Monday 31st December
Yet again we have high winds this morning but, thank goodness, no rain as yet.
This morning we will take a run out to the local Range store. Having finished my pastel painting of Shiralee and, I might add, at Wifey’s insistence, I’m going to mount and frame it. I’m not convinced that it’s good enough for displaying on the wall of the boat but, quite possibly I am my own worse critic. Emma thinks it’s very good, but she’s only seen a photo of it.
Anyway, I’ll need a backing board and double sided tape and I’ll also need an A3 mount and, eventually, a frame. But this will come after I’ve mounted it because, until I’ve done that I won’t really know what type or colour frame to use. Maybe, when it is finally framed and, assuming I am happy with it, I’ll post it here.
My next pastel project; perhaps a still life, which Emma insists I would be good at; I will do in pastel pencils. Soft pastels are just a wee bit too messy for my liking, whereas pencils have a nice, wooden barrier twixt pastel and fingers, although they do still have to be blended in. Unfortunately I only have about 15 pencils, so I’ll have to order some more before I start on anew painting.
Emma, my mentor in New Zealand, I have recently discovered, has two daughters and a son. One daughter lives in Oz and the other lives in the USA. The son, I assume, although I don’t have confirmation of this, also lives in New Zealand. On top of that nicely rounded family, Emma is still on good terms with her ex and she lives in the same house as her best friend from her schooldays. Emma will be taking a trip to the South Island, possibly around March and has promised to send postcards from her trip. Which reminds me, I still haven’t received the postcard Alan Oxley sent from China; no doubt some lousy Post Office worker has kept it for his collection.
Tuesday 1st January 2013.
How about that folks, we’ve successfully completed another year? Hopefully it will be somewhat drier than 2012.
Before anybody asks, no, we didn’t stay up to see the New Year in. Short of being struck by a wandering comet, or some such disaster, it was going to turn up anyway, and besides, at our age we need our beauty sleep. However, for those of you who did welcome it in, I do hope you had a good time.
Today, having purchased some mounting card yesterday, I will have a go at mounting my painting of Shiralee. The Range has lots of frames of varying sizes, but none that actually fit the bill in this instance, so I will probably have to take it to a framing shop. Had I given the matter due consideration before painting the picture, I could have painted it to fit a standard frame. Ah well, I know for next time.
Thursday 3rd January
We’re on a diet. We have come to the conclusion that we are both too darned fat. The realisation finally hit us whilst watching The Hairy Dieters. Not only that, we have finally realised what we are doing wrong. It’s not that we don’t get any exercise because, on most dry days we’ll walk around the marina with Rusty, and that is a mile. Not a lot I know, but at the age of 70 I am not contemplating jogging or throwing weights around.
So, having decided to lose the weight, we then went on to buy Si and Dave’s book from the series. Wow, you have got to see some of the delicious recipes in this book.
We made a start yesterday and the first thing that went was our evening snack. I should say late evening, because this usually takes the form of a scone, teacake or handful of biscuits. We’ve also bough a variety of cereals, including porridge, All Bran and Shredded Wheat, so we won’t have toast every morning for breakfast.
Wifey hasn’t weighed herself yet, but I am now sitting at 14st. 8lbs, with a BMI of just above 30, which is just inside the obese range. Unfortunately, all the charts telling you how to calculate your BMI are in metric, and I’m damn well British. So, with a bit of jiggery pokery with a calculator, I reckon that to calculate BMI in English measurements, you need to take your weight in pounds, divide that by your height in inches and multiply the result by 10.2. Well, it worked for me at my current weight and height.
Watch this space because, in order for us to achieve our goals – and I’m not sure what they are yet – I think we should have a bunch of independent observers; your good selves; monitoring our progress. To this end I will be posting my own results over the coming weeks. If Sheila agrees I will also post her results.
Today we are going nowhere, except perhaps a walk around the marina, so I’ll be attempting to mount my painting of Shiralee and framing it. I’m also hoping that my new laptop will turn up today or tomorrow, so that I can spend part of the weekend setting it up.
Yesterday we drove into Burton and, whilst we were there we called into the Three shop and upgraded the dongle, but this time for a WiFi unit. Apparently these things are far more reliable than the dongle, and they give faster download speeds. The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating. I’m still not sure if I have WiFi enabled on this Toshiba, but I have been assured that the Sony VAIO is enabled. So I’ll wait until that arrives before setting the WiFi unit up.
Friday 4th January
For some time now, as I think I may have mentioned previously, our water pump has been running on when we turn off a tap. This warned me of course, that there could be something seriously wrong, such as a leak somewhere, and I was right.
So, after Wifey emptied the cupboard under the galley sink, I invited our local engineer along to take a look. He soon spotted the problem, much the same as we had and said, “Oh yes, you have a very nice puddle under here”, and promised to return with a new pump later in the afternoon.
Having replaced the pump and before putting everything back in the cupboard, Sheila looked further along from the pump, towards the stern and under the actual sink, where she saw even more water.
The next step was to check the cupboard in the bathroom where, sure enough, under the floor panel was an even deeper collection of water. Fortunately we have a battery operated hand pump that we bought some time ago for just such an occasion. However, even this gave us trouble very soon after starting to suck up the offending puddle.
At first it was just the batteries running down, so we popped off to the local Co-op and bought some more, no big deal he? But, when I put the batteries in the pump simply would not work. Obviously the on/off switch was causing problems and, no matter what I did I couldn’t get it to work. In the event I had to sit there on my little stool with the pump immersed in the water and a kitchen knife shorting out the battery terminal and, by about 10pm I had taken up as much water as I could reach. There’s still a lot there, but it’s inaccessible, short of cutting holes in the floor in order to reach it, which I will probably have to do. Still, with this water just sitting there, no doubt trapped between bulkheads or some such, at least we don’t have a hole in the bottom of the boat.
We think the problem was with the outflow from the shower unit, but we’re not sure about that either. I think it was probably the leaky pump and the water has just built up over time. If you think about how many times per day that you run water, and the fact that the gasket around the middle of the pump was leaking, it’s no wonder there was such a lot of water there.
After all that today will be a day of rest, unless Andy advises us to cut a few holes in the floor, at which time we’ll probably be working on this problem for a couple of days.
Saturday 5th January
Some time ago I made an attempt at cutting a hole in the wardrobe floor, so as to enable us to pump water out from the bilge should the need arise. This was necessary because our washing machine sits atop the one provided by the boat builders. The problem with that idea was, when I came to cut through the timber floor the cutter met up with a lump of ballast in the shape of a breeze block. So much for that idea, I thought.
So, after Andy left yesterday morning; he’d stopped by due to our concerns about the pumps operation; we popped along to the chandlery and bought an Oil Extraction Pump. This comes in the shape of a 6 litre bowl and comes with a pressure pump and thin tube, which is usually inserted where the dipstick goes in the engine.
That hole would now come in useful because, even though there is a breeze block underneath it, the pump tube is thin enough to reach between these blocks. When you count the water we extracted with our other battery operated pump on Thursday evening, we have probably removed 8 or 9 gallons of water, and all because of a leaky water pump.
We now have yet another piece of useful equipment, which will probably spend the next few years under the bed, just waiting to be pressed into service.
Will you look at this, six pages already. Time to post methinks.
So, all the best to you and yours from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
PS I had intended to add a copy of my framed painting of Shiralee, but that facility has been denied me. Instead, all pictures have to be uploaded from an online storage facility. I may have to change my blog address and will advise in the next one.
Dave
Friday, 4 January 2013
Sunday, 30 December 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 7
Sunday 23rd December
I paid a pre-Christmas visit to Harlow on Friday. This included a stop off to visit Les and Colette and the usual scrounged cuppa and a chat. When you read this, I do hope you had a good time at Christmas and enjoy a pleasurable and easy going 2013.
Alan and I were supposed to be meeting his workmates in Old Harlow that lunchtime but, for some reason this was called off, so we popped along to the White Admiral pub, which has been run by the same woman for the past 30 years. Her name is Les and, when her and her husband Dave Roberts took it on, they were pretty successful. Some years ago Dave passed away and Les has a new partner named Ray.
Monday evenings at the Admiral are always pretty busy, probably because the beer is only £2 per pint. Friday and Saturday evenings are also pretty busy, but that’s because it’s such a darn good pub to spend a few hours in. The Admiral has always been a family pub and, I’m pleased to say, it still is. There are very few now that can claim that distinction.
The drive home on Saturday morning, all 135 miles of it, was horrendous, with rain all the way. This was probably the worst driving I have ever experienced, unless you consider a 100 mile trip in the back of a Mercedes, with my life in the hands of an African mine worker back in the late 60s. Now, that was an experience never to be forgotten. The speed that man reached, sometimes on nothing but dirt tracks had to be seen to be believed, scary doesn’t even come near to describing it.
Tuesday 25th December Christmas Day
Quite a few boaters have gone away for the next couple of days and our immediate neighbours have driven up to Blackpool, so we won’t hear anything from them. It’s another quiet Christmas for us this year and, to be honest, we rather prefer it that way.
Wednesday 26th December, Boxing Day
Christmas Day turned out to be most enjoyable, with a sudden urge to visit a pub in Willington. Had we known about the roast spuds and pigs in blankets, we probably wouldn’t have had to cook a proper Christmas dinner. Well, you know what I mean!
Apart from the dinner though, Christmas day was much like any Sunday, except it was Tuesday, which kinda messes things up for the rest of the week. Personally, I think Christmas Day should always come on a weekend, like Easter does. But, of course, that would spoil it for folks who still go to work, because they wouldn’t have all those extra days off. Shame!!
I had intended to back up the laptop this morning but, as usual, I was inundated with emails, all of which need to be replied to or dumped and so, once that’s been sorted, I don’t now have enough time before Wifey gets up.
Dinner today will be cold meat and bubble ’n’ squeak with pickles, our usual Boxing Day fare. No doubt we’ll finish off the bottle of wine from yesterday.
Thursday 27th December
Well, that’s it for another year. Christmas is over and the New Year is almost upon us. As usual, we will not be sitting up to see it in. It’s going to come anyway, now that the End of the World scare has fizzled out, so why wait to welcome it?
We still have loads of turkey left over from the crown Alan bought us and we still have a bacon joint to cook, so we won’t go without food for a while. Yesterday was the usual cold turkey and bubble, along with pickles and pickled onions. Lovely!
Saturday 29th December
Well, we are having fun at the marina. We have gale force winds and it’s been raining for most of the night. There are still loads of flood warnings in place up here in Derbyshire, as there are further south of us.
Yesterday we popped into Burton and whilst walking around the shops I spotted an Acer laptop in the display window of the newest electronics second hand shop. This is very similar to the Cash Converter shops, but laid out in a far more professional manner. Most of the items on sale are games and mobile phones, but the Acer gave us pause for thought.
At £310 it seemed a bit high priced for a second hand unit, and so we decided to check it out online and found a company that sell refurbished laptops with the same item for £270. However, when reading up on this particular model, a V3-531, some of the comments were pretty off-putting and we were not too impressed.
We then looked further down the list of items and found a Sony VAIO for the same price. I have now scanned the Internet for comparison prices between the two and have discovered that the Sony is usually priced at about £200 more than the Acer. Also, the spec on the VAIO is much higher and has Windows 7 Professional installed – we’ve read too many adverse reports about Win 8 to even think about any laptop with it installed. Besides, I don’t like touch screens, any more than I like touch pads, much preferring a mouse. I’m a wee bit old fashioned in that respect.
I had a touch screen phone for a very short while and every time I attempted to scroll to the item I wanted, the damn thing would open up on the first thing I touched. Similarly with the touch pad on the laptop, so I prefer to stick with the mouse. Maybe I’m a bit ham-fisted.
So, later today, rather than re-formatting the Toshiba, I’ll be purchasing the refurbished Sony. At £270 and with Win 7 Pro installed, I think this is a very fair price, and it comes with a 3 month guarantee.
Sunday 30th December
Well, we took the plunge yesterday and ordered the Sony laptop. But, we then had a bit of a scare. You know how it is when shopping online, especially when buying from a new source? You are never really sure if they are Kosher until you receive the goods.
As soon as the order went through I received confirmation along with the order number and destination. To my dismay; and that of my missus; the email suggested that not only was this Order #2, but that the billing address and destination were the same, but it wasn’t our address. Ooops! I really thought we had hit a bummer there and had parted with £270 for nothing.
Now, under normal circumstances I would not have included my mobile number on an online form but, for some reason best known to my brain’s inner workings, I did so on this occasion, which was just as well. Thinking perhaps that this may have been a con job I immediately emailed the site and threatened to cancel the order if they didn’t contact me immediately. This, by the way, had been paid through PayPal, so it’s pretty secure from con artists.
When I took another look at the actual Order Form on their site I realised that the two addresses I mentioned above were actually the address of the company. Anyway, the man did phone me later in the day and apologised for the flap his confirmation email had caused. Naturally he blamed it on a computer glitch and assured me that the item would be posted off that afternoon. So, we should have our new laptop by Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Hallelujah I say, this Toshiba is really becoming a pain in the ‘you know what’! All it really needs though is a total reformatting and reset to its original factory settings, which I shall do just as soon as the Sony arrives. After which I shall put it up for sale. Also I will then be able to grab the dongle upgrade or, assuming the WiFi is working, perhaps take their WiFi dongle instead.
Monday 31st December
Yesterday we popped along to our usual watering hole in Repton. Sadly, due to the flooded fields around here, there were none of the football lads in, so no chip butties. However, while we were sitting there my dear brother phoned, ostensibly to ask for our Aunt Mabel’s new address in Harlow. He was picking our sister Carole up and dropping her off there.
After telling him the address he then imparted some good news. Over the Christmas period the White Admiral pub ran a Lottery Bonus Ball competition of their own, something they have been doing for several years, probably since the Lottery started. Anyway, Alan bought four tickets, one each for himself, Valerie, Jason, his eldest son, and me. One of those tickets came up trumps and, after deducting the £10 ticket cost, we’re all £112.50p the richer.
So, after refurbishing the Toshiba and selling that on, with the lottery cash I have almost paid for the Sony, which means I can start building up my slush fund again.
Now, as New Years day is almost upon us, I’ll wish you all a very happy 2013. May all that you wish for yourself and loved ones come to pass. If not, well, there’s always 2014 to look forward to!!
All the best for now. See you in the New Year.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
I paid a pre-Christmas visit to Harlow on Friday. This included a stop off to visit Les and Colette and the usual scrounged cuppa and a chat. When you read this, I do hope you had a good time at Christmas and enjoy a pleasurable and easy going 2013.
Alan and I were supposed to be meeting his workmates in Old Harlow that lunchtime but, for some reason this was called off, so we popped along to the White Admiral pub, which has been run by the same woman for the past 30 years. Her name is Les and, when her and her husband Dave Roberts took it on, they were pretty successful. Some years ago Dave passed away and Les has a new partner named Ray.
Monday evenings at the Admiral are always pretty busy, probably because the beer is only £2 per pint. Friday and Saturday evenings are also pretty busy, but that’s because it’s such a darn good pub to spend a few hours in. The Admiral has always been a family pub and, I’m pleased to say, it still is. There are very few now that can claim that distinction.
The drive home on Saturday morning, all 135 miles of it, was horrendous, with rain all the way. This was probably the worst driving I have ever experienced, unless you consider a 100 mile trip in the back of a Mercedes, with my life in the hands of an African mine worker back in the late 60s. Now, that was an experience never to be forgotten. The speed that man reached, sometimes on nothing but dirt tracks had to be seen to be believed, scary doesn’t even come near to describing it.
Tuesday 25th December Christmas Day
Quite a few boaters have gone away for the next couple of days and our immediate neighbours have driven up to Blackpool, so we won’t hear anything from them. It’s another quiet Christmas for us this year and, to be honest, we rather prefer it that way.
Wednesday 26th December, Boxing Day
Christmas Day turned out to be most enjoyable, with a sudden urge to visit a pub in Willington. Had we known about the roast spuds and pigs in blankets, we probably wouldn’t have had to cook a proper Christmas dinner. Well, you know what I mean!
Apart from the dinner though, Christmas day was much like any Sunday, except it was Tuesday, which kinda messes things up for the rest of the week. Personally, I think Christmas Day should always come on a weekend, like Easter does. But, of course, that would spoil it for folks who still go to work, because they wouldn’t have all those extra days off. Shame!!
I had intended to back up the laptop this morning but, as usual, I was inundated with emails, all of which need to be replied to or dumped and so, once that’s been sorted, I don’t now have enough time before Wifey gets up.
Dinner today will be cold meat and bubble ’n’ squeak with pickles, our usual Boxing Day fare. No doubt we’ll finish off the bottle of wine from yesterday.
Thursday 27th December
Well, that’s it for another year. Christmas is over and the New Year is almost upon us. As usual, we will not be sitting up to see it in. It’s going to come anyway, now that the End of the World scare has fizzled out, so why wait to welcome it?
We still have loads of turkey left over from the crown Alan bought us and we still have a bacon joint to cook, so we won’t go without food for a while. Yesterday was the usual cold turkey and bubble, along with pickles and pickled onions. Lovely!
Saturday 29th December
Well, we are having fun at the marina. We have gale force winds and it’s been raining for most of the night. There are still loads of flood warnings in place up here in Derbyshire, as there are further south of us.
Yesterday we popped into Burton and whilst walking around the shops I spotted an Acer laptop in the display window of the newest electronics second hand shop. This is very similar to the Cash Converter shops, but laid out in a far more professional manner. Most of the items on sale are games and mobile phones, but the Acer gave us pause for thought.
At £310 it seemed a bit high priced for a second hand unit, and so we decided to check it out online and found a company that sell refurbished laptops with the same item for £270. However, when reading up on this particular model, a V3-531, some of the comments were pretty off-putting and we were not too impressed.
We then looked further down the list of items and found a Sony VAIO for the same price. I have now scanned the Internet for comparison prices between the two and have discovered that the Sony is usually priced at about £200 more than the Acer. Also, the spec on the VAIO is much higher and has Windows 7 Professional installed – we’ve read too many adverse reports about Win 8 to even think about any laptop with it installed. Besides, I don’t like touch screens, any more than I like touch pads, much preferring a mouse. I’m a wee bit old fashioned in that respect.
I had a touch screen phone for a very short while and every time I attempted to scroll to the item I wanted, the damn thing would open up on the first thing I touched. Similarly with the touch pad on the laptop, so I prefer to stick with the mouse. Maybe I’m a bit ham-fisted.
So, later today, rather than re-formatting the Toshiba, I’ll be purchasing the refurbished Sony. At £270 and with Win 7 Pro installed, I think this is a very fair price, and it comes with a 3 month guarantee.
Sunday 30th December
Well, we took the plunge yesterday and ordered the Sony laptop. But, we then had a bit of a scare. You know how it is when shopping online, especially when buying from a new source? You are never really sure if they are Kosher until you receive the goods.
As soon as the order went through I received confirmation along with the order number and destination. To my dismay; and that of my missus; the email suggested that not only was this Order #2, but that the billing address and destination were the same, but it wasn’t our address. Ooops! I really thought we had hit a bummer there and had parted with £270 for nothing.
Now, under normal circumstances I would not have included my mobile number on an online form but, for some reason best known to my brain’s inner workings, I did so on this occasion, which was just as well. Thinking perhaps that this may have been a con job I immediately emailed the site and threatened to cancel the order if they didn’t contact me immediately. This, by the way, had been paid through PayPal, so it’s pretty secure from con artists.
When I took another look at the actual Order Form on their site I realised that the two addresses I mentioned above were actually the address of the company. Anyway, the man did phone me later in the day and apologised for the flap his confirmation email had caused. Naturally he blamed it on a computer glitch and assured me that the item would be posted off that afternoon. So, we should have our new laptop by Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
Hallelujah I say, this Toshiba is really becoming a pain in the ‘you know what’! All it really needs though is a total reformatting and reset to its original factory settings, which I shall do just as soon as the Sony arrives. After which I shall put it up for sale. Also I will then be able to grab the dongle upgrade or, assuming the WiFi is working, perhaps take their WiFi dongle instead.
Monday 31st December
Yesterday we popped along to our usual watering hole in Repton. Sadly, due to the flooded fields around here, there were none of the football lads in, so no chip butties. However, while we were sitting there my dear brother phoned, ostensibly to ask for our Aunt Mabel’s new address in Harlow. He was picking our sister Carole up and dropping her off there.
After telling him the address he then imparted some good news. Over the Christmas period the White Admiral pub ran a Lottery Bonus Ball competition of their own, something they have been doing for several years, probably since the Lottery started. Anyway, Alan bought four tickets, one each for himself, Valerie, Jason, his eldest son, and me. One of those tickets came up trumps and, after deducting the £10 ticket cost, we’re all £112.50p the richer.
So, after refurbishing the Toshiba and selling that on, with the lottery cash I have almost paid for the Sony, which means I can start building up my slush fund again.
Now, as New Years day is almost upon us, I’ll wish you all a very happy 2013. May all that you wish for yourself and loved ones come to pass. If not, well, there’s always 2014 to look forward to!!
All the best for now. See you in the New Year.
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 6
Thursday 6th December
Having posted the most recent blog yesterday morning, we then continued with our day as usual. We drove into Burton, just for something to do and then, later in the evening I opened the laptop and checked my emails. Well, according to Google, somebody at some mining installation in Devon, tried to access my account. I actually followed the IP address in order to find them. But, I then looked at the time of day that they were supposed to have tried this and, lo and behold, it was at about the same time as I posted.
I am pretty sure this is a spoof email trying to get my password details and, since Google themselves believe my password to be very good, I think I’ll ignore this email, but save it for future reference.
Friday 7th December
From an iced up marina, to heavy rain and high winds overnight. What more could we ask for as Brits?
Saturday 8th December
Yesterday I paid a visit to my doctor who, as usual, was pretty blasé about my problems. Initially I simply went along for a review of my medication but, since I am having problems with painful legs and feet, I asked if there was any way of improving my circulation, because that’s what is probably causing the discomfort.
His response was, virtually, ‘heal thyself’. In other words, get rid of some of your excess weight and exercise more. Ah well, so much for the sympathetic ear.
In response to the exercise part, we do walk around the marina every day, just so long as it’s not raining. As for the losing weight part, well, since we don’t over indulge to any appreciable degree and I’, not about to join a sports club and throw weights about, I don’t see that changing any time soon. So I guess I’ll just have to put up with the discomfort.
Monday 10th December
Yesterday we returned a dog harness to The Range. We bought it as a means for lifting Rusty out of the boat but, even at its tightest setting, as we tried lifting her, the harness slipped forward and almost over her head. And that was the smallest one they did, so not a lot of use. We’ll have to find a jacket with a handle on.
We also popped into B&Q for some 12 volt bulbs as we were running low. Now, I’m not against charities raising money through volunteers but, outside both doors of B&Q were three young people, with boxes in hand and wishing all who entered and exited a Merry Christmas. No doubt they thought to ‘pleasantly’ intimidate people into paying up but, since we absolutely detest this smarmy approach, we didn’t even bother to look and see which charity they represented.
Walk through any town centre and you will find them, but they don’t usually stand in groups. Do these charities not realise how irritating they can be? I know they have to raise money somehow, but standing in shop doorways is guaranteed to annoy and probably loses more than it gains.
Tuesday 11th December
It looks like being a very cold week, so we’ll avoid going too far, except perhaps a drive into Burton sometime.
Yesterday we took the bus to Derby but, since we only get a bare hour before the bus back, we couldn’t do much by way of shopping. We called into the art shop for a particular colour pastel pencil, but they don’t sell single items, only sets. We also bought some heavy material so that Wifey can make some draught excluder curtains for the back doors. That’ll keep her busy for a while today.
Wednesday 12th December
We were expecting a very severe frost this morning, but it seems the experts have got it wrong again. They said it could be as low as -7 degrees this morning, but it’s barely hovering around zero.
We bought three items at the garden centre on Monday; two tops for Wifey and a pair of cargo pants for me – I’m changing my image! – but Wifey’s tops were both too long in the sleeve, so they had to go back yesterday. My cargo pants are lightweight and will be great for the milder weather and summer months. What I need now is a pair of lined ones for the colder weather. I’ve been wearing jeans and t-shirts for donkeys years as a matter of course, but I’m in need of a change and something of a more relaxed fit, something loser than jeans, hence the cargo pants.
I am gradually moving stuff from the laptop to my external hard drive prior to re-formatting. I’m trying to avoid buying a new one, at least until next year when we won’t have the expense of the bottom blacking on the boat.
During the course of our summer cruising I like to set money aside as a ‘slush fund’, something I’ve been doing for many years now, especially when I was bus driving for Chariots in Harlow, when any out of hours payment went into a tin. It’s always handy to have some spare cash around, especially when travelling, because you never know when it’s not possible to use a cheque or card.
When we returned to the marina back in October I had quite a bit put aside, some of which I have dived into for one thing or another. But, over the next 10 months, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, I’ll be able to buy a top of the range laptop, which means this Toshiba will have to suffice until then.
Saturday 15th December
We get The Daily Mail. We know that there are a vast amount of people who hate that particular rag, but we’ve become used to it. Yesterday we saw an ad from Staples, those office people, advertising a 32Gb Memory Stick for just £10. Gotta have one.
I have no idea where the nearest store is to us, but I’m sure I could find it if I search online. But, in the meantime I accessed their website and there it wasn’t. I am now thoroughly annoyed, because this smacks of a come-on. Advertise in the national press for a really cheap memory stick and they’ll come flooding into the stores. BUT, whatever you do, DON’T show it on our site.
Obviously, by the time I find their store locally, they will have sold out!
We called into the HMV store in Burton, hoping to pick up the Rod Stewart set of four CDs, which was also going for £10. Naturally, they too had sold out. Fortunately Wifey managed to pick one up when she took the bus into Burton later, all on her own too!!
Tuesday 18th December
We’re going on holiday! Yep, for the first time since buying ‘Shiralee’, we’re actually going somewhere other than by boat.
Next March ‘Shiralee’ goes in to have her bottom blacked. This takes four days, for which period she will be in dry dock and, since we can’t stay on board while this is happening, we’re going off for a week to a cottage in the Derbyshire Peaks. We could have, and probably would have gone much further a field but, since we’ve never holidayed in that area and, because Rusty kicks up such a stink when she’s in a car, we decided that the nearer to home, the better.
The BBC
We listen to Radio 2 and we often watch the BBC channels too. If you do too you would have noticed the increasing use of advertising throughout these radio programmes. O.K. they are advertising their own programmes and, I suppose, if they are to compete with all those other channels out there, they do need to put their own stuff across. But, do they have to spend so much time doing so? Our newspapers and magazines have programme lists, so why advertise them?
I find the radio far more galling than the television, but that’s only because the adverts break into whatever radio programme is on, whereas they only advertise between programmes on television. We particularly like to listen to the evening programmes on Radio 2, but even during an hour long programme; such as Mike Harding on Wednesday and Bob Harris on Thursday; we are subjected to at least three programme plugs. You can at least mute the TV, but have to endure this rubbish on radio.
Thursday 20th December
Well, only five days to go and it will all be over for another year.
We on Shiralee; that’s me, of course, Sheila, my wife of 30 years plus and our 15 year old Jack Russell, Rusty; wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2013.
Having posted the most recent blog yesterday morning, we then continued with our day as usual. We drove into Burton, just for something to do and then, later in the evening I opened the laptop and checked my emails. Well, according to Google, somebody at some mining installation in Devon, tried to access my account. I actually followed the IP address in order to find them. But, I then looked at the time of day that they were supposed to have tried this and, lo and behold, it was at about the same time as I posted.
I am pretty sure this is a spoof email trying to get my password details and, since Google themselves believe my password to be very good, I think I’ll ignore this email, but save it for future reference.
Friday 7th December
From an iced up marina, to heavy rain and high winds overnight. What more could we ask for as Brits?
Saturday 8th December
Yesterday I paid a visit to my doctor who, as usual, was pretty blasé about my problems. Initially I simply went along for a review of my medication but, since I am having problems with painful legs and feet, I asked if there was any way of improving my circulation, because that’s what is probably causing the discomfort.
His response was, virtually, ‘heal thyself’. In other words, get rid of some of your excess weight and exercise more. Ah well, so much for the sympathetic ear.
In response to the exercise part, we do walk around the marina every day, just so long as it’s not raining. As for the losing weight part, well, since we don’t over indulge to any appreciable degree and I’, not about to join a sports club and throw weights about, I don’t see that changing any time soon. So I guess I’ll just have to put up with the discomfort.
Monday 10th December
Yesterday we returned a dog harness to The Range. We bought it as a means for lifting Rusty out of the boat but, even at its tightest setting, as we tried lifting her, the harness slipped forward and almost over her head. And that was the smallest one they did, so not a lot of use. We’ll have to find a jacket with a handle on.
We also popped into B&Q for some 12 volt bulbs as we were running low. Now, I’m not against charities raising money through volunteers but, outside both doors of B&Q were three young people, with boxes in hand and wishing all who entered and exited a Merry Christmas. No doubt they thought to ‘pleasantly’ intimidate people into paying up but, since we absolutely detest this smarmy approach, we didn’t even bother to look and see which charity they represented.
Walk through any town centre and you will find them, but they don’t usually stand in groups. Do these charities not realise how irritating they can be? I know they have to raise money somehow, but standing in shop doorways is guaranteed to annoy and probably loses more than it gains.
Tuesday 11th December
It looks like being a very cold week, so we’ll avoid going too far, except perhaps a drive into Burton sometime.
Yesterday we took the bus to Derby but, since we only get a bare hour before the bus back, we couldn’t do much by way of shopping. We called into the art shop for a particular colour pastel pencil, but they don’t sell single items, only sets. We also bought some heavy material so that Wifey can make some draught excluder curtains for the back doors. That’ll keep her busy for a while today.
Wednesday 12th December
We were expecting a very severe frost this morning, but it seems the experts have got it wrong again. They said it could be as low as -7 degrees this morning, but it’s barely hovering around zero.
We bought three items at the garden centre on Monday; two tops for Wifey and a pair of cargo pants for me – I’m changing my image! – but Wifey’s tops were both too long in the sleeve, so they had to go back yesterday. My cargo pants are lightweight and will be great for the milder weather and summer months. What I need now is a pair of lined ones for the colder weather. I’ve been wearing jeans and t-shirts for donkeys years as a matter of course, but I’m in need of a change and something of a more relaxed fit, something loser than jeans, hence the cargo pants.
I am gradually moving stuff from the laptop to my external hard drive prior to re-formatting. I’m trying to avoid buying a new one, at least until next year when we won’t have the expense of the bottom blacking on the boat.
During the course of our summer cruising I like to set money aside as a ‘slush fund’, something I’ve been doing for many years now, especially when I was bus driving for Chariots in Harlow, when any out of hours payment went into a tin. It’s always handy to have some spare cash around, especially when travelling, because you never know when it’s not possible to use a cheque or card.
When we returned to the marina back in October I had quite a bit put aside, some of which I have dived into for one thing or another. But, over the next 10 months, with a bit of luck and a tail wind, I’ll be able to buy a top of the range laptop, which means this Toshiba will have to suffice until then.
Saturday 15th December
We get The Daily Mail. We know that there are a vast amount of people who hate that particular rag, but we’ve become used to it. Yesterday we saw an ad from Staples, those office people, advertising a 32Gb Memory Stick for just £10. Gotta have one.
I have no idea where the nearest store is to us, but I’m sure I could find it if I search online. But, in the meantime I accessed their website and there it wasn’t. I am now thoroughly annoyed, because this smacks of a come-on. Advertise in the national press for a really cheap memory stick and they’ll come flooding into the stores. BUT, whatever you do, DON’T show it on our site.
Obviously, by the time I find their store locally, they will have sold out!
We called into the HMV store in Burton, hoping to pick up the Rod Stewart set of four CDs, which was also going for £10. Naturally, they too had sold out. Fortunately Wifey managed to pick one up when she took the bus into Burton later, all on her own too!!
Tuesday 18th December
We’re going on holiday! Yep, for the first time since buying ‘Shiralee’, we’re actually going somewhere other than by boat.
Next March ‘Shiralee’ goes in to have her bottom blacked. This takes four days, for which period she will be in dry dock and, since we can’t stay on board while this is happening, we’re going off for a week to a cottage in the Derbyshire Peaks. We could have, and probably would have gone much further a field but, since we’ve never holidayed in that area and, because Rusty kicks up such a stink when she’s in a car, we decided that the nearer to home, the better.
The BBC
We listen to Radio 2 and we often watch the BBC channels too. If you do too you would have noticed the increasing use of advertising throughout these radio programmes. O.K. they are advertising their own programmes and, I suppose, if they are to compete with all those other channels out there, they do need to put their own stuff across. But, do they have to spend so much time doing so? Our newspapers and magazines have programme lists, so why advertise them?
I find the radio far more galling than the television, but that’s only because the adverts break into whatever radio programme is on, whereas they only advertise between programmes on television. We particularly like to listen to the evening programmes on Radio 2, but even during an hour long programme; such as Mike Harding on Wednesday and Bob Harris on Thursday; we are subjected to at least three programme plugs. You can at least mute the TV, but have to endure this rubbish on radio.
Thursday 20th December
Well, only five days to go and it will all be over for another year.
We on Shiralee; that’s me, of course, Sheila, my wife of 30 years plus and our 15 year old Jack Russell, Rusty; wish you all a very merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2013.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 5
Friday 23rd November
Yesterday afternoon and evening we had a deluge of rain. The results of Wednesday’s rain could be seen when we drove into Burton yesterday morning. We’ve been mooring at Mercia for three winters now and. although we’ve had our fair share of rain, we’ve never seen the river so high before. It was very much like Kegworth in 2007, when we were stuck in the lock for 10 days, only much, much worse. The surrounding fields were totally waterlogged, to the extent that it was difficult to see the line of the river. I have no doubt that, following last nights rain those fields will be even more flooded.
Saturday 24th November
Well, so much for my visit to Harlow this weekend. The weather forecast is for more heavy rain, which is a mere fly in the ointment when living on a boat and snugly ensconced in a marina. But, taking a 200+ mile drive could prove disastrous for me if I want to get back to Mercia on Sunday.
This morning, in complete contrast, has started out with a thick, freezing fog, but we are told the heavy rain will be with us tonight. Global warming? Maybe! Man’s fault? Nah! Just a blip in the way the planet works.
Anyway, instead of enjoying a pint or three with Alan, it’s simply a case of following a normal weekend at home, which means some more painting and guitar practice. Of course, we won’t miss out on our Sunday drinky poohs, but we’ll probably stay local. Even driving towards Burton could be problematic if the rain is as heavy as has been suggested.
Sunday 25th November
Wow! What a night. From quite early yesterday evening we had torrential rain and high winds. This continued throughout the night and, at 6.30 am it’s still raining, although not as hard. Walking Rusty a short while ago, I noticed that the grassy areas nearby are saturated. Even the water level in the marina has risen by at least a couple of inches. When we go out later for a Sunday drink and chat, if there’s no traffic coming from Repton we’ll stay in Willington. We know the road to Stenson is flooded, so The Bubble is out.
Rotherham County Council.
What a bunch of snot-nosed, interfering meanies they are. Here we have a couple who, for the past seven years have successfully fostered a number of children needing some TLC. But, completely out of the blue, this council have removed the latest three from them, just because these loving foster carers belong to UKIP.
As that nice man from the Daily Mail is wont to say, “You couldn’t make it up”.
These kids are, supposedly, Euro migrants and, in their infinite wisdom, this council decided that they should not be influenced by the foster couple’s political beliefs. So, had this council been Conservative and this couple been members of the Labour Party, do you suppose these children would still have been removed? God knows what would have been the case had Screaming Lord Such and the Monster Raving Loony Party been in charge.
I have no doubt that heads will roll, or some pillock will fall on his sword. Of course, he/she will retain their overinflated pension!! Then, in the not too distant future, they’ll be re-engaged at a much higher salary. Such are the ways of our ruling classes.
Monday 26th November
Yesterday was a really disastrous day weather wise, with plenty of overnight rain, causing floods all over the place.
In Exeter a young woman lost her life when a tree fell on her tent. The initial report suggested that she was actually living in it and, had I not seen later newscasts of this event, I would have wondered why she was living that way. As it happens this unfortunate woman was camping and two male companions were injured at that time.
Elsewhere many homes were flooded and, in one area, although I can’t recall exactly where, a flood defence system failed to kick in, with the result that where, in the past, the people living in the area would have moved their property upstairs, they instead relied upon the system to work its magic. The Environment Agency has apologised for the failure, but that’s small comfort to those people whose possessions have been damaged or ruined.
Fortunately, although the water level has risen slightly in our marina, and some of the roads around the area have flooded, we boaters have experienced just the occasional puddle at the marina. At times like these there’s a lot to be said for living on a boat. However, even with their 12 ft mooring poles, I wouldn’t want to be living along the banks of the River Avon right now. In fact I wouldn’t want to be moored on any river these days, because the situation seems to be worsening year on year.
Like I’ve said before – probably ad nauseum – this planet has its own agenda and maybe it is warming up but, if you were watching Countryfile yesterday evening, you would have seen that this is not at all unusual. The sea came rushing in and flooded huge swathes of Somerset, and that was back in 1703. I also remember the Essex floods of 1953, or was it 1958?, when Canvey Island suffered serious damage.
Tuesday 27th November
Well, after even more rain yesterday evening and through the night, I doubt if we’ll be getting to Derby today. From what I have seen and been told, the road to Repton is still closed, as is 18 miles of the A38 and part of the M1. The bus between Burton and Derby may still be running, but it will probably take a detour or two, so we might not see it through here at Willington. Still the Derby trip is not urgent, but I do wonder if I’ll make it to Harlow this coming weekend.
Wednesday 28th November
On the whole, with the exception of a walk around the marina, yesterday was a pretty boring day. Some of it I spent trying to decide how best to approach my painting of Shiralee. Some I spent trying my hand at the dreaded ‘C’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ chords and some I spent reading.
Where the guitar is concerned I have always had problems with those three, very essential chords, and have never managed to master them. The situation is even worse now, what with my arthritic fingers. They’re not painful, but they are somewhat bent in places, making it difficult to place them where I want on the fretboard. So, what to do? Well, at my age I really don’t want to be spending months and months trying to master them, so I’m going to resort to the capo. You’ve probably seen these used by many guitarists, especially the folk and country singers. The capo wraps around the fretboard and can be moved along it to a position where the player can use easier chords for the same key. It’s not laziness that prompts these musicians to use the capo; it’s just easier and enables the player to concentrate on his/her singing, rather than the chords. And, no, I have no plans for singing!!
So, with that in mind I can now concentrate on playing some of the stuff I’ve downloaded from Mike Herberts’ site, using the keys of ‘A’ or ‘D’, where the key of ‘C’ is called for. Simple!!
Today, assuming the A38 is now fully open after the latest floods, we’ll drive to Morrison’s for our weekly shop. Sad to say we have not been able to take the bus to Derby, nor have we been able to drive into Burton. Hopefully today will be fine.
Thursday 29th November
The cold, dry weather is back, so I should be able to make that trip to Harlow tomorrow morning. Friday is a good day to go, because I get to have a drink with Alan and his son Jason.
Alan phoned me yesterday and asked me if I wanted a turkey crown. When I said ‘no way’ to his £20 price tag, he told me it was probably too big and would be happy to cut it in half. That’s better! He’ll keep it in his freezer for me, which gives me an excuse, if any were needed, to pay him another visit before Christmas.
Today, now that the roads to Burton are clear of flood water, we’ll be taking a drive into town. We have some books to unload onto a charity shop and, having bought two bags of dog food at Ellesmere some time ago; a dog food that until that point our wee pooch had been happy to eat, but then decided she hated; we will now be taking those to the PDSA. She really can be so ungrateful at times!
Friday 30th November
We drove into Burton yesterday and, on the way there called into the butcher’s at Repton. Unfortunately he had no pork pies ready and suggested we call again on our way back from town. So, having disposed of the dog food to the PDSA, picked up a few bits and pieces of shopping, and enjoyed a coffee and scone, we arrived back at Repton a couple of hours later. We were just in time to watch the butcher pour the jelly liquid in to the, still hot pies.
Sheila had to carry the hot pies in a box and, when we got back to the boat Rusty’s nose twitched at the aroma. Funnily enough Clarissa Dixon-Wright was on the One Show last night and said that she considered the pork pies from Melton Mowbray were the best in the country. Obviously she hasn’t sampled those from Repton, which are far superior in flavour. In fact I will try to locate her website and inform her of her mistake.
Sunday 2nd December
I drove down to Harlow on Friday morning and expected to arrive at about 12.30. However, with all the road works finished while we’ve been cruising, I shaved about 30 minutes off my usual time, even though I stopped off at a service area on the way.
So, having nothing better to do with my time while I waited for Alan to get home, I popped in The Admiral for a drop of sherbet, where he joined me later. Of course, we enjoyed a few pints and then went home to his place. We returned to the Admiral in the evening, fully expecting Jason to join us, but he cried off just after we arrived. This was most unfortunate because, had he told us earlier we probably wouldn’t have bothered. I’m not at my best when I’ve just eaten and didn’t really enjoy the extra drinks. I’ll know better next time.
Monday 3rd December
Yesterday we decided to drink at The Bubble at Stenson. We haven’t been there in a few weeks, so we thought it would make a nice change. The last thing on my mind when we left home was having lunch there but, quite out of the blue I said to Wifey, “Of course, we could always have lunch here”. To which she replied, “What a good idea”. So, that’s what we did and enjoyed their carvery. At £8.99 we think it’s a bit expensive, but we do know it is much cheaper during the week. Hey, what the heck, we can indulge ourselves now and again.
Later…
We took the bus into Derby this morning and one of the first things we did was to look in the market for vacuum cleaner bags. This was a good move, because, quite close to that stall was another one selling second hand laptops. The prices look to be pretty reasonable and so, if he has what I want and offers a
decent guarantee, I could save myself some money. I rather like the look of the Acer Aspire he had in the window and if it’s still there next time we go I just might make a few enquiries about it.
Wednesday 5th December
Well, at eight pages long I really should get this blog posted and wish you all well until next time.
All abreast from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
Yesterday afternoon and evening we had a deluge of rain. The results of Wednesday’s rain could be seen when we drove into Burton yesterday morning. We’ve been mooring at Mercia for three winters now and. although we’ve had our fair share of rain, we’ve never seen the river so high before. It was very much like Kegworth in 2007, when we were stuck in the lock for 10 days, only much, much worse. The surrounding fields were totally waterlogged, to the extent that it was difficult to see the line of the river. I have no doubt that, following last nights rain those fields will be even more flooded.
Saturday 24th November
Well, so much for my visit to Harlow this weekend. The weather forecast is for more heavy rain, which is a mere fly in the ointment when living on a boat and snugly ensconced in a marina. But, taking a 200+ mile drive could prove disastrous for me if I want to get back to Mercia on Sunday.
This morning, in complete contrast, has started out with a thick, freezing fog, but we are told the heavy rain will be with us tonight. Global warming? Maybe! Man’s fault? Nah! Just a blip in the way the planet works.
Anyway, instead of enjoying a pint or three with Alan, it’s simply a case of following a normal weekend at home, which means some more painting and guitar practice. Of course, we won’t miss out on our Sunday drinky poohs, but we’ll probably stay local. Even driving towards Burton could be problematic if the rain is as heavy as has been suggested.
Sunday 25th November
Wow! What a night. From quite early yesterday evening we had torrential rain and high winds. This continued throughout the night and, at 6.30 am it’s still raining, although not as hard. Walking Rusty a short while ago, I noticed that the grassy areas nearby are saturated. Even the water level in the marina has risen by at least a couple of inches. When we go out later for a Sunday drink and chat, if there’s no traffic coming from Repton we’ll stay in Willington. We know the road to Stenson is flooded, so The Bubble is out.
Rotherham County Council.
What a bunch of snot-nosed, interfering meanies they are. Here we have a couple who, for the past seven years have successfully fostered a number of children needing some TLC. But, completely out of the blue, this council have removed the latest three from them, just because these loving foster carers belong to UKIP.
As that nice man from the Daily Mail is wont to say, “You couldn’t make it up”.
These kids are, supposedly, Euro migrants and, in their infinite wisdom, this council decided that they should not be influenced by the foster couple’s political beliefs. So, had this council been Conservative and this couple been members of the Labour Party, do you suppose these children would still have been removed? God knows what would have been the case had Screaming Lord Such and the Monster Raving Loony Party been in charge.
I have no doubt that heads will roll, or some pillock will fall on his sword. Of course, he/she will retain their overinflated pension!! Then, in the not too distant future, they’ll be re-engaged at a much higher salary. Such are the ways of our ruling classes.
Monday 26th November
Yesterday was a really disastrous day weather wise, with plenty of overnight rain, causing floods all over the place.
In Exeter a young woman lost her life when a tree fell on her tent. The initial report suggested that she was actually living in it and, had I not seen later newscasts of this event, I would have wondered why she was living that way. As it happens this unfortunate woman was camping and two male companions were injured at that time.
Elsewhere many homes were flooded and, in one area, although I can’t recall exactly where, a flood defence system failed to kick in, with the result that where, in the past, the people living in the area would have moved their property upstairs, they instead relied upon the system to work its magic. The Environment Agency has apologised for the failure, but that’s small comfort to those people whose possessions have been damaged or ruined.
Fortunately, although the water level has risen slightly in our marina, and some of the roads around the area have flooded, we boaters have experienced just the occasional puddle at the marina. At times like these there’s a lot to be said for living on a boat. However, even with their 12 ft mooring poles, I wouldn’t want to be living along the banks of the River Avon right now. In fact I wouldn’t want to be moored on any river these days, because the situation seems to be worsening year on year.
Like I’ve said before – probably ad nauseum – this planet has its own agenda and maybe it is warming up but, if you were watching Countryfile yesterday evening, you would have seen that this is not at all unusual. The sea came rushing in and flooded huge swathes of Somerset, and that was back in 1703. I also remember the Essex floods of 1953, or was it 1958?, when Canvey Island suffered serious damage.
Tuesday 27th November
Well, after even more rain yesterday evening and through the night, I doubt if we’ll be getting to Derby today. From what I have seen and been told, the road to Repton is still closed, as is 18 miles of the A38 and part of the M1. The bus between Burton and Derby may still be running, but it will probably take a detour or two, so we might not see it through here at Willington. Still the Derby trip is not urgent, but I do wonder if I’ll make it to Harlow this coming weekend.
Wednesday 28th November
On the whole, with the exception of a walk around the marina, yesterday was a pretty boring day. Some of it I spent trying to decide how best to approach my painting of Shiralee. Some I spent trying my hand at the dreaded ‘C’, ‘F’ and ‘G’ chords and some I spent reading.
Where the guitar is concerned I have always had problems with those three, very essential chords, and have never managed to master them. The situation is even worse now, what with my arthritic fingers. They’re not painful, but they are somewhat bent in places, making it difficult to place them where I want on the fretboard. So, what to do? Well, at my age I really don’t want to be spending months and months trying to master them, so I’m going to resort to the capo. You’ve probably seen these used by many guitarists, especially the folk and country singers. The capo wraps around the fretboard and can be moved along it to a position where the player can use easier chords for the same key. It’s not laziness that prompts these musicians to use the capo; it’s just easier and enables the player to concentrate on his/her singing, rather than the chords. And, no, I have no plans for singing!!
So, with that in mind I can now concentrate on playing some of the stuff I’ve downloaded from Mike Herberts’ site, using the keys of ‘A’ or ‘D’, where the key of ‘C’ is called for. Simple!!
Today, assuming the A38 is now fully open after the latest floods, we’ll drive to Morrison’s for our weekly shop. Sad to say we have not been able to take the bus to Derby, nor have we been able to drive into Burton. Hopefully today will be fine.
Thursday 29th November
The cold, dry weather is back, so I should be able to make that trip to Harlow tomorrow morning. Friday is a good day to go, because I get to have a drink with Alan and his son Jason.
Alan phoned me yesterday and asked me if I wanted a turkey crown. When I said ‘no way’ to his £20 price tag, he told me it was probably too big and would be happy to cut it in half. That’s better! He’ll keep it in his freezer for me, which gives me an excuse, if any were needed, to pay him another visit before Christmas.
Today, now that the roads to Burton are clear of flood water, we’ll be taking a drive into town. We have some books to unload onto a charity shop and, having bought two bags of dog food at Ellesmere some time ago; a dog food that until that point our wee pooch had been happy to eat, but then decided she hated; we will now be taking those to the PDSA. She really can be so ungrateful at times!
Friday 30th November
We drove into Burton yesterday and, on the way there called into the butcher’s at Repton. Unfortunately he had no pork pies ready and suggested we call again on our way back from town. So, having disposed of the dog food to the PDSA, picked up a few bits and pieces of shopping, and enjoyed a coffee and scone, we arrived back at Repton a couple of hours later. We were just in time to watch the butcher pour the jelly liquid in to the, still hot pies.
Sheila had to carry the hot pies in a box and, when we got back to the boat Rusty’s nose twitched at the aroma. Funnily enough Clarissa Dixon-Wright was on the One Show last night and said that she considered the pork pies from Melton Mowbray were the best in the country. Obviously she hasn’t sampled those from Repton, which are far superior in flavour. In fact I will try to locate her website and inform her of her mistake.
Sunday 2nd December
I drove down to Harlow on Friday morning and expected to arrive at about 12.30. However, with all the road works finished while we’ve been cruising, I shaved about 30 minutes off my usual time, even though I stopped off at a service area on the way.
So, having nothing better to do with my time while I waited for Alan to get home, I popped in The Admiral for a drop of sherbet, where he joined me later. Of course, we enjoyed a few pints and then went home to his place. We returned to the Admiral in the evening, fully expecting Jason to join us, but he cried off just after we arrived. This was most unfortunate because, had he told us earlier we probably wouldn’t have bothered. I’m not at my best when I’ve just eaten and didn’t really enjoy the extra drinks. I’ll know better next time.
Monday 3rd December
Yesterday we decided to drink at The Bubble at Stenson. We haven’t been there in a few weeks, so we thought it would make a nice change. The last thing on my mind when we left home was having lunch there but, quite out of the blue I said to Wifey, “Of course, we could always have lunch here”. To which she replied, “What a good idea”. So, that’s what we did and enjoyed their carvery. At £8.99 we think it’s a bit expensive, but we do know it is much cheaper during the week. Hey, what the heck, we can indulge ourselves now and again.
Later…
We took the bus into Derby this morning and one of the first things we did was to look in the market for vacuum cleaner bags. This was a good move, because, quite close to that stall was another one selling second hand laptops. The prices look to be pretty reasonable and so, if he has what I want and offers a
decent guarantee, I could save myself some money. I rather like the look of the Acer Aspire he had in the window and if it’s still there next time we go I just might make a few enquiries about it.
Wednesday 5th December
Well, at eight pages long I really should get this blog posted and wish you all well until next time.
All abreast from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty
Thursday, 22 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 4
Wednesday 14th November
We took the bus into Derby this morning with the express intention of purchasing new jeans for me and jeans plus a top for Wifey. Having spent two hours there, a half hour of which was sitting and waiting for the bus back, all we had to show for our time was a pair of jeans for me. And I thought I was the difficult!
Having failed to find what she needed in Derby, upon our return to the boat Wifey dug out the laptop and had a look online, which was when she had one of her good, senior moments. Whilst looking up Cotton Traders Store Location she discovered that they have an outlet at the garden centre in Findern, which is a five minute drive from the marina. Guess where we’re headed tomorrow?
Thursday 15th November
Something I forgot to mention yesterday has just come to mind. We were obliged to sit across the aisle from each other on the bus to town because it was so full, most unusual for midweek. Anyway, I sat next to an elderly lady, who soon started up a conversation with me, talking about family and such. (I’ve never been chatted up on a bus before!)
One of the amusing anecdotes she related was about her granddaughter, who is at pre-school and who asked her mum if teachers were very clever. When her mum suggested that perhaps they were and why she had asked, her reply was, “Well, they don’t seem to know much, because they’re always asking us if we know the answers” How cute is that then?
This same lady has also given us the names of another five good watering holes, let’s see if I can remember them all. There’s The Bull and the Mount Pleasant in Repton, The Unicorn in Eton Solney and The Sump, which is just as you’re entering Burton. There’s also one in Willington which used to be a Scout Hut, or some such, but has now been turned into a pub. However, we both agreed that The Boot, in Repton, was a pub best avoided.
Our first port of call today; even before we visit Cotton Traders; will be the shop on site to see if our TV has arrived. In fact, it should have been at the Post Office yesterday.
Friday 16th November
Everything went well yesterday, a most unusual event for us, because there’s always something that doesn’t quite meet expectations.
Firstly, Wifey popped across to the shop for the Mail and returned with our new TV which, we thought we would have to collect from the Post Office. We then decided to see if the new cartridge was going to cure our problematic printer and, lo and behold, that also worked well.
Later in the day we took a trip into Findern Garden Centre and Cotton Traders where Wifey managed to find a pair of jeans and a top for less than the £40 our neighbour paid her for her guitar. All in all a successful day.
One of the first things we did after buying Shiralee, was to purchase some rubber matting with which to cover the back and front steps, but this is now wearing through so we’re taking a run into The Range today for some new stuff. I’ll also be looking for a suitable sized piece of carpet to lay under my car mat, which slides about somewhat, because the original backing carpet is missing.
I finally downloaded a few video guitar courses yesterday and practised the first lesson of the Fingerstyle set. This one, I’m pleased to say, came quite easy to me, and the next one doesn’t look too difficult either. I also have videos for Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll, so I’m not lacking in variation. Sadly it’s a bit late for me to become a rock star, but I will be able to keep busy, especially when I add the pastel painting to the ‘free time’ pot.
Saturday 17th November
After Andy lubricated the gear cable and linkages and returned the car, I can’t say I was impressed with the result. The gears certainly didn’t seem to be any easier to slip into. But, as Andy said, the ball ends of the cables were well and truly seized, so it could take some time for the lubrication to work its magic. By yesterday morning the gears were a little better, so I’m hopeful that more improvement is on the way.
Today we have rain; in fact we had rain all night long; so I don’t suppose we’ll be going anywhere this morning, which gives me some time for guitar practice. I’m concentrating on the Fingerstyle at present but, with all the freebies Mike sends, which I find it difficult to ignore, my ‘music’ folder is becoming rather full. There’s no point jumping from one style to another if I’m going to get anywhere, so I’m staying with finger style. I can always check the other stuff out if and when I become more proficient at the one style of playing.
Sunday 18th November
Now, what do you think the following photo can be? Is it really a loaf of bread?
The last loaf we had, which was a split tin wholemeal from Sainsbury’s, fell apart when I cut it. Well, the side under the top crust fell away, which amounts to the same thing. Do these stores actually employ professional bakers, I wonder?
A heavy frost this morning, which makes it kinda difficult when taking Rusty for a walk, because the wooden pontoons can be pretty lethal when they have a coating of frost on them.
Monday 19th November
We decided to pay a visit to The Bull at Repton yesterday lunchtime, until we saw the amount of cars in the car park that is. At 12.10 pm it was chock-a-block, so we went to The Red Lion instead. Next week perhaps we’ll take a run into Newton Solney and The Unicorn.
After the heavy frost yesterday, followed by a bright, sunny day, we’ve had rain for most of the night and this morning, although the rain has stopped, we do have a strong wind. What a shame, I was going to wash the car today!
Wednesday 21st November
Piddling down, absolutely piddling! More flood warnings on the way, I have no doubt
Yesterday we finally got rid of our two broken televisions. I also bought a new set of strings for the Eko guitar. This thing has been with me for quite some time. My sister Carole had it at her place for several years while I ‘borrowed’ her jumbo, also an Eko, but the jumbo size is far too big for sitting at our dinette, which is where I practice, so we swapped back a couple of years ago.
The one I have has now had a good clean up and the machine heads have been greased, so it should be good for another few years yet. They were very sturdily built were those Ekos, I think I had mine from my RAF days and, if it is then it only cost me 10/, that’s 50 pence in new money. My classical guitar is going to get the same treatment soon.
Friday 23rd November
Well now, as I’m going into Harlow tomorrow for the weekend, I thought I would post this blog, but first I needed to download that photo from Wifey’s camera. This is normally kept in her handbag, and that’s the first place I looked. But, it didn’t seem to be there.
OK, so, it’s time to take her a cuppa, so I asked where she’d hidden it. “It’s in my bag!” she said, as if it could possibly be anywhere else. “Nope!”, said I. “Well then, if it’s not there, I haven’t a clue”.
So, I turned out here nick-nack box, but no sign of camera. I then took another look in her hand bag, but still no deal, until I pulled out her notebook, and there it was. Now, I know I’m always having problems finding things that I’ve put away in a safe place. Don’t we all? But I have to ask myself, how do you hide a camera in a small handbag? This secret is only known to women with small handbags.
Anyway, you will already have seen the photo on an earlier page, but this did give me a problem, albeit a small one.
Have a good weekend folks.
Dave, Sheila and Pooch.
We took the bus into Derby this morning with the express intention of purchasing new jeans for me and jeans plus a top for Wifey. Having spent two hours there, a half hour of which was sitting and waiting for the bus back, all we had to show for our time was a pair of jeans for me. And I thought I was the difficult!
Having failed to find what she needed in Derby, upon our return to the boat Wifey dug out the laptop and had a look online, which was when she had one of her good, senior moments. Whilst looking up Cotton Traders Store Location she discovered that they have an outlet at the garden centre in Findern, which is a five minute drive from the marina. Guess where we’re headed tomorrow?
Thursday 15th November
Something I forgot to mention yesterday has just come to mind. We were obliged to sit across the aisle from each other on the bus to town because it was so full, most unusual for midweek. Anyway, I sat next to an elderly lady, who soon started up a conversation with me, talking about family and such. (I’ve never been chatted up on a bus before!)
One of the amusing anecdotes she related was about her granddaughter, who is at pre-school and who asked her mum if teachers were very clever. When her mum suggested that perhaps they were and why she had asked, her reply was, “Well, they don’t seem to know much, because they’re always asking us if we know the answers” How cute is that then?
This same lady has also given us the names of another five good watering holes, let’s see if I can remember them all. There’s The Bull and the Mount Pleasant in Repton, The Unicorn in Eton Solney and The Sump, which is just as you’re entering Burton. There’s also one in Willington which used to be a Scout Hut, or some such, but has now been turned into a pub. However, we both agreed that The Boot, in Repton, was a pub best avoided.
Our first port of call today; even before we visit Cotton Traders; will be the shop on site to see if our TV has arrived. In fact, it should have been at the Post Office yesterday.
Friday 16th November
Everything went well yesterday, a most unusual event for us, because there’s always something that doesn’t quite meet expectations.
Firstly, Wifey popped across to the shop for the Mail and returned with our new TV which, we thought we would have to collect from the Post Office. We then decided to see if the new cartridge was going to cure our problematic printer and, lo and behold, that also worked well.
Later in the day we took a trip into Findern Garden Centre and Cotton Traders where Wifey managed to find a pair of jeans and a top for less than the £40 our neighbour paid her for her guitar. All in all a successful day.
One of the first things we did after buying Shiralee, was to purchase some rubber matting with which to cover the back and front steps, but this is now wearing through so we’re taking a run into The Range today for some new stuff. I’ll also be looking for a suitable sized piece of carpet to lay under my car mat, which slides about somewhat, because the original backing carpet is missing.
I finally downloaded a few video guitar courses yesterday and practised the first lesson of the Fingerstyle set. This one, I’m pleased to say, came quite easy to me, and the next one doesn’t look too difficult either. I also have videos for Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll, so I’m not lacking in variation. Sadly it’s a bit late for me to become a rock star, but I will be able to keep busy, especially when I add the pastel painting to the ‘free time’ pot.
Saturday 17th November
After Andy lubricated the gear cable and linkages and returned the car, I can’t say I was impressed with the result. The gears certainly didn’t seem to be any easier to slip into. But, as Andy said, the ball ends of the cables were well and truly seized, so it could take some time for the lubrication to work its magic. By yesterday morning the gears were a little better, so I’m hopeful that more improvement is on the way.
Today we have rain; in fact we had rain all night long; so I don’t suppose we’ll be going anywhere this morning, which gives me some time for guitar practice. I’m concentrating on the Fingerstyle at present but, with all the freebies Mike sends, which I find it difficult to ignore, my ‘music’ folder is becoming rather full. There’s no point jumping from one style to another if I’m going to get anywhere, so I’m staying with finger style. I can always check the other stuff out if and when I become more proficient at the one style of playing.
Sunday 18th November
Now, what do you think the following photo can be? Is it really a loaf of bread?
 |
| Purchased from Morrison's Hmmm! Not very good for toasting either |
The last loaf we had, which was a split tin wholemeal from Sainsbury’s, fell apart when I cut it. Well, the side under the top crust fell away, which amounts to the same thing. Do these stores actually employ professional bakers, I wonder?
A heavy frost this morning, which makes it kinda difficult when taking Rusty for a walk, because the wooden pontoons can be pretty lethal when they have a coating of frost on them.
Monday 19th November
We decided to pay a visit to The Bull at Repton yesterday lunchtime, until we saw the amount of cars in the car park that is. At 12.10 pm it was chock-a-block, so we went to The Red Lion instead. Next week perhaps we’ll take a run into Newton Solney and The Unicorn.
After the heavy frost yesterday, followed by a bright, sunny day, we’ve had rain for most of the night and this morning, although the rain has stopped, we do have a strong wind. What a shame, I was going to wash the car today!
Wednesday 21st November
Piddling down, absolutely piddling! More flood warnings on the way, I have no doubt
Yesterday we finally got rid of our two broken televisions. I also bought a new set of strings for the Eko guitar. This thing has been with me for quite some time. My sister Carole had it at her place for several years while I ‘borrowed’ her jumbo, also an Eko, but the jumbo size is far too big for sitting at our dinette, which is where I practice, so we swapped back a couple of years ago.
The one I have has now had a good clean up and the machine heads have been greased, so it should be good for another few years yet. They were very sturdily built were those Ekos, I think I had mine from my RAF days and, if it is then it only cost me 10/, that’s 50 pence in new money. My classical guitar is going to get the same treatment soon.
Friday 23rd November
Well now, as I’m going into Harlow tomorrow for the weekend, I thought I would post this blog, but first I needed to download that photo from Wifey’s camera. This is normally kept in her handbag, and that’s the first place I looked. But, it didn’t seem to be there.
OK, so, it’s time to take her a cuppa, so I asked where she’d hidden it. “It’s in my bag!” she said, as if it could possibly be anywhere else. “Nope!”, said I. “Well then, if it’s not there, I haven’t a clue”.
So, I turned out here nick-nack box, but no sign of camera. I then took another look in her hand bag, but still no deal, until I pulled out her notebook, and there it was. Now, I know I’m always having problems finding things that I’ve put away in a safe place. Don’t we all? But I have to ask myself, how do you hide a camera in a small handbag? This secret is only known to women with small handbags.
Anyway, you will already have seen the photo on an earlier page, but this did give me a problem, albeit a small one.
Have a good weekend folks.
Dave, Sheila and Pooch.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 3
Monday 5th November
I now have two full instruction books from Emma, one of which is her portrait, the other being the caravan. If, or when, I finish this sunset scene, I have no doubt Emma will send me her full book of this one. What I am really looking forward to, once I have finished this and the next exercise, is knuckling down to a painting of my own, which will give me plenty to occupy myself during the rest of our winter stay at Mercia and throughout our cruise in 2013.
Later……
Our trip into Burton this morning included a visit to Ryman’s to check prices of HP Inkjet cartridges for the machine Chris gave us. Having checked the printer out yesterday and found all cartridges empty or dried up, we have to buy some new ones just to run a test. However, the pack of genuine cartridges would have cost about £80 in total; there are six cartridges altogether. No way, Jose!
So, after lunch I decided to take a look at what’s on offer at eBay and, surprise, surprise, there were several dealers offering a variety of different selections. We eventually settled on ‘compatible’ cartridges, of triple capacity, for just £6.99 with free p&p. It seems pointless buying the genuine article just in order to test the printer out.
Watch this space for further details.
Tuesday 6th November
Our car is going in to the workshop today to have the gearbox checked out. So, I’ve just sent a query for the part we may need and await quotes for same. Andy probably has his own suppliers, but I don’t want to pay through the nose for them.
Wednesday 7th November
Quotes for gearbox linkage came back yesterday afternoon and ranged from £40 to £170. However, since Andy is unable to replace the parts until next week and, since I would prefer him to phone the traders concerned, just to ensure they are offering the correct parts, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
We decided to put Rusty back on the medication that we were given earlier in the year by a vet on our travels. She now seems to have a new lease of life and, in fact she’s driving us potty with her fidgets. She can’t seem to keep still and wants to be going out every five minutes. But she still sleeps through the night, so, how does that work? How come she wants to pee a thousand times a day, yet she can hold it in for 10 hours during the night? Do dogs semi-hibernate at night time? Can they shut off all feelings of discomfiture when it suits them and, if that’s the case, why can’t they do so during the day?
For the answer to these and other questions, don’t ask me!!
Friday 9th November
We received our cartridges for the HP printer this morning. After installing all six we received an error message on the printer screen telling us that the yellow cartridge was missing, or damaged. We tried fitting the old one, but the message then said the cartridge was old, or some such. Anyway, since we don’t know if this is a problem with the printer or cartridge, I asked Chris if he had experienced similar problems, but he hadn’t. So, I rushed off a message to the seller, asking if he would send another yellow, for which I would be happy to pay. As yet I have had no reply, but these things can take time.
After dashing off my message, we removed all the cartridges and compared the connections, and found that the yellow was not of the same configuration as the others, so we rather suspect the seller has sent the wrong one here. When I get a reply from him I will explain this to him. Meanwhile, we wait and see.
Saturday 10th November
Once again we popped into Burton yesterday and, on the way there, called into our favourite butcher’s in Repton for a pork pie, because theirs is just about the best I have tasted. We left that shop about £17 lighter! Gotta stay away from that place!
This year we are being treated to a regular Friday evening visit of a fish and chip van. Yesterday evening we enjoyed the best ever fish and chips that we had tasted, even better than Whitby, if you can believe that. I asked for, and received, two pieces of fish and one large portion of chips. The fish hung over the sides of our plates and half the portion of chips had to be put in a bowl, because we couldn’t get them on the plates. Wifey suggests I order one piece of fish and a small portion of chips next time. Yummeee!!
Sunday 11th November
We are now awaiting the replacement yellow cartridge for the HP printer. I have also received a reply to my request for the replacement, in which the seller has suggested a few things to try in order to get the printer to accept them. However, having swapped a different colour for the failed yellow and seeing that fail too, we are of the opinion that the printer is at fault, not the cartridge. It could just be clogged up at that point due to lack of use, which would mean trying to clear said blockage. We may yet have the thing sorted, but it’s looking less and less likely at this point.
Now, over all the years that I’ve owned a guitar, I’ve never succeeded is really playing it. Of course I can strum and follow the music in a classical tutorial, but I’ve always arrived at a spot where my ability is less than adequate to complete the piece.
Hopefully this situation is about to change for the better, because my next door neighbour has loaned me a DVD that he bought from a guitarist named Mike Herberts and, I have to say, I am very impressed. But, although this is an excellent DVD, it is aimed at strumming along to popular songs, whereas I would prefer a finger-picking style of playing, as per classical guitar.
Now, having visited Mike’s site, I have discovered several DVDs that fit the bill but, the ones I want are all download files, which, for me and my dongle, would take forever. The alternative to downloading them myself, is to do so through Alan’s Ethernet connection when I next visit heim
Later…….
Privet hedges cause of Ash Dieback??
Oh really??
This was an article in the Mail on Sunday this morning. Well now, just how long have privet hedges been a part of the British landscape? I remember them well from my youth, because virtually every garden; front and back; had them as separators between gardens, long before the wooden, or chain-link fence were ever used.
All of which obviously begs the question, why have these hedges not caused problems with Ash trees in the past? Has it really taken hundreds of years for Ash trees to suddenly be prone to attack by Privet spoors?
Birmingham City Council has been in the news recently. Apparently they have not been paying their female workers the same as their male workers for similar jobs. In fact, what they have been guilty of is not paying their females the same for jobs within the same pay scale. From what I have seen, this stupid Council allowed care workers to be classified as equal to refuse collectors. How daft was that?
BCC are now threatened with having to pay out around £750 million in com-pen-say-shun to these female workers. The inevitable result of these payouts will be more job losses. Do these women care? I very much doubt it, just so long as they can lay their greasy hands on some unearned dosh.
G4
Ah! that new Internet thingy, which supposedly has all the bells and whistles and, quite probably will download files before you actually double click on them. Unfortunately there’s a fly in this ointment. Well, there would be, wouldn’t there?
It seems that rather than set the transmitters up with sensible frequencies, you know those that won’t interfere with any other wireless frequencies, what do they do? Why, they use frequencies that are not only very close to those already being used to transmit TV programmes, they will actually block them out for thousands of viewers. Not only that, it’s going to cost millions of pounds to compensate those people who lose their reception. Aren’t they great?
Andy took the car away yesterday and applied lubrication to the gear change cables. I was hoping that this would make a big difference, because, apparently this is a common problem. It seems that when the gear linkages are assembled lubricant is applied and, over time, that lubricant dries out.
Huh! So far, after a ride out to Swadlingcote for my eye test, the difference is minimal, if at all. Perhaps the lubrication needs time to work its magic, so I’ll give it more time before asking Andy to have another look.
Meanwhile, I awoke at about 4.45 this morning and, realising I still had another half hour of kip, turned over and dozed off. As I expected, I re-awake at 5.15, had a wash and got dressed and, since Rusty was awake, took her for a walk. I saw a couple of people that I wouldn’t normally bump into at that time of morning, and thought nothing of it.
Even the fact that it was now getting lighter didn’t register in my newly awoken brain. However, on arriving back at the boat, I gave Rusty a treat and sat down at the laptop to enjoy my first cuppa of the day and then, taking a quick glance at my watch, I saw that it was now 7 o/clock. Ooops! Wifey should have had her cup of tea half an hour ago. I have never, ever overslept by an hour before. Shame on me!
I have successfully, albeit slowly, now downloaded all those guitar lessons I mentioned earlier. All I have to do now is get stuck in and rally LEARN. First stop is the course called Progressive Fingerpicking, my preferred method. I also have Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff, but they will come later.
My next door neighbour, Steve, offered his ‘3’ Wi Fi gadget which, he tells me, is so much faster than the dongle. So, why have I not been offered this before when I’ve upgraded?
Anyway, for some odd reason, despite having Wi Fi on this laptop, I couldn’t connect to this unit. So, that’s another problem to sort out.
And that’s that for this one but, just to show you what we expect later in the year, here are a couple of winter photos at Mercia Marina.
All the best from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
I now have two full instruction books from Emma, one of which is her portrait, the other being the caravan. If, or when, I finish this sunset scene, I have no doubt Emma will send me her full book of this one. What I am really looking forward to, once I have finished this and the next exercise, is knuckling down to a painting of my own, which will give me plenty to occupy myself during the rest of our winter stay at Mercia and throughout our cruise in 2013.
Later……
Our trip into Burton this morning included a visit to Ryman’s to check prices of HP Inkjet cartridges for the machine Chris gave us. Having checked the printer out yesterday and found all cartridges empty or dried up, we have to buy some new ones just to run a test. However, the pack of genuine cartridges would have cost about £80 in total; there are six cartridges altogether. No way, Jose!
So, after lunch I decided to take a look at what’s on offer at eBay and, surprise, surprise, there were several dealers offering a variety of different selections. We eventually settled on ‘compatible’ cartridges, of triple capacity, for just £6.99 with free p&p. It seems pointless buying the genuine article just in order to test the printer out.
Watch this space for further details.
Tuesday 6th November
Our car is going in to the workshop today to have the gearbox checked out. So, I’ve just sent a query for the part we may need and await quotes for same. Andy probably has his own suppliers, but I don’t want to pay through the nose for them.
Wednesday 7th November
Quotes for gearbox linkage came back yesterday afternoon and ranged from £40 to £170. However, since Andy is unable to replace the parts until next week and, since I would prefer him to phone the traders concerned, just to ensure they are offering the correct parts, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
We decided to put Rusty back on the medication that we were given earlier in the year by a vet on our travels. She now seems to have a new lease of life and, in fact she’s driving us potty with her fidgets. She can’t seem to keep still and wants to be going out every five minutes. But she still sleeps through the night, so, how does that work? How come she wants to pee a thousand times a day, yet she can hold it in for 10 hours during the night? Do dogs semi-hibernate at night time? Can they shut off all feelings of discomfiture when it suits them and, if that’s the case, why can’t they do so during the day?
For the answer to these and other questions, don’t ask me!!
Friday 9th November
We received our cartridges for the HP printer this morning. After installing all six we received an error message on the printer screen telling us that the yellow cartridge was missing, or damaged. We tried fitting the old one, but the message then said the cartridge was old, or some such. Anyway, since we don’t know if this is a problem with the printer or cartridge, I asked Chris if he had experienced similar problems, but he hadn’t. So, I rushed off a message to the seller, asking if he would send another yellow, for which I would be happy to pay. As yet I have had no reply, but these things can take time.
After dashing off my message, we removed all the cartridges and compared the connections, and found that the yellow was not of the same configuration as the others, so we rather suspect the seller has sent the wrong one here. When I get a reply from him I will explain this to him. Meanwhile, we wait and see.
Saturday 10th November
Once again we popped into Burton yesterday and, on the way there, called into our favourite butcher’s in Repton for a pork pie, because theirs is just about the best I have tasted. We left that shop about £17 lighter! Gotta stay away from that place!
This year we are being treated to a regular Friday evening visit of a fish and chip van. Yesterday evening we enjoyed the best ever fish and chips that we had tasted, even better than Whitby, if you can believe that. I asked for, and received, two pieces of fish and one large portion of chips. The fish hung over the sides of our plates and half the portion of chips had to be put in a bowl, because we couldn’t get them on the plates. Wifey suggests I order one piece of fish and a small portion of chips next time. Yummeee!!
Sunday 11th November
We are now awaiting the replacement yellow cartridge for the HP printer. I have also received a reply to my request for the replacement, in which the seller has suggested a few things to try in order to get the printer to accept them. However, having swapped a different colour for the failed yellow and seeing that fail too, we are of the opinion that the printer is at fault, not the cartridge. It could just be clogged up at that point due to lack of use, which would mean trying to clear said blockage. We may yet have the thing sorted, but it’s looking less and less likely at this point.
Now, over all the years that I’ve owned a guitar, I’ve never succeeded is really playing it. Of course I can strum and follow the music in a classical tutorial, but I’ve always arrived at a spot where my ability is less than adequate to complete the piece.
Hopefully this situation is about to change for the better, because my next door neighbour has loaned me a DVD that he bought from a guitarist named Mike Herberts and, I have to say, I am very impressed. But, although this is an excellent DVD, it is aimed at strumming along to popular songs, whereas I would prefer a finger-picking style of playing, as per classical guitar.
Now, having visited Mike’s site, I have discovered several DVDs that fit the bill but, the ones I want are all download files, which, for me and my dongle, would take forever. The alternative to downloading them myself, is to do so through Alan’s Ethernet connection when I next visit heim
Later…….
Privet hedges cause of Ash Dieback??
Oh really??
This was an article in the Mail on Sunday this morning. Well now, just how long have privet hedges been a part of the British landscape? I remember them well from my youth, because virtually every garden; front and back; had them as separators between gardens, long before the wooden, or chain-link fence were ever used.
All of which obviously begs the question, why have these hedges not caused problems with Ash trees in the past? Has it really taken hundreds of years for Ash trees to suddenly be prone to attack by Privet spoors?
Birmingham City Council has been in the news recently. Apparently they have not been paying their female workers the same as their male workers for similar jobs. In fact, what they have been guilty of is not paying their females the same for jobs within the same pay scale. From what I have seen, this stupid Council allowed care workers to be classified as equal to refuse collectors. How daft was that?
BCC are now threatened with having to pay out around £750 million in com-pen-say-shun to these female workers. The inevitable result of these payouts will be more job losses. Do these women care? I very much doubt it, just so long as they can lay their greasy hands on some unearned dosh.
G4
Ah! that new Internet thingy, which supposedly has all the bells and whistles and, quite probably will download files before you actually double click on them. Unfortunately there’s a fly in this ointment. Well, there would be, wouldn’t there?
It seems that rather than set the transmitters up with sensible frequencies, you know those that won’t interfere with any other wireless frequencies, what do they do? Why, they use frequencies that are not only very close to those already being used to transmit TV programmes, they will actually block them out for thousands of viewers. Not only that, it’s going to cost millions of pounds to compensate those people who lose their reception. Aren’t they great?
Andy took the car away yesterday and applied lubrication to the gear change cables. I was hoping that this would make a big difference, because, apparently this is a common problem. It seems that when the gear linkages are assembled lubricant is applied and, over time, that lubricant dries out.
Huh! So far, after a ride out to Swadlingcote for my eye test, the difference is minimal, if at all. Perhaps the lubrication needs time to work its magic, so I’ll give it more time before asking Andy to have another look.
Meanwhile, I awoke at about 4.45 this morning and, realising I still had another half hour of kip, turned over and dozed off. As I expected, I re-awake at 5.15, had a wash and got dressed and, since Rusty was awake, took her for a walk. I saw a couple of people that I wouldn’t normally bump into at that time of morning, and thought nothing of it.
Even the fact that it was now getting lighter didn’t register in my newly awoken brain. However, on arriving back at the boat, I gave Rusty a treat and sat down at the laptop to enjoy my first cuppa of the day and then, taking a quick glance at my watch, I saw that it was now 7 o/clock. Ooops! Wifey should have had her cup of tea half an hour ago. I have never, ever overslept by an hour before. Shame on me!
I have successfully, albeit slowly, now downloaded all those guitar lessons I mentioned earlier. All I have to do now is get stuck in and rally LEARN. First stop is the course called Progressive Fingerpicking, my preferred method. I also have Folk and Rock ‘n’ Roll stuff, but they will come later.
My next door neighbour, Steve, offered his ‘3’ Wi Fi gadget which, he tells me, is so much faster than the dongle. So, why have I not been offered this before when I’ve upgraded?
Anyway, for some odd reason, despite having Wi Fi on this laptop, I couldn’t connect to this unit. So, that’s another problem to sort out.
And that’s that for this one but, just to show you what we expect later in the year, here are a couple of winter photos at Mercia Marina.
All the best from:
Dave, Sheila and Rusty.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 #2
Wednesday 31st October
Yesterday we drove into Burton where I managed to find a decent pair of shoes at Clarke’s. Now, I’m not one for spending huge amounts of money on footwear, but I do like to own at least one pair of comfortable, waterproof shoes. This pair set me back £50 but, had they been at the ‘correct’ price of £99, I certainly wouldn’t have bought them.
I already have a stout pair of waterproof boots that I wear when cruising, and I have several other pairs of shoes, none of which I can say for a fact are waterproof. Surely even the cheapest of ordinary walking shoes should be waterproof, but that’s not always the case unfortunately.
The Sunday supplements run an ad for two pairs of shoes for the price of one, usually at a total cost of £30 or so. But I haven’t seen that ad lately, and that’s a great pity because, having bought them in the past and found them to be comfortable and waterproof and, what’s more, lasting for a good 12 month, I would dearly like to get some more. So, where are they?
Today I’m going into Burton again, this time to have a couple of pictures enlarged to A3. Why I didn’t think of it earlier I don’t know, but Ryman’s have a photocopy service and are able to enlarge from A4 to A3, which is very useful for my current ‘sunset’ project and for the next one, a picture of ‘Shiralee’ when we were moored at Luddington, on the River Avon, back in 2008.
The following is the pastel I’m working on now, and the one below is the Luddington one.
Yet another iconic British institution is being sold off, this time it’s Branston Pickle. When will this decimation of British businesses stop? Foreign companies already own a huge chunk of British companies, with Cadbury’s sold to America’s Kraft Foods only a short while ago, with the promise of no job losses, only for them to close down a factory here only two years later.
When is a British government going to put a stop to this disgrace? We’ve already lost all our heavy industry: cars and shipbuilding to name just two; now it seems nothing is sacred and anything is fair game for foreign companies to snap up.
Friday 2nd November
Another early morning wake-up call from our Rusty, this time at 04.30. This is becoming more and more regular now, which means we’re going to have to get her to the vet again. I can’t imaging what he’ll come up with this time, but the antibiotics only worked for a short while earlier this year. We’ve tried changing her diet, but that’s had no effect at all.
We can almost tell, the day before it happens, because unlike a normal evening, where she will hover around looking for scraps from our evening meal, if she’s heading for a tummy upset she’ll stay in her bed and ignore the smell of food.
Savile
So now Freddie Starr has now been arrested as a result of the police investigation into Savile’s behaviour. Sorry, alleged behaviour. Who’s next I wonder? Even the bankers holding JS’s millions have frozen them pending the outcome. So, the £3M earmarked for charities will not now go to them. Instead a whole bunch of money grabbers are lining up for their share of com-pen-sa-shun!
There’s one certain way of discovering the truth. All we need is just one woman to step up and PROVE, with DNA testing, that the child she bore is a result of being raped by JS. Otherwise I see no actual proof of any misdeeds by this man ever emerging. It’s a bit like a person being charged with murder, when there is no body. All circumstantial!
Only one bunch of people will come out of this any the richer, lawyers. Anyone who actually wins in a court case will come away with a pittance once the legal people take their cut, and the charities will go without. Well, I mean to say, all these claimants want is JUSTICE! Don’t they?
Saturday 3rd November
What a great start to the day, no service on the dongle and horrible, icy rain to boot. This is probably down to the icy weather, as the dongle is on the roof of the boat. Yesterday evening it worked just fine, this morning, useless.
Later…..
I gave it a few hours and tried again and we now have full service. However, there is still one fly in the ointment, Emma seems unable to send pdf documents to me. She is receiving a message telling her my mailbox is full. Of course, it is not, as I emptied all mailboxes when she first had this problem. Absolute email have been informed and will, no doubt, offer a reason and, I hope, a solution, otherwise it’s over to Yahoo.
The weather has now brightened up and we have full sunshine, although it is still a bit chilly.
Sunday 4th November
Another frosty start to the morning and heavy clouds overhead, which could mean snow.
Yesterday, after a conversation about computing with our neighbour Chris, he popped along later and asked if I would like his printer. We already have a cheap Epson, which is sufficient for our needs but, since his one is an HP and has six colour cartridges, as opposed to the Epson’s four, I popped along to his boat and had a look.
Well, I was very surprised to note that, although the HP is older than our Epson, it has far more features and cost him over £100. What could I do but accept his kind offer? All I have to do is purchase the cartridges; he tells me they are probably dry, because he has rarely used it; and away we go.
I’ve had a few problems with receiving lessons from Emma of late. Even though I have my incoming mail set to delete after five days on my server, it seems my Inbox was filling up too fast for a couple of her lessons to get through. Also, the finished ‘Caravan’ instruction book was too big to be accepted; my message limit is 20 Mb and the book was just short of that. Not to worry though, I still have a Yahoo account and have asked Emma to send it there.
Monday 5th November
My Aunt Mabel’s 90 something birthday today and, finally, after many requests by her family, she has moved back to Harlow, bringing her closer to them. Of course, nobody thought we other relatives needed to know she had moved, so all birthday greetings are now sitting on the doormat in her bungalow in Jaywick.
Now, back to that elusive book from Emma. This is the earlier one of the caravan, which my server would not accept because of its almost 20Mb size. There’s a lot to be said for Yahoo then, because she sent it to my address there where it was accepted without fuss or bother.
As for my ‘Sunset’ effort, well, up until I tried to add a second boat to the scene, it wasn’t looking too bad. However, my attempt at drawing a narrow boat looks more like a nursery school kid’s crayon job!! So, back to Emma for more advice, although, I’m seriously considering omitting that second boat and carrying on without it.
Meanwhile, Andy and Sandy are back from their run up the Coventry and Ashby canals, so Andy will collect the car on Tuesday and see what needs to be done regarding the gearbox. This means I will have to go and pick up a set of cartridges today for the printer Chris gave us. We do try to make Mondays our ‘big’ shop day, so it will be killing two birds with one stone today.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and, a still poorly, Rusty.
Yesterday we drove into Burton where I managed to find a decent pair of shoes at Clarke’s. Now, I’m not one for spending huge amounts of money on footwear, but I do like to own at least one pair of comfortable, waterproof shoes. This pair set me back £50 but, had they been at the ‘correct’ price of £99, I certainly wouldn’t have bought them.
I already have a stout pair of waterproof boots that I wear when cruising, and I have several other pairs of shoes, none of which I can say for a fact are waterproof. Surely even the cheapest of ordinary walking shoes should be waterproof, but that’s not always the case unfortunately.
The Sunday supplements run an ad for two pairs of shoes for the price of one, usually at a total cost of £30 or so. But I haven’t seen that ad lately, and that’s a great pity because, having bought them in the past and found them to be comfortable and waterproof and, what’s more, lasting for a good 12 month, I would dearly like to get some more. So, where are they?
Today I’m going into Burton again, this time to have a couple of pictures enlarged to A3. Why I didn’t think of it earlier I don’t know, but Ryman’s have a photocopy service and are able to enlarge from A4 to A3, which is very useful for my current ‘sunset’ project and for the next one, a picture of ‘Shiralee’ when we were moored at Luddington, on the River Avon, back in 2008.
The following is the pastel I’m working on now, and the one below is the Luddington one.
 |
| Sunset at Giffard Park on the Grand Union |
 |
| Shiralle at Luddington 2008 |
Yet another iconic British institution is being sold off, this time it’s Branston Pickle. When will this decimation of British businesses stop? Foreign companies already own a huge chunk of British companies, with Cadbury’s sold to America’s Kraft Foods only a short while ago, with the promise of no job losses, only for them to close down a factory here only two years later.
When is a British government going to put a stop to this disgrace? We’ve already lost all our heavy industry: cars and shipbuilding to name just two; now it seems nothing is sacred and anything is fair game for foreign companies to snap up.
Friday 2nd November
Another early morning wake-up call from our Rusty, this time at 04.30. This is becoming more and more regular now, which means we’re going to have to get her to the vet again. I can’t imaging what he’ll come up with this time, but the antibiotics only worked for a short while earlier this year. We’ve tried changing her diet, but that’s had no effect at all.
We can almost tell, the day before it happens, because unlike a normal evening, where she will hover around looking for scraps from our evening meal, if she’s heading for a tummy upset she’ll stay in her bed and ignore the smell of food.
Savile
So now Freddie Starr has now been arrested as a result of the police investigation into Savile’s behaviour. Sorry, alleged behaviour. Who’s next I wonder? Even the bankers holding JS’s millions have frozen them pending the outcome. So, the £3M earmarked for charities will not now go to them. Instead a whole bunch of money grabbers are lining up for their share of com-pen-sa-shun!
There’s one certain way of discovering the truth. All we need is just one woman to step up and PROVE, with DNA testing, that the child she bore is a result of being raped by JS. Otherwise I see no actual proof of any misdeeds by this man ever emerging. It’s a bit like a person being charged with murder, when there is no body. All circumstantial!
Only one bunch of people will come out of this any the richer, lawyers. Anyone who actually wins in a court case will come away with a pittance once the legal people take their cut, and the charities will go without. Well, I mean to say, all these claimants want is JUSTICE! Don’t they?
Saturday 3rd November
What a great start to the day, no service on the dongle and horrible, icy rain to boot. This is probably down to the icy weather, as the dongle is on the roof of the boat. Yesterday evening it worked just fine, this morning, useless.
Later…..
I gave it a few hours and tried again and we now have full service. However, there is still one fly in the ointment, Emma seems unable to send pdf documents to me. She is receiving a message telling her my mailbox is full. Of course, it is not, as I emptied all mailboxes when she first had this problem. Absolute email have been informed and will, no doubt, offer a reason and, I hope, a solution, otherwise it’s over to Yahoo.
The weather has now brightened up and we have full sunshine, although it is still a bit chilly.
Sunday 4th November
Another frosty start to the morning and heavy clouds overhead, which could mean snow.
Yesterday, after a conversation about computing with our neighbour Chris, he popped along later and asked if I would like his printer. We already have a cheap Epson, which is sufficient for our needs but, since his one is an HP and has six colour cartridges, as opposed to the Epson’s four, I popped along to his boat and had a look.
Well, I was very surprised to note that, although the HP is older than our Epson, it has far more features and cost him over £100. What could I do but accept his kind offer? All I have to do is purchase the cartridges; he tells me they are probably dry, because he has rarely used it; and away we go.
I’ve had a few problems with receiving lessons from Emma of late. Even though I have my incoming mail set to delete after five days on my server, it seems my Inbox was filling up too fast for a couple of her lessons to get through. Also, the finished ‘Caravan’ instruction book was too big to be accepted; my message limit is 20 Mb and the book was just short of that. Not to worry though, I still have a Yahoo account and have asked Emma to send it there.
Monday 5th November
My Aunt Mabel’s 90 something birthday today and, finally, after many requests by her family, she has moved back to Harlow, bringing her closer to them. Of course, nobody thought we other relatives needed to know she had moved, so all birthday greetings are now sitting on the doormat in her bungalow in Jaywick.
Now, back to that elusive book from Emma. This is the earlier one of the caravan, which my server would not accept because of its almost 20Mb size. There’s a lot to be said for Yahoo then, because she sent it to my address there where it was accepted without fuss or bother.
As for my ‘Sunset’ effort, well, up until I tried to add a second boat to the scene, it wasn’t looking too bad. However, my attempt at drawing a narrow boat looks more like a nursery school kid’s crayon job!! So, back to Emma for more advice, although, I’m seriously considering omitting that second boat and carrying on without it.
Meanwhile, Andy and Sandy are back from their run up the Coventry and Ashby canals, so Andy will collect the car on Tuesday and see what needs to be done regarding the gearbox. This means I will have to go and pick up a set of cartridges today for the printer Chris gave us. We do try to make Mondays our ‘big’ shop day, so it will be killing two birds with one stone today.
Meanwhile, all the best to you all.
Dave, Sheila and, a still poorly, Rusty.
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