Sue
Midweek boating
Two of my grandchildren are stopping with us for a few days. They are growing up now and it might not be much longer before fourteen year old Liam just wants to be with his friends all of the time so I am making the most of it. When we were at home yesterday I taught eleven year old Chloe how to make bread and she is so enthusiastic about everything that she really is a pleasure to teach.
Yesterday afternoon, the four of us came over to stop on the boat for a couple of days. Today George has gone off to work today but he is finishing a bit earlier and we are taking Caxton out for a few hours to let my grandchildren do a bit of fishing out on the canal.
At lunchtime I took them both to The Admiral Nelson for lunch and when we arrived at midday we were the first to order. The food is very good but we had to wait 50 minutes which I felt was a long time considering that we were the first to order. I know that the food is cooked to order but 50 minutes for two lots of chips, one garlic bread, one burger and a cold ham meal is stretching it a bit.
We are now sitting in the cratch enjoying the glorious sunshine waiting for George to arrive home.
Something sad.
When we had our first boat trip to Shackerstone many moons ago we went to have a look around the very pretty little village with its just as pretty church. In the churchyard near the front entrance to the church we spotted a gravestone which filled us both with sadness. The gravestone tells a very sad story of the demise of a boy who was born the same year as me, and his younger sister. When we were moored at Hinckley we travelled up and down The Ashby Canal on a regular basis and we often used to call at Shackerstone and pay our respects to these young children and very often I would pick wild flowers on the way to put on the grave. We took the train to Shackerstone and visited again today and we were both touched by the same sadness.
A tragic tale
Through The Keyhole
George booked a day off work today because we were going to Pinewood studios to be in the audience of a tv show recording. We decided to travel via Braunston so that we could drop off some stuff at the boat and then return to her this evening.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to fill in some online forms to be part of the audience of a couple of tv shows and to my surprise I received free tickets for the recording of Keith Lemon’s “Through The Keyhole”. I also won tickets to go to the recording of “Let’s Do Lunch” with Gino D’acampo.
We were only three rows from the front today so the celebs were very close to us. We saw Keith Lemon, Fearne Cotton, Craig Charles, David Dickinson, Clare Sweeney and one of the members of the boy band JLS. The show was hilarious.
Next Wednesday we will be going to London to see Gino and that show is live on ITV at lunchtime, so that should be fun.
Tomorrow George will be going to work for a few hours and I will be chilling out in the conservatory..aka cratch. The weather is looking ok for the next couple of days so we will be taking Caxton out when George gets home.
Busy Weekend.
We came over to the boat on Thursday afternoon this week and George went off to work Friday morning while I pottered about. I got up and had my shower before I headed off up to the village to visit my friend Jane for a ” Ladies wot lunch ” ( and ladies wot drink wine of course ). For those who know Braunston, Jane lives in the house with the ” Hovis ” sign, which used to be a bakery funnily enough. We had a good old natter and then Jane waved me off and I went back to the boat. I had made our dinner in the morning and it was cooking in the slow cooker while we were away. George and I decided not to venture out of the marina this weekend, so we sat out in the conservatory aka: the cratch, until 9..30 enjoying each other’s company and chatting about our day.
On Saturday we went and did some shopping in the morning and then George did a couple of jobs on the boat. He fixed a dripping tap and changed the water filter cartridge and he also fixed my new sign on the bedroom wall.
I bought the sign because when we first went to see Caxton I fell instantly in love with her and as soon as Paul and Elaine said ” Hello”, I wanted to say, “I want your boat “.
When George had finished in the kitchen I did some baking. I make bread by hand when we are on the boat and today I also made a lemon drizzle cake..Mmmmm.. Yummy.
If you ever fancy making a loaf by hand I have a secret ingredient for you.. coffee whitener. I always add a tablespoon to any loaf that I make and it is always delicious..or it could be that I am just a bloody brilliant cook.
It is now 7.25 in the evening and we are sitting in our lovely cratch enjoying a drink together in the sunshine.
Contentment
So what is the meaning of contentment…….We have stayed in Braunston this weekend because it has been the weekend of the ” Braunston Historic Narrowboat Rally” and I think that this has been pretty close to my idea of contentment. Friday night George received a message off Mike which said ” I am in the beer tent and I owe you a pint”. George knows Mike through work but I had never met his wife Jane, who turned out to be great company, so Friday night was great fun. Saturday there was a lot of rain so we hung around the boat but Sunday was a different kettle of fish altogether. I was cooking breakfast and there was a knock on the boat. It turned out to be Lesley and Joe who were the people who commissioned and designed “Caxton”. I love our boat so I really admire Lesley and Joe and it was lovely to meet them.
Sunday was hot and sunny so we met up with Mike and Jane again and enjoyed sunshine, wine and great company while sitting outside the beer tent. It is now 7.30 and we are now sitting in the conservatory..aka cratch, enjoying the sunshine while drinking wine and beer….
Chips and beer.
George went off to work at 7 o’clock this morning and I turned over and went back to sleep because I am a lazy bugger. I dragged myself from my pit at 9.20 and ground some coffee beans for my cafetiere which I drank in my conservatory..aka cratch. About one hour later I got myself cleaned up and dressed and decided that I had better do some work to justify being a stay at home housewife or domestic goddess as I prefer to be known. I made some multi grain bread rolls by hand, dusted the inside of the boat, sorted the clothes in the wardrobes, cleaned the windows and put the pots in the dishwasher and sat down in my conservatory again because that is enough work for one day in my opinion.
The boats have begun to arrive today for tomorrows parade of ” Braunstons Historic Narrowboat Rally ” and we will have a great view of it because I am a nag. When we brought Caxton back to Braunston we were shoved at the back of the marina in a dingy hidden mooring because we were told that there was not another mooring available for a boat of 68 feet, so for several weeks I went to the marina office and nagged and nagged and now we have a super mooring right near to the marina entrance with a full view of the parade as it passes through the marina, plus we are only about 25 yards from the chip van which suits me and 100 yards from the beer tent which suits George.
Later in the day.
I polished the side of the boat this morning and the product works because it looks lovely.
Everyone seems to be very busy here in Braunston getting ready for the boat show and I have made my preparations too because I have been up to the butchers to buy a piece of shoulder of pork. I know that you are thinking ” What has a piece of pork got to do with the boat show”!!!!! well I will explain. When we visited the boat show two years ago we went to a stall called “Smithy’s”…named and shamed…to buy two hot pork rolls. The girl made them up and then said ” That will be £10 please”….I was well and truly gobsmacked at the price but it gets worse. We sat near the stall eating the rolls and the girl had a break. She smoked her ciggy, picked some dried mud from the bottom of her shoes and then went back to serve people without washing her hands.
I now make our pork rolls as a tradition every boat show and they are much tastier and I know that my personal hygeine is good too.
Rise and shine.
Sue here again.
When George had gone to work, I got up and put the bed away. Caxton has a crossways bed which is brilliant for space because it is about five feet wide and is very easy to put away. I like the cross bed because it gives the look of a proper bedroom too because there is a bedside cabinet each side of the bed. You have a compromise however because the length of the bed is dictated by the internal width of the boat minus the gunwales. George is six feet tall so it is a bit short for him but he said that he finds it really comfy and we both prefer the extra width and if you see us out on the system you will understand why.
Yippee.
I am excited today because we are going to the boat this afternoon for four days. George is going to travel to work from the boat on Thursday and Friday. Tonight we will wash one side of the boat and then I am going to polish it tomorrow while George is at work and then we will turn her round Tomorrow night and do the same on the other side. I have bought a product called ” Grease Lightning Showroom Shine ” from Amazon. It has rave reviews stating that “You just spray it on and polish it off and the shine it leaves is amazing, and it also stays cleaner for longer”. At £34.99 for 3.8 litres it had better be bloody good. I will let you know tomorrow. Sue xxx
Lovely Day
Sue here
It has been a gorgeous day today, sunny and hot. We set off from the marina at about 4.30 after filling the water tank.I have a love for this boat that I did not think was possible and miss her terribly whenever we go back to the house. We both feel the same way about her, which is good. We are sitting here in the cratch chilling out while watching the sun go down. Tomorrow we are going to travel to Long Itchington.