Our Week at ‘Garden Cottage’

Sunday 17^th March

 We left Mercia Marina at about 1.30 pm, some time after Andy refitted the remote unit, only to discover it still didn’t work. This time though, he thinks it’s the main unit not sending a signal to the remote. Hopefully he’ll get it sorted before we get back.

 So, back to the holiday. It took us just over an hour to get there, spotting lots of small snow drifts along the way. The road leading to the farm is the A623, so you would expect there to be a pavement running alongside it, but no such luck, which means we’re rather limited for walking after dark. Well, practically any time really, since this is quite a busy road from what we’ve seen so far.

 Rusty behaved quite well on the ride here, although she’s feeling unwell this morning. This comes as no surprise to me as it doesn’t take much to upset her these days.

 The cottage is a converted barn, with everything except the bedroom on the lower level. We have a lounge, kitchen/dining room, shower and loo, and we have a garden and parking space. At the moment we’re in a bit of a mess, with our belongings scattered around higgledy-piggledy, but we’ll try for a bit of order later today.

 One thing is for sure, if this bad weather continues, we’ll be returning to Mercia sooner than expected. Meanwhile, we’ll be planning our days out this morning, assuming we don’t get snowed in of course.

Monday 18^th March

 We saw no reason to treat yesterday any different than any other Sunday, which is just a chill-out day for us. (Aren’t they all?) All we planned on doing was driving into town for the paper. However, when fate conspires against you, what can you do?

 So, simply because the so-called bread knife was tearing our loaf to pieces and, since there was no knife sharpener in any of the kitchen drawers, we had to drive down to Buxton to see if we could find such an item. Our first stop was at Morrison’s, surely they would have one there, wouldn’t they? Nope! Wifey emerged with some other bits and pieces, but no knife sharpener.

 On our way in we did notice an Asda store and so, on the way back we stopped off there and, for the princely sum of £14.95, I bought a sharpener. I could have bought a breadknife for £10, but we have more than enough of those on the boat, so a sharpener it was to be.

 The rest of the day was spent lazing about and walking Rusty through the mud of the farm track.

 The only major calamity was the batteries running out on my Blood Glucose tester. Of course I didn’t bring any spares with me, so it was a case of making sure I took enough walks and ate only low carb food. Today we will have to rectify this situation but, since we are currently covered in a thick blanket of fog, we’ll have to wait until it clears. Hopefully we’ll get to travel further afield later today.

 Tuesday 19^th March

 The fog cleared about 10 am yesterday and our first port of call was Morrison’s, for those batteries, then we headed for Bugswort Basin on the Peak Forest canal. At least, that’s where we headed but, try as we might and after much running in circles, we simply couldn’t find the access road to it, so we settled for Whalley Bridge.

 Both of these places are at the end of the Peak Forest canal, with Whalley Bridge being the town and Bugsworth Basin being the branch where sandstone and such were loaded onto horse-drawn barges,for distribution to various depots around the country. Bugsworth has since been renamed Buxworth,simply because the natives didn’t like being called ‘bugs’, I suppose.

 We’ve travelled to both of these place with Shiralee, but this was the first time by car. We parked at Whalley Bridge and walked along the towpath to Bugsworth, a distance of about ¾ of a mile, and it stayed dry for all that time. Amazing!

 Having read through the Visitor’s Book here, and reading the note about a holidaymaker’s dog being savaged by the two Border Collies next door, I have been wary of taking Rusty out when the occupants of that bungalow are home. Normally their dogs are kept in the back of their Land Rover – how cruel! – but yesterday afternoon they were running around free in the access road. The fence around this cottage is not secure enough to prevent them from entering this garden and so, just as soon as I heard them making a fuss, I turned tail and got Rusty inside. I too have made a not in the Visitor’s Book.

 This morning is clear, so we should get away fairly early. We’re planning on a ride to Castleton where, according to ‘Farmer Giles’, there are some pretty good walks to be had.

 Incidentally, when I mentioned the lack of a pavement on this road, he told us that there is a pavement, but the local Council are too lazy to keep it clear. Obviously it does gather muck thrown up by traffic, but how long does it have to be left dirty before it becomes part of the road?

 Well, only four pages long, but I’m going to post now.

 Cheers me dears

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 16

Tuesday 12^th March

 My final visit to Harlow this winter went very well, although the White Admiral was pretty quiet for a Saturday. However, after having dinner and watching TV until about 11 pm, off we trotted to bed, only for me to discover that I had no Insulin needles. With a Blood Glucose reading in excess of 15, this was not good.

 After putting my head round Alan’s bedroom door and telling him, I went downstairs to see Val. The only thing I could think to do was to go for a walk to use up some of the sugar, at which point Val suggested I use her treadmill. So, at 11.30 on a Saturday night, there was I trudging away and working up a sweat. But not for long, that treadmill was in serious need of lubrication, so, at Val’s instigation we took the dog for a walk. This brought my reading to well below 10 points, so I was finally able to go to bed. What an evening, and what a plonker!!

 Sunday’s drive home was a mixed bag of weather, from bright sunshine, through drizzle, heavy rain and snow, all in the space of 2½ hours and 140 miles.

 The rest of Sunday was very cold, as was Monday, when we had to drive in to Burton for shopping. As we were checking out and paying up, the check-out girl pointed to the outside world where we could see a pretty severe blizzard. So, rather than stay for a coffee, we decided to head home. Would you believe it, by the time we had parked our trolley the snow had stopped and the sun was out.

 Yesterday was again bitterly cold, especially in the wind. Walking around the marina was very uncomfortable for us, although Rusty seemed to thoroughly enjoy it. That dog is amazing, one day she’s hanging her head looking for some T.L.C., and the next she’s full of the joys of Spring, running around like a Spring lamb. She’s 15 years old for goodness sake, why can’t she grow old gracefully?

 As a result of yesterday’s bad weather, I have woken up to about an inch of snow on the ground. This cold spell is supposed to stay with us until later in the week. Hopefully it will have warmed up in time for our holiday week in the Peak District.

 Wednesday 13^th March

 Yesterday was a pretty lazy day, until about 2 pm, at which point my next door neighbour and ukulele buff, Steve, joined me for a little jamming session. Just like me, he’s fairly new to the uke, so we spent most of the time going over strumming and finger-picking patterns. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the time and, as an added bonus, he’s promised to get hold of his sister’s old phone for me.

 This phone, as he demonstrated on his own one, is capable of using WiFi and, if it’s already locked in to 02, I’ll be able to use my SIM Card. She only wants £10 for it and it will be useful for watching tutorials on U-Tube, especially those for the uke, of which there seem to be millions.

 Today, if we don’t get covered in snow, we’ll be taking the bus into Derby, for doggie stuff and a few other bits and pieces. When we return and had a cup of tea, I have some uke stuff to print out for Steve.

 Thursday 14^th March

Yesterday, according to those nice weather forecasters, was supposed to be pretty horrid weather wise, but although a wee bit chilly, we had a pretty fine day.

 Sadly Steve’s sister has given her phone to her son, so Steve has loaned me his old iPhone for a while. He’s also going to ask around for a cheapo one for me to use.

 In the afternoon, after he’d shown me how to use this gadget, he took me to a warehouse/cum sales office and bought himself a new Tenor ukulele. While we were there I conducted a search of their stock and, much to my surprise, found a Guitalele! You what, a guitalele? What the heck is one of those? Well, as the name suggests, it’s a hybrid guitar/ukulele. It has six strings, like a guitar, but a small body and short fretboard, like a uke, hence guitalele. I suspect this instrument is tuned to the fifth fret of a guitar, which would make it sound similar to a uke, but the chords would be guitar chords. Interesting! I suppose, as one of our ukulele club folks suggested last year, if I strap a capo across the fifth fret of my guitar, it would sound very much like this hybrid!!

 What I really want to get my hands on when we settle in for next winter is an eight string uke. But first I have to master the one I have, only then will I think about spending on a new one.

 Today we have nothing special to do. However, tomorrow we have to shop for stuff we’ll need for the cottage. I also want to have the car cleaned again; after that run down to Harlow last week, the darn thing is rotten again, and I can’t leave it with Chris in that state.

 Friday 15^th March

 Yesterday was a chill-out day, during which we simply walked the dog and did lots of reading. If in doubt, and you really can’t think what to do with yourself, read.

 Andy should be along this afternoon to fit the remote unit to the Alternator to Battery Charger. Just as well really, because Shiralee goes into dry dock on Monday, which wouldn’t give him much time before we go cruising. Indeed, he would have to follow us down the cut with his box of tools, and I don’t suppose he’d be too pleased about that.

 I had a spot of bother with Steve’s iPhone yesterday and couldn’t access You Tube at all. But, unlike me with technology, this time it wasn’t finger trouble. Steve came around to check it out and he couldn’t do so either, the assumption being that You Tube was offline for some reason. I’ll try again sometime later today. But that will be after we’ve been shopping for next week’s goodies. We need to get all our foodstuffs in so that we don’t have to do too much shopping while we’re away, except milk and bread perhaps, and the Daily Mail of course.

Oooh! We’ll soon be away on the cut. This time of year is always exciting for us. Spending so much time in one place, especially as a boater, becomes rather boring and we get cabin fever after just a few months. The worst of it is over now, we’ll do some sight-seeing next week and we’ll get in plenty of walking. I’ll also get to test the new X2 Splitter on the camera, which should give me a pretty good idea as to its capabilities.

 Saturday 16^th March

 Well, no sign of our remote unit yesterday, but we’ve been assured that it will be here this morning. Andy popped by later in the afternoon and, just as soon as it arrives, he’ll be along to fit it. Sadly he’ll want paying for his work, but not all of the best things in life come free!

 We are off for a week in the Peak District this afternoon and, surprise, surprise, it’s been peeing down with rain all night. However, with it being the ‘Peak’ district, perhaps the cottage will be on high ground. Wouldn’t it be fun if we were surrounded by flooded roads and fields for a week?

 And that’s that for this blog. I’ll start a new one tomorrow morning, just for the week in the cottage.

 Cheers, me dears.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 15

Wednesday 27^th February

 At last, the weather has changed. We now have clear skies and bright sunshine. We walked around the marina after breakfast and around the lake after lunch.

 ’m still unsure about this wiping of the Toshiba hard drive. But, having re-read all the gumph regarding such a move, I am now of the opinion that it’s the wrong way to go. Every programme I look at; barring the really simple ones; tell me that I must first burn it to a cd and boot the computer up from there. C Cleaner can’t, or won’t wipe the ‘C’ drive, only the ‘D’ drive, which is a partition and has nothing on it. The golden rule seems to be that, the hard drive cannot be wiped from within Windows.

 So, I plan on doing this in reverse. I’m first going to use the System Recovery disc and return the laptop to its original factory settings. I will then use C Cleaner to wipe the free space on the ‘C’ drive. Hopefully that will eliminate any sensitive data still sitting there.

 For obvious reasons I will not be able to install any of the MS Office programmes, simply because I am unable to legally provide any installation discs when I sell the laptop. So, instead I’ll install a set of Open Source programmes and also pile a load of useful programmes onto a DVD. I suppose I could get away with installing Office 2003, since it is now so old and include a copy of the installation disc. Hmmm! What to do!!

 Our boat horn has now been painted and, once completely dry, ready to be returned to its rightful place on the roof. Tomorrow we’ll go into Burton, firstly to get the car valeted and also to buy a pot of a beigey coloured paint as a background colour for the back door panels. We’ve hemmed and hawed over this for some time now, but have now agreed on this neutral colour. I don’t expect to get them done before we leave here, but that means I’ll have something to do while we’re cruising. That’s on top of my latest pastel, guitar practice and Ukulele practice.

 Sunday 3^rd March

 That’s it we’re now in the final month of our winter moorings and will soon be away. But first we have the Kennett family bash today and doggie has to go into kennels for a night. The bash is being held at Harlow Mill and we’re supposed to be there for 12 noon. However, since we can’t take Rusty until 9 am, and it’s a 2½ hour drive to Harlow, we could be cutting it a wee bit fine. I think I may be a wee bit cream-crackered by the time we get back.

 Yesterday we found a pot of pale, brown paint with which I covered our back panels. Sadly, even though it is claimed to be one-coat paint it is no such thing, so another coat will be required.

 Tomorrow, if the weather is in my favour, I refit the horn to its bracket on the roof.

 Monday 4^th March

 What a great day we had yesterday at the family bash. The only bugbear was being unable to all sit around the same table. So, which moron decided it was OK to sit a family of 13 around three separate tables in an alcove. Were we supposed to play musical chairs if we wanted to talk to somebody on another table? Still, the food was good, as was the weather and, unlike our usual meeting place, The Churchgate Hotel, we had to vacate the tables before 3 o/clock, which meant an early start homeward. At the Churchgate they waited until about 5 o/clock before politely asking us to leave, so that they could clear away and lay tables for the evening session.

 Sheila and I have decided it’s our turn to foot the bill for 2014. No ifs, buts or maybes! As to the venue, all suggestions considered, which covers somewhere outside Harlow. Motorway Services and Macdonald’s excluded, of course. We too will look into possible venues nearer the time.

 Wednesday 6^th March

 Yesterday was boat engine service day, with the addition of an Alternator to Battery Charger Unit which, as you would expect, didn’t quite work as it should have. Oh, it did the job it was intended to do, but the Remote Unit didn’t. This is probably because, unlike the main box of electronics, which is housed in the engine bay and is manufactured by the company whose name is on the box, the Remote Unit, which tells me whether or not it’s working correctly, is manufactured in Taiwan. Nuff said!! The most common cause of this failure is the lead that runs from the main unit to the remote. So, Andy will now send for a replacement.

 For those electronics buffs reading this, this new piece of gubbins is designed to encourage the alternator to work more efficiently. This is achieved by fooling the alternator into ‘thinking’ the batteries are very low, thus making it work harder to keep them topped up. We reckon that this should pay for itself over the next eight months, simply by reducing the amount of diesel we use per day running the engine to charge the batteries. In past years of cruising we’ve had to run the engine for at least two hours every evening, just to ensure we had sufficient power next morning. This new unit should reduce those hours quite considerably.

 Yesterday, whilst Andy was working on the engine and such, we toddled off to the Chiropodist to have my feet checked out. It seems now that they are not as sensitive as they were this time last year. And it’s all down to this wretched diabetes. Hey, I’m getting old, aren’t I? But, being a rough, tough, stoical boater, I won’t let it get me down. Stiff upper lip, and all that!!

 I also managed to trace out all the pictures I’ll be using for our back door boards. The boards have now had two undercoats of background ‘beige’, so all I have to do now is paint the pictures. I’m quite looking forward to that.

 This morning, once we have heard from Andy, we’ll be off shopping at Morrison’s. Can’t be bothered driving into Burton and Sainsbury’s!

 Thursday 7^th March          

 Rain! After a few pretty pleasant days, here we go with the rain again. Why doesn’t it stick with the plain in Spain? Still, at least we don’t have to go anywhere in particular today, which means I can make a start on our back panels. Well, actually I tried making a start on them yesterday, but the tracing through graphite paper left smudges on the panel; no doubt due to my heavy handedness; so I wiped it off and will start again today. This time I’ll make a surrounding barrier of tracing paper before tracing through.

 Friday 8^th March

 Another blip with Outlook this morning where I couldn’t send and receive. I had to disconnect and reboot before I could use the programme. As a result of this I logged into my account at Absolute and, to my dismay, I discovered a whole bunch of stuff in the Spam Box there, none of which had come down to my Outlook Inbox. Needless to say, there were several messages there that I would like to have seen. Looking around the site I can find no info whatsoever as to how to set up the Spam Filter and so, once again I’ve had to ask them how to do so.

 Following my interest in Art, currently working with pastels, I ordered a disc online that should contain 113 pictures from the late 1800s. In fact there are only 108, but that’s by the by. All of the pictures should come in three formats; 1/ black and white, 2/ washed – which means a faint rendition of the picture to be printed onto artists paper  and 3/ a full colour picture, so that the budding artist can then paint onto the printed paper, thus giving a fair painting of the picture concerned.

 So, what do I actually find on this disc? I found 108 pictures, all in black and white, all with a ‘washed’ version, but only seven, yes 7 in full colour. What a swindle! I have, of course, contacted the seller and voiced my disapproval. It will be interesting to see his response.

Tomorrow I’m off to Harlow, sadly for the last time this winter. However, since we’re heading south later on and after we’ve done the Llangollen, Alan has offered to meet us at Bulbourne, which is where we moored up for two winters, earlier in our travels.

 Saturday 9^th March

 A pretty dismal day yesterday, all damp and misty, a bit like sitting in a low cloud bank. This morning we have heavy, threatening clouds and I’m driving down to Harlow. Won’t that be fun? When I get there I’ll scrounge my usual cuppa from Les, my kiddie carer from my days with Charriot’s, then I’ll pop round to Alan for the rest of the day.

 Following my return to the marina I’ll be looking for a fine day to refit the horn, which has now been painted in the same red as Shiralee. I also have to copy the castle and flowers to our back panels and, hopefully, Andy will be along to complete the installation of the Alternator to Battery Charger.

 Next Saturday we’re off for a week in a farm cottage, during which time ‘Shiralee’ will have her bottom blacked and, while she’s in dry dock the she’ll have the rudder checked and straightened where necessary.

 We return from the cottage on Saturday 23^rd and leave the marina on Tuesday 26^th so Monday 25^th will be spent on shopping and preparing for Tuesday, no doubt with Wifey also doing piles of washing.

 Our first port of call on Monday morning will be to see our doctor, who will make out the necessary prescriptions for the seven months we’ll be away. He actually phoned us yesterday evening and, being the kind gentleman that he is, arranged a consultation for 8.30 am on that day, after which we’ll be set to leave.

 Our first port of call on Tuesday will be Branston and, if it’s a fine day we’ll take a walk around the lake, which will be a first for me.

 Now, with almost seven pages of this blog completed, this would be an ideal time to post it. Naturally I’ll keep entries going next week and whilst we’re at the cottage.

Cheers for now and enjoy your weekend, whatever you may be doing.

 Dave, Sheila and our Very Important Pooch. (She has a new collar to prove it!)

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 14

Tuesday 19^th February

 I arose from the pit at about 5.15 this morning and, by 5.30 I had the Toshiba set up and running CCleaner, using the Wipe Free Space facility. It is now 6.45 and, according to the displayed info, almost 1½ hours to go. So, it’s just as well I’m only wiping free space, goodness knows what would happen if I had chosen to wipe the whole drive. As it is, I’ll have to do it again because I neglected to include Saved Passwords in the wipe. Of course I would, this being the most important part of the operation. Duh!

 From what I have read online about this programme, it is pretty thorough and, with the much bigger hard drives on some computers today, it can take hours to complete this operation. Still, when passing on or selling a computer, it’s best to be safe than sorry.

 We took Rusty to the vet for her boosters, alter in the morning; she wasn’t too enamoured at having her temperature taken; we then returned to the shop and collected a couple of bags of coal, by which time it was almost time for lunch.

 After lunch we took a walk around the marina, what with it being another gorgeous day and followed that with a well-earned cuppa. This walk has now become a regular activity and is probably contributing to our weight loss.

 But we weren’t finished yet, oh no, because, with it being a lovely, calm day, it seemed only fitting to take advantage and go get some diesel.

 Now, we have been led to believe that our fuel tank holds 169 litres of diesel, but we’ve had our suspicions about that figure for quite some time now. So, a few weeks ago, with the simple expedient of wrapping an elastic band around a stick and dipping it into the tank, we ascertained how deep a full tank would be. It was then a simple matter of dipping the tank again and wrapping another elastic band at the ‘wet’ point on the stick.

 So, the tank is 24 inches deep and we had 7 inches of fuel when we went to fill her up. Having topped up with 163 litres in the top 17 inches and carried out a simple sum, we now believe that our tank holds around 230 litres. So, next time we return to Mercia at the end of our cruise, we can sit back and relax, because we won’t have to top up again until we leave for our 2014 cruise.

 My efforts at ‘wiping’ the hard drive on the Toshiba have temporarily stalled. This is because, even though I downloaded a programme with which to do this, and also realising that I could do the job with C Cleaner, I then discovered that C Cleaner won’t allow for the ‘wiping’ of just one of the partitions on the drive. So, I then tried with the other programme, ‘Wipe Drive’ but, no sooner had I entered my Activation Code, than I was presented with another problem. When I was asked which drive I wished to wipe I was given the choice of 0 or 1. Huh? Most computers, if they are partitioned, have a ‘C’ and ‘D’ drive, not a 0 and 1. I am now awaiting a reply from the makers of this programme. Maybe this is standard in the industry, eh?

 Tomorrow we are taking our neighbours, Chris and Josie, out for lunch, to show our appreciation for them looking after the car while we’re away. We’re paying a visit to The Bubble at Stenson, where they do a rather good carvery.

 Thursday 21^st February

 Our trip to The Bubble at Stenson yesterday went very well. For the princely sum of £40 we all dined well, with plenty of meat on our plates, drinks and coffees, with the ladies both indulging in a sweet too.

 This morning, after a quick run to Morrison’s, we called into B&Q for some enamel paint for the boat horn, which deteriorated so badly during the few months we had it, that there was simply no way of cleaning the brass effect coating. Now that could be called a con job, if ever there was one. So, instead of buying a new one; not of the same useless quality; I have decided to paint it a bright red.

 Friday 22^nd February

 This ‘wipe drive’ lark is driving me to distraction. I downloaded a programme called “Wipe Drive” from White Canyon and loaded it onto a memory stick. I also went through the initial process of running it on the Toshiba, which then asked for the Activation Code. But, wishing to make sure I wasn’t going to ruin the laptops hard drive, I then went online to check I was doing it right.

 This is where I prove the inadvisability of looking for more information than you need. I suddenly discovered that, according to White Canyon, the programme should be run from a CD. OK. So, how do I burn the programme to a DC? Well, apparently, with ISO files, whatever they are, they can’t simply be ‘dragged and dropped’ to the CD, they have to be burnt in a particular way. Do you think I can find that way?

 I have now submitted a question to the Help Desk but, since running the programme from the memory stick actually threw up the request for the Activation Code, I rather suspect a CD isn’t really necessary and that the info in the manual is old.

 Yesterday we bought some enamel paint for our hooter. This stuff dries in an hour and the hooter has now had two coats on the outside. I’ll apply another couple of coats of our own, red boat paint to complete the job. We can’t leave here without a working hooter. Our Tunnel Light is also somewhat tarnished, but it is, at least, solid brass and should only need a good bit of spit and polish.

 Monday 25^th February

 I don’t know why, but we seem to have had a couple of busy days of late, well, that’s the weekend for you. Mostly it’s been about the laptops, but I’ve been busy organising my next pastel project; a set of old fashioned scales, with onions on and around them; and we’ve taken lots of walks around the marina.

 To date, including the 2½ lb I lost last week, I have now lost 16 lb. I am now down to 13 st 13 lb, against the start weight of 15 stone 1 lb. Unfortunately, but probably because she has far less weight to lose, Wifey didn’t lose any last week.

 As for the laptops, well, trouble in plenty! The programme I purchased with which to wipe the drive on the Toshiba, requires another ‘burn’ programme with which to burn it to a CD. Don’t ask me why this is necessary, because I already have CCleaner, which can do the same job and doesn’t need to be burnt to a CD first.

 However, when I downloaded the ‘burn’ programme and tried to set it up, the download had come with a multitude of other programmes, which also tried to set themselves up on the laptop. When I approached the company about this, ‘Oh, you downloaded it from the wrong place’, and gave me another link, which proved to be exactly the same! Now, when I tell them I’m still having a problem, they tell me I probably have a virus. Yeah! Right! What, on both the laptops?

 So, it looks like I’ll be going with CCleaner instead.

 So, what else did we do over the weekend? Well, I’ve undercoated our four back door panels, but we now have to decide what background the pictures need. We have a castle, which has a dragon wrapped around it, a dragon standing erect; these two pictures will go on the two taller panels. We also have two pictures of flowers which will adorn the smaller panels. I’m looking at a possible light blue for the flowers, with the same blue for sky and some green for grass on the other two. I may even paint some hills in the distance. These pictures are from a clipart site, so they are supposed to be comical.

 I’ve also painted a couple of coats of red on our boat hooter, which must be finished before we leave here.

 So, although we haven’t slogged ourselves this past weekend, we haven’t spent the days sitting around either.

 Tuesday 26^th February

 Only a month to go and we’ll be on our way. Yippee!

For about the past six weeks we have been following the Hairy Bikers diet book and, as you know, we have both lost weight. During this period I have had my ups and downs with my blood glucose levels, mainly due to the severe reduction in carbohydrates ingested.

 Anyway, what with the hypos running rampant and the regular walks around the marina, I reached the stage whereby it seemed to make sense to cut out my three injections of the short term Insulin. I had no idea if this was the right thing to do, but it did seem sensible. It also seemed sensible to have a chat with my diabetes nurse, and this I did yesterday. With her blessing I am now only taking my long term jab, just before going to bed, but I have upped the dose slightly.

 It has been said, even in some medical circles, that one of the causes of the pancreas stopping its production of Insulin, is the fat build up around it, of which I probably still have plenty. Could it be that, by losing weight and reducing my fat levels, my pancreas will start up again? Now that would be a result.

 We are cutting it a wee bit fine in having the car MOT’d. Andy is doing it on Friday and we have the family bash on Sunday. However, even if it failed, which is highly doubtful considering the amount of work done on it last year, we will still have a valid certificate, so we will not miss the bash.

 Wednesday 27^th February

 Before we go on our weeks break to the Peak District, Andy will be carrying out our boat service. Whilst he is doing so he will be fitting a new gizmo between the alternator and domestic batteries. This gizmo is designed to make the alternator work harder, thus ensuring that, while we’re cruising at least, the batteries will be fully charged. This will have the added benefit of saving on fuel, since we won’t have to run the engine for so long in the evenings. With a bit of luck it will have paid for itself by the time we return.

 Talking about which, we’re not even sure that we will be returning to Mercia this year. We do like the place but, whenever we leave for our cruise, there’s no guarantee that we’ll be allocated a spot anywhere near the one we vacated. So, while cruising this year, we’ll be keeping a sharp eye out for canal side moorings. These are somewhat scarce but, if we can find one that has water and electricity laid on, even scarcer, we’ll investigate the cost. Mercia Marina costs us over £200 per month and so, if we can find a spot that costs around £1200 per year, we’ll consider it very carefully.

 OK. That’s it for this one. Time to post. See you all on Sunday.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 13

Friday 8^th February

 At last, despite the lack of assistance from ‘Three’, I now have Outlook 2010 sending messages. Even though I had already tried the various settings suggested by Absolute Email, after sending them screen shots of the stages I went through, and following up with their suggestions, I finally managed to send a Test message. I still have no idea why the problem arose in the first place, and I especially don’t see why, even with the default settings I had with 2003, but all seems well now, and long may it remain so.

 I have now downloaded all the parts to Emma’s Still Life project. I even made an attempt at starting it, but it is such a mess that I have decided to start again. Meanwhile, we printed some castle and dragon pictures yesterday, which I will use as reference photos when I paint our door panels. So, what with the Still Life and our door panels, I’m going to be pretty busy with painting.

 Tomorrow I will, once again, attempt to drive down to Harlow. Last Saturday, as you all know, was a disaster, all due to a lorry fire on the M1, so I didn’t actually make it.

Yesterday was Morrison’s day, so today we can chill out. This gives me a good opportunity to make a start on the door panels. I’ve printed out four pictures; two of cartoon dragons and two castles; so all I need to do first is to trace them through graphite paper onto the boards. Also, since the pictures are plain, with no backgrounds, I’ll also have to ‘invent’ that part, but that shouldn’t pose too much of a problem. I’m actually looking forward to the change of pace that these panels will afford me, the Still Life is going to be a killer I’m sure.

Monday 11^th February

 I took a run down to Harlow on Saturday, to see Alan and have a few beers, a pastime that I don’t get enough of, and also to have my back door panels smoothed down enough to paint on. I also downloaded a programme called Wipe Drive, which I needed in order to clean up the Toshiba before I sell it on. Can’t have a third part peeking at my bank stuff and such.

 Although it didn’t rain on the way down, the roads were wet so my wipers were in use all the time. The journey back was even worse because it rained most of the way.

 We had a good few, very enjoyable drinks at The White Admiral and, for the first time in about 60 years, which was when mum introduced me to them, I actually had some jellied eels. Delicious, but fatal, because I suffered an upset tummy as a result. Not as severe as that time last year, but damned annoying just the same.

 The M1 overhead signs warned of severe weather conditions for Sunday, but the snow didn’t materialise until last night, so that was a bit of a damp squib.

 Rusty was not feeling too good when I got home yesterday, but she eventually ate her breakfast and seemed to perk up later. However, and most unlike her, she disgraced herself at 3 am this morning, so Wifey had to take her out for a comfort break. She woke us up again at 5 am – and there’s me looking for a lie in – so I had to take her out again. Normally she will sleep through until 7 am, or even later but, on the very rare occasion when I plan to get up later than usual, she puts a damper on my plans.

 It’s still snowing this morning and we’re supposed to be going shopping. Some chance!

 Anyway, I now have the necessary tool with which to return the Toshiba to its original settings, and I will then be able to put it up for sale. So, I’d better check out eBay prices for this thing.

 Tuesday 12^th February

 Early this morning, just as I was going online to check a couple of things, up popped a rather large section from a company called Premier Opinion. I was invited to participate in some questionnaire, even though I had never signed up with this lot. I was pretty mad about this because, having entered their name into my search box, I discovered they were in the habit of installing themselves onto my laptop, usually at the same time as another programme was downloaded and installed.

 After uninstalling the programme in the usual way, I then found I had some items remaining on my Program Files and, despite my best efforts, those items are still there. I am now in the unenviable position of trying to find a way of removing this stuff from the registry. Great, just what I need.

 We went shopping this morning, firstly to The Range for a piece of carpet to put in front of the fire, to catch any odd lumps of burning embers that fall out when we open the door to top up with coal. We also purchased a few packets of treats for Rusty, bless her cotton socks.

 We also called into PC World and purchased a Wireless Mouse, because I was insanely jealous of the one my brother had. This is an HP model and cost just £20 although, when I checked out their little pile of ‘for sale’ stuff, there was a VAIO Wireless Mouse there for £15. On balance I thought the HP model the better option and, since it works just fine, I have no complaints.

 Wifey has spent the past hour skinning and marinating a chicken for our dinner tonight. Those Bikers do like their spices!!

 Wednesday 13^th February

 That dinner was superb. A very spicy chicken with roasted vegetables. Pretty hot to the taste, but with a minty dip to soften the blow to the mouth. Yummee!!

 I have no idea what we’re doing today, but I don’t suppose it will be very exciting. Probably just a chill out day.

 Thursday 14^th February

 Snow yesterday, rain throughout the night, just as they predicted on the news last night. My, ain’t they clever?

 This morning I booted up the Toshiba, just to see if there was anything else I needed to do before wiping the hard drive. After deleting a few things and saving a few more, I then went into C Cleaner to tidy things up a bit. I then took a look inside the Tools folder and, to my amazement, I found a section that wipes the hard drive! Not only that, but I can choose how many passes the programme makes, anything from 3 to 25 and I can also choose which drive to wipe, including external hardware, such as storage devices and memory sticks. And this is the free version.

 Thanks to Alan smoothing down my panels, I have now made a start and given them an undercoat. I’ve changed my mind about which clipart to use on the small panels. These will now consist of a fire breathing dragon on one panel, facing a fire breathing ogre on the other. The bigger panels will have a castle and dragon. I actually put the panels on the front deck to dry yesterday but, due to the dampness of the weather, they’re still tacky, so I’ll have to bring them inside. Hopefully they won’t smell too much.

 Saturday 16^th February

 Wifey had planned a burger for dinner last night but, just as the Fish Man turned and she was about to get started, I suggested a piece of fish with some veg. That was easy, only a second or so before she agreed. Easily led is my missus! So, off I went to join the queue. Twenty minutes later, when the veg was now nicely cooked, I arrived back. It can take him a while to cook all that’s needed, especially if he has a few people waiting. The fish, being straight out of the pan, was piping hot and went down a treat. Burger tonight now.

 First thing this morning I booted up the Toshiba, with the intention of using C Cleaner to wipe the C:\ drive. I then thought, ‘hold up, what capabilities are left when that’s done?’ What does this operation actually do and how much does it delete? Most importantly, will I still be able to boot the laptop up with the Recovery Disc in the DVD drive? I’m probably being a wee bit paranoid here, but I would hate to go through the process, only to find I can do nothing more with the laptop. I’ll just have to give it some more consideration.

 Sunday 17^th February

 Yesterday was something of a mixed bag for us. All went well until we collected our mail, when we found the latest quote from our Car Insurers, a brokers who we have used since our days at the shop, who have since been taken over by accompany in Sheerness. We are so used to them hunting around for the most affordable quote; especially now that we only use the car for five months of the year; that their idea of insurance, at over £430 per year, came as something of a disappointment.

 So, having mulled the problem over for just a few short minutes, I popped along to our friend and neighbour, Chris, and asked him who he was insured with. He advised Bradford and Bingley and, after going through their online quote system, we came away with a saving of more than £100. Now, I call that a good days work. Bye, bye, Aston Scott, we won’t be dealing with them again. Which reminds me, I must send them an email, I’m sure they’ll be happy to see the backs of us dodderers!!

 Sadly, I’ve had to abandon the latest pastel painting, which I just don’t feel comfortable with. After two attempts I can see that I really don’t have the ability or patience to give it justice. Instead I’m going to concentrate on the boards for the back doors. However, instead of the fire-breathing dragon and ogre for the smaller boards, I’ll be painting long stemmed flowers.

 My diet, I’m very pleased to say, is coming along just fine. I have now down to 14 stone and 1½ lbs. Unfortunately, Wifey has stalled in her weight loss, but then she doesn’t have as much to lose, so the last few pounds may be something of a hurdle for her. I fully expect the same problem when I approach the 13 stone mark because, as much as I would like to get down to my ideal weight of 12½ stone, I have my doubts about being able to do so. Still, so long as my BMI is well within the norm, I’ll be happy for something less than 13 stone.

 Monday 18^th February

 Less than six weeks to go now and we’ll be on our way around the system again. But, before that we have a week in a cottage up there in the Derbyshire peak district. This is so that we can get the bottom of the boat blacked and we can’t live on board while that’s going on. Knowing how Rusty plays up in the car, the journey will be quite noisy. Still, we’re looking forward to a week of different scenery and lots of walks.

 Tuesday 19^th February

 Pretty darn cold this morning with thick fog, and we have to get Rusty to the vet by 9 am for her booster shots.

 Now, for those of you who take an interest in such things, there follows a rough guide to our 2013 cruise. As usual, this is always subject to change, depending on various situations.

 From Mercia Marina; around about the 26^th March, we’ll be heading:

South west, on the Trent and Mersey, to Fradley, then North west to Great Haywood.

South on the Staffs and Worcester, to Autherley Junction.

North west on the Shroppie to Hurleston Junction, which will take us onto the Llangollen Canal, where we’ll probably spend six weeks, taking in the Montgomery Canal.

Returning to Hurleston Junction and then the Shroppie, we’ll join the Staffs and Worcester back to Great Haywood and the Trent and Mersey to Fradley.

We then take the Coventry Canal South East to Hawkesbury Junction and the North Oxford Canal to Braunston.

From Braunston we take a short run along the Grand Union to Napton and the South Oxford canal to Oxford.

We have no plans for river cruising this year, other than the loop around on the Thames that takes us back onto the South Oxford and back to Napton Junction.

Onto the Grand Union again, where we’ll head south down to our old stamping grounds of Marsworth and Bulbourne, continuing on to Cowroast, where we’ll catch a bus into Tring.

From there we’ll return to Norton Junction and the Leicester Arm and take a run up to Foxton Locks and Market Harborough.

From MH we’ll return south to Braunston then head north west along the Coventry to the Ashby Canal.

Upon leaving the Ashby Canal, we’ll head north west again to Fradley.

From there, after completing more than 600 miles, we’ll head back to Mercia on the Trent and Mercia. Hopefully this will be before the next round of winter weather sets in.

 And that, as I say, is the planned route and subject to change.

 Now, let’s get this posted.

 All the best for now and have a good week.

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 12

Wednesday 6^th February

 We had a short flurry of snow yesterday afternoon, and it’s still pretty cold this morning. We drove into Burton this morning for my eye test at Boots. Ever since purchasing my Vari-focal glasses, they have never measured up to the reading glasses, in that I am unable to read with them for any length of time. The optician did suggest sending them off for new lenses, at their expense, but that would mean being without them for a couple of weeks. In the end we decided to leave it until next November, when I’ll be due another eye test.

 The Cook Shop in Burton has an ‘Everything Must Go’ sale on, so we popped in there for a Casserole Dish that can be used both on the hob and in the oven. We are now the proud owners of a very heavy dish, which cost us the princely sum of £30. They also had a stainless steel one at about £47, but that was too big for us two.

 I am sitting here at the laptop, at 2.30 pm; a most unusual event; because I’m hoping the techy at ‘Three’ will phone and cure this continuing problem of being unable to send emails. Originally the problem was with being unable to forward multiple messages, as you already know, but it escalated a few days ago, into being unable to send emails at all. This problem applies to Outlook 2003 and 2010. I’ve tried all the settings as suggested by ‘Three’, along with those suggested by Absolute Email, but all to no avail. I even tried setting up Mozilla Thunderbird, but that simply adopted my Outlook settings, so I was no better off.

 We seem to be doing quite well on our ‘Bikers’ diet, even though we only lost 1lb last week and the same the week before. I would prefer at least 2lb per week, because that would mean that I would be down to less than 13½ stone by the time we leave here for Cruise 2013. But, even at this slow rate, I should still be below 14 stone which, from over 15, will be a happy result. However, since we are both determined to get down to something approaching normal, we will continue with the diet until we do. In my case this will be less than 13 stone, preferably 12½ stone. Now, that would be a result!!

 Thursday 7^th February

 I have been sitting at both laptops since about 5.30 this morning, it is now 6.15 am. So far, after setting up the Toshiba, with the intention of installing Outlook 2007, when I tried sending a test message with Outlook 2003, away it went.

 But, I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s go back to yesterday.

 After speaking to some useless techie on Tuesday, who promised to get a real techie to phone me, I received a call from an Asian female who, with lots of patronising, eventually suggested that, since I pay them to be able to go online and am able to do so, the fact that I am unable to send emails through Outlook, is not their problem. Great!!

 Anyway, back to this morning. As I said, the first message went out OK using 2003. So, I then booted up the Sony and tried again and, once again using 2010, success. I am now wondering just what the heck is going on here.

 I emailed my findings to Absolute Email and then adjusted my Outlook settings on both machines to those recommended by Absolute. No luck there though. The conclusion I feel I must come to, is that I have an intermittent problem, not just with Absolute, but with Outlook, because sometimes I can send with Three’s settings, but can’t send at all using those given to me by Absolute.

 There are now four more messages awaiting the attention of the techies at Absolute Email. They are now the only people I can work with since Three don’t want to know. However, once I hear from Absolute regarding my efforts this morning, I will then decide whether or not to write to Three’s head office with a formal complaint. It wouldn’t be the first time.

 Watch this space!!

 Actually, that won’t be necessary, because I am going to post this blog now, so you all know about this on-going problem. It does seem to be intermittent, and I can receive emails on all settings. I am simply having problems sending.

 All the best from

 Dave, Sheila and Rusty, who is totally oblivious to all this furore.

Shiralee: Winter 2012/13 # 11

Tuesday 22^nd January

Now, I don’t remember what I told you about Outlook 2010 in my last blog, so I’ll go through some of what went on with it today.

 Firstly, after transferring my emails from the Toshiba to the Sony, or so I thought, when I switched the Sony on this morning and tried to download my emails, I could get no sense out of it at all. Obviously I had done something wrong during the transfer, so I have been reading up on the subject and, as a result, I have gone through the process of saving those emails in a new folder, on a memory stick.

 My next task, I think, is to copy them all over into the Outlook folder in My Documents, on the Sony. I should then, in theory, be able to Import those files into Outlook 2010. In theory! But that’s for tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, I still await a reply from Dave, the man from whom I bought the Sony.

 I get the feeling I’m going to need a big modicum of luck here.

 Thursday 24^th January

 OK. I finally imported all my emails to Outlook but, when it came to running Outlook yesterday morning, I received an error message telling me certain files could not be found. Ooops! Obviously I’ve done something that I shouldn’t have. No matter, after much faffing about following stuff I found online, I finally got it to work, but not quite in the right way. However, having spent even more time looking for info regarding the resetting of Outlook to default, I now know what to do. The trouble is, I’ll lose all my settings and emails and will have to import them all over again. But, not today.

 Meanwhile, the snow is melting and we’ve been promised warmer, wet weather for the weekend. Oh goodie! That’s just what we need, more rain and floods.

 Andy finally fitted a new water pump yesterday morning, this time one that works properly. Apparently, we’re not alone in the problem we had with the other new pump. It seems Shurflow have made a faulty batch and will be receiving quite a few returns in the near future.

 Friday 25^th January

 The New Year is not panning out too well, having got Outlook 2010 to actually run on the Sony, albeit with two profiles, I decided to follow the instructions for resetting it, so that I only have one profile. Now it will not accept my settings at all, so, no email on the Sony. I really am getting so fed up with this damn thing, that I’m seriously considering just using my Yahoo account.

 Sunday 27^th January

 The snow has cleared at last and changed to heavy rain and high winds overnight.

 Our diets are going pretty well, although I only lost 1lb this past week, my fat level dropped and my water level went up, both of which are good things, apparently.

 As for Outlook 2010, well that’s now working, thanks to a stroke of luck on my part, which I couldn’t emulate if I wanted to.

This morning I dedicated to checking that all the programmes and documents on the Toshiba, are either already on the Sony, or are somewhere I can get my hands on them. The next step will be to wipe the HDD on the Toshiba and reinstall the original setup.

 Monday 28^th January

 It’s pretty chilly this morning, but at least the snow has gone.

 Yesterday, for the first Sunday in three weeks, we actually went for a drink. Unfortunately the road to The Bubble was flooded, so we turned around and paid a visit to the Green Man in Willington.

 This morning I have been checking my memory sticks and hard drives for stuff that I may need on the Sony and, as far as I can tell, I’ve now got everything I need. It’s now just a case of deciding which tool to download for wiping the hard drive clean, after which I can re-install the original system details and programmes onto the Toshiba.

 We’ll probably drive into Burton this morning, for want of anything more important.

 Wednesday 30^th January

 We are both becoming rather restless now, but we still have another two months before we hit the waterways again. This time we’ll be heading south, although our original intention was to head for Liverpool and the Ribble Link to Lancaster. However, with the summer we had last year, or didn’t have!, we’ve decided to give those a miss. Our full itinerary will be included in a later blog. We will, however, be cruising parts of the Grand Union and, with a bit of luck, will see old friends from our days at Bulbourne.

Today we’ll be taking the bus into Derby for a spot of retail therapy. Wifey is looking to spend her £10 M&S voucher and we need dog biscuits. All very boring stuff, but also necessary.

 Saturday, assuming the weather holds good, I’ll be paying a visit to Alan in Harlow.

 Thursday 31^st January

 Some time ago, just when I thought things had settled down, I once again had problems forwarding emails through Outlook. Having bought another laptop, which already had Outlook 2010 installed, I also had the problem with that one.

 So, once again I emailed ‘Three’ to see if could be sorted out. After their initial reply, which suggested I give them a call, I did so but, having experienced the usual run around of ‘press 1 for and press 3 for, etc., I finally gave up.

 This morning I received another email suggesting I call them, only this time they suggested that, in order to avoid said run around, I should stipulate a day and time. So, next Tuesday at 2 pm I will be giving them a call.

 Now, I have no doubt that you find all this totally boring but, since I have nothing more important to write about in this blog, what you see is what you get.

 Yesterday we took the bus to Derby, just for a small amount of shopping and to exchange a few books. Unfortunately, we could only find one book that we wanted on our usual stall, so we gave the rest to a charity shop. For some reason best known to them, this stall seems to have multiple books of the same title. I could understand a couple of copies, but some titles have 4 or 5 available. So, it’s back to shopping at charity shops for our books.

 Friday 1^st February

 Well, that’s another month out of the way, only two to go and we’ll be on our way again.

 We have a rather wet start to the day and it’s been chucking it down for a good part of the night. Hopefully it will stop before we go shopping.

 I was going to download a free program with which to wipe my hard drive on the Toshiba but, when I read the reports about it and discovered that it can take up to 12 hours to do the job, I decided against it. Instead I’m going for a programme called Wipe Drive, which costs just $19 and can be used as often as necessary. The freebie, something called Dariks Nuke or some such, can only be used once, after which you have to buy a licence.

 However, I am, once again, on the horns of a dilemma, since the web site for Wipe Drive doesn’t give the size of the programme, and I still have to rely on slow download speeds with the new WiFi unit. I’ve emailed the company for advice but, if I don’t hear from them by tomorrow, when I’m going down to Harlow, I’ll download it from Alan’s computer.

 Saturday 2^nd February

 I’m pleased to say that the weather today is dry and looks as though we’re in for a sunny day. This is good for me because, at motorway speeds my windscreen washers do not do their job. Instead of the water jets hitting the middle of the windscreen, they actually curve outwards and almost bypass the windscreen altogether. Andy has promised he’ll try to fix this, but he hasn’t got around to doing so yet.

 Harlow, here I come! My next entry and probably posting, will be on Monday morning.

 Monday 4^th February

 What do I have to do to get some sense out of ‘Three’, my so called Service Provider? I now have a new laptop, using Outlook 2010 and I also have brand new WiFi unit from ‘Three’ but, can I send emails? No!! So, here I go again.

 Just recently I experienced the usual problem of forwarding a message to multiple email addresses, where at least one address came back as not known. This morning, much to my distress and chagrin, I find I am unable to send messages at all.

 I really am becoming so frustrated with this ongoing problem, that I’m seriously considering cancelling this new contract with ‘Three’. But, since I have already arranged to talk to them tomorrow; they WILL pay for the call; I’ll leave it until then. Meanwhile, as usual, I’ll be using my Yahoo account for emails temporarily.

 Tuesday 5^th February

 I had intended to post this yesterday morning, but Wifey decided to get up, so that was that.

 In the meantime, having exhausted all possible configurations for my WiFi, I am still unable to send. I can log on and receive, but me no sendee. This situation is becoming a total bore.

 Anyway, I decided to check out what was happening on the old, Toshiba laptop. Unbelievable as it may seem, the Internet is not accessible to me on that machine and, whilst going through the diagnostics, a message came up that suggested that the WiFi unit may be at fault, or a driver was not working.

 Now, the last time I used the Toshiba, just a couple of days ago, everything was working perfectly. So, even though I am able to go online with the Sony, could I still have a problem with the WiFi unit? That is the $64,000,000 question, is it not? Therefore, in order to re-test my settings, on both computers, my next step will be to insert the SIM card into the Dongle and try the existing settings through that. Then, if all goes well, I will know I have a dodgy WiFi unit.

 Now, I think I’ll post this, while I can, at least, access the Internet.

 Regards

 

Dave, Sheila and Rusty