Sunshine and Wood

I have just read my last blog. Oh dear, what a rant! I feel slightly ashamed of myself for being so churlish and inhospitable. In my defence I think I have been a bit miserable because of the awful wet and dull weather we have been having lately.

I was very cheered yesterday to see bright sunshine for the first time in ages and the days are getting longer. All of a sudden, all is well with the world and I am feeling much more charitable towards other people.

We were looking after Jack the Whippet for the whole day yesterday, so we decided to incorporate a lovely sunny walk down the tow path with some wood collecting. Bringing back two pieces of wood a day was not really efficient, particularly in view of the fact that there is so much there. So Phil drove the car down and parked it on the bridge nearest to the wood pile and Jack and I met him there having walked down the tow path. We filled several sacks with it and also put some very long branches on the back seat. Phil then drove it back while Jack and I walked.

Here is our haul:

 

 

We were really frustrated about only seeing the kingfisher fleetingly the other day, so we have set up what is supposed to be a Kingfisher magnet! A long stick which they like to land on and possibly fish from. I have attached it to the jetty opposite and we have a good view from our galley window, so fingers crossed:

 

 

 

We have had marginally more success with owls. We went out owl hunting the other afternoon and saw a grand total of four! However they were all too far away to get a decent photo, two of them we saw from the car, so the photos I took were very blurred:

 

 

We won't give up though and I'm determined to get a close up shot with the new camera lens I bought in Malaysia.

 

Today we have been entertaining some very old and very good friends and I have to say I really enjoyed their company. Now it is time to watch the rugby - here's hoping that Wales beat France ;)

 

Al



Visitors, Gym membership and conquering the damp

I've not posted for a while because I haven't had much time. This is largely due to the huge numbers of visitors we have had over the past two weeks. I'm having problems with this because I just can't get a free day without someone or other turning up. In fact it is beginning to be quite an issue for me.

When we lived in a house we often had friends or neighbours calling round and it didn't really bother me then, so I have tried to rationalise what is different about being on the boat and how that affects my attitude. I have put it down to many issues.

For a start we get more people coming to see us because they are curious about our life style, so we tend to be visited by acquaintances rather than friends and sometimes even people we hardly know. These people seem to make the assumption that because of our apparently relaxed lifestyle, we don't have any thing better to do than sit around all day chatting and so they nearly always outstay their welcome. Last week we had to explain that we had an appointment and it was only after we had got all our things together, put our coats on and were heading for the door that the visitor showed any sign of moving and even then he complained that we were 'slinging him out' !

The other problem is that normal 'house' rules don't seem to apply. People do things they would never dream of doing when visiting people who live in houses. For instance, turning up without any notice and peering in at the windows to see if you are in, opening the hatch and just walking in without being invited, which you would never do through someone's front door in a house. The other problem is that the boat is a small space, so things that may not have bothered me in our house, like people spilling coffee, unruly animals who run all over the place including the kitchen and bedroom and un-housetrained dogs who decide to use the boat floor as a toilet, all upset me a great deal! I feel like a bit of a hypocrite on the subject of dogs, because Jack the Whippet is pretty much allowed to do what he wants, including sleeping on the bed, but he is part of the family, even though he is not our dog, so he is allowed!

Well that's my rant over with, it has really bugged me recently though, because I haven't been able to get anything much done.

On the plus side the Marina has settled down really well. The boat that I had a problem with has now left and everyone else on the Marina are lovely and understand the unspoken rules ... we all pass the time of day, but no one bothers anyone else or goes on any one elses boat. That all sounds quite unfriendly, but it isn't, it is just part of respecting each others's space.

This week, I have had a couple of free days and have caught up to some extent. I have spent the mornings practising my piano at the University and the afternoons doing boaty chores - bliss! I know lots of people who have joined a Gym as part of their new year resolution this year. Some have been delighted at the special offers they have obtained, only paying £20 - £30 per month. Well I get a superb work out most days and don't have to pay a thing! My morning bike ride up to the university is a 5 mile return trip with one big hill to climb. In the afternoon I often walk Jack the Whippet. A tree has been felled about a mile down the towpath so over the past couple of weeks, we have walked that way and I have brought back wood. The nice British Waterways workers have kindly left the wood cut up into manageable branches, so I manage to carry one branch in each hand, each weighing about 4kg. As I walk along the tow path I do 'reps' with them as you would with weights in a Gym. Luckily there is very rarely anyone on that part of the tow path at that time of day! Then when I get home, I saw it and chop it and put it away to season for a year in our wood store. I defy anyone to get a better work out than that!!

News on the damp problem..... The Dehumidifier has been amazing! Over the last couple of days we have had it running in the bedroom nearly all day and have had to change the tank (several litres worth) three times. The wardrobes are now bone dry and the damp smell has disappeared. Success! However, we do need to address the root cause of the problem, so we have a 'weather station' device in there which tells us all the information we need at all times. We noticed that the humidity goes up when I'm cooking, so we now shut the door between the kitchen and the bedroom whenever I'm cooking. There is always condensation overnight, but that is inevitable when two people are breathing in a small space. However, we intend to open a window at night to get some air flow when the weather gets a bit warmer. Apparently central heating is also not a very dry heat. We only run ours in the morning until we get the fire going, but apparently a wood burner is the best form of heat, so we will endeavour to use it more.

We will continue to monitor the situation and I will keep posting our progress, so do watch this space.

Today I walked into the kitchen and there staring at me, sitting on the bow of the boat next door was a Kingfisher. He flew off as soon as he saw me, so I didn't get a picture, but he was so close I was able to see all his colours and it was an amazing experience. We are going to attach a long twig to the bow over the next couple of days to try and entice him and are hoping to see more of him, so watch this space. I'm sure I'll be able to get a picture before long....

Al :)

Brinkmanship, Fuel and Damp

The subject of this blog is all about utilities, how much they cost and how often they are replenished ...

The one that prompted this post is gas. Our gas locker is in the bow of the boat and there is room for two big gas bottles in it. However with two bottles there is no room for anyone to get down into the locker so we usually keep a spare bottle in the cratch (bow deck) rather than in the locker. Every so often we check the status of the bottle which is in use. There is no scientific way of doing this. We get down in the locker, lift the bottle up and judge by  the 'feel' of how heavy it is whether we need to change the bottles over or not.

Phil is a great fan of 'brinkmanship'. He will often joke about which one of us has the most 'guts' and who will give way first when things need changing over. The one we disagree about most is the toilet cassette. The one thing I really couldn't tolerate is an over full cassette, the consequences don't bear thinking about! We used to only possess one cassette, but we soon realised that two are vital and the spare one kept within easy reach. Before we bought a spare I would often be found walking up to the disposal point late at night, because I couldn't be sure that the wee in the middle of the night would be the tipping point. I no longer have to make those late night journeys as we are able to take a full one out and slip in the empty one and then dispose of the full one at our leisure.

We have been caught out once with an empty water tank halfway through a washing machine programme. There was a dreadful noise as the pump tried to pump fresh air and it very nearly got completely burnt out. Lesson learned .... I fill up with water every weekend now whether we need it or not.

Last week was the first time we have been caught out on the gas supply. We had checked it a couple of weeks ago and Phil had his 'mean head' on. He decided he wasn't going to change over a gas bottle with the possibility of there being enough gas in it for another few meals, so he assured me that there was 'plenty in the bottle'. Famous last words .... halfway through cooking a roast dinner I was wondering why the potatoes had failed to come to the boil, only to discover that the gas had run out. Unfortunately it was about 7pm and freezing fog outside, so it was not the best time to be pirouetting on the edge of the a very slippery bow deck, inches from the canal trying to ease a full (very heavy) gas bottle into the locker. Having said that, every cloud has a silver lining and it was nice to know that we had used every last once of gas and hadn't wasted any!

That cylinder probably lasted us about 5 months and it costs £26 to replace it, so that works out at about £5 per month for all our cooking. Our electric bill this quarter was £37 and that included power for a wall mounted storage heater, which in the cold weather is on all day and just takes the chill off the boat. All of our wood for the fire is free, because I either forage for it or we get it from friends who have been doing DIY and have left over fences, offcuts etc. We do buy them a few beers but still the cost is negligible. We have used quite a bit of coal recently as the weather has been very cold and we neede to use about 2 bags of coal every week which cost £7 each. The only other fuel expense is diesel for our central heating which we have on for a couple of hours first thing in the morning until we get the wood burner up and running. One 20 litre can costs about £15 and we put this amount in every week, but this is only during the coldest few weeks of the year. This means that our fuel at this time of year (which is the heaviest usage) costs us a total of £33 per week. This probably sounds like quite alot, but bear in mind that this is the coldest time of year and in summer we use hardly any, (although we would use more diesel for cruising).

The other problem at this time of year is damp. I have mentioned this on numerous occasions and I have tried all sorts of solutions, including damp collecting tubs which are relatively cheap and leaving the wardrobe doors open all the time. Nothing has worked! Most of the boat is fine, it is just the bedroom which is a problem, the wardrobes and under the bed, because it is the furthest away from the fire. We have decided to buy a dehumidifier and I will keep you posted on whether it solves the problem. The one we are looking at costs about £180 and the running costs are about the same as the storage heater so won't impact our fuel bills at all really.

I have been busy catching up with work stuff recently but we managed to have a lovely walk at Coniston last week. The mist was in the valley and once we got above it the skies were clear:

 

 

The canal froze the other day and we have had some snow, but it is not as cold as it was a couple of years ago:

 



The ducks didn't have anywhere to swim though!

I haven't been posting regularly as life just seems to be so busy at the moment but I hope to start again on more regular updates on our life afloat.

Al :)

Home Sweet Home

After a couple of months in the warmth and sunshine of Malaysia, I'm back to cold, grey England! Everything about Malaysia was sunny; the climate, the people who were warm and friendly and everyone seemed to be happy! Maybe it is the dearth of sunlight and consequent vitamin D which makes us Brits so stoic!

Having said all that, it is great to be home and back on our lovely boat. You could have fitted the boat twice over into the hotel room I stayed in for most of the trip, but it is so cosy and I really don't mind the fact that even in the middle of the day, it still is dark enough outside to look like dusk, with the sun barely making an impression:

Having only had to worry about keeping cool over the last few weeks, I am now in full 'how to keep warm' mode. Our wood store seems to have taken quite a bashing while I have been away:

.... and in addition we had a small crisis on Christmas eve when we ran out of kindling.

I suggested to Phil that we went out and bought some and watched him as he came out in a cold sweat! Buying wood is something we are determined not to do, especially kindling which is expensive for what you get. We had got to the point where we had a fire to light and had nothing to light it with and I was beginning to lose patience, when Phil said he was going to have a last 'recci' around the marina to try and find something. Unbelievably, a few minutes later he reappeared with a complete bed headboard which someone had thrown over the hedge into our top car park!!

We set to with saw and axe and we now have enough kindling to last at least a week!

It is odd how things work out like that. Another boater friend of ours said she was nearly out of wood and was worrying what she was going to do for firewood, when she passed a tree on the tow path which had just come down. A few hours later after some work with her chainsaw, she had filled the roof of her boat with enough wood for several months. I'm sure that someone up there is looking after us and gives us just what we need when we need it!

It is great to get back to doing chores and physical stuff after working behind a desk for the best part of two months. I feel quite out of condition and it felt really good doing some chopping and sawing yesterday. We were also looking after Jack the whippet for the day and he and I had a lovely walk along the tow path.

It's also time to catch up with the produce. The damson and plum gin has been steeping nicely and it is time to decant it. I started before Christmas but ran out of decanters and bottles to put it in. Here is a decanter of damson gin which took a bit of a hammering yesterday when some boater friends of ours called in for a Christmas drink! We bought two lovely little pewter cups in Kuala Lumpur which are just perfect for a snifter of fruit gin:

I am also going to make chocolates from the left over fruit and I haven't had the chance to make mince pies yet which is a tradition which I can't miss this year, so it's going to be a full baking session today! As it is pouring with rain outside again there's not a lot else I can do!

Al :)

Last post for a while

The last few days have been spent preparing for an eight week work stint. I am due to fly to the other side of the world for work committments on Friday so am making the most of the autumn weather while I am here. As usual we have had some spectacular sunsets:

 Even during the day the canal is so attractive:

 I have been sorting out all my produce before I go. The pickled onions are ready, but I am leaving most of the plum gin, damson brandy and blackberry whisky to mature until I return from my trip. I did decant one or two jars though and they are already tasting very promising.

I was walking through the market the other day and the fruit stall was trying to get rid of its overripe bananas. I got about 20 bananas for 50p, so today I made a big batch of banana bread:

   

As a result of all this T and I have done a great trade in produce - she brought me several jars of green and red tomato chutney in exchange for some plum gin, strawberry vodka and banana bread. A on the boat next door brought some sausages round, in exchange for meals we have cooked for him during the week so we all fed on sausage, mash and onion gravy for tea. I love the currency on the Marina!!

We had our last trip away together a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I travel to foreign parts I always have to have a 'top up' of English scenery before I go. We stayed at our favourite hotel at Haweswater, which is our most loved lakeland valley. We were not disappointed with the scenery or the weather:

The reflection of the hills and vegetation on the water was stunning!!  It was difficult to tell where the hills stopped and the water started:

 The view from the hotel was gorgeous too:

We decided to do quite a high level walk, but nothing dodgy, only a little bit of mild scrambling:

We walked up past this lovely tarn ......

 .... and the views from the top were fantastic:

I probably won't be posting for a while as I fly out on Friday and am straight into work mode, but I will be back just in time for Christmas. We have booked a canal side hotel for a few days over Christmas so that we have the space to all spend time together as a family, so I will be back posting again in a few weeks.

I am going to miss all my friends and family so much while I'm away, but especially Jack the Whippet. He paid us a visit last night and you can see by the grin on his face and his body language that he enjoyed his visit!

That may be something to do with the long walk I took him for, followed by some left over scraps of pork (including crackling) that he scrounged from our tea left overs and finally a good doss on the bed which is the warmest place on the boat due to the eco fan throwing the heat of the fire to that end of the boat.

Al ;)

A short trip north

At last the weather is fine and despite both being full of cold, we felt we needed to get out, so cast off early for the two hour cruise up to town. Here is the boat nearly ready to leave:

We had a lovely quiet trip up and the canal was peaceful, sunny and leafy:

 

 

There are some lovely open stretches too:

 



 

 

As we were coming into the city I was at the tiller and a lady was walking her dog along the tow path. She stopped and scanned boat as we slid by and as I came abreast of her she said 'That is stunning!' I felt very proud and thanked her and said that we thought so too! Our boat is very striking with the Osprey painting on the side which a good friend of mine did and it is lovely when people comment on it.

  

We arrived at the basin without incident and moored up close to the pub. It so happens that a boater friend of ours is moored next to us and we will probably fall into the pub later for a drink with her:

 



The only problem with being on the tow path,(apart from the mud), is the way people peer in at your windows as they walk past. Many boaters close their curtains on the tow path side and just leave the canal side curtains open, but I think this makes the boat too dark.

Anyway, it is great to be out and about and to spend a night on battery power rather than having the luxury of electric hook up . We are due to sail back to the marina tomorrow, because I have a lot of work to do in preparation for a work trip to Malaysia in November, but for now the fire is lit and we are warm, relaxed and cosy. It doesn't get much better!

Al :)

More Produce

It has rained non stop today and for the first time in ages I haven't actually set foot off the boat!

We have lit the fire although it is not really cold, it is just so miserable outside and we wanted something to make us feel cosy. Son number one came to visit for lunch and we had a lovely family few hours.

This afternoon, I made myself do some paper work and then decided to decant the first batch of  Plum Gin I prepared about eight weeks ago. Phil has been complaining about the boat being like a distillery as every cupboard he opens has jars in varying stages of maturity. I decided that, once I have decanted these, the rest can wait until I return from Malaysia in December, so I put all the jars under the bed to store:

They don't all contain alcohol, there are some jars of pickled onions there as well!

I decanted the gin into some of the bottles my friend bought me at the car boot a few weeks ago and I think it looks lovely:

I was then left with the dilemma as to what to do with the plums. I can't waste them, so I made some liqueur chocolates which don't look great, but taste fabulous:

 

 

I still have plenty of fruit left, so I think an alcoholic Crumble or Eton Mess, (using plums instead of strawberries) will be on the menu for pudding tonight!

 

I was on a creative roll, so set to to make some shower gel, using my favourite essential oils, Rose and Geranium.

 

Phil asked me cheekily where my pinny was as I've been such a little home maker today !!

 

It has been a productive day and it proves that I don't have to get cabin fever if I'm stuck on the boat for a day.

 

:)