Summer 2015: Crick 2

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 17^th 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 18^th 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 20^th 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 22^nd 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 24^th 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 26^th 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 27^th 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 29^th 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 1^st 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 2^nd 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 4^th 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 5^th 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.