1st January to 17th January
Wednesday 1st
January 2014
Well, here it is another year
and my 72nd on this planet. Well, it will be on 4th
April. (Rich folks take note!)
We didn’t bother celebrating
the arrival of 2014 and retired for the night at our usual 10pm. The only
noises we heard; which had nothing whatever to do with New Year celebrations;
were that of our neighbour, emptying his water tank at about 11.30pm.
Thankfully he has now unplugged his landline and gone home, saving us the
problem of re-setting the mains cut-out, which always happens when he’s
connected up. Either there’s a fault with the main junction box, or his boat
has something overloading the system. Whatever it is, with Noel being away on
holiday, we had to borrow the key to the box yesterday to flip the switch.
Still, if that’s the limit of our problems for 2014, I’ll be a very happy man.
Today will be another
chill-out day as we did all necessary shopping yesterday at the local C0-0p.
Tomorrow we’ll probably take the bus to Rugby and also see if our local garage
is open as we do need to sort out this timing belt adjuster.
Saturday 5th
January
Well, we did manage to get to
Rugby on Thursday and got back before the bad weather hit. As for Thursday and
Friday, not much of anything happened to write in here. Except the continuing
bad weather, of course, of which we’ve had our fair share. It’s at times like
this that we’re very happy to be living on a boat. Even as I type this blog, it
is absolutely bucketing down and has been for much of the night. With a bit of
luck and a tail wind we’ll get to the shops for a paper but, other than that
another ‘normal’ day beckons.
Monday morning will see me
taking the car in for a service and I’ve asked them to check the timing belt
tensioner. Hopefully they won’t have to replace either, but I doubt it. So,
even more outlay on the beast.
Tuesday 7th
January
Well, as usual at about this
time of year, we’re putting our hands in our pockets for the car. I took it in
to the local garage yesterday, initially for a service and for them to check
out the timing belt tensioner. It seems that we don’t have a problem with the
tensioner, but do have a problem with the alternator, which seems to have a
damaged pulley. This damaged pulley is what was making the nasty noise. So,
since alternators are not cheap and the service would have cost us £97, we’re
foregoing the service and having the alternator replaced.
Had it not been for my
regular runs down to Harlow – 100 miles each way – I might have left it until
next year, but I can’t risk breaking down on the motorway, so it has to be
done. For the amount of money we’ve spent on the Alfa it should be in good
nick, but there always seems to be something else needs doing. Next thing is
the M.O.T., which it should pass easily, considering the four new tyres and the
limited use made of it.
The weather here; much like
the rest of the country; is pretty atrocious, all wind and rain. Thankfully we
don’t plan on going anywhere today although, if it’s better tomorrow we’ll probably
take the bus into Rugby.
Wednesday 8th
January
The car is now fixed and it
was nothing to do with the timing belt, although the guide wheel did need
replacing. The problem was with the alternator and the armature, which was
rubbing against the casing, thus causing the whining noise. So, at the end of
the day and with the replacement of the alternator and guide wheel, we are
almost £400 out of pocket. Hopefully there will be no more surprises when it
comes to the MOT.
Of course, before we leave here
at the beginning of April, we still have the engine service, electrics and
heater to sort out. Oh the joys of living on a narrowboat. Anybody who tells you it’s cheap living is
telling you porkies!
Thursday 9th
January
And still the rain keeps
coming! Yesterday we drove over to Daventry for a spot of shopping and, as is
our usual lucky streak, we did that and returned to the boat before the heavens
opened. For most of yesterday evening and through the night, rain, rain and
more rain. However, despite that, we’ll probably find the boat has only risen
an inch or two.
I have a book on pastel
painting and have been looking for the pastels that the author, Peter Coombs
uses, but it seems they have been discontinued. I do want to try some of his
exercises, but since the Winsor and Newton range come in five different shades
for each colour, I’m having trouble finding what I want. I guess I’ll have to
email Turner’s in Stockport for help.
Friday 10th
January
Well, after much toing and
froing between websites, I finally found a supplier of Dowler Rowney soft
pastels and ordered just enough; hopefully of the correct shades; so as to
start on a new project from the Peter Coombs book.
I’ve succeeded in finishing
quite a few pastels, mostly with pencils, but they all look too much like the
original photo, not like a ‘painting’, if you know what I mean. Peter’s pastels
actually look like paintings, which is what I’m really hoping to emulate.
Today we’re off to
Sainsbury’s, just outside Rugby. I’ve seen a book advertised by them that I
would like to get my hands on. You never know, we might just get some shopping
done as well
Saturday 11th
January
Sainsbury’s yesterday was
something of an eye-opener. That has got to be the biggest Sainsbury’s store
we’ve ever seen.
While we were there we
checked out the saucepans, because Wifey needed one of those 24cm frying pans
that come with a glass lid. The last one we bought turned out to be less than
non-stick. Anyway we found one by Tefal that appeared to be half price but,
just to be sure, we asked a floor-walker to check the price. Having checked
using their nearby computer, we were disappointed to be told it was full price
at £30, but since we really did need it, we bought it anyway. It wasn’t until
we got it home that we realised it was indeed half price at £14.95.
Sunday 12th
January
Ye gods and little fishes!
Have you ever been made to jump through hoops with a company online? Well, I’ve
just had that irritating experience with eBid, an online auction site similar
to eBay.
I had already signed up with
eBid in order to post my recipe book but, when I tried to sign in my details
were not accepted, and that was just the start of my problems.
Rather than mess around on
site, I decide it would be easier to reset my password, but that didn’t work
either as their software didn’t seem to understand English.
Having already jumped through
a few hoops and lost patience, I email eBid telling them to close my account,
nut in the meantime they sent me another link with which to reset my password.
But this didn’t work either since the link is only good for 1 hour. One hour!
What, they think we all have nothing better to do than sit there awaiting their
reply?
Now, in order to be able to
close my account, they tell me that they
need my telephone number. Why? They can’t phone me anyway because I have all
unknown numbers blocked. In this instance I can truly say my gob has been well
and truly smacked.
I think I’ll stick with Etsy
and eBay for the time being and all record of eBid will be deleted from the
laptop.
Monday 13th
January
I received another email from
eBid yesterday, blaming my settings at Absolute Email for the problem.
Apparently their email had been blocked. But this really doesn’t square with
the fact that I received their email!! Strange!! Anyway, just in case I do
decide to post on eBid, I have now sorted out the password.
Yesterday was a mixture of
freezing cold, followed by heavy rain and strong winds. However, we did manage
to get to the club and stumped up the £6 each for renewed membership.
Thursday 16th
January
So, what’s happened since
Monday? Not a lot, as it happens. On Tuesday we drove over to Daventry for my
eye test. Or was that yesterday? Whatever! I’ve had my eye test. Yep, it was
Tuesday, because we drove there again yesterday for a spot of shopping. Other
than that, as you can plainly see, life plods along.
Now, for those of you who are
interested in the family do, the first week in March is out. All we have to do
is pay a visit to the venue (top secret for now) and see about booking up for
one of the other four Sundays. As soon as we know the result, so will you.
Friday 17th
January
OK, we now have a date and
venue for the Kennett family bash, which will be at 1pm on 23rd
March at The Fox Inn at Matching Tye. We assume you all know how to get there
but, just in case your memory is as bad as mine, please email Sheila or myself
for directions.
We took the bus into
Northampton yesterday morning, mainly because Wifey had £20 worth of M&S
vouchers to spend. She still gets these at Christmas from Pitney Bowes. How
good is that for an ex-employer?
Yesterday was also fun when
booking for an overnight stay at Harlow Mill on the day of the bash. Firstly, Sheila tried booking at Harlow Mill Premier Inn but, at the payment page a message came up saying she had run out of time.
I then tried and successfully booked. But, when Sheila checked her email, she found she had actually managed to book up. So, we now had two bookings.
To cut a long story short, we tried cancelling the second booking and were told to phone Harlow. This was impossible because it went straight to a robotic voice. So, went to main site and left a message because, as the site had told us, there would be a cancellation fee. This, on something that was their websites fault. Premier Inns have promised to get back to us within five working days but, since we'll be coming to Harlow to book the family bash, we'll call in and sort it out.
And that’s just about it for
this blog
Take care folks
Dave and Sheila
