Its over for another year!!!!!!

Well that's it Christmas is over, just got to get New Years eve out of the way and we can hopefully have a good beginning to the new year as the end of this one has been pants. Paul has had so much bad news over the past fortnight that I feel what we need is to go to sleep and wake up in 2012.

Moaning over with onto the positive stuff, we have had a few get togethers over the festive period which was nice and a few lovely sunrises.

 

This morning we had to move as the water tank was nearly empty and the boat was full of rubbish from the massive amount of presents we received (I wish). That achieved we are now settled again.

Paul has tried the fishing lark again but hasn't been as successful as he was the day it rained but he wont give up he will be out there come rain or shine.

Met Jo and Keith nb Hadar yesterday when we paid Oakfield a visit which was nice, no doubt our paths will cross again.

Just realised I didn't post photos of the finished painted wall.

Looks nice doesn't it we cant believe the difference it makes, good job we sit facing this wall and the one to be done is behind us. The wind has got up again cant believe just how windy it has been lately no doubt there will be some intrepid boaters who will come by.

Think he’s lost it!!!!!!!!!!!

Over the past couple of days Paul has been chatting to a fisherman here who has caught loads of fish, Paul I might add has caught none. Technique was discussed and we found out there is a fishing shop in Rugby so guess where we went yesterday in the rain! Once back on the boat, well I got on the boat Paul got the rod set up and off he went. By this time the rain was torrential when I looked out of the boat he was nowhere to be seen, now if I had asked him to go for a walk in the rain the comments would have been unprintable, I suppose fishing in the rain is different. When he did finally return about two hours later to say that he was a happy bunny was an understatement he tells me he had caught 46 fish and then lost his “jelly” (I think he lost his marbles). We then walked up to Oakfield for coffee and cake Paul looking like a drowned rat.

This morning he has been out again at least I have been able to get on with the cleaning with no interuptions.

Think we may pop over the pub for a pre Christmas drink that's if I can tear him away from his fishing that is………..

Spots have gone.

Yes everything seems to be on the mend, spots gone and the nerve pain is a lot less thanks to the pills.

We are back at Braunston ready for Christmas all the shopping is done and I refuse to set foot in a supermarket again until the New Year.

For a couple of weeks now I have been telling Paul that the pump sounds strange and of course he poo hoo’d it saying that the sound hadn't changed at all. When we moored up Paul went to make the fire up and the glove we use to open the door of the fire was wet. On investigation Paul found that the pump was leaking (smug look appears on my face) there was a lot of mumbling and cursing, Paul then removed the pump and on inspection found that it was leaking in the normal place round the housing seal. Knowing that a good clean up doesn't always remedy the leak nor does fitting a housing kit, and as it was getting late he decided it was a good opportunity to up the size of the pump to give more power in the shower. So then it was down to Midland Chandlers for a new pump. After they had mugged his wallet it was back to the boat to get it fitted. Because it is the next size pump a slight pipe alteration had to be made, switched on hey presto everything worked. At least we don't have to turn the taps on full at the sink now. I have tried the shower out and now have to stand in the corner to avoid being peppered by the water. He has also stripped the old pump down given it a thorough clean and during re-assembly found one of the self tapping screws that holds the outer casing on to the inner casing had stripped the thread in the plastic this was duly replaced with a nut and bolt. This pump was then tested with a bucket of water and all appears okay even during a pressure test.

One job that has been finally done after being put off for weeks is the oil and filter change glad to say I was in Daventry at the time.

I did bite the bullet and get a wireless dongle from 3, it is pay as you go and really I wanted it as a back up as the Vodafone one is so slow here. Well we just couldn’t believe how quick it was and the signal is brilliant, so much so that Paul can speak to his brother in Oz with no problems at all and I have used all the data up in 2 weeks so will have to see about putting some more money on it for the Christmas period. Will have to see if it is good everywhere if so we will cancel the contract with Vodafone when it is due for renewal.

The three grey beards are back together again and we are looking forward to spending some time with one another over the Christmas period, hope Graham has got plenty of beers in……….

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our followers and friends a very Happy Christmas and a peaceful 2012.

Why me??

Yesterday I got an early Christmas present. not one that I wanted mind you I found out that I have got Shingles. Lucky old me, so one more pill to take every day with the possibility of it lasting at least a month.

The painting is finished now the last of it done this morning, pictures are back up  so that side is back to normal. Think it will be a while before the other side gets done as there is still the 3 windows to be removed and varnished and cant see that happening before the spring….

The 3 musketeers are together getting ready for Christmas should be good, nice to be able to spend it with friends.

Suddenly remembered that a year a go today we came out of the yard and were iced in. Cant believe how quickly this year has gone. 

Stupid stupid woman

Okay I hold my hands up I am stupid. Yesterday after writing the  blog I sat down quietly (no parrot) went through the Live Writer again and lo and behold everything was accepted so Live Writer was successfully set up on the new laptop, what had I done? Well I had got my commas and my full stops mixed up so the e mail address was all to cock. At least I have it sorted now. With hindsight perhaps I am not so stupid it must have been my little friend wittering away that made me press the wrong buttons.

We have moved today had the help of the wind when we came to wind at least the engine has had a bit of a run and Gosty is due later on so we will be set up  in readiness for this bad weather that is due.

Hopefully the rest of the painting will get done this weekend then before you know it it will be Christmas and we can have a rest………

Bugger bugger bugger.

First things first. Paul is officially now an OAP, his birthday was on Friday and so now he is a 65 year old who thinks (or wishes) he is a 25 year old. 8 of us went out for a meal on the friday so thank you Anne, Keith, Betty, Graham, Angela and John for a lovely evening as it was Keiths birthday too it was doubly special.  There has been a delay in writing this for two reasons, the first being I have been to Kent for a pre Christmas get together with all my family and the second reason is we have finally bought our new lap top and so I have been busy downloading stuff and adding things to my desktop. I have hit one snag though and it is really bugging me. I have tried to download Live Writer to enable me to write the blog off line, we have it on the notebook and it is so convenient as the photos upload quicker, any way the new Live Writer is a 2011 version so I sat while it did its stuff and then you had to put in blog address user name and password which I did then I got this message saying that the username/password were in correct. Now this had me baffled as I thought the username was your email address any way I sat for ages trying all different combinations and in the end gave up and have resorted to writing the blog on the writer on the notebook. Also created a short cut for the actual blog so thought I would go into compose and do it that way sat there wrote it clicked on publish and got absolutely nothing so at the moment the little notebook is doing the business until I can sit and go through everything without my little oap parrot sitting on my shoulder saying “what is it doing now” and “how about if you click on this or that” by which time I am ready to jump in the canal.

The wind we have been having is also winding me up I can cope with it during the day but hate lying in bed listening to it, especially as Paul and the two dogs are usually snoring away.

So I am now going to tackle the laptop sit and slowly go through everything while Paul is watching an old black and white movie.

Who’d have thought it?

As we haven't been anywhere there has been no point in writing anything and like a lot of us continuous cruisers the winter time seems to be spent in a spot for a week or two then on to the next one.

I managed to get to the dentist on the right day at the right time and didn't need any treatment so that was a bit of a result.

This morning saw Tranquility setting off to Napton as they need water and want to catch the bus to Leamington Spa. So we got stuck in to a spot of wallpapering. Now I never thought that we would be doing this again especially now we are on a boat. The reason? Well when we had the boat stretched the bedroom and bathroom panels above the gunnel line  were painted and as we liked it so much we decided to do the panels in the lounge as well. We had planned to paint the woodwork but when Pauls brother came over he suggested putting up lining paper and then painting that. Then, should we ever sell the boat if someone doesn't like the painted look the paper can be removed, that is the theory behind it anyway. ( such a bummer when your 80 year old brother is right for once…….. Happy Birthday Eric)

One panel was done and painted a few days ago and this is the result. We used vinyl coated lining paper and the paint is a satinwood finish  emulsion called Wild Bamboo. Obviously looks better in the flesh.

looks okay doesn't it.

This is today's work.

This was a bit fiddly as the the final drop was about 2inches wide.

Doing round the window was a pain but at least the last bit was wider than the other panel. So that is two more panels  papered, these will be painted tomorrow, only two left on that side, don’t want to rush things.

Crystal was oblivious to everything going on around her, looks like she needs a bigger bed.