Saturday 27 December 2014

The best laid plans............?

Saturday 27th December.


What is it they say about the best laid plans of mice and men?
The plan was to spend a few days over Christmas with Beth. Unfortunately when we spoke on the phone Wednesday morning it became obvious she was not well as she had come home from work and was feeling pretty lousy, was running a high temperature, and with a hacking cough. So, as my immune system is pretty non existent, it seemed a bit risky for me to spend time in that environment. The bug had gone through her daughters family a couple of weeks earlier so it was obviously just looking for a new 'host' to adopt. So anyway I stayed home on Bracken. I could have contacted  G and J or Jenny and I'm sure I would have been very welcome at their festivities but I decided to spend Christmas day at home.
First job was to hit Morrisons supermarket for some Christmas grub and generally get myself organised.
I was already well stocked up with coal and wood blocks so there was no question that I would be warm enough, and trust me, I was!
Christmas morning was bright and clear so after showering and poking the fire into life it was on with the Christmas Jumper!

Courtesy of Graham and Jaq as I'm a great fan of the Despicable films.
I got my neighbour to take the pic, great innit! I sent it to most of the family and they all thought it was great.
I enjoyed my day, ate loads of food and even renewed my taste for Glenfiddich scotch, After my chemo and radio treatment I didn't enjoy the taste so stopped having any 'tipples' however I'm pleased to report the taste buds seem to have recovered and I am SOOOOO glad I kept a couple of bottles in the cupboard, 'just in case'.  I had a lovely day, didnt need to go anywhere and chilled out with plenty to eat and lots of texts to various members of the family. And of course I had total control of the TV remote!
 I tell you what , I slept like a log that night!
Yesterday, (boxing day) started off quiet tho frosty. Jenny popped in when she heard I was at home and in the evening I picked her and Charlotte up and we went to G and J for a Turkey curry dinner which was delicious.
 It was snowing on the way there so driving conditions were a bit iffy but it seemed to thaw during the evening, and we thought it would disappear..... until we came to leave! There was still quite a bit laying but we made it back ok.
Kinda pretty aint it?

Insulation seems to be doing its job as only the snow round the chimney has melted.


Paul and I filled the water tanks on both boats today, the white boat is his so filling both boats together makes sense.
I'll write more later.
Bfn.


Tuesday 23 December 2014

Best wishes to all, it's nearly Christmas!

Tuesday 23rd December.

Hello people, as so often nowadays I am beginning with an apology for not having written for a while.
Although I wouldn't say I'm always busy, I do find enough things to do to fill my days. There are always the regular maintenance jobs, like cleaning the fire out, emptying the ash can, laying and lighting the fire each day. Whilst it has been so mild of late, I've been letting the fire go out during the evening and then relighting it in the morning otherwise it gets so warm and stuffy. As it is I have the sliding hatch open all evening to let the fresh air in/ warm air out.
Another job is to empty the toilet cassette, this I usually do every 3 or 4 days so its not too heavy to carry. I don't do solids in the boat toilet, as I'm not too far away from the Marina toilet and shower block.
Once a week I fill the water tank, I've not yet run out of water, and I find filling it at about 7 day intervals means it doesn't take too long. In fact it takes longer to run the hoses out and connect them up than it does to fill the tank. This is because during the winter months the marina turns off the supply to each individual mooring to stop them from freezing up and they leave one tap at the end of the pontoon 'live' as it has a heater in it. Unfortunately Bracken is at the OTHER end of the pontoon and so far away it takes a 200 foot extension hose to reach it which has to be reeled up afterwards! heavy!! Fortunately though, the guy whose boat is almost next door to Bracken gives me a hand and we do both boats at the same time which is soooo much easier! During the summer of course its a doddle as the tap is only 3 feet away from Brackens stern.
I read a lot, its a great way of losing time, and I can get totally lost in a good book, sometimes its the rumbling of my stomach that reminds me I've almost missed a meal time. 
I had a visitor last week from Kent. Margaret, (first wife and mother of my sons)  was visiting her relatives who live near Graham and Jaq and popped in to see me and deliver some Christmas goodies from friends and family in Kent. Lovely to see her again and to catch up with family news.
Yesterday evening I popped in to see Jenny, and this evening I'm going over to G and J's as I won't see them over Christmas as I'm going up to spend a few days with Beth.

This year has seen some life changing situations develop for me, starting with buying Bracken, then being diagnosed with cancer and being forced to retire due to ill health, going through Chemo and Radio treatment only to find that it didn't kill the cancer, moving onto Bracken full time, and so to the seriously invasive surgery to remove the tumour along with surrounding arteries, muscle and  tissue etc . Hopefully next year will be different. I've always thought 'The Man Upstairs' has a strange sense of humour, hopefully he'll smile on people like Les Biggs, and me, and soooo many other people in similar situations and give us a good cruising year in 2015.
A very Happy Christmas to everybody out there, and a HEALTHY New Year!!

bfn
Dave

 

Sunday 7 December 2014

Time ticks by, life is good.

Saturday eve. 7th Dec.

Hello people, sorry its been a while since my last post. Just living from day to day seems to take up my time, and these dark days and afternoons seem to cut down the amount of usable time each day to the point where you think wow is it that time already? I'd better start thinking about what to do for my dinner! When actually it's only around 4pm but it feels much later, and it's not that long ago I was having lunch!
So, what have I been up to that may interest my regular readers? Its funny really when family ask me what have I been doing with my time I always answer "not a lot" and yet I always feel like I've been busy.
I must confess I was away last weekend as my friend Beth invited me to visit her and stay a couple of days at her place. So off I went and had a very nice relaxing weekend being waited on, enjoying nice hot, long showers, and sleeping in a lovely soft full size (single) bed. In short I was thoroughly spoiled! We ate out Sunday at a carvery, (great no washing up) and spent the evenings watching DVD 's Now that's my idea of convalescence! 
Sleeping in a comfy bed brought home to me the shortcomings of my bunk on Bracken. Not so much the width as my bunk isn't much narrower than a normal three foot single bed, but certainly I've been very aware that the foam on my bunk doesn't give much support. Well that has now been rectified with a new four inch thick foam mattress with a one inch memory foam topper and a padded topper on top of it all! It's made all the difference and I don't now climb out every morning with my back aching !
Keeping a check on my gas usage, I'm finding a bottle of propane gas is lasting me approx 4 weeks. I'm not sure how that compares with other live aboards  but considering that my fridge is gas powered, my hot water is gas heated and my cooker is domestic sized  I didn't think that was too bad. I have started turning the pilot out on the water heater overnight to see if it saves any gas. Electricity useage, on the other hand is virtually non existent. I have a microwave, a TV, two table lamps, phone and laptop chargers and a 12 volt trickle charger on the leisure battery and i bet I've not put much more than £20 on the meter since I started!
As for Diesel for the engine, well I tend to run the engine weekly for a half hour or so to move the boat around the marina or to the fuel/gas pontoon and to put some charge in the starter battery but except when Beth and I had a run down the canal back in early October I've not really been far enough to use any fuel. So, so far living costs are fairly low.
I am now burning coal on the fire as well as the usual wooden blocks that Graham finds for me, so that will be an additional expense i'll have to consider.... At present when friends and family say what would you like for Christmas my reply is always "a bag of coal please"!
looking due south, Brackens stern just visible.

We've certainly had some frosty mornings of late, but with crisp, clear blue skies and glorious sunshine as well there's been some stunning views.

Looking north.

close up of frost on my car roof! 


I continue to gain my strength and manage the daily chores, slowly is the way forward, a little at a time and not taking on more than I can manage. I feel very contented with life at the moment, and consider I am so fortunate to be living the life I have, where I am and how I am. Life feels good to me, and if I could find where the smiley's are kept I'd publish a BIG one!!
bfn.