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