Sunday 15th February Saturday 7th March
Monday 16th February
Sunday went as well as can be expected, considering the dingy weather.
As is our usual habit, we first walked up to the Co-op and then, at around
midday, we walked up to the club. I say up because from the marina it is a
slightly uphill walk to both of these.
As is sometimes our habit, we bought a pizza for our evening snack. Due
to the fact that we have crisps and mini cheddars at the club, we only have a
light meal in the evening. We don’t even bother with chips to go with the
pizza. A stomach day of rest, you might say.
Today I have no idea what we’ll be doing. The weather is still a bit
dingy and, when I took Alex out earlier, it was trying to rain, so we probably
won’t be going anywhere, other than the shop for the Mail.
Tuesday 17th February
You just gotta laugh at that Ed Balls, haven’t you? Out there in
Business-land is a millionaire/billionaire, who hasn’t paid a penny in Income
Tax for 24 years, and Mr Balls wants to ensure that those folks who work
cash-in-hand are made to pay theirs. No wonder the Labour Party are the bane of
businessmen everywhere.
This morning we have clear skies and a hard frost; a good morning for a
long walk I would think. That’ll be up to the Co-op and around the block. Which
block very much depends on which way Alex points his nose when we come out of
the Co-op.
Friday 20th February
A lot has happened since Tuesday, much of it of a personal nature and
which I won’t dwell on. Suffice it to say I’ve been rather busy of late.
Aside from the personal nature, some time has been spent on a new hobby
and, quite possibly, a way to supplement my pension. I now have, on a thumb
stick, a new pastime in the shape of Draw 4 Profit, by a man called Alan
Taylor. If you are into art, and especially cartoons, you could do worse than checking
him. So far I am getting to grips with a programme called Gimp. Due to the fact
that we are unable to watch online videos, Alan kindly copied all the necessary
information to a thumb stick, from which I will be watching the videos. There’s
no point transferring them to my hard drive and cluttering it up even more than
it already is.
Apart from all that, we’ve carried on as normal.
One thing of interest regarding our pooch, Alex, was the discovery
that, as with Rusty, he hates the rain. For example, last night, when it came
for his last walk of the day, he retired to his bed under the dinette.
Ordinarily he would be on Sheila’s chair, all snuggled up with her. But, having
heard the rain on the roof, he his himself away. Crafty beggar!!
He’s also a hungry-gutted so and so too and knows exactly when it’s
time for food. We feed him at about 4 pm, before which I’ll take him for a
short walk. However, unlike his longer walks outside the marina, this
mid-afternoon one is almost taken at a trot, with him at the full length of his
lead and legging it for home. Once the back door is opened, he’s off like a
shot to his food bowl.
Right now, as I type this entry, he’s lying beside me on the dinette
seat. And, we were told, he’s not a lapdog. Phooey!!
Saturday 21st February
That stuff of a personal nature means a couple of days in hospital,
which starts on Monday. So, I’ll do my best to enjoy my weekend, because I
really don’t like hospitals, what with all the nightly goings on and
disturbance of sleep. Still, it must be done, but at least I’ll get my Sunday
drink.
Sunday 22nd February
Re-Ed Balls, what a hypocrite, we now discover that he hasn’t asked for
a receipt from his window cleaner, who has been cleaning his windows for 11
years. No doubt he, like all politicians, will find a way to squirm out of it.
No wonder so many youngsters are refusing to vote, it people like Balls that
give politics such a bad name.
As for me, I’m off to hospital for a small op tomorrow morning, but I
should be back here on Wednesday morning, with a bit of luck and a tail wind.
Thursday 26th February
On Monday morning I dragged myself and Wifey to Northampton General
Hospital, where I was admitted for the removal of a small polyp that had taken
up residence in my bladder. The op was successful and I was released from their
care the following afternoon. Nuff said!!
Now, although I had an uncomfortable night on Tuesday, my sleep last
night was virtually back to normal. So, life continues apace until something
equally ugly, or uglier still, rears its ugly head.
Once more I am in a position to continue with the Cartoon stuff. But
first I need to set up the Gimp programme and follow the training videos, all
of which could take some considerable time. And, the best of luck to me!!
Friday 27th February
Once more we have a frosty start to the day. However, with a bit of
luck it will melt and we’ll have a sunny day. This is good because we need to
go shopping at Sainsbury’s this morning.
Having just now set up the Gimp programme, I’ll need to set aside some
time today to study the Instruction Videos. There are plenty of them so this
should keep me pretty busy.
Saturday 28th February
There are times when things don’t go quite according to plan, and
yesterday was one such time. In order to ensure that our engine doesn’t seize
up, I try to run it at least once a month. Yesterday was earmarked for that
operation but, as with all things mechanical/electrical, things go wrong from
time to time.
So, with keys in hand, off I trotted to start the engine and, brrrrr,
was all I heard. Alright, what’s the matter now? To those of you with any
mechanical bent would automatically assume a dead battery, and you would be
right.
The problem was down to the fact that we’ve been sitting here since the
end of October and the batteries have been on charge since then, through our landline.
Unfortunately, although our main domestic batteries are sealed, the starter one
is wet and, over that period of time has completely dried out. Of course, this
is entirely my fault because, having replaced the domestics for sealed units, I
didn’t change the starter battery with the same type, hence the failure to
start. Of course, I topped it up, but I don’t know if the overnight charge will
bring it up to strength. It may well be that the plates are buckled and it is
now useless. We shall see.
A couple of years ago, when we were moored at Mercia Marina, a fellow
boater kindly gave me a Sony Xperia Miro iPhone. The only thing wrong with it
was that it had a cracked screen.
Just recently; having upgraded twice since then; I decided to post it
on eBay and received a message yesterday morning to say it had sold. I also
received a message from the buyer, asking for a few details, and I promised to
post it off this morning.
In the meantime; during a period of light snoozing; it suddenly came to
me that the buyer hadn’t paid for the phone. So, I quickly accessed my eBay
account and dashed of a PayPal Invoice.
I then received another message from the buyer asking if she could pop
round to my home in Harlow and pay for it there, since she lives in North Weald.
Well, I have several addresses with eBay and have used Alan’s address all this
time, as a forwarding address for mail, so I could understand her believing
that I still lived there. Having explained the situation I am now awaiting
payment and will send the phone off on Monday morning.
Now, Google is supposed to be the be all and end all of Internet search
engines. Well, I’ve spent several hours over the past couple of days, searching
for How to Build an A3 Light box, which I need for my new cartooning hobby. So
far I’ve found just one, and I can’t say I’m impressed. For a start the person
concerned uses white Chipboard for the box. How yesterday is that?
Another idea offered by on other person, was to use a couple of A3
picture frames, hinged together and built onto a lightweight frame. But this
only gave some very basic ideas, although I will give this some serious
consideration.
This will require a visit to Homebase or B&Q sometime, because they
both stock frames and strip lighting, so I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with
something. Once I have found the necessary parts for this project, I can also
draw up my own plans and sell them on. Crafty Forsythe!!
Sunday 1st March
Well, according to the weather forecasters, this is officially the
first day of spring. Now, although it has become somewhat milder of late, it’s
still pretty chilly out there, especially in that north easterly wind, so
spring seems to be holding back.
After our failure to start the engine on Friday, due to a flat starter
battery, we had another go yesterday afternoon and, I’m very pleased to say,
the battery did its job.
Dogs will be dogs’; I think most people will agree. But, why do they
insist on behaving as if they never get fed? This morning I spotted our cheeky
chappie, head turned slightly to one side and chewing on something; rather
surreptitiously, I thought. Sure enough, when I stuck my finger in his mouth,
there was a huge lump of bread already half way down his throat. It was a bit
of a struggle, but I did manage to get it out.
Rusty, bless her, was just the same, but she quite enjoyed the odd
piece of rabbit pooh and, given half a chance, sheep dropping as well. Luckily
she wasn’t prone to gobbling up other dog mess, and neither is Alex. But I do
wonder what goes through their heads when they do this. Could it be a long term
instinct from their days in the wild, when they simply didn’t know where their
next meal was coming from? If so, how many centuries of living with us humans,
will it take before that instinct is eroded? Who knows? Who cares??
I’m still having trouble with finding a decent method for making a
light box. Some of those I’ve seen online are not only expensive, but totally
impractical, especially when we live on a boat. I’ve seen them made from
cardboard big boxes, which would be OK for photographic use, but useless for
tracing pictures.
However, not to be put off and having received a call from my sister
Carole yesterday, I have enlisted her aid in finding a really cheap one, or the
plans for building one. I will keep searching though.
Monday 2nd March
Just for a change we’re going to go into Rugby by car this morning. It
has become quite tedious during the time we’ve been here at Crick, being tied
to an hourly bus service. We usually catch the 09.40, which arrives in Rugby at
about 10.10. The next bus leaves Rugby at 11.10, giving us an hour to do
whatever needs doing. Sometimes it’s enough time, but there are occasions when
even another 10 minutes would allow us to simply wander around some more, or
guarantee a cup of coffee and scone.
Today we have several shops to visit and I don’t think an hour will be
enough time to cover all we want to do. So, car it is.
We have the Kennett family bash coming up soon; on the 22nd
of March, to be precise; and I’ve been looking for somewhere to park the dog
for the day. Having searched the Internet and found nothing reasonable close, I
chanced to ask the lady at the Post Office yesterday, if she knew of anything
nearby and, luckily for us, there’s a kennels just a few miles up the road,
near to West Haddon. So, sometime this week we’ll be popping along there to
check the place out.
But first I need to get myself down to Harlow and visit with my brother
Alan. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that for next Saturday, 7th
March.
Well, maybe we won’t bother going to Rugby today. I’ve just opened the
curtains and it’s now sleety out there; not a nice day for wandering around
town. Me thinks we’ll chill out, along with the weather and pretend nothing’s
wrong.
Friday 6th March
Our near neighbour, whose name is Peter, also has a Jack Russell, whose
name is Tommy. Just as we were on our way out on Wednesday morning, we asked
Peter if he knew of anyone who would look after Alex for a few hours, whilst
we’re at the family bash. He said that he would be happy to do so, except that
he was about to go off cruising for three months. He then asked when the party
was being held and, when we told him he then said, “Oh, in that case I’ll look
after him. I’ll be just around the corner by then and you can drop him off on
the way out and pick him up again on the return trip.”
By ‘round the corner’ he meant just along the A5, on the way to
Daventry. How lucky is that?
Well, I’m off to Harlow today and will be back tomorrow.
Saturday 7th March
Once again I enjoyed a few hours with my brother Alan, but this time on
a Friday evening, rather than Saturday. Surprisingly enough the trip down was
pretty easy and uneventful. We spent a couple of hours in The White Admiral,
then enjoyed pork chops and veg for dinner. After a bit of TV I spent a very
comfortable night in a cosy double bed. Smashing!
This weekend will be devoted to a total chill-out, with a visit to the
club tomorrow lunchtime.
Now, as you already know, we have a 3G/4G Huawei WiFi Unit, attached to
a 4G Lte antenna. We are still having problems with the Internet and we put
this down to poor signal strength. So, I have been hunting around for an
extension lead for this antenna, in the hope that raising it by 2 to 3 metres
would improve matters.
I have tried the ‘Three’ shop, but they haven’t a clue. I have tried
Maplin’s, but they don’t even stock the necessary connectors, much less a
complete lead. I’ve also tried Radiospares Online, but hunting around their
site is the stuff of nightmares and could take many hours of searching.
As a last resort I have contacted an eBay seller, who has these antennae
listed and asked if he can help. My final and last gasp solution will be to cut
the existing cable; which I am reluctant to do; and splice some twin cable, or
coax, in order to extend it.
On that thought I will leave you pondering and post this blog.
Take care and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Alex
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