Saturday
24th December to Saturday 31st December
Sunday 25th December (Christmas
Day)
Yesterday; and just for a change for a
Saturday; we walked up to the village twice. The first time was for the paper
and other shopping. The second was for the pub. We don’t know what Christmas
Day is like here and didn’t want to be standing for an hour. It was pretty busy
yesterday, so I think it will probably be busier today.
Anyway, we’ll be walking up that hill again
tomorrow, again twice, and again for the paper and the pub. But, before the
pub, we’ll be watching the local Hunt go by.
Now, last night we watched the film about The
Lady in the Van, on BBC 2, which was written by Alan Bennett and was,
supposedly, a true story. It was Bennett’s account of the 15 years that this
lady spent parked in his driveway, because she thought she was responsible for
the death of a young cyclist. In short, she was on the run from the law.
As a consequence of this film not finishing
until 10.40 pm, we were rather late going to bed and I was rather late getting
up this morning. 06.30 to be precise! Ah well, we are retired you know, and I
can get up when I darn well please.
Wifey did the hoovering yesterday, so it will
be all day cooking, of sausage rolls and, much later on, because we like our
turkey cooked on the day, the turkey will be cooked. So, apart from a small
amount of sausage rolls, Wifey should have a relaxing day.
Monday 26th December (Boxing Day)
Wooohooo! What a Christmas Day we had. A very
good breakfast and a short walk with Alex. Lunchtime we had a couple of sausage
rolls, as made by Wifey. Yum! Dinner at about 5.30 pm consisted of a few slices
of turkey, with all the usual trimmings. No boiled bacon this year, as we had
more than enough turkey.
We had a 10lb bird, complete with legs. We
were going to have just a crown, which is enough for Christmas dinner and
Boxing day dinner, plus enough left over for a turkey and ham pie. But, I think
we have too much meat now. No matter, we’ll manage.
At lunchtime today we’ll walk up to the
village and watch the local Hunt pass through and I’ll take a few photos of
same. We’ll then stop off at the Olde Red Lion for a couple of drinks with
fellow boaters. No doggie today as we think the sight of all those other dogs
could give him a heart attack.
Tuesday 27th December
Well, so much for seeing the local Hunt
yesterday. When we first visited this marina, Chris told us that about 40 boaters
walked up to the village at about 11 am, to watch the Hunt pass through. Some
of them would then call in to The Olde Red Lion for a beer, or three.
We’ve been told the same thing recently and,
after waiting to see how many boaters converged on the office here, I walked
across and asked one of the boaters who didn’t go. He told me they already went
and that he thought the Hunt actually went through the village at 11 am.
So, since we were already too late – thanks
for giving us a shout guys – we put Alex on his lead and started walking, with
a view to grabbing a couple of drinks at said watering hole. What we didn’t
account for was the amount of people who had assembled there. The whole of
Station Road was awash with cars and, along with those boaters who did go, many
of the attendees were walking down the hill to their cars. Unfortunately, that
left many more who were filling up the two pubs.
We stood no chance of grabbing a drink, much
less grabbing a seat. I don’t believe I have ever seen pubs so full of people,
and they were still trying to get in and to the bar. Still, we did have our
Christmas drink, only we did so on Christmas Eve, when it was much quieter.
Still, we did benefit from a good, round-trip walk of about 2½ miles yesterday,
so that was something. It did, at least, help to walk off some of the
over-indulgence of Christmas Day.
Now, listen up good people.
Some time ago, as certain readers will know,
we had a spate of ‘hacking’ of my email list. Some idiots out there have gained
access to that list and have emailed some of my readers. This has annoyed me to
such an extent, that I have decided to look at transferring my blog to a
different site. There are quite a few out there, including WordPress and a few
others. However, I’m at a loss as to which one to go with. Suck it and see,
seems to be the only option.
So, watch this space for further news. I
might even build a free website. Who knows?
Wednesday 28th December
By heck, it’s blooming chilly here! According
to my mobile weather app, it’s currently 0⁰ C and, from efforts filling up with
water yesterday, we know the pipes are frozen. We’re not yet desperate but, so
long as these freezing conditions don’t last too long, we’ll be ok.
Normally, on Boxing Day, we have cold meat
and bubble & squeak, which would consist of turkey and boiled bacon.
However, we had such a large bird this year, that we stuck to turkey.
The day following Boxing Day – that’s
yesterday, in case you’re getting confused – we usually have a turkey and ham
pie. However, once again we still had too much turkey for us to cook the ham
joint, so it was just a turkey pie. It was HUGE!! Far too big to eat at one
sitting. So it looks like more of the same today. Not that I’m complaining, you
understand. I do like my turkey pie, even if it doesn’t have any ham in it.
But, what to have with it, that is the question.
As for the rest of the day, well, we’ll probably
take a walk around the Water Park later, but that will be it.
Thursday 29th December
The New Year is nearly upon us and the days
are lengthening, thank goodness.
Well, with regard to a new blog, I’ve decided
to take the easy route and open a new blog with Blogspot. This will have a new
name, obviously, but, instead of having the posts come direct to you, my
friends and family, I’ll be giving you the address at which my posts can be
read. I will then email all interested parties each time I post a new blog, so
that you may access it at your convenience.
Hopefully this will prove to be a safer way
of blogging. The new blog address will be included at the end of this, my last
blog of the year. I have tried several other sites on which to start a blog,
but Blogspot is by far the easiest and besides, I’m used to using it, so we’ll
stay with it.
Right now, at Bosworth Marina, we have a cold
snap, which has meant that the water supply has been turned off. (I actually
thought the pipes were frozen) This is not unusual in marinas and we know that
Trinity Marina; which is a few miles away from here; do this for three months
of winter. Braunston Marina also switches off, but for the whole of winter, or
so we’ve been told.
The only real problem with this, is that our
nearest tap doesn’t supply water at all. However, there are one or two taps
that are left open during this period, so that we can either run several
connected hoses to one of those, or take a container to them and fill up. No
big deal really.
Yesterday we finished off the turkey pie,
with the addition of beans and tomatoes. We still have some turkey meat left
but, whether it’s still edible, we won’t know until we try.
Friday 30th December
Yesterday was a funny old day for me. For
some reason that I am unable to fathom, I felt very tired for most of the day.
We took our usual walk into Market Bosworth first thing and, upon our return
had our coffee and biscuits, after which I sat down to have a read. It didn’t
take long before my eyes started drooping and I dozed off.
Some might suggest, from the above, that I
have a problem with my blood. Perhaps I’m anaemic, for instance. Well, I think
I can count that out, because I recently had a blood test, and that came back
as normal. Perhaps I just didn’t get enough sleep the night before. Or, it may
simply be that, with it being the Christmas period, I simply ate too much for
my own good.
This morning I feel quite chipper and I’m
hoping I don’t go the same way today. Otherwise it will be a trip to the doctor
as soon as possible. It has to be said though, that my blood glucose readings
have been rather higher than normal, so that might be it.
So, instead of the usual 2 x toast this
morning, we’re having porridge. And, instead of a sarnie for lunch – the turkey
has all gone now – we’ll have a cuppa soup. And, instead of a proper, cooked
meal this evening, we’ll have a pasty. That should do the trick.
Attention please!
My new blog address will be: https://boatmandave.blogspot.com I haven’t entered a list of emails to send
each new post to but, what I will do is email all who wish to continue reading
my blog, as boring as it can be.
May I suggest therefore, that anybody
interested in continuing to read my new blog, please email me and say so. I
promise I won’t be offended if you are no longer interested in my day to day
ramblings.
Hey! I sometimes wonder why I continue
blogging. But it gives me something to do between getting up in the morning –
usually 1½ hours or more before Wifey –
and when I stop to do breakfast.
So, please take note of that address as you
won’t be able to read my new blogs without it.
Saturday 31st December
This is it, the last day of 2016. Tomorrow
will, as I have already mentioned, be the start of a new blog and the start of
a new year.
Yesterday started out very foggy and we didn’t
think we would be able to go anywhere. We intended going to Morrison’s for
shopping and petrol, but we had to wait for several hours before we could do
so.
In the event, we managed to do the shopping,
but the petrol station was so packed we decided to try the garage nearer to
Market Bosworth. But, that lazy so and so doesn’t appear to care too much about
local customers, because he was closed. I remember coming home from Harlow a
while back, and that was quite early in the evening. He was closed then. I have
since learned from other boaters, that he’s totally unreliable and loses a lot of
trade.
Today, as it’s the last day of the year, we’ll
relax and gird our loins for the new one. We only have about three months to go
and we’ll be ‘out there’, rather than stuck in here. It’s a great marina and
the village is also very good, but we prefer to be cruising.
And, on that happy note, I’ll be saying ta ta
for now and remind you of the new blog address once more, which is: https://boatmandave.blogspot.com.
All the best for 2017 to all my readers.
Cheers me dears
Dave, Sheila and Alex.