We arrived home to find Jack lying in wait for us, so despite tired legs I had a short tow path walk with him - no sign of the elusive kingfisher though!
This morning we did our usual morning chores as well as some less frequent ones, such as changing the toilet cassettes over and giving the one we have been using, a thorough chemical clean and 24 hour soak which needs to be done about every 6 months. Of course chemical fluid needs to be put in every time it is changed, but it does need a deep clean every so often, hence the need for two of them.
The water tank needed filling, but once again I had neglected to get the hose in last night and when I checked it this morning little bullets of ice shot out, but luckily it wasn't frozen solid.
The other thing that needed doing was checking for damp in the wardrobes. They seem to have held up very well this year. Last year we were shocked when one day I pulled out a jumper from deep in the wardrobe and it was wet. That was quite a learning curve, we didn't realise that air needed to circulate, that you couldn't cram the wardrobes full and that you have to leave the doors open occasionally and put stuff that soaks up damp in there. Today I checked the containers full of salt (which is a cheap way of collecting excess moisture) and also looked at the silicon crystals, (which is a more expensive way and requires more maintenance). The salt was quite wet so I chucked it out on the decking (which worked really well as it is quite icy out there) and replaced it. The silicon goes in the microwave and the crystals change from green to orange as they dry out:
It was a productive day overall. Jack blagged a walk out of me again and then had some leftover ham having given me the whippet melting eyes look. I did some more work on my websites and then it was the Sunday weigh in......
We had great neighbours at our old house, they were fun people and we got on really well. We all wanted to be slightly lighter than we were, so we invented the Sunday weigh in. They would pop round every Sunday at about 5pm and we would all weigh ourselves. Phil would religiously record it and every six months a certificate would be awarded to the person who had lost the most weight. In reality no one lost very much and we never took it very seriously, but it was great fun and a good excuse for a bit of banter and socialising on a Sunday evening.
I am sad to say that I am now back to the weight I was before I went to India. I lost a stone while I was there and had the pleasure of eating what I wanted after I came back - oh bliss! All of a sudden I have to watch what I eat again.
We miss our old neighbours very much. Our back doors were always open and we would pop in and out of each other's houses with no problem, but we had that psychological barrier of brick walls to prevent us from getting too close and we respected each others space. On the marina you have to be careful because everyone lives in very close proximity and it is easy to get just a little bit too close. There needs to be just a bit more distance in order to preserve privacy and respect. Most people understand that, but occasionally you get a boat which upsets the whole balance. You may find boaters a little reticent when you first appear on a marina, it is just because people are cautious.
Al
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