Here we are into February and finally, I get to put pen to paper (figuratively speaking that is). Christmas long gone and only 320 days to the next! Presents this year was as every other year...zilch! Well, not quite zilch as this year our daughter decided we must have something to open so Ian got a book on how to be an OAP (This made amusing reading) and I got a cross stitch kit of a Bee to attempt. I ask you, can any gift be more difficult to master. I tried, I really did, counted all the squares across and down to get to a middle point, looked at the pattern and decided my brain was not clever enough to work out where to start! And to make matters worse the cotton were not colour coded so working out what colour goes where....well forget it. I suppose I will try again, maybe when my brain has recovered from drinking all the wine consumed over the festivities (and still carrying on into this year!)
Before Christmas, I had to close down the blog for a short while. I had too many hits during a two week period (over 1000 a day) which one would think would be a good thing, but not these hits! Seems my blog was being used as a means to get to a porn site. Thankfully by changing the settings from public to invited readers only seemed to resolve this. So apologies to those that clicked on the blog and was unable to access it but I think most will understand why I felt it necessary to do this.
We have not been ideal since moored at Langley. Both suddenly agreed that the boat needed some TLC and this time inside instead of out. So armed with a colour chart and some idea of what colour to paint all the panels, we came away from B&Q armed with a mix of cream paints (B&Q do this for you) to get the correct colour. Over three days we washed walls, removed plates and wall furniture and masked everything which needed to stay wood. Then I set to giving all the panels (lounge, kitchen, corridor and bedroom) three coats. Removing the masking tape was fun. Fingernails ground down as I attempted to remove those bits that had torn when pulling the tape and then there was the 'touching up' with a small brush as paint came away at the same time as the tape! Anyway, ever the gluttons for punishment we are now starting on the bathroom!
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| Before |
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| After |
Now can anyone tell us why there is no Newark Boat jumble this year? All set to go this weekend when a friend informed us it wasn't listed on the Newark Show Ground web site. Hmmm, that's scuppered our chance of getting Bitumen for blacking the hull at a cheaper price and we were hoping to replace the ropes! Thankfully we know the trip to the Motorhome show in Brum is still on mid-Feb and who knows what will be on offer there.
Our plans to leave Langley has now been talked about and sort of agreed. Weather permitting the last week of February seems favourable so I don't expect to post again until then.
And on the feeder, (and below)
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| Greenfinch |
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| Long Tailed Tits |
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| Moorhen |
10 comments:
Hi Irene and Ian,
Interesting about the porn site - I looked at our stats a while ago and clicked on an innocuous-looking traffic source which turned out to be a porn site (quite a shock I can say!) but there were only a few hits and now it's dropped off the list (phew).
Did you paint over ordinary wood panels? if so, what prep did you do and how many coats did it need? Doesn't it look good! So much more light - just what we need!
Debby x
Hi Debby, All I did was to wash the wood panels with a weak solution of floor cleaner (from Lidl)several times as the sooty accumulations from the stove were shocking. (Very ashamed to admit that.) Anyway, three coats were needed to cover the wood and I allowed 4 hours drying time between each coat. FS feels so bright and airy now and the difference is phenomenal. Use a paint that covers wood and metal, (we went for a silk finish) more expensive but worth every penny. 2.5 ltrs just about covered all the panels but we did do the whole boat. The paint used was Valspar water-based and called Fresh Narcissus. Hope this helps and good luck on the decorating. Xx
I like your walls
wow certainly made the boat look brighter great job
Norwyn
Wow what a difference your paint has made. I can see why you are so pleased you decided to do a make over. Good to see you posting and happy sailing when you set off. All being well (Chris is having a cataract op this month) we should be off early April.
Hi Irene and Ian
I don't know if you remember, but we met you in Bermagui for a coffee when you were on your great Australian road trip.
Loving our previous narrowboat trips so much we have decided to take the plunge once again and have booked a hire for 8 weeks starting at the end of April. I have a couple of questions that I would be really grateful if you or any other of your fellow narrowboat bloggers could help me with.
I keep a blog on blogspot and on past narrowboat trips I had an offline ap that allowed me to write up the days post and insert photos that I could then later upload to blogspot when I found somewhere with internet coverage. However, blogspot is making changes to their site and from March I will no longer be able to use the Open Live Writer ap to create posts offline. I see that you also use Blogspot and I was wondering how you get around the problem, when you are moored somewhere with no internet coverage, of creating a post that you can later upload to blogger?
Secondly, internet/mobile phone provider: For our last two trips (2015 & 2016) I used a pay as you go SIM from EE and tethered from my phone to the tablet for internet access. However EE’s pay as you go SIM’s don’t have much data allowance whereas Three has much bigger data allowances and also allow tethering. However I don’t know what Three’s coverage along the canal system is like. Their coverage maps look okay, but so do EE’s and I know from our previous trips there were plenty of places along the way that had poor or no coverage. So, once again, I would be grateful for your advice.
Many Thanks
Margy Young
Bermagui, Australia
Hello Margy, What a lovely surprise and yes we remember the wonderful few hours spent with you and Lawrence. (Thanks again for lunch) Having read your message Ian suggests you use Three (this is our internet provider) as on most of the canal network we have always managed to get a signal. If by any chance you are unlucky to be in a 'Black Spot' what I do is to write my post in Word and as soon as I get a signal, copy and paste into blogger. I use Picasa 3 to view and edit my photos and I sort the ones I want and again as soon as I get a signal upload those to my Google Photo web album where I can import them to the blog. Hopefully this has helped.
Our plan is to head toward Warwick and then towards Cosgrove. If we are lucky enough to meet, lunch will be on us!!! Xx
We are still undecided re our route. Lawrence favours heading down the Grand Union & up the Thames (new territory for us) whilst I favour heading north and then looping south down the Shropshire, Staff & Worcs, Severn etc revisiting some favourite waterways from previous trips. Whichever way we go there is a fair chance we will be going through Warwick toward the latter part of our trip. We will have to decide soon and I will let you know when we have. Thank you both for the internet access and blogging info which has been most helpful. Hopefully we will cross paths.
Margy
The interior of FS looks so crisp and bright. Fresh Narcissus by Valspar was the very same color paint I bought to use around the window trims on Valerie. Great minds move in the same direction! ๐
Good job!!
Love Jaq xxx
They certainly do Jaq. (: Lovely to hear from you and we must keep in touch. We send loads of love and hope your future is more settled now you are back in America. Xxx
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