Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 20

Thursday 28^th March

 Well, apart from the successful shopping trip to Burton, the purchasing of a pair of boots for me was a dismal failure. Despite the diet, we did treat ourselves to coffee and sticky bun. I put my foot down with a very firm hand about this. Most enjoyable!

 Tomorrow morning, Andy assures us our Remote Unit should arrive and be fitted. He also said, on a less than positive note, that if it still doesn’t work he will remove the lot and take it all back to the makers for assessment.

 We bought ourselves a new broom, a nice soft one for cleaning the side of the boat whilst cruising. Goodness knows why it gets so mucky but, since our one recently fell apart, we decided to blow the £3.45 on a new one and to hell with the expense.

 Friday 29^th March

 As you all know, I’m learning to play the ukulele. But, did you know that there’s a hybrid instrument, that’s been around since about 1999, called a Guitalele? No, me neither, I only discovered it a couple of weeks ago when I accompanied my neighbour when he bought a new uke.

 This year whilst cruising, I will be making every effort to improve my uke technique, but I have yet to decide if I want an 8 string uke or one of these guitaleles, which are in essence, simply a guitar, only shorter by 5 frets, thus making them ideal for travelling. Hmmm! Gotta think about that one.

 Today Andy will be fitting our Remote Unit, we hope, after which we’ll be popping along to The Range for a lightweight watercolour book. Sad to say our printer will not print the heavier, 300gms paper.

 I have found a way to converting a photo to black and white and giving it a ‘wash’, so that it looks very faint when printed out. I’m pretty lousy at copying a photo onto watercolour paper, even when placing a grid down first, so this could be an ideal way of achieving the same thing. Graphite paper can be a bit messy, very much like carbon paper, so this could prove to be a clean alternative and much easier.

 Saturday 30^th March

 Still no sign of our remote unit yesterday, which comes as no surprise since it was Good Friday. Andy doesn’t expect it to arrive until Tuesday now, so he’ll probably have to meet us somewhere along the cut. His boat is already ahead of us any way and is currently moored at Alrewas, so he won’t have a problem.

 He’s one of the few boaters we know who actually take their car with them when cruising. This is because he could still be called upon to work on a boat or car and, if necessary he can get to them quickly. When you consider all the walking, or bus riding necessary to fetch the car after moving along with the boat, I won’t even consider it. Also, where do you park the car? If you don’t know the area this could be a big problem. Still, horses for courses I suppose!

 I’ve decided to pop down to Harlow today to drop off the Toshiba at Frank’s place. He’s helped Alan out on a number of occasions and has offered to wipe the hard drive for me. Hopefully I’ll be able to bring it back with me tomorrow morning. If not, then Alan will take care of it and fetch it with him when he visits, whenever and wherever that might be. Frank tells me that, with a hard drive of 250Gb this could take up to 4 hours, and the drive on the Toshiba is 320Gb, if you count only the C drive. The whole drive is partitioned and totals 640Gb and so, if he has to do the lot it could take all night!

 Whatever happens I must get back on Sunday morning as we have a finally shopping trip set for Monday. So, on Tuesday morning I will post this blog and start a new one for our 2013 cruise. Yeah!! Whoopee!!

 Monday 1^st April

 Well folks, today is the last of my winter blogs. We’ll be off tomorrow morning. The weather today is milder than of late, so I’m hopeful we’ll be able to leave without having to break through the ice.

 Frank has reported back about the laptop. On the strength of the info I gave him; namely that the System disc that came with it has 5.6Gb of info on it; he is hopeful that the whole of the system information is in there. If so then he won’t have to re-install Windows and drivers as they’ll be on the disk.

 He also installed so much stuff and rubbish after wiping the hard drive, that nobody will be able to unravel any sensitive information. I’ll have to wait until tomorrow before posting the disc to him as I want to send it Guaranteed Next Day Delivery, just to ensure it doesn’t get lost in the post.

 As for today, well, that will be taken up with shopping and checking the boat over. We cleaned the windows yesterday and Wifey washed down the port side, we’ll wash the starboard side when we are moored up with that side to the towpath.

Our first port of call will be Branston, assuming it’s not raining or blowing a gale, in which case we’ll stop at Willington, or a bit further on.

 All the best to you all, and have a good summer. We certainly intend to, despite what the elements may throw at us.

 Cheers me dears!

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 19

Saturday 23^rd March

 Yesterday morning was full of indecision, do we stay or do we cut our holiday short and go? Taking a walk down to the car, I first had to remove snow from the steps at the end of the garden path, both of which were totally obliterated.

The lane outside the cottage has some pretty deep potholes, all of which were filled in and there was plenty of that horrid white stuff drifting against the walls and the car. The lane down to the road didn’t look unsurpassable, so we decided to load up and get going. We could see that the main road was being well used, so we had no qualms about that.

Packing and loading the car took about half an hour, so, after scrambling through the drifting snow on the lane, we arrived at the A623 and, much to our surprise, it was quite clear.

 About half a mile further on was the roundabout connecting to the A6 and, much to our further surprise, we managed to tuck ourselves in behind a snow plough. How’s that for a stroke of luck? We stayed behind him for a few miles but, once he turned off down a country lane, we found the rest of the trip pretty straightforward. Our journey to the cottage took us along the A515 but, having listened to the travel item on Radio 2 earlier, we knew there were problems along that route, so we stayed on the A6 to Derby then it was just a short run on the A38 and the Marina.

 It was still snowing when we got back and the forecast was for more to come. They weren’t wrong about that. I’ve just been out with Rusty and we’ve had at least another 3 inches overnight, and still it keeps coming. This time last year we had temperatures in the teens and up to 20 degrees! Amazing! My only fear – if you can call it a fear – is that this keeps up into next week. We have to leave the marina on Tuesday, not least because someone else already has this mooring reserved. Still, once we’re outside the marina we can always moor up at Willington. At least it does have a few pubs and a Co-op!!

 This weekend will be pretty relaxed, simply because we have no plans for going anywhere in this weather. Monday is earmarked for shopping in Burton, so we’re hoping for clear roads by then.,

 Sunday 24^th March

 Oh boy! Have we had snow? Lots of it, many, many inches of it. Yesterday Chris and I cleared all the snow from the pontoon and this morning it’s back, with a vengeance. It snowed all day yesterday, and all night too, so much so that we’ll be calling into the office to see if we can extend our stay by another week.

 Monday 25^th March

 We did manage to get to the Marina Office and book ourselves in for an extra week. With the weather being in our favour; and I’ve been told the temperature could well be in double figures for Easter weekend; we will be away on Tuesday 2^nd April and I will spend my 71^st birthday on the cut. And, with Branston being only a short run along the T&M, a birthday treat could be in order.

 This morning we have an appointment with our doctor, just to have our prescriptions drawn up. Afterwards, and if I’m feeling up to it, we’ll drive into Burton for shopping. But, since we’re here for another week anyway, it might just be a case of Morrison’s shopping instead.

 Tuesday 26^th March

 It’s getting on for 7am and our wee pooch is still fast asleep. Contrary to what a neighbour told me yesterday, this cold snap is not going away any time soon. Still, at least it has stopped snowing.

 We didn’t bother going into Burton yesterday as I wasn’t feeling as well as normal, queasy tummy and all that. We’ll probably leave that little jaunt until later in the week. Instead we popped into Morrison’s.

 Doctor gave me some different medication, supposedly to help with the nerve pain in my feet. Not a lot of good last night, I fear. What with the queasy tummy and painful feet, I’m afraid I didn’t get much sleep. Neither did Wifey, what with my tossing and turning.

 Life goes on as normal here, and with this weather clinging on, there’s not a lot going on that’s different to normal, which accounts for my rambling this morning. Have pity on a boating man please, Cabin Fever has taken a grip, so I’m not in a normal frame of mind, hence the rambling.

 Wednesday 27^th March

 We heard yesterday, on the BBC Travel News, that the road leading up to our holiday cottage was still closed. So, had we not cut short our break by a day, we would probably still be stranded there. Can you imagine how cold this boat would be when we finally got back? Brrrr! It doesn’t bear contemplating.

 Now, I heard the other day, during a news item on radio, or was it in the paper, that a certain transplant hospital – only the one so far – had been selling freely given organs to foreign rich folks. That is not on! I do not, as far as I know, have a Donor Card but, if I did, I would be seriously considering my position. OK, in America one has to pay for such things anyway and besides, there are more than enough people over here, simply desperate for organs. So there’s really no excuse for this disgusting behaviour. Will anybody in this government, or any other for that matter, do anything to stop it? I think not!

 I seem to be over my tummy upset now, thank goodness, and I even managed a walk around the marina yesterday, so I’m quite chuffed about that.

 Somewhat to my dismay a few days ago, I discovered that my Clarke’s boots were leaking. Crikey, I’ve only had them about 8 years, what’s going on here? I now have to go and buy a new pair. Shame on them!

 Thursday 28^th March

 I didn’t manage to get those new boots yet as the company that used to trade from Findern Garden Centre, and from whom Sheila bought hers, no longer trade there. So, since we’re driving into Burton today, I’ll see what I can find there.

 Meanwhile, we’re still awaiting the replacement Remote Unit for the Battery Charger. Chris tells me that Andy has done his back in while he was lifting a sack of coal onto the boat, so I’ll give him a ring later to see if our Remote has arrived. If push comes to shove I suppose I could fit it myself as it’s only a case of plugging it in and running the cable through the bulkhead in the engine bay. But I dare say he’ll want to do it himself, but that’s assuming the unit has turned up. If not then when it does, Andy will be chasing us down the T&M to find us and fit it. He’s a good lad, is our Andy!!

 Well, since I have nothing better to do and already have five pages here, I guess I’ll post this penultimate blog for this Winter and, judging by the temperature outside, it is, most certainly Winter!

 Cheers all.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 18

Our Week at ‘Garden Cottage’ Part 2

Tuesday 19^th March

 Just for a change, we took it easy this morning and took a short drive to Castleton which, when we arrived, appeared to be home to a busload of schoolkids. We simply took a stroll around the town, bought a few odds and ends at a local shop, then came back to the cottage. Some of those odds and ends included bird food and a container for same, which Sheila hung in a nearby tree. We have Chaffinches, Robins, Dunnocks, Blue Tits and Great Tits feeding in the garden now.

This afternoon I tried phoning Justin at the marina boatyard, to ask about the rudder. However, since he seemed busy I emailed instead. He returned the message with the info that the rudder simply needed a tack weld, which they would do when they fitted the anodes. Anodes? I know they are there and I know what they do, but I wasn’t aware they required changing. However, having asked Andy about them, he assured me that we’d had a good run out of them over the past seven years, so it was probably about time they were changed. Sadly that’s about another £120 added to the bill!! Ah well, more dipping into pocket, I suppose.

 One of Justin’s engineers also suggested that the gearbox was playing up, especially when he reversed out of our spot then threw it into forward gear to slow down. I advised Justin that, when I took the boat across to fill up with diesel, I had no such problem. Not only that, I’d had no problems with it for seven months of cruising either, despite Lyndon warning me last year that it needed changing.

 This morning, for the second time since we arrived at this lovely little cottage, our wee pooch has an upset tummy. As you all know by now, there’s nothing we can do to alleviate the problem for her, but I do wish she wouldn’t keep scratching at the carpet! Eventually she’ll empty her tummy on said carpet, after which she’ll be running about like a spring lamb.

 Yesterday afternoon, at my good lady’s behest, I opened the laptop and looked for the website for New Mill. This is, apparently, a popular site for visitors, with many walks and attractions. Sadly, when I followed their address, as featured in the blurb in a huge leaflet we found in the cottage, I discovered that the site didn’t exist. But, after a frustrating few minutes, I phoned them instead, although the person I spoke to didn’t seem too put out by the information and, instead, gave me another address to go to. Assuming poochy is OK later, we’ll be heading for New Mill later today.

 6.30 am, Rusty has been out for the third time, I’m on my second cuppa, Wifey is on her first and it’s snowing. How heavily we’re likely to get it, goodness only knows, but if we’re confined to barracks, I suppose I could give the uke a hammering. One thing is for sure, Rusty won’t be wanting her breakfast this morning.

 Thursday 21^st March

 Yesterday was not a nice day weather-wise, plenty of snow and pretty cold. So, rather than take that intended trip to New Mills and risk tramping around in the snow and, since that knife sharpener has proved pretty useless on the only suitable for cutting bread, we did a bit more shopping at Morrison’s in Chapel en le Frith and paid the princely sum of £3.50 for a bread knife, which we will leave here, since we have more than enough knives already on Shiralee.

Phew! I don’t remember ever writing such a long sentence. Needless to say, we spent the rest of the day at the cottage, with feet up, loads of cups of tea and plenty of reading.

 Today, provided the weather stays dry, we’ll make that trip to New Mills.

 Meanwhile, the bill has come in for the boat blacking and anodes. Thankfully the rudder only needed a tack weld to put it right, and that was done while the anodes were fitted, so no extra cost for that wee job.

 Friday 22^nd March

 Yesterday was about as much fun as walking across burning coals in your bare feet. Once again we drove around in circles looking for the so-called, Riverside Walk in New Mills. When we finally found it, it wasn’t worth the trouble. Just like Bugsworth Basin, there were not enough signposts. The ones we did see were on the wall right at the turning to the riverside. When we finally arrived, all we found was a muddy track running alongside the river.

 On the way back we decided to go down to Bugsworth Basin; we had spotted a sign on our way through to New Mills; so we followed the road down. When we finally arrived, what did we see? We saw a huge car park; it must have been over 100 yards long; and, right at the entrance was a huge sign telling us there was no right of way to the general public. Why? Because that car park belonged to the Navigation Inn.

 Opposite that car park was a road leading down to the basin, but we know from past visits, that there is no public car park at the end of it. Now, since we planned on wandering around the basin for an hour and didn’t want a a nasty note or clamps on the car, we came back to the cottage.

 Watching the 6 o/clock news yesterday evening, we were made aware that snow was on the way but, having decided that we didn’t really want to be cleaning our chimney in the dark, we decided to stay the night and return to Mercia this morning. Well, having taken a peek out of the window at 5.30 this morning, I can categorically state that we have had snow. How much snow I have yet to discover but, when Rusty decides to surface, I’m sure I’ll find out.

 Once the sun comes up – if it ever does today – and once the roads have been well travelled, and providing we don’t have to drive through a blizzard, we’ll be making our way back to Mercia this morning.

 Fortunately this short break in a farm cottage was simply to get away while the boat was being painted, so although we haven’t had much by way of good weather, the time has not been wasted. However, what with the lack of signposts and a blunt bread knife with no sharpener, the best I can say about this ‘holiday’ is that it’s been filled with frustration.

 Now, lest we get lost in a snowdrift later, I’ll post this now.

 Have a good weekend.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Our Week at ‘Garden Cottage’

Sunday 17^th March

 We left Mercia Marina at about 1.30 pm, some time after Andy refitted the remote unit, only to discover it still didn’t work. This time though, he thinks it’s the main unit not sending a signal to the remote. Hopefully he’ll get it sorted before we get back.

 So, back to the holiday. It took us just over an hour to get there, spotting lots of small snow drifts along the way. The road leading to the farm is the A623, so you would expect there to be a pavement running alongside it, but no such luck, which means we’re rather limited for walking after dark. Well, practically any time really, since this is quite a busy road from what we’ve seen so far.

 Rusty behaved quite well on the ride here, although she’s feeling unwell this morning. This comes as no surprise to me as it doesn’t take much to upset her these days.

 The cottage is a converted barn, with everything except the bedroom on the lower level. We have a lounge, kitchen/dining room, shower and loo, and we have a garden and parking space. At the moment we’re in a bit of a mess, with our belongings scattered around higgledy-piggledy, but we’ll try for a bit of order later today.

 One thing is for sure, if this bad weather continues, we’ll be returning to Mercia sooner than expected. Meanwhile, we’ll be planning our days out this morning, assuming we don’t get snowed in of course.

Monday 18^th March

 We saw no reason to treat yesterday any different than any other Sunday, which is just a chill-out day for us. (Aren’t they all?) All we planned on doing was driving into town for the paper. However, when fate conspires against you, what can you do?

 So, simply because the so-called bread knife was tearing our loaf to pieces and, since there was no knife sharpener in any of the kitchen drawers, we had to drive down to Buxton to see if we could find such an item. Our first stop was at Morrison’s, surely they would have one there, wouldn’t they? Nope! Wifey emerged with some other bits and pieces, but no knife sharpener.

 On our way in we did notice an Asda store and so, on the way back we stopped off there and, for the princely sum of £14.95, I bought a sharpener. I could have bought a breadknife for £10, but we have more than enough of those on the boat, so a sharpener it was to be.

 The rest of the day was spent lazing about and walking Rusty through the mud of the farm track.

 The only major calamity was the batteries running out on my Blood Glucose tester. Of course I didn’t bring any spares with me, so it was a case of making sure I took enough walks and ate only low carb food. Today we will have to rectify this situation but, since we are currently covered in a thick blanket of fog, we’ll have to wait until it clears. Hopefully we’ll get to travel further afield later today.

 Tuesday 19^th March

 The fog cleared about 10 am yesterday and our first port of call was Morrison’s, for those batteries, then we headed for Bugswort Basin on the Peak Forest canal. At least, that’s where we headed but, try as we might and after much running in circles, we simply couldn’t find the access road to it, so we settled for Whalley Bridge.

 Both of these places are at the end of the Peak Forest canal, with Whalley Bridge being the town and Bugsworth Basin being the branch where sandstone and such were loaded onto horse-drawn barges,for distribution to various depots around the country. Bugsworth has since been renamed Buxworth,simply because the natives didn’t like being called ‘bugs’, I suppose.

 We’ve travelled to both of these place with Shiralee, but this was the first time by car. We parked at Whalley Bridge and walked along the towpath to Bugsworth, a distance of about ¾ of a mile, and it stayed dry for all that time. Amazing!

 Having read through the Visitor’s Book here, and reading the note about a holidaymaker’s dog being savaged by the two Border Collies next door, I have been wary of taking Rusty out when the occupants of that bungalow are home. Normally their dogs are kept in the back of their Land Rover – how cruel! – but yesterday afternoon they were running around free in the access road. The fence around this cottage is not secure enough to prevent them from entering this garden and so, just as soon as I heard them making a fuss, I turned tail and got Rusty inside. I too have made a not in the Visitor’s Book.

 This morning is clear, so we should get away fairly early. We’re planning on a ride to Castleton where, according to ‘Farmer Giles’, there are some pretty good walks to be had.

 Incidentally, when I mentioned the lack of a pavement on this road, he told us that there is a pavement, but the local Council are too lazy to keep it clear. Obviously it does gather muck thrown up by traffic, but how long does it have to be left dirty before it becomes part of the road?

 Well, only four pages long, but I’m going to post now.

 Cheers me dears

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 16

Tuesday 12^th March

 My final visit to Harlow this winter went very well, although the White Admiral was pretty quiet for a Saturday. However, after having dinner and watching TV until about 11 pm, off we trotted to bed, only for me to discover that I had no Insulin needles. With a Blood Glucose reading in excess of 15, this was not good.

 After putting my head round Alan’s bedroom door and telling him, I went downstairs to see Val. The only thing I could think to do was to go for a walk to use up some of the sugar, at which point Val suggested I use her treadmill. So, at 11.30 on a Saturday night, there was I trudging away and working up a sweat. But not for long, that treadmill was in serious need of lubrication, so, at Val’s instigation we took the dog for a walk. This brought my reading to well below 10 points, so I was finally able to go to bed. What an evening, and what a plonker!!

 Sunday’s drive home was a mixed bag of weather, from bright sunshine, through drizzle, heavy rain and snow, all in the space of 2½ hours and 140 miles.

 The rest of Sunday was very cold, as was Monday, when we had to drive in to Burton for shopping. As we were checking out and paying up, the check-out girl pointed to the outside world where we could see a pretty severe blizzard. So, rather than stay for a coffee, we decided to head home. Would you believe it, by the time we had parked our trolley the snow had stopped and the sun was out.

 Yesterday was again bitterly cold, especially in the wind. Walking around the marina was very uncomfortable for us, although Rusty seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. That dog is amazing, one day she’s hanging her head looking for some T.L.C., and the next she’s full of the joys of Spring, running around like a Spring lamb. She’s 15 years old for goodness sake, why can’t she grow old gracefully?

 As a result of yesterday’s bad weather, I have woken up to about an inch of snow on the ground. This cold spell is supposed to stay with us until later in the week. Hopefully it will have warmed up in time for our holiday week in the Peak District.

 Wednesday 13^th March

 Yesterday was a pretty lazy day, until about 2 pm, at which point my next door neighbour and ukulele buff, Steve, joined me for a little jamming session. Just like me, he’s fairly new to the uke, so we spent most of the time going over strumming and finger-picking patterns. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the time and, as an added bonus, he’s promised to get hold of his sister’s old phone for me.

 This phone, as he demonstrated on his own one, is capable of using WiFi and, if it’s already locked in to 02, I’ll be able to use my SIM Card. She only wants £10 for it and it will be useful for watching tutorials on U-Tube, especially those for the uke, of which there seem to be millions.

 Today, if we don’t get covered in snow, we’ll be taking the bus into Derby, for doggie stuff and a few other bits and pieces. When we return and had a cup of tea, I have some uke stuff to print out for Steve.

 Thursday 14^th March

Yesterday, according to those nice weather forecasters, was supposed to be pretty horrid weather wise, but although a wee bit chilly, we had a pretty fine day.

 Sadly Steve’s sister has given her phone to her son, so Steve has loaned me his old iPhone for a while. He’s also going to ask around for a cheapo one for me to use.

 In the afternoon, after he’d shown me how to use this gadget, he took me to a warehouse/cum sales office and bought himself a new Tenor ukulele. While we were there I conducted a search of their stock and, much to my surprise, found a Guitalele! You what, a guitalele? What the heck is one of those? Well, as the name suggests, it’s a hybrid guitar/ukulele. It has six strings, like a guitar, but a small body and short fretboard, like a uke, hence guitalele. I suspect this instrument is tuned to the fifth fret of a guitar, which would make it sound similar to a uke, but the chords would be guitar chords. Interesting! I suppose, as one of our ukulele club folks suggested last year, if I strap a capo across the fifth fret of my guitar, it would sound very much like this hybrid!!

 What I really want to get my hands on when we settle in for next winter is an eight string uke. But first I have to master the one I have, only then will I think about spending on a new one.

 Today we have nothing special to do. However, tomorrow we have to shop for stuff we’ll need for the cottage. I also want to have the car cleaned again; after that run down to Harlow last week, the darn thing is rotten again, and I can’t leave it with Chris in that state.

 Friday 15^th March

 Yesterday was a chill-out day, during which we simply walked the dog and did lots of reading. If in doubt, and you really can’t think what to do with yourself, read.

 Andy should be along this afternoon to fit the remote unit to the Alternator to Battery Charger. Just as well really, because Shiralee goes into dry dock on Monday, which wouldn’t give him much time before we go cruising. Indeed, he would have to follow us down the cut with his box of tools, and I don’t suppose he’d be too pleased about that.

 I had a spot of bother with Steve’s iPhone yesterday and couldn’t access You Tube at all. But, unlike me with technology, this time it wasn’t finger trouble. Steve came around to check it out and he couldn’t do so either, the assumption being that You Tube was offline for some reason. I’ll try again sometime later today. But that will be after we’ve been shopping for next week’s goodies. We need to get all our foodstuffs in so that we don’t have to do too much shopping while we’re away, except milk and bread perhaps, and the Daily Mail of course.

Oooh! We’ll soon be away on the cut. This time of year is always exciting for us. Spending so much time in one place, especially as a boater, becomes rather boring and we get cabin fever after just a few months. The worst of it is over now, we’ll do some sight-seeing next week and we’ll get in plenty of walking. I’ll also get to test the new X2 Splitter on the camera, which should give me a pretty good idea as to its capabilities.

 Saturday 16^th March

 Well, no sign of our remote unit yesterday, but we’ve been assured that it will be here this morning. Andy popped by later in the afternoon and, just as soon as it arrives, he’ll be along to fit it. Sadly he’ll want paying for his work, but not all of the best things in life come free!

 We are off for a week in the Peak District this afternoon and, surprise, surprise, it’s been peeing down with rain all night. However, with it being the ‘Peak’ district, perhaps the cottage will be on high ground. Wouldn’t it be fun if we were surrounded by flooded roads and fields for a week?

 And that’s that for this blog. I’ll start a new one tomorrow morning, just for the week in the cottage.

 Cheers, me dears.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 15

Wednesday 27^th February

 At last, the weather has changed. We now have clear skies and bright sunshine. We walked around the marina after breakfast and around the lake after lunch.

 ’m still unsure about this wiping of the Toshiba hard drive. But, having re-read all the gumph regarding such a move, I am now of the opinion that it’s the wrong way to go. Every programme I look at; barring the really simple ones; tell me that I must first burn it to a cd and boot the computer up from there. C Cleaner can’t, or won’t wipe the ‘C’ drive, only the ‘D’ drive, which is a partition and has nothing on it. The golden rule seems to be that, the hard drive cannot be wiped from within Windows.

 So, I plan on doing this in reverse. I’m first going to use the System Recovery disc and return the laptop to its original factory settings. I will then use C Cleaner to wipe the free space on the ‘C’ drive. Hopefully that will eliminate any sensitive data still sitting there.

 For obvious reasons I will not be able to install any of the MS Office programmes, simply because I am unable to legally provide any installation discs when I sell the laptop. So, instead I’ll install a set of Open Source programmes and also pile a load of useful programmes onto a DVD. I suppose I could get away with installing Office 2003, since it is now so old and include a copy of the installation disc. Hmmm! What to do!!

 Our boat horn has now been painted and, once completely dry, ready to be returned to its rightful place on the roof. Tomorrow we’ll go into Burton, firstly to get the car valeted and also to buy a pot of a beigey coloured paint as a background colour for the back door panels. We’ve hemmed and hawed over this for some time now, but have now agreed on this neutral colour. I don’t expect to get them done before we leave here, but that means I’ll have something to do while we’re cruising. That’s on top of my latest pastel, guitar practice and Ukulele practice.

 Sunday 3^rd March

 That’s it we’re now in the final month of our winter moorings and will soon be away. But first we have the Kennett family bash today and doggie has to go into kennels for a night. The bash is being held at Harlow Mill and we’re supposed to be there for 12 noon. However, since we can’t take Rusty until 9 am, and it’s a 2½ hour drive to Harlow, we could be cutting it a wee bit fine. I think I may be a wee bit cream-crackered by the time we get back.

 Yesterday we found a pot of pale, brown paint with which I covered our back panels. Sadly, even though it is claimed to be one-coat paint it is no such thing, so another coat will be required.

 Tomorrow, if the weather is in my favour, I refit the horn to its bracket on the roof.

 Monday 4^th March

 What a great day we had yesterday at the family bash. The only bugbear was being unable to all sit around the same table. So, which moron decided it was OK to sit a family of 13 around three separate tables in an alcove. Were we supposed to play musical chairs if we wanted to talk to somebody on another table? Still, the food was good, as was the weather and, unlike our usual meeting place, The Churchgate Hotel, we had to vacate the tables before 3 o/clock, which meant an early start homeward. At the Churchgate they waited until about 5 o/clock before politely asking us to leave, so that they could clear away and lay tables for the evening session.

 Sheila and I have decided it’s our turn to foot the bill for 2014. No ifs, buts or maybes! As to the venue, all suggestions considered, which covers somewhere outside Harlow. Motorway Services and Macdonald’s excluded, of course. We too will look into possible venues nearer the time.

 Wednesday 6^th March

 Yesterday was boat engine service day, with the addition of an Alternator to Battery Charger Unit which, as you would expect, didn’t quite work as it should have. Oh, it did the job it was intended to do, but the Remote Unit didn’t. This is probably because, unlike the main box of electronics, which is housed in the engine bay and is manufactured by the company whose name is on the box, the Remote Unit, which tells me whether or not it’s working correctly, is manufactured in Taiwan. Nuff said!! The most common cause of this failure is the lead that runs from the main unit to the remote. So, Andy will now send for a replacement.

 For those electronics buffs reading this, this new piece of gubbins is designed to encourage the alternator to work more efficiently. This is achieved by fooling the alternator into ‘thinking’ the batteries are very low, thus making it work harder to keep them topped up. We reckon that this should pay for itself over the next eight months, simply by reducing the amount of diesel we use per day running the engine to charge the batteries. In past years of cruising we’ve had to run the engine for at least two hours every evening, just to ensure we had sufficient power next morning. This new unit should reduce those hours quite considerably.

 Yesterday, whilst Andy was working on the engine and such, we toddled off to the Chiropodist to have my feet checked out. It seems now that they are not as sensitive as they were this time last year. And it’s all down to this wretched diabetes. Hey, I’m getting old, aren’t I? But, being a rough, tough, stoical boater, I won’t let it get me down. Stiff upper lip, and all that!!

 I also managed to trace out all the pictures I’ll be using for our back door boards. The boards have now had two undercoats of background ‘beige’, so all I have to do now is paint the pictures. I’m quite looking forward to that.

 This morning, once we have heard from Andy, we’ll be off shopping at Morrison’s. Can’t be bothered driving into Burton and Sainsbury’s!

 Thursday 7^th March          

 Rain! After a few pretty pleasant days, here we go with the rain again. Why doesn’t it stick with the plain in Spain? Still, at least we don’t have to go anywhere in particular today, which means I can make a start on our back panels. Well, actually I tried making a start on them yesterday, but the tracing through graphite paper left smudges on the panel; no doubt due to my heavy handedness; so I wiped it off and will start again today. This time I’ll make a surrounding barrier of tracing paper before tracing through.

 Friday 8^th March

 Another blip with Outlook this morning where I couldn’t send and receive. I had to disconnect and reboot before I could use the programme. As a result of this I logged into my account at Absolute and, to my dismay, I discovered a whole bunch of stuff in the Spam Box there, none of which had come down to my Outlook Inbox. Needless to say, there were several messages there that I would like to have seen. Looking around the site I can find no info whatsoever as to how to set up the Spam Filter and so, once again I’ve had to ask them how to do so.

 Following my interest in Art, currently working with pastels, I ordered a disc online that should contain 113 pictures from the late 1800s. In fact there are only 108, but that’s by the by. All of the pictures should come in three formats; 1/ black and white, 2/ washed – which means a faint rendition of the picture to be printed onto artists paper  and 3/ a full colour picture, so that the budding artist can then paint onto the printed paper, thus giving a fair painting of the picture concerned.

 So, what do I actually find on this disc? I found 108 pictures, all in black and white, all with a ‘washed’ version, but only seven, yes 7 in full colour. What a swindle! I have, of course, contacted the seller and voiced my disapproval. It will be interesting to see his response.

Tomorrow I’m off to Harlow, sadly for the last time this winter. However, since we’re heading south later on and after we’ve done the Llangollen, Alan has offered to meet us at Bulbourne, which is where we moored up for two winters, earlier in our travels.

 Saturday 9^th March

 A pretty dismal day yesterday, all damp and misty, a bit like sitting in a low cloud bank. This morning we have heavy, threatening clouds and I’m driving down to Harlow. Won’t that be fun? When I get there I’ll scrounge my usual cuppa from Les, my kiddie carer from my days with Charriot’s, then I’ll pop round to Alan for the rest of the day.

 Following my return to the marina I’ll be looking for a fine day to refit the horn, which has now been painted in the same red as Shiralee. I also have to copy the castle and flowers to our back panels and, hopefully, Andy will be along to complete the installation of the Alternator to Battery Charger.

 Next Saturday we’re off for a week in a farm cottage, during which time ‘Shiralee’ will have her bottom blacked and, while she’s in dry dock the she’ll have the rudder checked and straightened where necessary.

 We return from the cottage on Saturday 23^rd and leave the marina on Tuesday 26^th so Monday 25^th will be spent on shopping and preparing for Tuesday, no doubt with Wifey also doing piles of washing.

 Our first port of call on Monday morning will be to see our doctor, who will make out the necessary prescriptions for the seven months we’ll be away. He actually phoned us yesterday evening and, being the kind gentleman that he is, arranged a consultation for 8.30 am on that day, after which we’ll be set to leave.

 Our first port of call on Tuesday will be Branston and, if it’s a fine day we’ll take a walk around the lake, which will be a first for me.

 Now, with almost seven pages of this blog completed, this would be an ideal time to post it. Naturally I’ll keep entries going next week and whilst we’re at the cottage.

Cheers for now and enjoy your weekend, whatever you may be doing.

 Dave, Sheila and our Very Important Pooch. (She has a new collar to prove it!)