Saturday 24th October to Saturday 6th November
Saturday 24th October
Well, we are now back at Crick marina and the first thing we did upon
arrival; even before enjoying a cuppa; was to pop across to the office to
collect our mail and car keys.
The very next thing was to move the car down to our nearest car park.
Only one thing stood in our way and that was that the key fob wouldn’t work to
disable the alarm, which suggested to me that the car battery was flat.
Ordinarily, in such circumstances I would ask Noel, the site manager,
to give us a jump-lead start. Unfortunately he wasn’t around at the time, so I
gave Malcolm at the local garage a ring. He came about 45 minutes later and got
me started. He also suggested I give the car a run, up past his garage and on
to the next couple of roundabouts. So, off I poodled for what turned out to be
about 20 minutes run.
Having returned to the car park I switched off the engine and then
tried to re-start it, but the battery still hadn’t topped up enough. Well, to
cut a long story short, I finally found Noel and he loaned me a battery and jump
leads and I finally got the car started. This time I went for a drive to
Daventry and back, turned off the engine and re-started. Et voila!!
Hopefully we’ll be able to start it again this morning.
Now, we didn’t leave here for our regular summer cruise around the
system until almost the end of July, due to finishing our painting of the stern
deck. Several weeks prior to that, I spotted an ad in the Mail for a FREE model
of a Mark II Jaguar, which turned up a short time later.
Of course I looked for the catch! I’m always wary of freebies. There
was no paperwork with this particular freeby, so I tucked the model away in a
safe place and thought no more of it.
You know what’s coming, don’t you?
Yep, in amongst the mail were two demands for payment of £18.99p. These
didn’t come from the company, Atlas Editions though. Oh no! Said company had
automatically put the matter in the hands of a collection agency.
I have now Googled Atlas Editions for their address, which is, of
course, a Box Number and will be returning the car and demands to them this
morning. It wouldn’t be so bad had Atlas sent me further models, but there was
nothing of that kind at the office.
I suppose my name has now gone onto a black list of debtors. Tut, tut,
at my age who gives damn?
Tuesday 27th October
Since upgrading our WiFi last February, we’ve tried adding an external
aerial, which was as much use as a chocolate teapot. Since that time I’ve tried
attaching the WiFi unit to a pole on the roof, but that meant having to go
outside to switch the thing on. Not an ideal situation from my point of view.
Signal strength only seems to be a problem in this marina; out there on
the canals we have no problems at all and the unit sits there, hanging on the
window with no need to move it while we’re travelling.
This morning I decided to take the unit with us and called in to ‘3’
and had a chat with the sales person. What I would have liked, was a new unit
that I could mount on a pole, but one that automatically came on when it was
plugged into the laptop. But he couldn’t help me with that. Instead he
suggested an updated version of the WiFi we already have, but on a monthly
renewable contract. Going with his suggestion meant stumping up almost £40.00,
but it meant that I was simply purchasing the new WiFi unit and then all I have
to do is phone ‘3’ tomorrow and cancel this new contract.
In effect I’ve simply been sold a new unit and all I have to do is
insert my old SIM card and carry on as normal.
Now, since arriving home we’ve tried the new unit and it certainly
seems to go online easier and, when Wifey used it she thought it was somewhat
faster. Hopefully I won’t have to resort to using the external aerial. Only
time will tell.
Wednesday 28th October
Well, it’s been raining for most of the night and, apart from when I
took Alex out at 6 o’clock, it’s still coming down heavy.
The good news is that the new WiFi unit seems to be working much better
than the old one. What I want to know is, why don’t the Mobile companies offer
these new units to existing customers? Even if they charged for them, surely we
should be made aware of the new technology coming on the market!
Thursday 29th October
At the suggestion of the nice man at ‘3’, I attempted to phone their
office and cancel this new, monthly agreement. I own up to becoming rather
frustrated with these ‘for so and so press 1, or 2 etc’ and, after just a few
minutes of trying, I gave up and returned to the boat. What really got my
dander up was the request to enter the number of the phone I was making the
enquiry about. But I don’t have a mobile phone with ‘3’, only a WiFi unit.
So, what to do now. Well, when I got back to the boat I had a scramble
through all the gumph that came with the unit and, after much searching and
muttering certain blue stuff, I found it on the card that held the new SIM.
Now, since I was not using that SIM, but using my existing one, I consider
myself lucky to have found the number. Therefore, later today, after taking the
car to the garage for the aforementioned service and repair, I’ll try again.
Friday 30th October
I took the car to the local garage yesterday morning and, after
carrying out the service, Chris phoned me to say that the windscreen wiper
mechanism has broken and needs replacing. I’ve been looking around for quotes
for this and have received just one so far, and that will cost £169.00,
including VAT and delivery. Other dealers are still checking their stock; which
probably means there’s nobody about just yet; so I’ll have to check back later.
Meanwhile, we are enjoying lots of rain, and our pooch does not like
rain!! So, short walk, quick cock of the leg and back to the boat to await more
clement weather.
Tuesday 3rd November
The weekend went very much as usual, although we did suffer quite a lot
of fog.
On Friday morning I ordered the windscreen stuff for the car and that
should be arriving today. Meanwhile I collected the car from the garage for use
over the weekend and, On Saturday we popped over to Curry/PCWorld and bought a
new printer.
Today I’ll return the car to the garage and hope the parts turn up
today and we get the car back later today, or, more likely, tomorrow.
Thursday 5th November
I finally had the windscreen wipers repaired and have the car back.
With the new mechanism fitted and the first service for quite some time, we
shelled out over £450.00!! The blooming car isn’t worth that!! Ah well, not
much point trying to trade it in now, because it’s running so well.
Over the past few days we’ve noticed a distinct lack of heat coming
from our solid fuel burner and the fan on top hasn’t been spinning quite as
fast as it should. Our first thought was that the lousy coal we’ve been using
wasn’t up to much, until last night, that is.
Even by having the top and bottom vents wide open, that fan still
refused to spin as it should. And then came the smell!! A horrible chemical
smell. So, our next thought was that the chimney needed sweeping – again. We
only did it a short while before leaving back in June or July.
The final indicator that the chimney needed sweeping was the Carbon
Monoxide alarm sounding off. It’s pretty damned obvious the chimney needs
sweeping now, you pair of idiots!!
It’s been raining quite heavily overnight and, even after emptying most
of the coal out of the fire last night, it’s still glowing. So, we’ll just have
to damp it down with water – and enjoy a sauna at the same time – after which
we’ll get to the chimney; assuming it doesn’t rain in the meantime. Ye gods and
little fishes, what else can possibly go wrong?
At least we have booked our dear, sweet Shiralee in for a bottom
blacking. All we need to do now is find a suitable holiday cottage for a few
days in March. No problem.
Friday 6th November
Yesterday morning, immediately after walking up to the Post Office for
The Mail, we set about cleaning the chimney. We were pleasantly surprised to
find that, unlike previous occasions, this time it was pretty easy. So the fire
is now lit alight and keeping us warm again.
Now that we have the bottom blacking booked in, I set about finding a
short stay holiday cottage somewhere near Rutland Water. Booking early and for
just three days in the middle of March would, I would have thought, be
relatively easy. But, nope, not easy at all. In the first place, even though I
found a list that included minimum three nights stay, those that were available
didn’t allow pets and, those that did allow pets wanted at least £100 a night
and a minimum of 1 week booking. The boat is only costing us £550, and that
includes the use of the dry dock. At this rate we’ll be looking at over £1000,
just to have the bottom blacked.
I’ve now given up my search and have left it to Wifey carry on
searching.
And, on that happy note, I’ll sign off and post this blog.
Take care folks and enjoy your weekend.
Dave, Sheila and Alex.
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