Wednesday 15 September 2010

The quays and back.

Picked up the new washing machine and delivered it to the boat where it was a very tight fit. I have engaged the services of someone who knows what he is doing to fit the washer in the boat. This means removing the bath, fitting a shower unit and the spare space created being used to accommodate the washer and dryer.

This week has been a quiet and subdued week as the funeral of a cousin of Mag's drew near. On Friday the weather was typically awful and seemed to fit in with the sombre mood. The "Wake" was held at the home of Mag's cousin David. It was good for Mag's to get to speak with some of her long lost relatives' - some who had not seen each other since their school days. The sentiment on the flower card highlighted that the loss of one family member - had drawn all the others much closer together.

We found a young cat living rough at the end of our road - and as is traditional in our family. We captured the poor wee beastie and took him down to the local vet to see if he was chipped. When he saw the cat basket he went mental!!!! However, no chip was found, but he was neutered and in very good health. So we have now found him a new home with a couple living on a nearby farm.

I figure he has dropped on his feet as cats are so adept at doing!.

PS.. He is now called "Monty".

We had a cruise up to Victoria Quays in Sheffield on Saturday with friends Paul, Carol and their dog Bonnie. Bonnie you may remember was found and re-homed by us earlier this year. It was good to see her again and she was in fine health. Her weight was down from 48kg almost to her target weight of 40 kg. Her fitness level was much better than last time we saw her. She enjoyed a competative game of chase a ball with Poppy! The best bit was that she remembered us, she was all over Mag's like a rash. Paul and Carol had never been on a narrow boat before and enjoyed going through a few locks and the swing bridge up at the quays canal basin.

We even spotted a wonderful Kingfisher perched up in the middle of the built-up area just after leaving the canal basin on our return leg of the trip.

Other things I managed to find some time for included I fixing the problem with the stove by changing the door seals. We have now regained control of the amount of air going into the fire and so we can therefore control the amount of heat produced once again. Saturday night we gave it a test and the stove kept the boat like toast all night and was still lit the following morning. Poppy chose not to sleep on the bottom of our bed - but spent the night curled up in front of the fire!

I managed to do a very good turn with Rosie in the canal basin. Spinning her round in her own length! There was a weding photo-shoot going off and I thought at one point that the photographer was going to ask us to use the boat as a prop. At the same time, there were a group of young-ish kids all busy painting the bollards round the basin.


Total trip distance was 5 miles and 4 locks plus 1 swing bridge.
Rosies running total = 123 canal miles, including 79 locks and 9 swing bridges



Later....

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