Saturday 16th May to
We have now been told that we have a choice of fields in which to park
our cars while the boat show is going on, we can park near the gate, or we can
park in the field behind the office. The gate is our best bet, because it is
much shorter walking distance from the village.
Already two huge marquees have been erected in the field nearest to
where we will be parking our car. Quite a few boats have been moved from the
main marina, some of them are now in our one, but not as many as we expected.
The towpath opposite the marina has also been designated as moorings
for the show. The show lasts for three days and, according to a boater we spoke
to on the bus a few days ago, this is costing £150.00 per boat. What!! Fifty
quid a day!! When we moored at Bulbourne some years ago, we paid that much per
month.
Yesterday we took the longest walk possible around the village, and
boy, did I know it later. Today will probably be considerably shorter.
Sunday 17th May
We’re off to Junction 1 today; where all the big stores hang out; for a
look around Maplin’s to see if I can find the necessary stuff to extend the
lead on the antenna. We also want to pop into The Range to see what they do by
way of doggie stuff. It’s a beautiful morning and we hope it will stay that
way.
I’ve finished Alan’s cartoon, which means I can now plan a website and
new blog and, with luck and a tail wind, perhaps I’ll make some money. Not too
much mind, I don’t want to upset the taxman!!
Monday 18th May
This Bank Holiday weekend sees the 2015 Crick Boat Show and what a show
it will be judging by the amount of marquees being erected, in the field that
was used for parking way back when we bought our boat. They are even building a
temporary bridge across the canal, no doubt to give easy access to those
boaters who have paid to moor alongside the towpath. We haven’t been to the
show since 2006 and are quite looking forward to it, especially as we don’t
have to pay.
Wednesday 20th May
Yesterday was a right pig weather wise, with several big downpours of
hailstones. Fortunately we weren’t walking up to the village at the time.
However, I did have to ask Alex to cross his legs until it had finally passed
over.
We now have light rain, but that shouldn’t be a problem by the time we
walk up to the shops.
Friday 22nd May
We’ve had some heavy rain over the past few days and we’ve suffered
several blasts of hailstones. Looking at the state of the field where we now
leave our cars, it will soon be something of a quagmire and we’ll have trouble
moving our cars.
The Boat Show will be huge this year; there are so many tents and
marquees about that delivery lorries are finding it difficult to turn around
when they need to leave.
I received message from Andy and Sandy saying that they’ll probably be
along to the show on Sunday, and I’ve already had our quota of freebies, so
they’ll have to pay their way. Goodness knows how Alex will react to their
Collie Taz!!
Today we’ll be taking the bus into Rugby, rather than move the car and
risk being bogged down, otherwise we might have gone over to Daventry.
Sunday 24th May
The first day of the Crick Boat Show went off well yesterday, with dry
and sunny weather all day. However, according to the weather forecast it’s
quite likely to rain today and, by the way those clouds are building up, it
wouldn’t surprise me at all. Andy and Sandy are supposed to be coming down from
Willington this morning, so I hope the rain keeps off until they’ve enjoyed the
show.
Tuesday 26th May
Well, the Boat Show is over for this year and all is now quiet. The
only real problem we’ve had while it’s been going on has been the difficulty on
accessing the Internet. We have our WiFi unit connected to an antenna;
specifically designed for this unit; which sits on a 2ft pole on the roof, and
still we have trouble. No doubt it’s affected by all the boats around us, but
it’s still a darned nuisance.
We usually experience problems with the mobile too but, whilst walking
around the show on Saturday my sister phoned and we had no problems at all.
Hopefully, once all the displays and ‘for sale’ boats have left and the boats
in our marina have been moved back to the main one, all will improve,
especially where the Internet is concerned.
This Friday I’ll be going down to Harlow for the day and will enjoy a
couple of drinks with Alan, who has managed to chop off the top of a finger.
Now doubt he’ll tell me all about it when I get there.
Wednesday 27th May
Our day by day breakfast looks something like this: Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday and Friday – toast or cereal: Wednesday and Saturday – crumpets:
Sunday – boiled eggs and soldiers. Today is Wednesday and, for the first time
in living memory, we don’t have enough crumpets; Sheila has two and I have
three, but we only have three. Disastrous, or it would be had Wifey not
volunteered to have cereal.
Yesterday we rubbed down the paintwork on the back doors and
surrounding panelling, along with the big box that houses the gear lever.
Sheila then applied rust preventative to the damaged parts, and she’ll do the
same again today, ready for a couple of coats of green. Hopefully we will be
able to complete the stern deck paintwork by the middle of next week, and then
we’ll go off cruising for a few weeks.
Friday 29th May
I’m going down to Harlow today and, I suppose I had to expect it, it’s
raining. This also means Wifey won’t be able to continue with painting the
stern deck. Still, I’ve no doubt she’ll manage to keep herself occupied.
While I’m in Harlow I’ll be looking for a car battery solar charger,
because I don’t want to be cruising for several weeks, only to find I have a
flat battery when we return.
Monday 1st June
Whooppee! Summer is here at last, although you could be forgiven for
thinking otherwise. Here at Crick Marina we have a cloudy sky and a chilly
wind, what’s summery about that?
Back in early February; the 2nd of to be precise; I received
an email from the lady who purchased a mobile phone from me. She was very happy
with said phone, although she was somewhat concerned that it wasn’t unlocked
from Vodaphone. So, although she seemed happy at the time, I thought perhaps
that she simply didn’t want to take the time and effort in returning it, so I
offered to accept it as a return. She declined and I thought no more about it,
until this morning that is.
Three months after receiving and accepting the mobile, she now tells me
it’s faulty and is threatening to contact eBay for compensation. With the best
will in the world I fail to see how I can be blamed for that state of affairs
and, in an attempt at showing complete fairness, I have suggested she have the
phone checked out. She’s even suggesting that the new screen I had fitted might
be to blame. It should be interesting to see what happens next. Fortunately I
have retained her earlier emails and, what’s more, so do eBay.
Today we’ll be going shopping at Sainsbury’s and, I have no doubt,
returning with a trolley and a couple of bags full of goodies. Our fridge is
looking pretty vacant at present and we’ve been relying on the local Co-op
during the Crick Boat-show and beyond, so it will be good to see a full
refrigerator again.
Thursday 4th June
Yesterday was quite a fine day, so we decided to carry out our monthly
checks on the engine, batteries and heater. Naturally, that was after we walked
to the C0-op for the paper and had our coffee and biscuits upon our return.
The first job then was topping up the batteries with water. Now, when
we paid a visit to the Crick Boat Show, we bought a battery filler bottle. This
is made such that, by inserting the spout into the battery cell and waiting for
the gurgling to stop, you know when that cell has enough water.
So, I’m just about to top the bottle up to fill the last of the
batteries, when the bottle top fell off the deck and into the water. That’s £18
up the Swanee!! As if that wasn’t enough of a problem, we also didn’t have
enough water to complete the task, so we had to drive over to Halford’s in
Daventry. I finally finished the batteries using an old hydrometer that I found
in the engine bay.
Job done, but at great expense.
Friday 5th June
Ever since I upgraded our dongle to a WiFi unit; sometime last year I
think; we’ve had nothing but problems with the Internet and emails. We even
bought an antenna to try and improve the situation, but that’s proved to be
pretty useless.
Yesterday morning, whilst Wifey was out having her hair cut, I tried
setting up the old dongle, but that wouldn’t work with the SIM from the WiFi. I
tried the dongle first, because it only needs to be connected to a power
source, or the laptop, for it to work, whereas the WiFi has an on/off switch.
Now, since it doesn’t seem to matter where the WiFi is positioned,
inside the boat, or if the antenna is fitted to it, or not, I decided to attach
it to the pole on the roof and see how that went. Whilst I do have to switch it
on and off, it does seem to work better and faster. So, at least while we are
here at Crick, that’s the arrangement I’ll be sticking to.
There’s only one thing more to do to see how the WiFi behaves when I
access the Internet, and that’s to try posting this blog.
Have a great weekend.
Cheers me dears.
Dave, Sheila and Alex.
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