Foxglove Narrowboat

Today has been an eventful day. We were reading ‘Diary of a Boat Woman’ blog last night and found out that NB Hadar had moored around Shardlow at the weekend so we really hoped that we would see them at some point today. We had only set off by about 10 minutes, just gone under a bridge and guess who we saw heading towards us, NB Hadar! I gave them a wahhhhh on my klaxon and a wave. Jo & Keith are like meeting celebrities as they are very well-known on the waterways with their narrowboat HADAR.

It was lovely to see them as the last time we saw them was a few months ago and before we had the boat painted. I hope they think we have done it justice. Great to see you two if you are reading!

The sun was still shining this morning and their was a gentle breeze which was most welcome after all the hot weather we have had. I stood on the side of the boat watching the world go by. I think I counted 9 collie dogs this morning, none as cute as Wish I might add 😉 but there is one thing for sure every Collie dog was so loyal to their owner I think that’s why we all love them so much.
 

First two locks of the day were Weston Lock and Aston Lock which is quite strange because where we used to travel around Stone to Great Haywood where there are also two locks with the same name. We have also come through Shardlow lock where I really wanted to moor because there was a pub and the chips from there smelt gorgeous. Unfortunately there was nowhere to moor so onward we went.

RED Light warning…………this was new. They are not traffic lights which mean stop, you actually can carry on but it was a warning to say that the River Trent was in flood. There was still nowhere to moor until we got as far Derwent Mouth Lock No.1 which is the first lock on the Trent Mersey. There was a spot just before the lock for us to moor and we were lucky as other boats passed us and realised they could not get through the lock because of the flood warning and so they had to reverse.

Took a walk to see how far the red warning signs were. We were out for an hour and during that hour the water levels had dropped, by a whole inch!! Not in the orange yet. Some people were very brave and decided to carry on. I wanted my first trip on The Trent to be a pleasurable one, memorable also but not in the way to risk life or limb!!

Heading back to the boat there was thunder rumbling in the distance, just sounded like Jungle drums, not that I have ever been to the jungle but try use your imagination a little.

More rain to come so we have decided to stay where we are for the night and look at the boards in the morning. Lets hope they are not in the red tomorrow morning.

Anyway, I am going to spend the rest of the afternoon reading my book ‘ Just Imagine’. It is an excellent read for anyone, especially if you are thinking about living on a boat. It is about a couple who run a B&B, but no ordinary B&B, it is a Dutch Barge………Barge & Breakfast!

I am really enjoying being on the boat. It is where I feel my happiest. Can’t wait to be doing this permanently 🙂

Yesterday was fantastic. I am on holiday now from work (Daystate), as we are shutdown for 1 week. Hooray!! It has been a very busy month and I am sooooooooooooo looking forward to this week off.

Saturday 0 miles – 0 locks in a time of 24 hours 🙂

Oh my goodness yesterday was a fantastic day. Happy Birthday to our good friend Angus!!

We had a great meal out at the Cherry Tree pub at Willington, bought a ‘cake-away’ which are  the hugest desserts I have ever seen in my life, took them back to the boat and that is where the laughter began.

We all decided to play this game BUZZ which is a quiz game where you press the buzzer. The funniest part was when we were choosing our cartoon characters………..I have never laughed so much. It is so funny what we all chose:

Roy: He chose an old man in a kilt and still named him Roy with a walking stick and when he got a question correct he jumped up in the air, his false teeth fell out and then he was holding onto his back like he had dislocated it ( the character this is, not Roy by the way!)

Clare:My character – I chose the name of Clever Clogs and chose this sexy nurse character with big boobs and a dress just covering her bum ( oh god how I wish I was like that).

Janet : She chose the name of Grey, purely by pressing the wrong button but this suited her character of a sexy vampire. It was a very tall character, unlike Janet who is really tiny. Quite a wild/sexy looking character though which is probably like Janet !! Ha ha Janet 🙂

This is where the laughs started..

Angus :  His character was this muscular super hero…………..so funny…..called ZOE!! It was just so funny when the character stood there cheering showing his muscles and the compare then introduced him as Zoe. I guess you had to be there to see the funny side.

It was a fabulous night. Lots of laughs as always with Janet & Angus…………love you both!! xxxxxx

Fabulous thunderstorms last night and this morning the sun has made an appearance again.

Hopefully heading off today at some point. Where to ….not quite sure yet……….hopefully onto the Trent!

This boating lark is very dangerous, even without travelling. I think I have more of a bruised ego than a bruised thigh this morning. I was just about to get off the boat yesterday, I was wearing a long dress and as I stood to get off the boat, dosy me stood on the bottom of the dress and of course went to take the next step and over I went. How embarrassing. One foot in the canal only (thank goodness) as I trapped myself between the boat and the jetty and my thigh is so bruised from landing on the edge of the sides of the jetty. Black and blue doesn’t come close.

Well that was me and Roy also had an accident………..not very often he cooks, but he took a roasting tin out of the oven and caught his arm on the tin. He was in agony. It is very red this morning and has blistered up. The things men do to get out of cooking!!

The weather was gorgeous yesterday…………cloudy!! Hooray. Bit of light relief from the hot weather. Typical though because we had bought an air conditioner for the boat. Today it is raining, that very fine spray kind of rain. Funny when you watch people walking and they shrug their shoulders up and run a few steps, walk a few steps just to avoid the rain. I don’t think anyone has told them that doesn’t work!!

Polished the boat up yesterday. It is gleaming! You can see the reflection of the boats either side on the surface. I really enjoyed doing it. Think the washing bug has caught the jetty as everyone else was doing the same yesterday. We must have the cleanest jetty of boats at the marina 🙂 It is great where we are though because we don’t have to turn the boat around to polish the other side as we have a jetty either side. Downside to that though you have no excuse to leave one side, it is hard work doing both on the same day. Back breaking is a good word to use. Knackering is another!!

Slept well though last night despite a bruised leg, bruised ego and aching back! Would not swap it though for anything 🙂

Yet it is a while since I last wrote but there has been a lot happening, nothing of which I want to bore any of you with, however, me being me, here is a quick run down:

House went up for sale

Had 4 lots of viewers week one.

4th viewer put an offer in , we accepted. ( Yeah!!)

3 days later after keeping us in the dark, the buyer pulled out! Time waster!! ( IDIOT!!)

Had more viewers Week 2.

More viewers week 3…….all need to sell their own house (Frustrating)

Going into week 4, 2 more couples want the house and both want to put an offer in but have not sold theirs yet. (Even more frustrating)

Just waiting, waiting……(Patience is not by best quality!!)

In the meantime…….you might be wondering who is Victoria &  Albert. Well they are the tiles that we have just picked out for Foxglove as the kitchen needs a bit of a re-vamp. ( So excited!!)

Off we went to Hyde park Tiles. Very fitting as it is right by the canal.

As normal I made a total embarrassment out of myself by chatting with a very nice helpful man called Anthony! He is the director of Hyde Park Tiles. Hi Anthony if you are reading 🙂

As promised

……..this is Anthony.

Please don’t ask what I said to him to get him to smile for the camera !! (Began with S and ended in X and no it wasn’t SOX)

We narrowed………..get that…….narrowed……narrowboat…………..yeah, not funny, I know, anyway, we narrowed it down to 2 different sort of tiles. It was all down to Anthony……….I asked which would he go for…….Something more subdued or something quite striking……..”the Wow Factor” is the expression he used. That was the answer…………..the one with the WOW factor won.

Meet Victoria & Albert (the tiles)

Some of you might be saying……….OMG, what on earth, others might say………WOW!!!! I agree with all the WOW people. You have taste all you WOW people out there.

I am excited about having the kitchen re-tiled as it is the only place on the boat that doesn’t feel quite mine. All the granite and the cupboards are going to be polished up back to new but the old tiles………..they will be gone, disappeared………..into tile heaven, well hell actually because they were revolting!!

Anyway, hopefully I will get back to the blogging (writing). Just been far too busy with work, then after work showing potential buyers around the house……..the last few weeks have been hectic. That is one word…..nightmare is another I could have used.

Positive things to look forward to……..All down to Rob Shone now who will be fitting the tiles. No pressure Rob! He is a perfectionist……just the man for the job!

More before and after pictures will be coming soon. Exciting times again 🙂

Can you believe it that one month has already passed since we got Foxglove back…… You know what that means don’t you??? Oh yes…. Can’t wait…… I can now wax it!! I love doing this, I find it quite relaxing. We had to wait one month for the paint to harden so I know what I will be busy doing this weekend. Lets hope the weather is better.

Had the first house viewers come over tonight which is good since the house only went on the Internet on Saturday.  I will really miss the house when it finally goes as we have lived here for 11 years now. However new memories and new adventures are already happening and I love living on Foxglove. Lets hope everything works out for the best .

This is quite a common saying around The Potteries area but this is not what I am on about….I am talking about the wildlife, ducks, geese and coots.

Someone said at the marina a few weeks ago that they weren’t able to go out on their boat cause they had coots!!! I thought it was some kind of disease or something that made him unwell he was not able to leave the boat! Luckily before I embarrassed myself he continued to say that they had nested at the back of his boat and by law you are not allowed to disturb their nest. £5,000.00 fine if you do. He was talking about these little fellows…..

Be honest now how many people out there knew what coots are? I never heard of them. Thank goodness he kept talking before I totally embarrassed myself! Would not have been the first time. I have to admit though that the chicks are kind of ugly with a red spiky hair-do. Just saying! The parents have the weirdest looking feet also that look like fans made of feathers. Strange looking birds and when they call their chicks they make this loud clicking noise with their beaks. In fact when I heard it first time I was searching round for something in the kitchen that I thought was dripping or something……..could not find it of course, only to realise it was these coots outside.

I was given the evil eye today by this little chap……..

When they are going sleep there eyes roll to this scary white colour. Most evil looking.

I saw another type of bird today at the marina. Did not get chance to get a photo as it actually was swimming in the water, dived under and then disappeared somewhere. Must have gone fishing!

Think I might get myself a wildlife book learn about all this wildlife at the marina. I do find them fascinating to watch and the different characteristics they each have. A bit like people!!

Well I certainly got a sign today … one that I have been contemplating for a while.
What kind of sign? You may ask.

Well … it was this kind of sign….

Yes you’ve guessed it  … decided to finally take the plunge and put the house up for sale and move onto Foxglove. It has taken a long time to finally make the decision but life is far too short and you have to grasp it with both hands while you still can.

Just need the house to sell now then there will be lots of furniture to sell and belongings including my beautiful piano ( I am going to find that one very hard to part with), keeping my violin though 🙂  Our neighbours will be so lucky!!!Lol

Can’t quite believe this is happening but I am quite excited, little apprehensive also.

I have sat staring at the for sale sign tonight for over an hour, wondering, thinking………worrying………..no not worrying really, just wondering how everything is going to turn out.

Hopefully a new chapter about to begin.

Well done Davide ( my Italian Stallion!!)

You spotted all 5 correct.

P1 – Boiling on the temperature gauge.
P2 – On the gauge behind the white chimney.
P3 – On the left of the canal in the middle of the grass, ready to jump.
P4 – Seat on a wood bench, reading a book.
P5 -Walking and whistling through the bridge

I wonder how long it took him……..not long knowing Davide……..Cause he never used to miss a thing!

People keep asking what is the connection with Tigger………you must read the complete blog to find out 😉

Roy kept busy this weekend polishing up the engine……
It looks stunning and very shiny.
Don’t you find it strange though that he actually enjoys this , yet give him a duster and hoover and it is a different matter totally!!
Must be a man thing 😉
Anyway, the nappies did the trick and soaked up the water spillage and he has de-greased it, polished it, you name he did it and he has done a great job.
He got carried away and polished one of the chimneys too.

We also had our newly painted poles delivered on Saturday (thanks Martyn!). They look fantastic…..all 4 of them!! We did not realise there was already 4 poles on the boat and we asked for all the poles to be replaced and painted……….so if anyone would like to buy a couple of poles there are 2 for sale!!

 Decided on Sunday to take Foxglove out for the day and the weather was glorious. We made the most of the sunshine and took a leisurely cruise along the canal which was great as all the bridges are wider as the stretch of canal we are on takes Widebeams! No excuse now for scratching  the boat.

I baked some cakes and made a cottage pie and also took Wish out for a walk. It was all very idyllic. In fact it was a perfect day.

Already looking forward to next weekend. Hopefully by then Miele will have come out and fixed our washing machine as I don’t think the water is getting hot in there and also the tumble drier is not working. Got to get these things sorted because it is far easier to get all the washing done at the boat rather than taking it home and washing/drying it there and then having to bring everything back again. There is another reason we need to get it sorted……….all will be revealed soon!!??

P.S. We’ve hidden a picture of tigger in each photo.
Can you see him? The first correct answers will get a mention on the blog.