Shiralee: Crick Marina # 5

 

13^th December to 31^st December 2013

Sunday 15^th December

A good time was had by all on Friday, although Alan was in some discomfort with his knee. I got to meet most of the girls and I have to say, they are a disparate bunch, which is always a good thing for workmates. Sadly there was no one there that I recognised, which means that, apart from Alan, they’ve had a complete turnover of staff since my last visit.

The celebration was held at The Marquis of Granby pub in Harlow which, most fortuitously, is just across the road from the University Campus. Ooh, that does sound posh, doesn’t it?

Anyway, after the cebrelations (hic), it was back to Alan’s house and a rather tasty stew for dinner and off to bed early. 9.30 pm is early, even for me.

I can’t say I enjoyed the drive down in the morning though, because the traffic was rather heavy. Coming back on Saturday morning was also pretty busy but, once past Milton Keynes the traffic eased off and I was home by about 09.30, to a warm welcome by Wifey and an equally welcome cup of tea.

Tuesday 17^th December

Over the past couple of years I have put together a recipe book, comprised entirely of English recipes from around the Counties and Shires. Last year I listed the book on eBay but, since I had no response, I shelved it and thought no more about it.

Last week I copied the book to a CD and gave it to Nikki when I met her on Friday afternoon. She had shown an interest in it when Alan mentioned it to her. In a follow-up email to me she was so enthusiastic in her praise for the book that I’ve decided to have another stab at selling it. However, after reading what Debbie Henry had to say about eBay and their new rules regarding listings, I’m going to try listing it on Etsy instead.

The book has about 470 recipes in it and comes in three volumes. I’ve had to do this because the programme I’ve compiled it in – eBook Starter – does not allow for a huge number of pages. It doesn’t allow for Mac computers either but, since it is fairly secure against plagiarism, this is a small price to pay.

I haven’t decided on a price yet, but then I’m not quite ready to post it on Etsy yet either, because I need to buy some CD labels, or find the ones that I think we have somewhere on the boat.

Today we are driving to Northampton and the Hobby Craft store. Wifey has decided to while away her spare time with knitting, and possibly crocheting, whilst I need some more pastel pencils.

Wednesday 18^th December

Yesterday morning we took the bus into Northampton, initially for the buying of Christmas Presents for each other. The bus was about 10 minutes early, or so we thought, which is probably why our passes wouldn’t work in the machine. We later discovered that it was late and that the bus had broken down on the way. This therefore gave us an extra 10 minutes in town.

Anyway, when we arrived, we wandered around the town and walked through a few shops, then had a coffee and sticky bun in one of the shop café’s. At the end of an hour of just strolling about, we managed to find a decent sized biscuit tin, a present to us both. After which we decided to catch the bus home. We were not inspired and didn’t find anything we really wanted as a present.

Any other year we would have gone our separate ways and ended up with several presents for each other, I can’t imagine what the problem is this year. Not to worry though, I’ve ordered something online for Wifey, but it won’t arrive until after Christmas. That’ll be a nice surprise, won’t it? I’ll have a look around in Harlow on Sunday instead. I’ve got to go down in any case, if only to collect our turkey breast, and have a Sunday lunchtime drink with Alan of course.

Friday 20^th December

 At the moment, what with it being so close to Christmas, we don’t seem to be doing much. I’m carrying on with my painting of Rusty first thing in the morning, and I’m also converting my recipe books to PDF. Other than that life plods along as usual, with nothing much to write home about.

 I suppose I could chunter on about all the mushy rubbish that’s been spoken about Nelson Mandela, but my views on that man aren’t really printable, and besides I was always told not to speak ill of the dead. Nuff said!!

 On Sunday I’ll be driving down to Harlow, my main reason being to collect a turkey crown but, if you believe that then you need to change your name to Harry Gullible. Let’s just say that I won’t need my arm twisting to pay a visit to the White Admiral for a few sherbets.

 Tuesday 24^th December

 Well, Christmas Day is almost here and the weather is atrocious. So, what’s new about that? Well, I only mention it because I went down to Harlow on Sunday which, as days in Harlow go was pretty good. I joined Alan and his mob for breakfast in The Stow – although since I had already had mine, I simply settled for a cup of tea, and sat back to watched them all gorge themselves.

 By the time they had finished eating, the pubs were open, so it was straight down to the Admiral, where Val, joined us later.

 So, what does the weather have to do with all this? Well, now that you ask, the run back to Crick yesterday was not pleasant. What with everybody making a mad dash to go away for Christmas, the rain and spray, especially from lorry tyres, did not make for a good journey.

 All lanes were full and, at some points, we were lucky to exceed 50mph. I suppose I should consider myself fortunate, because I got home well before the heavy rain and high winds began.

 Today there’s a good chance we’ll take the bus into Rugby, just for something to do.

 Thursday 26^th December (Boxing Day)

 Crick Marina is pretty much deserted at Christmas, or so it seems, because there are very few cars in the car parks and we’ve only seen a few boaters around. So, apart from spending a very pleasant hour or so at the club, Christmas day passed quietly for us. Looking on the bright side, we received quite a few cards and I actually got to speak to Alan for a few minutes.

 Today, I have no doubt will be just as quiet, but at least the Co-op is open for the Daily Mail. We’ll walk up there later this morning. We had thought to take one of the local, village walks, but we’ve had so much rain of late, that we think it prudent to avoid muddy footpaths.

 Boxing Day is one of my favourites where food is concerned, because we’ll probably have boiled eggs and toast for breakfast and then, at lunchtime it will be cold meat, mashed potato and pickles. We will also have enough turkey and ham left over for Wifey to make a pie. Great stuff!

 Saturday 28^th December

 Well, the festivities are over and thank goodness for that. We enjoyed our usual ‘Sunday’ walk to the club on Christmas Day and a really tasty dinner. The turkey crown cooked up really well and we had enough left over for cold meat and pickle on Boxing Day, plus a turkey and leek pie yesterday. The rest will go in a sandwich today, then it’s all back to normal.

 We didn’t hear from many people over the Christmas, but I did get to speak with my siblings on a couple of occasions. I can only assume everybody else is fine. If we missed any phone calls, it’s because the signal here is so poor, that the mobile doesn’t even get to ring. However, for some odd reason text messages do seem to get through.

 And that’s it for today. Not much point in posting yet, as I only have four pages of text.

 Tuesday 31^st December

 

Well, the New Year is almost upon us and we can now look forward to our next cruise. We both hope you all had a fun filled 2013 and wish you a very happy and prosperous 2014.

 For us 2013 was a pretty mixed bag, but at least we had good weather whilst cruising, which is more than can be said for the previous year.

 This winter has given us very little cause for concern, except, of course, the loss of our wee pooch, Rusty. That was a very sad couple of weeks for us, as anyone who has lost a pet will know. Whether or not we’ll get another dog is still undecided. Given the opportunity I’d start looking right away, but Wifey is unsure and it needs us both to agree. We’ll see.

 We haven’t planned our route for 2014 yet, but we still have three months in which to do so. As soon as we know, then so will you.

 And that’s just about it for this year.

 Take care folks and have a drink for us this evening if you intend seeing the New Year in. Personally I’ll be in bed and asleep long before midnight.

 Cheers folks.

 Dave and Sheila.