New storage space

In order to accommodate the contents of the now non existing settee we had decided to give ourselves easy access to the space we have under the bed. Our friend Pete came up from Brighton to help us do this and also impart some of his professional skills and know how, so that we could procure the hardwood required to patch up the unsightly mess left with the demise of the settee. To this end we have had a very successful day. Pete cut out the doorway and very nice it looks too.

New bedroom cupboard

He also drew up a template onto some hardboard so that we could have the shelving system made to hide the unsightly side panel that we have exposed with the removal of the settee. Many thanks again Pete.

We are starting to get itchy feet, it seems ages since we were really on the move, once we take delivery of the chairs we should be free to move off and start our adventure anew.

Statistics so far:-

536.67 Miles, 447 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Nowhere to sit

I have removed the settee so there is no way back, I am thinking have I done the right thing? Look at all this lovely storage space that we are losing. And more importantly look at the tidying up that has to be done. Still I think back to that day all those weeks ago when we tried out the comfy chairs on Piston Broke, its got to be worth it.

New lounge area

The new chairs are due on Wednesday so it would be nice to have the area tidied up by then. In the meantime we will be using our folding chairs.

I am suffering from little man flu that I picked up from Ralphy, it doesn’t seem to have affected Gaby or Frances to the same extent.

Statistics so far:-

536.67 Miles, 447 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Croxley and back

We reversed up passed Tesco’s to the winding hole and then headed back to the marina in Croxley where we had come from at the weekend, we needed to pump out. We had thought that we were close to a full tank but thought that we would get the extra mileage. The trials of living on a narrow boat.

We came back through with an interesting boat load of people, I walked between locks with a retired doctor who was having his first trip on a narrow boat and thoroughly enjoying it and why wouldn’t he?

I have now finished the shower at home so that leaves us free to pursue the boat work, although there are always things lurking around the corner.

Today we did 5.1 miles and 6 Locks

Statistics so far:-

536.67 Miles, 447 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Retired

This is Frances’ last day at work she retires today. I think that I have also retired; well sort of as I will be consulting but not working fixed hours. So Frances goes out with a bang, a clean break, now she’s working and then now she’s not. I on the other hand go out with a whimper, now I am sort of working and then I am sort of working. As it was we were neither boating nor working so now we can focus on the boating, for a while at any rate.

So from now on we can drop the semi from semi retired and join the waterways adventure full time.

I have just discovered a further over 60’s benefit, the B& Q discount Wednesday for the over 60’s. So I am now a B&Q discount card carrier, is there no end to this, ok I saved £1 today but we are always going to B& Q for bits and pieces. Before too long I will need a trolley to carry my complimentary passes and cards.

I have repaired the toilet at home and I am now resealing the shower, right you all want to know about this, no? Just let me say that I will be glad that it is out of the way so we can start on the boat modifications.

Rickmansworth

Yes we have moved. My Dad came along this morning with my brother Dave and his son William. Gaby dropped off Ralphy and set off on her daily half an hour run as we had our lunch. The forecast for today was heavy rain but this did not materialise as the dull start to the day developed into a glorious sunny event. Gaby returned and Caroline joined us for a very relaxing journey through to Rickmansworth.

William, David, Dad

The family went off towards the end of the afternoon and we were joined by Alan and Sarah for a few drinks and a meal, a very pleasant evening in Rickmansworth we are becoming quite the regulars at the Feathers.

Today we did 2.49 miles and 3 Locks

Statistics so far:-

531.57 Miles, 441 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Crick

We went up to Crick and had a look and try of the various chairs that were being displayed there and eventually settled on the Wilson Commodore chair which was very comfy, cant wait to get settled in with a good book. So now we have to start to take out the built in Settee to make room for these.

We also bought a Cobb cooker to use instead of a BBQ, roll on the hot summer, that’s done it it is going to be wet wet wet. We also bought, from the same stall a Dream Pot which is a slow cooker that uses no power. I will report on how these go over the next few weeks.

The show certainly had better weather than last year when it was a washout. We had a look around some of the boats from the outside but never bothered going in any. There was a good Jazz band playing as we had our lunch. I spoke with the people from Beta marine about adding a generator to the engine, the cost is exorbitant so I think that it will be better to leave things alone and reduce our power consumption. We have a microwave, although this rarely gets used, it goes to make room for the slow cooker.

All in all we had a good few hours at the show buying the things that we went up for and soaking up the beautiful sunshine.

Statistics so far:-

529.08 Miles, 438 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Internet Police

I wondered why my daily hit rate had gone down, well now I know. I was out with two friends last night for a curry, yes another one, and it transpires that my blog has been blocked by the IT powers to be at a large corporate company. I worked for them for 20 years so I know quite a few people there at one stage there was 2000 on our site alone. I am not sure what the internet police are trying to do, no one stops you taking a newspaper into work, which you can read during your break so why not leave personal computers as personal computers and let people decide what they want to do with their machines, providing it is legal of course.

We reversed up to the lock this morning just as a solo narrow boat came along so we went up with him as we rose in the lock it must have looked strange to the boat that came along behind us, couldn’t work out whether we were coming up or down. We then filled up with water and returned to our moorings.

I have just resealed the shower so hopefully it will be business as usual in a couple of days. Still have the stuff to do at home as I have been too busy today reading and playing with VB express. Frances is visiting her friend Ursula.

We are off to the Crick show tomorrow so may catch up with some of you.

Statistics so far:-

529.08 Miles, 438 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Here we go again

Well they do say things come in threes, who ever ‘they’ are. I am, when I get around to it dealing with the leaking loo cistern and adjusting the shower screen at home. This will probably be done tomorrow when Ralphy isn’t there to be entertained. This morning I discovered a leak coming out of the shower cubicle on the boat, so it was everything out of the cupboard and delving into the inaccessible places of a narrowboat where as everyone knows the problems lurk and hide. I thought wasn’t it about this time last year that I was doing this? See here.

Anyway the leak wasn’t coming from the impeller but from the sealant inside the cubicle so I do not have to repeat the contortions of last year, but do I like dealing with sealant, well no. On a positive note, it is a good thing that it has happened now as we can easily pop up home for a shower while I get around to doing it.

Statistics so far:-

529.08 Miles, 438 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Nettle verdict

Well guess what? Nettle risotto tastes of ……………….Nettles. It is not a meal that will be repeated in a hurry, no I mean that it is not a meal that will be repeated ever again. First I think that our definition of early shoots extended into fully grown leaves which may have been a problem. It was a bit of a job roughly chopping and separating the wild life that lives among these leaves, but that aside it all went according to plan and the finished product looked good and apart from the strong nettle taste it was not too bad. I could only manage to eat half of the serving as after a while the nettle taste seemed to dominate the proceedings; Frances however thought it passable and demolished the lot with much bravado and gusto. Correction she suffered her lot and ate it all like the good New Zealander that she is, without complaint.

I went off to chess and had a good time meeting up with people and having my first games in almost a year. When I got back Frances had been through the mill. First she thought that the boat had been excessively rocking and her head had begun to spin and then she had been sick. She was going to call me but felt better after she had thrown up her meal. I was okay but when I say we will not be trying that again, I really mean it.

Tonight my Dad popped over for a visit and we had ….. an Indian takeaway.

Statistics so far:-

529.08 Miles, 438 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.

Narrowboat meals

We have had a good week for meals this week, I usually do all our cooking but of late I had been sticking with well tried recipes or just making things up. This week I decided to expand my repertoire and we have had some excellent meals as a result, my opinion of course.

On Sunday we had “Chicken breasts and Fennel au gratin” with potatoes and green beans, a surprisingly easy dish to make and boy did it taste good. Yesterday we had a Potato and Sage soufflé with salad, the recipe came from the Guardian newspaper also a tasty addition. And finally today we are having Nettle Risotto, now if this is a success there is a plentiful supply along the cut. I will let you know tomorrow.

As we are in Croxley I will be off to the Chess Club for the first time since we left almost a year ago, probably not a lot of chess but maybe some catching up.

Statistics so far:-

529.08 Miles, 438 Locks, 47 Swing Bridges, 27 Lift Bridges, 6 Tunnels.