Friday 15th April to Friday 29th April
Friday 15th April
This will be the final blog from Crick. I’ll start a new, Summer 2016
after this one, probably starting from 1st of May.
Saturday 16th April
I contacted Bosworth Marina on Thursday, using their online enquiry
form, and received their automated response the same day. But, since they
hadn’t actually contacted me personally by yesterday, I decided to phone them,
and it’s just as well I did, because they appear to be having problems with their
automated response system. Anyway, I spoke to Chris and we’ve been assured of a
welcome, should we decide to pay them a visit this weekend.
We might just do that today but, alternatively we could go tomorrow. At
present we have drizzly rain, so I’m hoping it will clear by 9 am, which will
make for a much more pleasant drive. I’ve been told that it’s only about half
an hour from here, up the A5, so we won’t have to suffer the rain for long.
On Monday will be popping over to Daventry, to collect my new specs
from Boot’s Opticians. I should have collected them on Wednesday, but they
hadn’t arrived. However, they texted me yesterday and I can now go there on
Monday.
Also, if this pesky loose tooth doesn’t fall out by then, I’ll be
calling in to the dentist there as well. Oh, the joys of being diabetic!!
Later…….
Although the weather didn’t look too promising, we decided to take a
run up to Market Bosworth and pay a visit to the new marina. It still has much
to be done before it’s completed, but we like the look of the place. Chris, the
owner, gave us the guided tour of the offices – plush is the only word to
describe it – and pointed out the various pontoon areas. We have chosen one
near to the office, simply because it will also be close to the coal, gas and
log storage areas, thus limiting the lugging of same to our boat. We’ve paid a
deposit and will probably take up our moorings on 1st November.
The drive down from Market Bosworth will only take an extra half hour,
so I’m OK with that. I’m still debating whether or not to trade the Alfa in for
something sturdier, but will worry about that when we get to Bosworth Marina
for the winter.
Monday 18th April
I received a text message from Boot’s Opticians on Friday and have
arranged to collect my new specs today, so we’ll do our shopping in Daventry at
the same time.
We’re still sticking to the diet but, for some unaccountable reason,
we’re not losing as much weight as we would like. We both weighed ourselves on
Thursday morning and, whilst Wifey had lost a pound, my weight was the same as
last week. Now, at those times when I feel a bit peckish, I do tend to dip into
our pot of nuts. Wifey suggested that this may be the problem, so I’ve stashed
them away in the cupboard – out of site and out of mind. We’ll probably weigh
in again on Wednesday or Thursday and see how we’ve done this week.
We’re now in the eighth week and final week of the diet, but I’ve only
lost 11lb so far. Yes, it’s good. But I really do need to lose more, so we’ll
probably continue with it for a while more.
Being on this diet has had a beneficial side effect, in that we now
draw up a shopping list on Sunday for the coming week, and we only list what we
need for the diet. This means that we don’t buy things we don’t really need
and, as a consequence of that we are saving money on our shopping bill. Ta da!!
Friday 22nd April
Well, we are now just eight days away from leaving Crick Marina for
good. Hellelujah!!!
A short while ago I mentioned the notice that had gone up outside
Noel’s alternative office. This read something like, ‘please keep your dog off
this area as it is now a nature reserve’. That ‘nature reserve’ is just a few
square feet in area. Anyway, Wifey took Alex for a short walk yesterday evening
and, in this short walk, she passed the ‘nature reserve’. She returned to the
boat with a huge grin on her face and, when I asked what was so funny, she
explained that the nature reserve now had a pond in it.
“A pond?”, said I, “That piece
of grass doesn’t have room for a pond. How big is it?”
“Oh, about six foot by four foot”.
“Blimey, that’s just about big enough for a couple of ducks. Do you
think we should find a small, fisherman type gnome for it?” At which point we
cracked up.
The world’s gone mad!!
Tomorrow I shall make the last of my Harlow visits before setting off
for our World cruise of the Inland Waterways of England and Wales. With a bit
of luck my Sister Carole and my Aunt Barbara and cousin Karen will also be
there. The latter two I haven’t seen for some years. Indeed, it must be two or
three years since I last saw Carole, so it should be a very pleasant day.
Later…….
We took a run over to the Chandlery in Braunston and bought some last
minute items for use on our travels. We have just eight more days until we have
to leave Crick marina and, to be honest, it can’t come soon enough. We’ve spent
three winters here and, although we feel we have been poorly treated of late,
three years is long enough at one marina, so we’re looking forward to our first
winter at Market Bosworth. But first, summer cruising beckons!!
Saturday 23rd April
This morning is looking good for my drive down to Harlow, the sun will
be up pretty soon and my car will defrost – I hope. The only problem will be
the sun in my eyes on the way there.
Tuesday 26th April
For several months I suffered a loose tooth, which finally fell out of
its own accord. It didn’t take long for another one to come loose, this one
right next door to the first one. However, this so and so would not fall out,
and it soon became really troublesome. I soon found it almost impossible to eat
properly, because my top teeth would crash down on the loose one and give me a
sharp reminder that it was still there.
So, sometime last week, while we were in Daventry, I booked an
appointment to have it removed. Unfortunately, for reasons of another health
issue, I had to cancel that appointment and, as a consequence had to wait until
yesterday to have the offending tooth removed. Happy days at last, now I can
eat without fearing a clash of teeth upsetting my meal.
This morning, on the advice of the very nice young dentist who removed
that tooth, I’ll be popping back to see the hygienist for a good clean up. I
now have a rather wide gap at the front and bottom line of teeth. Not a pretty
sight but, since we have to vacate our spot in the marina by Saturday, there’s
no time to have a plate made.
We now have a new plank for mooring up in those odd spots, where the
stern is too far from the bank and we need to bridge the gap. Thanks Bruv, you
did a fine job. Now, all I have to do is stain it and affix some non-slip pads
to it. Hopefully, as it has started off bright and sunny this morning, I’ll get
that job out of the way today.
Wednesday 27th April
On Mon, after having that loose tooth removed, I made an appointment to
see the Hygienist for the next day – yesterday. How blooming annoying to arrive
there at the allotted time, only to be told she had called in sick. Of course,
the receptionist sought to re-book the appointment for the following week, but,
having already explained that we would be gone by this weekend, and that there
would be no way to get there without the car, I had to accept a refund. Yes, I
did pay for all the treatment the day before! Unfortunately, refunds can only
be issued from their head office, so we’ll have to wait for that to be sent to
Alan and for him to post it on to us, wherever we might be.
I had thought to keep this dental practice, even if it meant a half
hour drive if needed in the future. But I no longer think that’s a good idea
and we’ll see what we find at Market Bosworth.
Now, we don’t have all the bells and whistles of Sky or BT television,
just Freeview, so we’re rather limited in what we are able to watch and, for
the most part, that’s a load of rubbish. So, on our cruise this year, the tv
set will be packed away and out will come the new Hi Fi unit and we’ll be
recording as many of our old vinyl records onto cds. We should have been doing
so whilst here at Crick, but we never got around to it. However, in view of the
aforementioned rubbish now being shown on Freeview, we feel this would be an
ideal time to get onto it.
We’re hoping the weather stays calm enough for us to take the boat
around for a top up of diesel today. We’ll probably leave here on Saturday and
will be taking the car up to the garage for safe keeping in Friday. Whether we
stay for the weekend is still an open option. It would be nice to spend a final
hour at the club on Sunday, but if it’s a fine day, we might just go on our
way.
Incidentally, since starting on my low calorie diet, I have lost a
stone in weight. It has taken me eight weeks so far, so I still have some way
to go before I’m free of diabetes. However, I’ve not been following Dr Mosley’s
book to the letter – his recipes are hardly inviting. Shei and I have been
using recipes from two of the Hairy Bikers books, which are far more appealing
and do give calorie contents for them.
When I paid a visit to the nurse last week, she applauded my efforts
thus far; I’ve managed to leave out the three daily doses of Insulin and am
just taking the late night one; but she insisted I would not be able to get rid
of my diabetes altogether. Well, I’m not one to argue unnecessarily, but I’ve
read several reports about people who have done just that and under medical
supervision, so I’m still going to try.
There’s also a suggestion that, in order to keep weight off
permanently, it is necessary to keep to the diet for a year, at last. With the
Hairy Bikers recipes, we’re both happy to do so.
Friday 29th April
As you all know, we’re due to leave here tomorrow, the last day of our
stay at Crick Marina. So, since we’ll have no Internet signal once we get
ourselves outside, I’ll make this my last entry. On Sunday I’ll start a new
blog for our 2016 cruise.
Of course, being outside the marina also means no mobile signal, so
those who have my number, please don’t expect any contact from me until we’re
well away from here.
Up until the news that our fees were going up here, we had enjoyed our
stay. But now? Well, we’ll be happy to leave, as much as we love the village
and the people in it.
We don’t know where we’ll be heading for, as we haven’t made any proper
plans. But you’ll be the first to know. Quite possibly we’ll head for the
Llangollen Canal, simply because we didn’t get to it last year.
Today I’ll be taking the car up to the garage for safe keeping. While
it’s there I’m hoping Malcolm will have a few faults fixed, so that I can put
it up for sale when we get to Market Bosworth in November.
And that’s about it, apart from wishing you all a very pleasant summer.
Take care.
Dave, Sheila and Alex.
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