suspected him of these foul deeds. But, nobody ever came put their head above the parapet when it mattered, because they thought they wouldn’t have been believed, or that Savile was too big a celebrity.
Well, nobody told those two intrepid American reporters that Nixon was too big. They went ahead and shopped him anyway. It seems we Brits have been lacking in guts for a very long time.
However, the Savile family have now added their voices to the furore, with the plea that they ‘had no idea what was going on’. Oh, really! They are now probably trembling at the thought that they could be liable to million in damages. But Jimmy is dead so, how do you punish others for his, alleged, wrong doing? Is this right and proper? Did his family do anything wrong? Did they know, like so many others around the man, that he was a wrongun?
There is still much media interest and legal investigations but, I still say, show me proof! Put up or shut up!
Finally, for this and future blogs, you may not share my views regarding the subjects I have a say about, but I hope you will respect my right to say them. These subjects won’t always be in the top spot in the media, and they will be picked at random. You are free to comment, or email me if you know my address, but I reserve the right to respond or ignore you. This is, after all, just a blog, not a public forum.
All the best for now
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
This will be our first full day back at Mercia Marina, and we’ve noticed a few changes already. For a start, a couple of new ‘Park Home’ style cabins have been erected. These are holiday homes which cost about £150k on a 100 year lease and, if the purchaser also owns a boat, the moorings come free – I think, but don’t quote me on it.
Also, probably due to the excessive amount of rain experienced during this summer, much of the foliage around the site has really spread out. This is good, because it breaks up the view of the marina sections and creates a rather wild look to the place.
We have also heard that plans are afoot to build a noise reduction fence along the side of the site that faces the confluence of the A50 and A38. This is a huge gyratory system, which can be really noisy during peak hours, so such a fence will be of great benefit to those closest to it.
Bonfire night will be held on the planned gastro pub site as usual, but, since the pub is to start taking shape fairly soon, it will be the last one on that site. With Rusty becoming deaf to all but the offer of food and walkies, she doesn’t hear the fireworks now, so we’ll probably attend the festivities this time.
Tuesday 23rd October
I mentioned in the last blog of 2012 cruise, the fact that I had caught a cold. Well, that has turned into the most horrendous cough and it’s been losing me precious beauty sleep over the past few nights. I’m spending almost as much time in the armchair as I am in bed, so I won’t be sorry when it goes.
The Savile Investigation…..
So, where is the Savile family whilst this furore is going on? Apart from tearing down his headstone very early on in the proceedings, we have not had a peep out of them. Could it be that they knew he was a pervert, or are they just so embarrassed by the whole thing that they are keeping a low profile? Whatever the case, all I’ve seen and heard is innuendo and claims by those who were, supposedly, molested by him. And you know what they say about rumour and innuendo, “Believe only half of what you see and none of what you hear”. It works for me!!
Wednesday 24th October
Oh boy! We drove into Burton yesterday, partly for shopping, but also to see if I could find something to rid me of this hacking cough. To this end we called in to Boots and checked out the selection at the Pharmacy counter. There, sitting on a shelf, was an item called ‘Pulmo Bailly Oral Solution’, which claims to be a ‘Cough Suppressant Expectorant’. That, I thought, has got to be the bees knees of cough mixtures. Along with it, since it was offered at a discount when bought with any medicine, I purchased ‘Covonia’ Double Impact Lozenges.
Upon arriving home, being eager to try the stuff out, I checked the directions and opened the bottle. Phew! That smell. It reminded me of visits to old folks homes. It’s something that always seems to be there. If you have ever come across that smell, you’ll know what I mean.
So, ‘mix with a little water and add fruit juice or sugar if required’, it said. Ye Gods, you really wouldn’t want to drink this stuff without the sugar or fruit juice, it really is foul. I have never tasted anything so awful. Ughhh!!
Did it work? Well, I can safely say that my cough reduced in severity but, whether this was due to the efficacy of the medicine, or my fear of having to drink any more of the stuff, I have no idea. Suffice it to say, my cough has all but gone. Thank goodness.
Sunday 28th October
Well, just for a change we tried The Red Lion in Repton for our Sunday drink today. We have discovered that Saturday night is live music night there. Now, we’re not lovers of pubs that run live music nights, they are usually far too noisy for our delicate ears now. However, The Red Lion has a Folk night next Saturday and, on the following Saturday, they have Jazz Guitar and Harmonica, so there’s a good chance we will pay them a visit on one of those nights. We gotta get out more!!
Education
When I was at school, way back when, I was left in no doubt that my teachers had been fully trained in the 3Rs. After all, if a teacher of one subject was away sick, another teacher, who would probably teach a different subject, was perfectly capable of standing in for the absent one. Now, guess what, all teachers will now be expected to be well versed in those three subjects before being allowed to teach.
Now there’s a novel idea!!
I would have thought, being the logical person that I am, that as with any college or university course, an applicant would need to show that they have some grounding, i.e. recognised qualification, before being accepted onto the course, especially so when entering the teaching profession.
It seems I was wrong!
Tuesday 30th October
We took the bus into Derby yesterday morning. This trip was mainly to purchase a selection of nuts, but also because I was in great need of some decent tracing paper. (Not all budding artists are capable of freehand drawing, sad to say). Unfortunately, with only one bus per hour, our time is limited, because we really do not want to spend two hours in town.
We also visited our favourite book stand and exchanged five books for another five, at a grand total of just £5.25p, a bargain in anybody’s reckoning.
While we were away our friend Chris; he’s the one who took care of the car while we were away; borrowed ours because his is away being repaired after some clot bashed into him. White van man was the culprit.
Savile
I saw a picture yesterday where Esther Rantzen was with Jimmy Savile. This lady, allegedly, knew he was molesting children, well, at least strongly suspected him of doing so and yet here she is, right alongside him at some event or other.
Many other celebrities have come forward now who also suspected him of these foul deeds. But, nobody ever came put their head above the parapet when it mattered, because they thought they wouldn’t have been believed, or that Savile was too big a celebrity.
Well, nobody told those two intrepid American reporters that Nixon was too big. They went ahead and shopped him anyway. It seems we Brits have been lacking in guts for a very long time.
However, the Savile family have now added their voices to the furore, with the plea that they ‘had no idea what was going on’. Oh, really! They are now probably trembling at the thought that they could be liable to million in damages. But Jimmy is dead so, how do you punish others for his, alleged, wrong doing? Is this right and proper? Did his family do anything wrong? Did they know, like so many others around the man, that he was a wrongun?
There is still much media interest and legal investigations but, I still say, show me proof! Put up or shut up!
Finally, for this and future blogs, you may not share my views regarding the subjects I have a say about, but I hope you will respect my right to say them. These subjects won’t always be in the top spot in the media, and they will be picked at random. You are free to comment, or email me if you know my address, but I reserve the right to respond or ignore you. This is, after all, just a blog, not a public forum.
All the best for now
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 19 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 30
Great Haywood to Mercia Marina
Friday 12th October
The weather this morning is not looking too promising, with heavy clouds and a light breeze, which could easily turn into a downpour and gale force winds. We live in hopes as we really don’t want any further delays in getting back to Mercia.
Yesterday, as I reported in Blog # 29, I had more trouble with replying to emails through Outlook. In desperation I sent a query to the help desk at Absolute Email but, like a twerp, I didn’t think to include the full text of the error message. This morning, surprise, surprise, Absolute replied asking for just that. In ‘replying’ to their request I told them I would let them know just as soon as it happened again. Would you believe, that reply went out without a problem? Hmmmm, and Grrrr!!
We took our belated trip into Stafford yesterday but, with buses running at only one per hour we didn’t have long for shopping. The ride there was pretty hairy as the driver had some time to make up and took a few more risks than I would have done. After all, even going at breakneck speed, he was only ever going to make up a couple of minutes, if that. The ride back was much more sedate, I’m pleased to say.
Saturday 13th October
It’s foggy man, really foggy this morning, so we may have to wait until the sun burns it off or the wind and rain disperses it. Whatever, we only have a couple of miles to go to Rugeley for shopping at Morrison’s, then on to Handsacre, where we’ll stay for Sunday lunchtime at The Old Peculiar pub.
Yesterday we spent about 1½ hours travelling the 3 miles and 2 locks to bridge 69 and, believe it or not we moored right opposite the pig farm. Fortunately there’s no smell to speak of since the wind is carrying it away. That farm also has chickens and a cow and one of the workers there lives on a boat with his Border Collie. Whilst out walking with Rusty yesterday afternoon I actually watched that dog kill a chicken. I think it was trying to herd it back into its compound, but became so frustrated at its refusal to do so, that she picked it up and tried to toss it over the wire, with fatal results.
I have just received the last part of the caravan pastel instructions. Goodness knows how Emma manages to depict a picture in such detail, it’s completely beyond me. But, with a bit of perseverance I’ll actually finish it soon. I will then file it away, never to see the light of day again.
So, what is the incubation period for the common cold? Not that we’re common you understand, but I now seem to have caught the wretched thing, and the only person I can possibly blame it on, is my dear wife. Out come the Beecham’s Powders and the Honey and Lemon drinks. Actually I can’t really blame Wifey because, as every woman will tell you, we men do not have colds we have man flu, which makes us very ill indeed and unable to cope with the simplest of tasks.
Sunday 14th October
I arose from our pit at the usual time of 5.15 to a very chilly boat. Fully expecting to see a frost on the ground, but finding none when I peeked through the window, I then cast my eyes towards the fire, where the fan on top was turning rather slowly. Oh dear! Who forgot to top the fire up last night? Fortunately it still had some life in it, so it was just a matter of topping it up and opening the vents, so it wasn’t long before the fan was spinning like crazy.
The fan here, for those non-boaters reading this blog, has only one moving part, and that’s the blade. It sits on the top plate of the solid fuel burner and, with a little help from rising heat currents, the fan spins, sending the warmth of the fire throughout the boat. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to do. In practice though, the heat doesn’t quite reach the bedroom, so, during the really cold weather we close the bedroom door and revel in the warmth. Lovely!
We now have just four days to go for this cruise and I fully intend for this to be the final blog posting. It may be a few pages longer than normal, but I’m sure you won’t mind.
Tomorrow we should be at Fradley Junction, followed by Alrewas on Tuesday, Branston Wednesday and home to Mercia on Thursday the 18th of October.
Monday 15th October
Yesterday, after an hour in The Old Peculiar, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. O.K., so we do plenty of relaxing anyway and Sundays are no different in that respect, but Sundays are not conducive to bus rides into town centres, so they always seem to go slower than the rest of the week.
The day was bright, with a chill wind and we fully expected a frost this morning but, luckily for us the day has started off cloudy and, especially for Wifey’s sake, since we do have a few locks to go through, so she won’t have slippery metal to walk across.
We’re only going three miles today to Fradley Junction, so it shouldn’t take us more than an hour and a half, even with the locks thrown in.
Rusty is becoming more and more prone to her tummy upsets, so one of our first ports of call when we get back to Mercia will be a trip to the Vet’s. Hopefully he will come up with some idea as to what is causing it because, whatever he prescribed last time, didn’t work.
Tuesday 16th October
The caravan is finished, but not really to my satisfaction. But, it’s safe to say that, once I have submitted a copy to Emma it will join the painting of Rusty. The sunset project will be treated with much more care and, with luck, result in a much cleaner and more detailed finished article. Meanwhile I now have to find a board on which to lay my A3 sheet while I’m working on it, and I also need to find a way of storing it between sessions. Not only that but, since our printer only goes up to a maximum of A4, I will have to take whatever picture Emma sends me to a photo shop for enlargement.
We arrived here at Fradley Junction at about 10.30 yesterday morning and were met with a notice warning boaters to proceed with caution when passing through the river section at Alrewas, which is our next stop after Fradley. Obviously that section; which is only about 200 yards long; is a bit high due to the heavy rains of late but, since we won’t be going through Alrewas until tomorrow I’m hoping the high water would have subsided by then. If the warning signs tell us that the water level is in the red, then we’ll have to wait until it goes down again.
We took a walk up to the shop yesterday, just to see how much more they’ve done to it since we passed through earlier in the year. The upstairs Art Gallery is complete, with displays of work from several artists. Downstairs is almost complete, with a small section being set aside for basic foodstuffs for passing boaters. We had, I think, our final ice cream of the season and bought a couple of the ‘Favourite’ series of recipe books, of which there are 86 in total. We now have 16 of them, so a long way to go yet.
Wednesday 17th October
When we awoke yesterday morning we were met with a high wind and bright sunshine. The sunshine is always welcome, but the wind makes it very difficult to steer 15 tonnes of steel, so we decided to stay another day at Fradley. The strong winds stayed with us until late afternoon, by which time it was too late to head for Alrewas. Besides which, we would have had trouble finding a mooring spot that late in the day.
We had hoped by this morning that the river section would have subsided but, with heavy rain overnight the warning sign has probably slipped into the red. We are, therefore, between a rock and a hard place, do we stay here for a third night, or do we go on to Alrewas and wait it out there? If the water level is now in the red, there may already be quite a few boats held up at Alrewas, which may make it rather tricky finding a mooring spot. This late in our travels I do not need the horns of a dilemma!! Even now, the wind seems to be whipping up again, adding to the problem.
…….. It’s now almost 6.30 am and I’ve just come back from walking Rusty. The wind is now just as strong as yesterday and it is now raining stair rods. Not only that, it is now a head wind, so we definitely are not going anywhere this morning, and it looks like a late arrival at Mercia, probably the weekend. What a way to end seven months cruising!
Last winter I didn’t bother with the blog, with the result that I was unable to use it just before setting out for this years cruise. This winter I will continue with the blog, but on a more ad hoc basis. Obviously being stuck in one place and passing our days very much like everybody else is not conducive to the production of exciting reading. This means that I will have to be rather picky in what I write about.
I have no doubt that my pal Alan will continue sending jokes and links to various amusing online videos, which I can include if they are suitable for family viewing. There’s also the matter of certain newspaper articles, some of which do tend to infuriate me. For example: this witch hunt of Jimmy Saville. Loads of other notable people have been dragged into this, including Esther Rantzen and Freddie Starr, to name but two. BUT, when is somebody going to offer PROOF of any wrongdoing by this man? All I’ve heard – and this is not unusual when a famous personality dies – is accusations from women who say ‘his touch lingered just a little bit too long’. What’s that supposed to mean? Did he molest these girls, or was he just being affectionate? I know, I know, there’s no smoke without fire, and all that cliché stuff and, I don’t think I’m being naïve here. We’ll probably never know the truth of it, despite the investigations going on, but an awful lot of heads will undoubtedly roll as a result of them.
That’s the kind of thing I plan to include in the winter blog. What you will have to bear in mind though, is that we only read the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, so I will probably be a wee bit biased. Well, you pays yer money and takes yer choice!!
Thursday 18th October
Much to our surprise, yesterday morning turned out fine and dry, so off we went to Alrewas.
This village has a Co-op, newsagent and a really good butcher, a shop that we always seem to spend too much money in, and yesterday was no different than usual. He usually has fresh bread on sale, but all of it was sliced this time, which we simply hate, (more like cardboard, if you ask me) so Wifey had to set to and make her own. I love it!
Today, after all the rain last night, has dawned clear and dry, so we should be able to get to Branston. This means a short stretch of the River Trent, immediately after the last lock in Alrewas. However, it’s only a short section, which ends at another lock that takes us back onto the canal.
Branston will be our last port of call before Mercia, which is where I will post this final blog of 2012.
Friday 19th October
A fine morning yesterday saw us make our way to Branston. Five miles, four locks and 2½ hours later and we arrived here at 10.30 am. We are moored, as usual, right beside Branston Water Park, an oddity as parks go, because it also has Dog Dip spots, where your pooch can paddle and swim to his/her hearts content. There was a time when Wifey would have been able to take Rusty all the way round the lake, sadly that’s no longer the case as Rusty is no longer up to such a walk.
There’s only one thing wrong with this mooring, midges. I noticed them yesterday evening when one settled on my hand. Not only that, there are also little, green aphids around. It’s October, for goodness sakes, what the heck are they doing here at this time of year? I’m becoming a little paranoid now and, with every slight tickle on the skin I think I’m being attacked. Reminder to self: do not spend high summer in the wilds of Scotland, where, so I’m told, there are millions of the little perishers.
We have lots of tasks to carry out this winter, including a partitioned tray to go under the side hatch, a new and bigger flower box for the top of the boat and a new bathroom cabinet; I hate that cheap and nasty wire shelf thing. Then there are the panels for the back doors, which would normally be Castles and Roses, but which may not be in our case as we like to be different. I also have to get back to my guitar and uke practice, of which I’ve done very little while we’ve been cruising. Whilst I wouldn’t call myself lazy, cruising for long periods certainly makes it seem that way.
But, we don’t want to be worrying about that, our first job will be shopping at Morrison’s, followed closely by a look around The Range and Derby Market. Not for anything special you understand, although, having downloaded a very interesting book on watercolour painting, I would like to buy a small box of pan paints and follow the exercise in that book.
Saturday 20th October
Well, that’s it for Cruise 2012. We left Branston quite late yesterday due to fog, with seven miles and two locks to go to Mercia, and arrived here at about 2.15 pm, well past our usual lunchtime, which accounts for why Rusty was pestering us during the last hour or so, the poor wee thing was hungry, bless her!
When we arrived at the first of the two locks, we found a family of holiday boaters in the shape of middle aged dad and four boys of varying ages, (don’t know where mum was). However, instead of moving on after passing through the lock, two of the boys waited for us and helped us through and told us that they wanted us to go in front, because they were in no hurry and didn’t want to hold us up. Now that was a first as nobody has ever done that before, and there’s many a time we’ve cursed boaters for really poodling along, when we want to get where we’re going.
Along the seven mile trip we enjoyed plenty of sunshine and good spirits after that show of consideration. Last year we were slaughtered with wind and rain for most of the second half of the trip.
And that’s about it, apart from saying, thanks for keeping us company along the way, even if it was only in spirit. We look forward to doing the same in 2003.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid the problems I had with Blogger last time, I will keep the blog going throughout winter, but on a much reduced level, as I’ve already mentioned.
Finally, I may have discovered the reason for those problems with Outlook. I received a reply from my email company, Absolute Email, who tell me it is because I am using my Internet providers own server, a fact that they have confirmed through their own logs. I now await details of how to change my Outlook settings from ‘3’ to Absolutes server. Should be interesting and, I hope, stop the returned emails.
Best wishes to all from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 12th October
The weather this morning is not looking too promising, with heavy clouds and a light breeze, which could easily turn into a downpour and gale force winds. We live in hopes as we really don’t want any further delays in getting back to Mercia.
Yesterday, as I reported in Blog # 29, I had more trouble with replying to emails through Outlook. In desperation I sent a query to the help desk at Absolute Email but, like a twerp, I didn’t think to include the full text of the error message. This morning, surprise, surprise, Absolute replied asking for just that. In ‘replying’ to their request I told them I would let them know just as soon as it happened again. Would you believe, that reply went out without a problem? Hmmmm, and Grrrr!!
We took our belated trip into Stafford yesterday but, with buses running at only one per hour we didn’t have long for shopping. The ride there was pretty hairy as the driver had some time to make up and took a few more risks than I would have done. After all, even going at breakneck speed, he was only ever going to make up a couple of minutes, if that. The ride back was much more sedate, I’m pleased to say.
Saturday 13th October
It’s foggy man, really foggy this morning, so we may have to wait until the sun burns it off or the wind and rain disperses it. Whatever, we only have a couple of miles to go to Rugeley for shopping at Morrison’s, then on to Handsacre, where we’ll stay for Sunday lunchtime at The Old Peculiar pub.
Yesterday we spent about 1½ hours travelling the 3 miles and 2 locks to bridge 69 and, believe it or not we moored right opposite the pig farm. Fortunately there’s no smell to speak of since the wind is carrying it away. That farm also has chickens and a cow and one of the workers there lives on a boat with his Border Collie. Whilst out walking with Rusty yesterday afternoon I actually watched that dog kill a chicken. I think it was trying to herd it back into its compound, but became so frustrated at its refusal to do so, that she picked it up and tried to toss it over the wire, with fatal results.
I have just received the last part of the caravan pastel instructions. Goodness knows how Emma manages to depict a picture in such detail, it’s completely beyond me. But, with a bit of perseverance I’ll actually finish it soon. I will then file it away, never to see the light of day again.
So, what is the incubation period for the common cold? Not that we’re common you understand, but I now seem to have caught the wretched thing, and the only person I can possibly blame it on, is my dear wife. Out come the Beecham’s Powders and the Honey and Lemon drinks. Actually I can’t really blame Wifey because, as every woman will tell you, we men do not have colds we have man flu, which makes us very ill indeed and unable to cope with the simplest of tasks.
Sunday 14th October
I arose from our pit at the usual time of 5.15 to a very chilly boat. Fully expecting to see a frost on the ground, but finding none when I peeked through the window, I then cast my eyes towards the fire, where the fan on top was turning rather slowly. Oh dear! Who forgot to top the fire up last night? Fortunately it still had some life in it, so it was just a matter of topping it up and opening the vents, so it wasn’t long before the fan was spinning like crazy.
The fan here, for those non-boaters reading this blog, has only one moving part, and that’s the blade. It sits on the top plate of the solid fuel burner and, with a little help from rising heat currents, the fan spins, sending the warmth of the fire throughout the boat. Well, that’s what it’s supposed to do. In practice though, the heat doesn’t quite reach the bedroom, so, during the really cold weather we close the bedroom door and revel in the warmth. Lovely!
We now have just four days to go for this cruise and I fully intend for this to be the final blog posting. It may be a few pages longer than normal, but I’m sure you won’t mind.
Tomorrow we should be at Fradley Junction, followed by Alrewas on Tuesday, Branston Wednesday and home to Mercia on Thursday the 18th of October.
Monday 15th October
Yesterday, after an hour in The Old Peculiar, the rest of the day was spent relaxing. O.K., so we do plenty of relaxing anyway and Sundays are no different in that respect, but Sundays are not conducive to bus rides into town centres, so they always seem to go slower than the rest of the week.
The day was bright, with a chill wind and we fully expected a frost this morning but, luckily for us the day has started off cloudy and, especially for Wifey’s sake, since we do have a few locks to go through, so she won’t have slippery metal to walk across.
We’re only going three miles today to Fradley Junction, so it shouldn’t take us more than an hour and a half, even with the locks thrown in.
Rusty is becoming more and more prone to her tummy upsets, so one of our first ports of call when we get back to Mercia will be a trip to the Vet’s. Hopefully he will come up with some idea as to what is causing it because, whatever he prescribed last time, didn’t work.
Tuesday 16th October
The caravan is finished, but not really to my satisfaction. But, it’s safe to say that, once I have submitted a copy to Emma it will join the painting of Rusty. The sunset project will be treated with much more care and, with luck, result in a much cleaner and more detailed finished article. Meanwhile I now have to find a board on which to lay my A3 sheet while I’m working on it, and I also need to find a way of storing it between sessions. Not only that but, since our printer only goes up to a maximum of A4, I will have to take whatever picture Emma sends me to a photo shop for enlargement.
We arrived here at Fradley Junction at about 10.30 yesterday morning and were met with a notice warning boaters to proceed with caution when passing through the river section at Alrewas, which is our next stop after Fradley. Obviously that section; which is only about 200 yards long; is a bit high due to the heavy rains of late but, since we won’t be going through Alrewas until tomorrow I’m hoping the high water would have subsided by then. If the warning signs tell us that the water level is in the red, then we’ll have to wait until it goes down again.
We took a walk up to the shop yesterday, just to see how much more they’ve done to it since we passed through earlier in the year. The upstairs Art Gallery is complete, with displays of work from several artists. Downstairs is almost complete, with a small section being set aside for basic foodstuffs for passing boaters. We had, I think, our final ice cream of the season and bought a couple of the ‘Favourite’ series of recipe books, of which there are 86 in total. We now have 16 of them, so a long way to go yet.
Wednesday 17th October
When we awoke yesterday morning we were met with a high wind and bright sunshine. The sunshine is always welcome, but the wind makes it very difficult to steer 15 tonnes of steel, so we decided to stay another day at Fradley. The strong winds stayed with us until late afternoon, by which time it was too late to head for Alrewas. Besides which, we would have had trouble finding a mooring spot that late in the day.
We had hoped by this morning that the river section would have subsided but, with heavy rain overnight the warning sign has probably slipped into the red. We are, therefore, between a rock and a hard place, do we stay here for a third night, or do we go on to Alrewas and wait it out there? If the water level is now in the red, there may already be quite a few boats held up at Alrewas, which may make it rather tricky finding a mooring spot. This late in our travels I do not need the horns of a dilemma!! Even now, the wind seems to be whipping up again, adding to the problem.
…….. It’s now almost 6.30 am and I’ve just come back from walking Rusty. The wind is now just as strong as yesterday and it is now raining stair rods. Not only that, it is now a head wind, so we definitely are not going anywhere this morning, and it looks like a late arrival at Mercia, probably the weekend. What a way to end seven months cruising!
Last winter I didn’t bother with the blog, with the result that I was unable to use it just before setting out for this years cruise. This winter I will continue with the blog, but on a more ad hoc basis. Obviously being stuck in one place and passing our days very much like everybody else is not conducive to the production of exciting reading. This means that I will have to be rather picky in what I write about.
I have no doubt that my pal Alan will continue sending jokes and links to various amusing online videos, which I can include if they are suitable for family viewing. There’s also the matter of certain newspaper articles, some of which do tend to infuriate me. For example: this witch hunt of Jimmy Saville. Loads of other notable people have been dragged into this, including Esther Rantzen and Freddie Starr, to name but two. BUT, when is somebody going to offer PROOF of any wrongdoing by this man? All I’ve heard – and this is not unusual when a famous personality dies – is accusations from women who say ‘his touch lingered just a little bit too long’. What’s that supposed to mean? Did he molest these girls, or was he just being affectionate? I know, I know, there’s no smoke without fire, and all that cliché stuff and, I don’t think I’m being naïve here. We’ll probably never know the truth of it, despite the investigations going on, but an awful lot of heads will undoubtedly roll as a result of them.
That’s the kind of thing I plan to include in the winter blog. What you will have to bear in mind though, is that we only read the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, so I will probably be a wee bit biased. Well, you pays yer money and takes yer choice!!
Thursday 18th October
Much to our surprise, yesterday morning turned out fine and dry, so off we went to Alrewas.
This village has a Co-op, newsagent and a really good butcher, a shop that we always seem to spend too much money in, and yesterday was no different than usual. He usually has fresh bread on sale, but all of it was sliced this time, which we simply hate, (more like cardboard, if you ask me) so Wifey had to set to and make her own. I love it!
Today, after all the rain last night, has dawned clear and dry, so we should be able to get to Branston. This means a short stretch of the River Trent, immediately after the last lock in Alrewas. However, it’s only a short section, which ends at another lock that takes us back onto the canal.
Branston will be our last port of call before Mercia, which is where I will post this final blog of 2012.
Friday 19th October
A fine morning yesterday saw us make our way to Branston. Five miles, four locks and 2½ hours later and we arrived here at 10.30 am. We are moored, as usual, right beside Branston Water Park, an oddity as parks go, because it also has Dog Dip spots, where your pooch can paddle and swim to his/her hearts content. There was a time when Wifey would have been able to take Rusty all the way round the lake, sadly that’s no longer the case as Rusty is no longer up to such a walk.
There’s only one thing wrong with this mooring, midges. I noticed them yesterday evening when one settled on my hand. Not only that, there are also little, green aphids around. It’s October, for goodness sakes, what the heck are they doing here at this time of year? I’m becoming a little paranoid now and, with every slight tickle on the skin I think I’m being attacked. Reminder to self: do not spend high summer in the wilds of Scotland, where, so I’m told, there are millions of the little perishers.
We have lots of tasks to carry out this winter, including a partitioned tray to go under the side hatch, a new and bigger flower box for the top of the boat and a new bathroom cabinet; I hate that cheap and nasty wire shelf thing. Then there are the panels for the back doors, which would normally be Castles and Roses, but which may not be in our case as we like to be different. I also have to get back to my guitar and uke practice, of which I’ve done very little while we’ve been cruising. Whilst I wouldn’t call myself lazy, cruising for long periods certainly makes it seem that way.
But, we don’t want to be worrying about that, our first job will be shopping at Morrison’s, followed closely by a look around The Range and Derby Market. Not for anything special you understand, although, having downloaded a very interesting book on watercolour painting, I would like to buy a small box of pan paints and follow the exercise in that book.
Saturday 20th October
Well, that’s it for Cruise 2012. We left Branston quite late yesterday due to fog, with seven miles and two locks to go to Mercia, and arrived here at about 2.15 pm, well past our usual lunchtime, which accounts for why Rusty was pestering us during the last hour or so, the poor wee thing was hungry, bless her!
When we arrived at the first of the two locks, we found a family of holiday boaters in the shape of middle aged dad and four boys of varying ages, (don’t know where mum was). However, instead of moving on after passing through the lock, two of the boys waited for us and helped us through and told us that they wanted us to go in front, because they were in no hurry and didn’t want to hold us up. Now that was a first as nobody has ever done that before, and there’s many a time we’ve cursed boaters for really poodling along, when we want to get where we’re going.
Along the seven mile trip we enjoyed plenty of sunshine and good spirits after that show of consideration. Last year we were slaughtered with wind and rain for most of the second half of the trip.
And that’s about it, apart from saying, thanks for keeping us company along the way, even if it was only in spirit. We look forward to doing the same in 2003.
Meanwhile, in order to avoid the problems I had with Blogger last time, I will keep the blog going throughout winter, but on a much reduced level, as I’ve already mentioned.
Finally, I may have discovered the reason for those problems with Outlook. I received a reply from my email company, Absolute Email, who tell me it is because I am using my Internet providers own server, a fact that they have confirmed through their own logs. I now await details of how to change my Outlook settings from ‘3’ to Absolutes server. Should be interesting and, I hope, stop the returned emails.
Best wishes to all from Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 11 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 29
Bridge 7/8 Shroppie to Great Haywood
Friday 5th October
From here to our next stop, which should be Cross Green on the Staffs and Worcester canal, is about six miles, with just the one stop-lock at the end of the Shroppie, so, weather permitting; and it’s looking O.K. at present; we should make landfall within a couple of hours or so. From the moorings there it is just a short walk to the local paper shop, after which we can settle in for the rest of the day.
Sheila still has the remnants of her cold; which has turned into that nagging cough that usually follows such things; whilst I still have a grumbling tummy, but that too has eased off. I guess we’re both succumbing to the ravages and vagaries of old age. Once these problems have cleared up of course, we’ll be our usual silly selves. Life is too short to have the miseries for too long.
Saturday 6th October
A beautiful, clear sky to start the day, although according to the mail yesterday, we can expect rain later, so, why is it that the BBC tell us to expect a clear day today?
Yesterday was another day of suffering, with Sheila still in the throes of a lousy cold and me with my upset tummy. I actually retired to bed very early last night and am now feeling much better. My tummy is gurgling, but it’s now from lack of food, I’m pleased to say. Sheila still has a bit of a cough, but that should soon clear.
Well, with a bit of luck we now have only 10 days to go before we’re back at Mercia. After all the lousy weather we’ve had of late, it can’t come soon enough for me. We can then look forward to those clear, crisp and cold winter mornings instead. Hmmm!
Sunday 7th October
A chilly start to the day, but it promises to be a bright one. This is good news to me, because we’re off to Penkridge, it’s Sunday, my tummy is all better and I’ll be able to enjoy a couple of Guinness’s. Great!!
It only took us 1 ½ hours to get here from Gailey, but it was a lovely morning and there were very few other boaters about, except those that are permanently moored up and slow us down. However, since we are rarely is a tearing hurry; at 4mph that’s impossible anyway; they don’t bother us too much, except when it’s raining, when they can be a pesky nuisance.
Coming through the final lock yesterday the boat took a bit of a soaking from a spout of water emanating from the side wall. Such leaks are quite common, although they are not usually as strong as this beauty. Anyway, I closed the back doors to avoid splashes and jiggled the boat about in an effort to avoid the worst of it. But, when we arrived at our intended moorings and, finding I needed to reverse a bit, I experienced an awful burning smell from the engine bay. Thinking the worst I lifted the cover and, sure enough there was a load of liquid, which I took to be an oil leak. Thankfully it wasn’t. Obviously some of the water gusher had found its way onto the fan belt, causing it to slip and burn a bit. Phew!
Monday 8th October
We’ve decided to spend another day here at Penkridge. This is one of our favourite stopovers on the Staffs and Worcester. There’s a good pub by the side of the canal, although, truth to tell, it was rather noisy with the music yesterday. Now, I am of the opinion that, if you choose to eat in a pub you should at least be able to do so in relative comfort. Loud music does not equate to comfort when eating. This could account for the fact that, by the time we left The Boat, at about 1.30, there were no diners there whatsoever. The Cook/Chef was behind the bar and could have been no older than 25/30 and the Manager, when he appeared, didn’t look to be much older. Neither of us recognised either of them from previous visits, so the pub may have changed hands. Whatever the case, if that places wants to remain in business, it would behove them to give due consideration to their customers, rather than the level at which the staff wish to hear the music. Nuff said!!
We’ll be taking a walk into town this morning, because there are some good shops there and, our favourite, the local butcher. On the other side of the main road there is a market, but we think that’s only open two days per week, neither of which is Monday.
You may remember me mentioning the visit by a heating engineer a while ago? Well, since then I have been trying to conserve battery power. I do not, for example, run the Inverter/Charger unless the engine is also running. This means that, when I use the laptop in the morning, I run it on its internal battery. I then charge it up as and when I have the engine running. This simple change has resulted in much more power available in the morning and, provided that I continue in like fashion, we should arrive at Mercia with batteries intact and reasonably healthy. Once we’re back on land based power, we’ll have no more problems for six months.
Tuesday 9th October
Once again, nothing out of the ordinary to report for yesterday, just the usual routine of shopping and walking the dog and reading of course, oh, and we had some rain. All very exciting, as you would imagine. Perhaps a wee bit of flippancy there?
Today we’ll be off to Weeping Cross, from which we will take the bus into Stafford. Unfortunately the butcher in Penkridge was closed yesterday; some butchers still do so on Mondays; so we had to resort to that thin and tasteless bacon from the Co-op. We need proper bacon!!
Later….
Well, we arrived at Weeping Cross somewhat later than I had hoped. Perhaps we were simply going slower than usual but, with five locks and six miles to do, we took 2½ hours, in a light, but chilly wind and, poor old me, I started feeling quite cold during the half hour prior to our arrival.
Weeping Cross has a pub beside the canal only a short walk from our current moorings, which we called into on one previous visit. We said at the time ‘never again’ because, not unlike a post office or bank, I was asked to queue in a line for my second drink. Now though, the place seems to have changed hands – what a surprise – and looks like one of those Beefeater type joints, so, on our next pass through, we might just give it a second chance.
Initially we were considering taking the bus into Stafford today but, since we didn’t arrive until after 11 am, we have deferred the trip until tomorrow morning.
Wednesday 10th October
Well, tomorrow has arrived and looks set fair for a trip into Stafford. The original purpose for this trip was to buy myself a pair of waterproof boots because, when we arrived at Penkridge, my socks were wet. We put this down to leaky boots at first but, when we arrived here yesterday, having walked over lots of wet grass again, with my sock still dry, we now think the gushing water through the lock before Penkridge, must have splashed over the top of my boots and seeped in through the laces.
This doesn’t mean we have no reason for the trip into town. Who needs a reason for a free bus ride? Although, should I find a reasonably priced pair of waterproof shoes, I might still spend some cash.
My pastel painting is not going so well. In fact, it’s becoming a disaster. Pastels are such a messy medium, as I am rapidly coming to realise. With watercolours and oils you are left with a few splashes to clear up, but, with pastels, the dust gets everywhere, including all over the work already done, resulting in a smudged and messy piece of paper.
Emma seems to think that, once I have gone through the whole picture, most of the smudging will have been covered up with new pastel. She has yet to convince me of this fact.
Later…..
We changed our minds about the trip into Stafford. Instead we set off for Great Haywood, as the weather was dry and still fairly mild. Arrived GH at 10 am and will probably do the Stafford trip tomorrow morning.
Although I haven’t finished this pesky caravan pastel, Emma has asked me if I could get some bigger paper, probably A3. What she has in mind, I have no idea, but it will probably be a landscape of some kind. I’ve asked that she keep it simple, which rather coincides with my simple mind, I suppose.
Thursday 11th October
If things pan out as intended and the weather holds good, we should be at Mercia by this time next week. With the days becoming just a wee bit colder and the nights drawing in, that marina will be a welcome sight. We have been allocated a bay just a few moves away from our last one, so we’ll still be among friends. We’ll be closer to Richard and Sue; they looked after Rusty a couple of times last winter; and we’ll have a couple of nurses, I think, right next door.
We are, as you know, at Great Haywood, where the Internet tower is within shouting distance, as is the train line. Fortunately we rarely watch TV whilst cruising, because reception here is not very good. Up here, just past the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal, reception is possible but, had we been just a few boat lengths further along, we would have had to go without.
As it is I’ve been able to maintain contact with Emma, who has helped me over a bit of a stumbling block with my caravan painting. Painting? Blooming mess more like. I’ve had trouble placing a flimsy curtain in a window and, after several mistakes, decided to change it somewhat. But, I won’t be sorry to see the back of it. Of course I’ll keep it, if only to show how dreadful I was at this stage. Hopefully the next project will be somewhat simpler in detail and give me a chance to improve my technique.
Here we go again!!
I’ve just been online to Emma, thanking her for helping with that curtain. Once again Outlook refuses to send my reply, instead sending me the usual error message as to why the message can’t be sent.
After no less than three attempts whereby, as is my normal practice when this happens, I shut down my dongle, rebooted the laptop and pressed send/receive. Nope, same message. This is so infuriating and I don’t know what I can possibly do about it. If anybody who knows my email address has any idea as to what I can do here, your help would make me a happy bunny. If no help is forthcoming I’ll scweam and scweam and scweam. So there! What’s more, I’ll stamp my feet as well.
Now, since my laptop is running short of power and I am now offline, I’ll have to post this blog later.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Friday 5th October
From here to our next stop, which should be Cross Green on the Staffs and Worcester canal, is about six miles, with just the one stop-lock at the end of the Shroppie, so, weather permitting; and it’s looking O.K. at present; we should make landfall within a couple of hours or so. From the moorings there it is just a short walk to the local paper shop, after which we can settle in for the rest of the day.
Sheila still has the remnants of her cold; which has turned into that nagging cough that usually follows such things; whilst I still have a grumbling tummy, but that too has eased off. I guess we’re both succumbing to the ravages and vagaries of old age. Once these problems have cleared up of course, we’ll be our usual silly selves. Life is too short to have the miseries for too long.
Saturday 6th October
A beautiful, clear sky to start the day, although according to the mail yesterday, we can expect rain later, so, why is it that the BBC tell us to expect a clear day today?
Yesterday was another day of suffering, with Sheila still in the throes of a lousy cold and me with my upset tummy. I actually retired to bed very early last night and am now feeling much better. My tummy is gurgling, but it’s now from lack of food, I’m pleased to say. Sheila still has a bit of a cough, but that should soon clear.
Well, with a bit of luck we now have only 10 days to go before we’re back at Mercia. After all the lousy weather we’ve had of late, it can’t come soon enough for me. We can then look forward to those clear, crisp and cold winter mornings instead. Hmmm!
Sunday 7th October
A chilly start to the day, but it promises to be a bright one. This is good news to me, because we’re off to Penkridge, it’s Sunday, my tummy is all better and I’ll be able to enjoy a couple of Guinness’s. Great!!
It only took us 1 ½ hours to get here from Gailey, but it was a lovely morning and there were very few other boaters about, except those that are permanently moored up and slow us down. However, since we are rarely is a tearing hurry; at 4mph that’s impossible anyway; they don’t bother us too much, except when it’s raining, when they can be a pesky nuisance.
Coming through the final lock yesterday the boat took a bit of a soaking from a spout of water emanating from the side wall. Such leaks are quite common, although they are not usually as strong as this beauty. Anyway, I closed the back doors to avoid splashes and jiggled the boat about in an effort to avoid the worst of it. But, when we arrived at our intended moorings and, finding I needed to reverse a bit, I experienced an awful burning smell from the engine bay. Thinking the worst I lifted the cover and, sure enough there was a load of liquid, which I took to be an oil leak. Thankfully it wasn’t. Obviously some of the water gusher had found its way onto the fan belt, causing it to slip and burn a bit. Phew!
Monday 8th October
We’ve decided to spend another day here at Penkridge. This is one of our favourite stopovers on the Staffs and Worcester. There’s a good pub by the side of the canal, although, truth to tell, it was rather noisy with the music yesterday. Now, I am of the opinion that, if you choose to eat in a pub you should at least be able to do so in relative comfort. Loud music does not equate to comfort when eating. This could account for the fact that, by the time we left The Boat, at about 1.30, there were no diners there whatsoever. The Cook/Chef was behind the bar and could have been no older than 25/30 and the Manager, when he appeared, didn’t look to be much older. Neither of us recognised either of them from previous visits, so the pub may have changed hands. Whatever the case, if that places wants to remain in business, it would behove them to give due consideration to their customers, rather than the level at which the staff wish to hear the music. Nuff said!!
We’ll be taking a walk into town this morning, because there are some good shops there and, our favourite, the local butcher. On the other side of the main road there is a market, but we think that’s only open two days per week, neither of which is Monday.
You may remember me mentioning the visit by a heating engineer a while ago? Well, since then I have been trying to conserve battery power. I do not, for example, run the Inverter/Charger unless the engine is also running. This means that, when I use the laptop in the morning, I run it on its internal battery. I then charge it up as and when I have the engine running. This simple change has resulted in much more power available in the morning and, provided that I continue in like fashion, we should arrive at Mercia with batteries intact and reasonably healthy. Once we’re back on land based power, we’ll have no more problems for six months.
Tuesday 9th October
Once again, nothing out of the ordinary to report for yesterday, just the usual routine of shopping and walking the dog and reading of course, oh, and we had some rain. All very exciting, as you would imagine. Perhaps a wee bit of flippancy there?
Today we’ll be off to Weeping Cross, from which we will take the bus into Stafford. Unfortunately the butcher in Penkridge was closed yesterday; some butchers still do so on Mondays; so we had to resort to that thin and tasteless bacon from the Co-op. We need proper bacon!!
Later….
Well, we arrived at Weeping Cross somewhat later than I had hoped. Perhaps we were simply going slower than usual but, with five locks and six miles to do, we took 2½ hours, in a light, but chilly wind and, poor old me, I started feeling quite cold during the half hour prior to our arrival.
Weeping Cross has a pub beside the canal only a short walk from our current moorings, which we called into on one previous visit. We said at the time ‘never again’ because, not unlike a post office or bank, I was asked to queue in a line for my second drink. Now though, the place seems to have changed hands – what a surprise – and looks like one of those Beefeater type joints, so, on our next pass through, we might just give it a second chance.
Initially we were considering taking the bus into Stafford today but, since we didn’t arrive until after 11 am, we have deferred the trip until tomorrow morning.
Wednesday 10th October
Well, tomorrow has arrived and looks set fair for a trip into Stafford. The original purpose for this trip was to buy myself a pair of waterproof boots because, when we arrived at Penkridge, my socks were wet. We put this down to leaky boots at first but, when we arrived here yesterday, having walked over lots of wet grass again, with my sock still dry, we now think the gushing water through the lock before Penkridge, must have splashed over the top of my boots and seeped in through the laces.
This doesn’t mean we have no reason for the trip into town. Who needs a reason for a free bus ride? Although, should I find a reasonably priced pair of waterproof shoes, I might still spend some cash.
My pastel painting is not going so well. In fact, it’s becoming a disaster. Pastels are such a messy medium, as I am rapidly coming to realise. With watercolours and oils you are left with a few splashes to clear up, but, with pastels, the dust gets everywhere, including all over the work already done, resulting in a smudged and messy piece of paper.
Emma seems to think that, once I have gone through the whole picture, most of the smudging will have been covered up with new pastel. She has yet to convince me of this fact.
Later…..
We changed our minds about the trip into Stafford. Instead we set off for Great Haywood, as the weather was dry and still fairly mild. Arrived GH at 10 am and will probably do the Stafford trip tomorrow morning.
Although I haven’t finished this pesky caravan pastel, Emma has asked me if I could get some bigger paper, probably A3. What she has in mind, I have no idea, but it will probably be a landscape of some kind. I’ve asked that she keep it simple, which rather coincides with my simple mind, I suppose.
Thursday 11th October
If things pan out as intended and the weather holds good, we should be at Mercia by this time next week. With the days becoming just a wee bit colder and the nights drawing in, that marina will be a welcome sight. We have been allocated a bay just a few moves away from our last one, so we’ll still be among friends. We’ll be closer to Richard and Sue; they looked after Rusty a couple of times last winter; and we’ll have a couple of nurses, I think, right next door.
We are, as you know, at Great Haywood, where the Internet tower is within shouting distance, as is the train line. Fortunately we rarely watch TV whilst cruising, because reception here is not very good. Up here, just past the junction with the Staffs and Worcs canal, reception is possible but, had we been just a few boat lengths further along, we would have had to go without.
As it is I’ve been able to maintain contact with Emma, who has helped me over a bit of a stumbling block with my caravan painting. Painting? Blooming mess more like. I’ve had trouble placing a flimsy curtain in a window and, after several mistakes, decided to change it somewhat. But, I won’t be sorry to see the back of it. Of course I’ll keep it, if only to show how dreadful I was at this stage. Hopefully the next project will be somewhat simpler in detail and give me a chance to improve my technique.
Here we go again!!
I’ve just been online to Emma, thanking her for helping with that curtain. Once again Outlook refuses to send my reply, instead sending me the usual error message as to why the message can’t be sent.
After no less than three attempts whereby, as is my normal practice when this happens, I shut down my dongle, rebooted the laptop and pressed send/receive. Nope, same message. This is so infuriating and I don’t know what I can possibly do about it. If anybody who knows my email address has any idea as to what I can do here, your help would make me a happy bunny. If no help is forthcoming I’ll scweam and scweam and scweam. So there! What’s more, I’ll stamp my feet as well.
Now, since my laptop is running short of power and I am now offline, I’ll have to post this blog later.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 4 October 2012
Shiralee Cruise 2012 # 28
Overwater to Bridge 7/8 Shroppie
Thursday 27th September
Well now, with only about 16 days to go before we’re back at our winter moorings, this will probably be the penultimate blog for 2012. Despite the poor summer this year, we have enjoyed our travels over the past six months and we hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs.
Next year our aim is to visit Liverpool and cross the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal and take a look at how Lancastrians live. We had hoped to make those two trips this year but, with some kind of festival taking place on the Lancaster and with bookings for the Ribble Link already oversubscribed, this was not possible. So, we will plan those trips during our winter break and book them up prior to setting out, probably at the end of March.
Friday 28th September
I have discovered that, when it comes to painting with pastels, cleanliness is next to godliness – but, hey, who wants to be an angel? Anyway, unlike other budding artists, I can’t keep my efforts standing on an easel waiting for any additions I will make later. Nope, I have to remove my painting from the board it rests on, slide it carefully into a plastic sleeve and put that in a folder. With the best will in the world therefore, the darn thing is bound to get smudged, which is what is happening with my ‘Caravan’ project.
I’m beginning to think I should have gone back to watercolour but, having agreed to be Emma’s guinea pig for this series of paintings with pastels, I can’t really let her down. So, later today, after we reach the bottom of the next set of locks – and we have 11 of these Audlem locks still left to do today – I’m going have a look around for any books I may still have on the subject and, with my trusty laptop, search out some info on watercolour pencils; of which I have a whole bunch; and then find a subject to paint.
Meanwhile, should the weather be clement, we’ll be off through the rest of the aforementioned locks. Amen to that. The weather at present is far from clement in fact it’s drizzling with rain and rather windy.
Here’s a question for experts on Internet Explorer:
All of a sudden and out of the blue, without me making any adjustments to IE settings, every time I click on a link in IE all I get is a tiny screen at the top left hand side of my screen, which I then have to enlarge. I have no idea why this is happening, nor do I know how to fix it. Heeeeeelllpppp!!!! It’s driving me nuts!
Incidentally, when I open IE for the first time, it comes up as normal size.
Saturday 29th September
I have been sitting here at my laptop since 5.15 this morning and, after several attempts at getting online, without success, I took the dongle and propped it up on the roof. Even then I could only get a poor signal. Still, I did manage to download my emails but, when it came to sending, no chance. ‘Here we go again’, I thought.
Once again we were really lucky with the weather yesterday. Sheila walked into Audlem for the paper but, when she returned it was still raining. So, we hung around for a while and, as it seemed to be easing off by about 8.15, we set off to start the other 11 locks of the Audlem flight and the 2½ miles to the bottom of Adderley locks. By mid afternoon, down came the rain again and continued well into the evening. In fact, it stopped when I took rusty out, started again when we got back, then stopped when Sheila took her out and re-started as she got back. I think we lead a charmed life where the weather is concerned.
Sunday 30th September
Well, that’s another month out of the way and autumn to look forward to. Already we can see some of the trees changing colour and dropping their leaves. Still, in another couple of weeks we’ll be safe and secure at our winter moorings.
Yesterday turned out fine, with not a drop of rain, so we headed off for Market Drayton at about 8.15 and arrived at 10.15 and topped up with water.
When we came through here in April, or thereabouts, we took a walk through town to Morrison’s. Now that is quite walk or, as some would say, a good stretch of the legs. On that occasion, even though my legs ached, as they always do on such walks, I don’t remember the walk as being particularly uncomfortable. This time however, I can safely say, I really suffered and had to sit down as often as I could on the way back. I’m still feeling the effects of that walk this morning. Still, the nearest pub is just across the nearby bridge, so that won’t be a problem.
Listed below are our planned stops from now until Mercia:-
Goldstone Wharf, Gnosall, Wheaton Aston, Brewood, Penkridge, Great Haywood, Rugeley, Handsacre, Fradley Junction, Alrewas, Branston (where we plan on a pub lunch, proper) and finally Mercia, on or about the 16th.
Monday 1st October
Sunday lunch time was spent at The Talbot pub, which is just a short walk across the nearest bridge. Market Drayton has a huge selection of pubs, but most of them are within the town itself and The Talbot is the only one close to the canal. Having walked into town yesterday, with the resultant aching legs, another such walk did not seem too attractive.
In fact, the last time we passed through here we did walk into town, but only to the nearest pub. Sadly the pub we chose was all spit and sawdust and not really to our liking. Had it been placed in the Wild West I have no doubt it would have had bat-wing doors and spittoons by every table. I can even conjure up a honky-tonk piano to go with them, not to mention a few floozies sitting on cowboy’s knees. Ah well, that’s my imagination for you.
Today, as you can see above, we are heading for Goldstone Wharf, which also boasts a really good pub. However, weather permitting, we may push on a bit further so that we can run the engine for as long as we like, assuming nobody else chooses to moor up with us. I also need to take our back box off and repair the lid. For some reason that I am unable to fathom, I forgot to screw the blocks holding the hinges and, instead, left the wood glue to take the strain. Consequently one of the blocks has come unstuck and needs to be secured with screws.
Tuesday 2nd October
Yesterday morning, after Wifey had walked into town for a few bits and pieces, we set off for Goldstone Wharf, on a bright and mild morning. We had about 3 miles to go and five locks at Tyrely, plus a narrow cut of about two miles – maybe a bit less.
We had been moored close to a pine tree for these two days, so you can imaging the mess on our roof by the time we left. I managed to brush most of the pine needles off from one side whilst going through Tyrley Locks and, after our cup of coffee, removed the other lot whilst Wifey took Rusty out.
When we came through this cut earlier in the year, as you may recall, we were heading in the opposite direction and came face to face with a fallen tree and, since we couldn’t go forward, I had to reverse almost a mile, turn around and head back to Gnosall while a BW crew removed the blockage. You could say that this tree is the reason for the 2 mph speed limit along this stretch, because the banks that rise above the canal are pretty unstable, especially during periods of heavy rain, which is something we also ran into yesterday.
Two miles per hour may seem slow but, anything above this causes a bow wave and wash that can easily erode the canal bank and cause a land slip, so it’s best to keep to a very slow speed. The floating barrier still surround that fall, so I guess somebody will be along during winter stoppages to clear the rest of the debris.
At Goldstone Wharf is a very pleasant pub that sits beside the canal and a bridge. Unfortunately, the road passing the pub is currently closed for repairs, so the owner must be losing some trade here. He does have a couple of fields open for caravans and campers but, with the road closed and the season coming to an end, he’s not getting much custom their either.
The other problem with this mooring is no Internet access and no mobile phone either. So, despite seven pages of this blog, I won’t be posting from here. I’m not too sure about Shebdon Wharf, which is where we’ll be heading for today but, if possible I’ll try to post from there.
Wednesday 3rd October.
It is just after 7.05 am and I have just committed the most stupid mistake since I started this blog. I must have added a couple of pages to it this morning but, when I came to the end and closed my Word document down, instead of clicking on ‘yes’ when asked if I wanted to save the changes, I clicked on ‘no’. I sometimes wonder if I’m quite the man for the job and I’m damned if I can remember what I wrote.
Having wasted all that time and with Wifey about to surface, I will just say that, having spent 2½ hours travelling here yesterday, partly in pouring rain, yet again, we are now at Norbury Junction where, as with our last visit, I am unable to get online and post this blog.
And that’s that for this entry.
Thursday 4th October
We arrived at Wheaton Aston yesterday at about 10.45. I had thought we might catch the bus to Stafford, but with Wifey being poorly, we decided against it. Instead we walked to the local Spar shop, just for the paper and a bottle of milk.
We have probably travelled some 10 miles without Internet access and, when I finally connected this morning, there were 76 emails, many of them really comical ones from Sandra. Keep ‘em coming Sandra, I’ve got a folder full of your jokes and pictures, which I go back over when I’m in need of a chuckle.
My caravan painting is coming along, although it does look rather grubby. However, Emma assures me that it will all work out in the end.
The local garage her at Wheaton Aston, has a Red Diesel pipe running down to the canal and it must be the cheapest on the cut at just £0.76.9p/litre. When you consider that most other outlets are in the 90p + bracket, you can understand why this bloke is so popular. Needless to say, we’ll be topping up before we leave this morning.
Friday 5th October
There’s not much to be said for yesterday, except that, after stopping off at Brewood for a spot of shopping, we continued on to one of our favourite spots on the Shroppie, between bridges 7 and 8. But, with Sheila still suffering with her cold; which has pretty much cleared up this morning; and me developing a serious trapped wind problem later in the day, we were looking a sorry pair.
So, having ended on a less than cheerful note and with a good signal, it’s about time this blog was posted.
All the best to one and all. Enjoy the coming weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday 27th September
Well now, with only about 16 days to go before we’re back at our winter moorings, this will probably be the penultimate blog for 2012. Despite the poor summer this year, we have enjoyed our travels over the past six months and we hope you have enjoyed reading the blogs.
Next year our aim is to visit Liverpool and cross the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal and take a look at how Lancastrians live. We had hoped to make those two trips this year but, with some kind of festival taking place on the Lancaster and with bookings for the Ribble Link already oversubscribed, this was not possible. So, we will plan those trips during our winter break and book them up prior to setting out, probably at the end of March.
Friday 28th September
I have discovered that, when it comes to painting with pastels, cleanliness is next to godliness – but, hey, who wants to be an angel? Anyway, unlike other budding artists, I can’t keep my efforts standing on an easel waiting for any additions I will make later. Nope, I have to remove my painting from the board it rests on, slide it carefully into a plastic sleeve and put that in a folder. With the best will in the world therefore, the darn thing is bound to get smudged, which is what is happening with my ‘Caravan’ project.
I’m beginning to think I should have gone back to watercolour but, having agreed to be Emma’s guinea pig for this series of paintings with pastels, I can’t really let her down. So, later today, after we reach the bottom of the next set of locks – and we have 11 of these Audlem locks still left to do today – I’m going have a look around for any books I may still have on the subject and, with my trusty laptop, search out some info on watercolour pencils; of which I have a whole bunch; and then find a subject to paint.
Meanwhile, should the weather be clement, we’ll be off through the rest of the aforementioned locks. Amen to that. The weather at present is far from clement in fact it’s drizzling with rain and rather windy.
Here’s a question for experts on Internet Explorer:
All of a sudden and out of the blue, without me making any adjustments to IE settings, every time I click on a link in IE all I get is a tiny screen at the top left hand side of my screen, which I then have to enlarge. I have no idea why this is happening, nor do I know how to fix it. Heeeeeelllpppp!!!! It’s driving me nuts!
Incidentally, when I open IE for the first time, it comes up as normal size.
Saturday 29th September
I have been sitting here at my laptop since 5.15 this morning and, after several attempts at getting online, without success, I took the dongle and propped it up on the roof. Even then I could only get a poor signal. Still, I did manage to download my emails but, when it came to sending, no chance. ‘Here we go again’, I thought.
Once again we were really lucky with the weather yesterday. Sheila walked into Audlem for the paper but, when she returned it was still raining. So, we hung around for a while and, as it seemed to be easing off by about 8.15, we set off to start the other 11 locks of the Audlem flight and the 2½ miles to the bottom of Adderley locks. By mid afternoon, down came the rain again and continued well into the evening. In fact, it stopped when I took rusty out, started again when we got back, then stopped when Sheila took her out and re-started as she got back. I think we lead a charmed life where the weather is concerned.
Sunday 30th September
Well, that’s another month out of the way and autumn to look forward to. Already we can see some of the trees changing colour and dropping their leaves. Still, in another couple of weeks we’ll be safe and secure at our winter moorings.
Yesterday turned out fine, with not a drop of rain, so we headed off for Market Drayton at about 8.15 and arrived at 10.15 and topped up with water.
When we came through here in April, or thereabouts, we took a walk through town to Morrison’s. Now that is quite walk or, as some would say, a good stretch of the legs. On that occasion, even though my legs ached, as they always do on such walks, I don’t remember the walk as being particularly uncomfortable. This time however, I can safely say, I really suffered and had to sit down as often as I could on the way back. I’m still feeling the effects of that walk this morning. Still, the nearest pub is just across the nearby bridge, so that won’t be a problem.
Listed below are our planned stops from now until Mercia:-
Goldstone Wharf, Gnosall, Wheaton Aston, Brewood, Penkridge, Great Haywood, Rugeley, Handsacre, Fradley Junction, Alrewas, Branston (where we plan on a pub lunch, proper) and finally Mercia, on or about the 16th.
Monday 1st October
Sunday lunch time was spent at The Talbot pub, which is just a short walk across the nearest bridge. Market Drayton has a huge selection of pubs, but most of them are within the town itself and The Talbot is the only one close to the canal. Having walked into town yesterday, with the resultant aching legs, another such walk did not seem too attractive.
In fact, the last time we passed through here we did walk into town, but only to the nearest pub. Sadly the pub we chose was all spit and sawdust and not really to our liking. Had it been placed in the Wild West I have no doubt it would have had bat-wing doors and spittoons by every table. I can even conjure up a honky-tonk piano to go with them, not to mention a few floozies sitting on cowboy’s knees. Ah well, that’s my imagination for you.
Today, as you can see above, we are heading for Goldstone Wharf, which also boasts a really good pub. However, weather permitting, we may push on a bit further so that we can run the engine for as long as we like, assuming nobody else chooses to moor up with us. I also need to take our back box off and repair the lid. For some reason that I am unable to fathom, I forgot to screw the blocks holding the hinges and, instead, left the wood glue to take the strain. Consequently one of the blocks has come unstuck and needs to be secured with screws.
Tuesday 2nd October
Yesterday morning, after Wifey had walked into town for a few bits and pieces, we set off for Goldstone Wharf, on a bright and mild morning. We had about 3 miles to go and five locks at Tyrely, plus a narrow cut of about two miles – maybe a bit less.
We had been moored close to a pine tree for these two days, so you can imaging the mess on our roof by the time we left. I managed to brush most of the pine needles off from one side whilst going through Tyrley Locks and, after our cup of coffee, removed the other lot whilst Wifey took Rusty out.
When we came through this cut earlier in the year, as you may recall, we were heading in the opposite direction and came face to face with a fallen tree and, since we couldn’t go forward, I had to reverse almost a mile, turn around and head back to Gnosall while a BW crew removed the blockage. You could say that this tree is the reason for the 2 mph speed limit along this stretch, because the banks that rise above the canal are pretty unstable, especially during periods of heavy rain, which is something we also ran into yesterday.
Two miles per hour may seem slow but, anything above this causes a bow wave and wash that can easily erode the canal bank and cause a land slip, so it’s best to keep to a very slow speed. The floating barrier still surround that fall, so I guess somebody will be along during winter stoppages to clear the rest of the debris.
At Goldstone Wharf is a very pleasant pub that sits beside the canal and a bridge. Unfortunately, the road passing the pub is currently closed for repairs, so the owner must be losing some trade here. He does have a couple of fields open for caravans and campers but, with the road closed and the season coming to an end, he’s not getting much custom their either.
The other problem with this mooring is no Internet access and no mobile phone either. So, despite seven pages of this blog, I won’t be posting from here. I’m not too sure about Shebdon Wharf, which is where we’ll be heading for today but, if possible I’ll try to post from there.
Wednesday 3rd October.
It is just after 7.05 am and I have just committed the most stupid mistake since I started this blog. I must have added a couple of pages to it this morning but, when I came to the end and closed my Word document down, instead of clicking on ‘yes’ when asked if I wanted to save the changes, I clicked on ‘no’. I sometimes wonder if I’m quite the man for the job and I’m damned if I can remember what I wrote.
Having wasted all that time and with Wifey about to surface, I will just say that, having spent 2½ hours travelling here yesterday, partly in pouring rain, yet again, we are now at Norbury Junction where, as with our last visit, I am unable to get online and post this blog.
And that’s that for this entry.
Thursday 4th October
We arrived at Wheaton Aston yesterday at about 10.45. I had thought we might catch the bus to Stafford, but with Wifey being poorly, we decided against it. Instead we walked to the local Spar shop, just for the paper and a bottle of milk.
We have probably travelled some 10 miles without Internet access and, when I finally connected this morning, there were 76 emails, many of them really comical ones from Sandra. Keep ‘em coming Sandra, I’ve got a folder full of your jokes and pictures, which I go back over when I’m in need of a chuckle.
My caravan painting is coming along, although it does look rather grubby. However, Emma assures me that it will all work out in the end.
The local garage her at Wheaton Aston, has a Red Diesel pipe running down to the canal and it must be the cheapest on the cut at just £0.76.9p/litre. When you consider that most other outlets are in the 90p + bracket, you can understand why this bloke is so popular. Needless to say, we’ll be topping up before we leave this morning.
Friday 5th October
There’s not much to be said for yesterday, except that, after stopping off at Brewood for a spot of shopping, we continued on to one of our favourite spots on the Shroppie, between bridges 7 and 8. But, with Sheila still suffering with her cold; which has pretty much cleared up this morning; and me developing a serious trapped wind problem later in the day, we were looking a sorry pair.
So, having ended on a less than cheerful note and with a good signal, it’s about time this blog was posted.
All the best to one and all. Enjoy the coming weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
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