The last couple of weeks since the fire has been on we have had tar residue running down the side of the boat. Now you know what a clean freak I am and that I like to keep the boat spotless………well tar is every boater’s worst nightmare and certainly will become mine unless we manage to do something about it.

The amount of people who have the same problem every year, you think there would be a better designed chimney to sort out the problem once and for all.

Anyway, rather than just washing the problem off the boat and waiting for it to reappear, which doesn’t really work but I will tell you more about that in a minute, anyway, as I was saying, we decided to solve the problem so off we went to the chandlery to see what we could find.

After picking up lots of different chimneys, liners etc we decided to buy an 18 inch liner to fit inside our existing chimney which is already double skinned and is 12 inches. We have been advised that if the liner is pushed right inside the flue and attach the rest of it to the existing chimney then that should do the trick…………..ermmmmmm……..not so sure………….got back to the boat and it is so tight we can’t fit the chimney on properly. Roy even got his mallet out!! At this point I decided to go shopping to Morrisons because I could see a disaster about to happen!!

The chimney is now stuck……….and I mean really stuck, so not sure it is going to work or not. We also bought some sealant just in case (this is plan B)…….just hope plan C and D aren’t on the horizon.

Getting back to what I was mentioning earlier about getting rid of the tar, we have tried all kinds of things over the years, even the latest, One Chem, which is excellent for general boat washing and getting rid of black marks, but it is useless on tar. ANYWAY, I found a new product that works like magic. Quick spray on, wipe over with a micro fibre cloth then buff up with a second cloth. Magic, good as new! What is the wonder product you may wonder, well it is called SHOWROOM SHINE!

We gave the boat a good waxing a few weeks ago so now that this Showroom Shine has been used I might just retreat the area with some wax as Showroom Shine does NOT contain carnuba wax and carnuba wax is far more protective for your boat. Can you tell I am obsessed with my cleaning products? Do not answer that one.

Anyway, I was well impressed. Can you tell?

Been and done all the food shop today as I am making chili con carne tomorrow, hopefully enough to last until Friday and with a bit of luck I will bake this bread that I have been meaning to do for at least a couple of weeks now. It will be a miracle when I finally do.

I think it has started to go bitterly cold today but inside the boat it is roasting!  So cosy on the boat at night with candles lit and the fire roaring, it is lovely.

On a positive note Roy decided to add our blog to the UK Waterways Raking site. I haven’t done this before as I know as soon as I would be on there I would feel some kind of pressure on  me………..I don’t do pressure anymore. Anyway, we only went on it yesterday and the amount of viewers that have now visited the site is unbelievable. I will see how it goes because I do not want it to take the enjoyment out of writing if I suddenly feel that I “have to” do it, if you understand what I mean.

It is so nice looking back at the blog as it is my diary of how we come to buy Foxglove and how we got to be living on her. A lot of people still ask if we have Tigger…………yes we do……….we feel it might be bad luck if he is not on here somewhere. If any of you are still wondering who Tigger is then my answer is simple………..Read the blog!