Good job I went to the doctors.

This bug of mine......, the one that went round Balmoral like wildfire and was nicknamed the Balmoral Bark owing to the harsh hacking coughing sound heard throughout the ship, well for nearly a month I also have been barking away.
                                                                 

Whilst on Balmoral many of the guests went to see the doctor but at £40 a time just to enter the surgery, I poo pooed the idea thinking I would get better on my own. I was wrong! Today I had an appointment with my GP to try and sort this pain in my right hip. As I entered and started coughing he took one look, took his stethoscope out, listened intently to my breathing and said 'You need antibiotics!' I looked bemused and told him I had come because of my hip not because of the cough. He told me in no uncertain terms that, had I left this coughing any longer, I may well have ended up with something more serious! So I came away with two prescriptions. Antibiotics for my chest (how am I going to manage with no alcohol for the next 6 days) and very strong pain killers for my hip. Turns out I may have damaged the ligaments but for the life of me I have no idea how I did it. Could have been going up and down all those stairs on Balmoral. After all, living as we do on a narrow boat, the only stepping one does is to get in and out of the boat! I always said exercise was bad for you!
                                                   

With the cold snap still with us since our return we have understandably been burning more wood then coal. Wood burns hotter and me being a cold mortal, kept feeding the fire. We have all but run out of logs so Ian took a trip to Sandiacre to fetch some more of the wood stored in out garage. He also made a detour to Screwfix and purchased a Saw Horse. It's a brilliant bit of kit, folds flat so can be stored in the top box, takes most reasonably size logs and branches and can be used anywhere. The added bonus for Ian, no more bending so no more backache.

Simple but effective. This was yesterdays effort

And today, cutting up the fence panels

Logs bagged and ready for use.

Really looking forward to tomorrow as not only are we going to collect my camera and defunct lens from Stoke on Trent, but also Christine has been on the phone today to say my new lens has arrived at her house. Cant wait to get taking photos on my Canon again.

Now that the bird feeders have been moved because the side fence is to be replaced, the pigeons are loving the fact they can now access to seed.