Tuesday 12th 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 13th 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 14th 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 15th 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 16th 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
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