The cleaning continues...

 Over the last three days I have cleaned 

• the cratch cover
• the portside of the roof
• the starboard side of the roof

 That may seem like it is an inordinate amount of time to complete the three tasks but really it's not, especially for me! (72 years old, short...)  The cratch cover looked like it hadn't been cleaned for 3 years and was covered in green algae - I have removed a lot of it, but some of it is ingrained in the fabric now. Dove soap and dishwash liquid applied with a scourer have removed what was on the surface, but there is still stuff that needs to be removed. I am now looking for solutions that will kill and remove it without damaging the canvas or making it lose its colour.

Cleaning the roof was safest done in two halves - and given the boat is 62 feet long (~19m) with a roof that is 51 feet long (~15.5m) and about 1 metre to the centreline, and given my reach is not much more than a metre, doing one side at a time while perched on the gunwale seems the more sensible option. I did the starboard side this morning and David kindly moved the boat over from the jetty so that I could be on solid ground for that task - yesterday I worked from the jetty, and the day before I removed the cratch cover and washed its underside on the bank behind us and its topside with it spread out on the roof.

This morning I had another brief go at the cratch cover. Still not up to my standard, dammit!

Rest assured - while I have been outside toiling and getting wet from the hose, the scrubbing brush and the intermittent rain**, David has been inside completing my tax return. He has also had to empty the cassette toilet and do a few watertank fills so we can keep ahead with the laundry while we are on power. 

** There is something inherently pleasurable for me about getting wet when outside. It must hark back to my childhood when I loved being out in the rain.

We have been back in Debdale Wharf marina (counting backwards on fingers ...) since Wednesday. We had 3 nights up at the top of the Foxton Locks - officially you are only allowed two days, but the place was pretty empty so we weren't putting anyone else out.

Going up the locks - looking back at the Foxton Locks Inn.

The second go at sourdough on board - one big loaf.

 

The cooked loaf - I cooked this before Julia took us into town, so when she brought us home, we had to inveigle her to try it. Didn't have to twist her arm hard... I promised her a loaf of her own from the next batch - delivered on the night she and Maggie came for dinner.

We did a couple of trips into Market Harborough while up there - for one, a shopping trip, Julia was our cab driver there and back either side of her games of petanque ... The next day we had to go into the HSBC to sort out our UK debit cards. So we caught the bus - such courage. 

The woman at the HSBC was great and spent about 1/2 an hour with us helping us get the cards activated through the mobile app (and activating that for me as well...) It is a shame, more than a shame, that the branch is closing, nearest branch will then be Kettering or Corby. Other banks have closed in Harborough too. There seems to be a drive to save money while increasing profits, and it is at the expense of people many of whom will struggle with doing their banking online. While we were there there were upwards of 25 people came in to do their banking, most of them elderly - like us. And most of them will face a drive if they want to continue to bank in person - not that there will be a counter service in either place! We rarely go into a bank in person - the Waikanae branch of Westpac closed some years ago - and we pay all accounts online. However there are a lot of people who don't/can't/won't.

When we walked back down to the boat along the footpath these primroses were beside us. Made me think of Lisa on nb WaL who really loves flowers.

We came back to the marina on Wednesday with a short out and back at the top of the locks - to Bridge 52 where there is a winding hole near Laughton. It was such a beautiful morning that I suggested the wee trip instead of just scooting back down the locks. 

Cruising to Bridge 52

Laughton is beautiful - Lisa on nb WaL loves this scenery and so do I.

 

David using his new binoculars bought while we were with Olek in Waihi.

Bluebells!

Happy!

Solar panels adjusted to get the sun.

 

While we waited at the top of the locks for our turn going down, we met a most interesting man. Richard and I had a long chat while David went down to the rubbish area to see if the things we had left out for people to take away had been claimed. Yes! So a folding bike, a mirror and an outside chair - some damage and surplus to our requirements (no space) - all have new homes.

Coming down the locks - the paddles are open letting the water out so I can descend.

Gates opened and out I go - fabulous view across the countryside

On Thursday we had Julia and her friend Maggie over for dinner. We've heard lots about Maggie over the years and I gather she has heard lots about us too. A lot of laughter, the food wasn't bad (fusilli with a garlic, mushroom, kumara and squash sauce) and we had 5 Gu puddings among us.

It was an overindulgence day for David and me - I had made cheese scones for the marina staff that day too, and of course we had a couple each - taste testing is such a compassionate thing to do!

And we had to sit at the table ...

 

I mentioned in the last post that there was still one case of techie stuff to be unpacked. This is where it got to and where it remained for several days, rendering the sofa unusable. These are David's cables etc which I unnecessarily and unreasonably rushed him into packing the morning we left Waikanae, and he tells me he didn't have time to sort them. At the time of this photo, I had sorted them into like with like - I swear there are about 12 lightning/usb cables in one bag. And only our phones use them. There are 2 phones on board... And I have my own cable in my techie bag.

 

My techie bag with the cable and plugs for my phone and my kindle, my two sets of earphones (phone and laptop). David had my laptop at the time so my plug and cable for that are out of the bag (will I ever see them again?) and I have a stand for the phone.

 

While I have been sitting here typing this, David has moved the boat back to the jetty - note to self: when stepping off the boat later, make sure to step towards the portside rather than starboard. Otherwise: splosh into manky canal water!

Bread is proving on the dining table - it'll get baked this arvo. It's already expanded significantly!

So what has been happening?

I wrote this post some days ago and have not been able to get it uploaded until now - in the main because I've either been busy doing other boat stuff or I've been lying down recovering my energy - read on for why! 

 

On the flight from Wellington to Auckland - the longest leg competition, won convincingly by Olek

 

Business class for David and me, Economy for Olek

 

Well, we are onboard nb Waka Huia, and while it’s been 10 days since we arrived at the marina and 14 days since we arrived in the UK, it’s been a bit of a torrid time.

 

I picked up Covid on the plane on the way over here, in spite of wearing a mask most of the time – not enough of the time, obviously.

 

I originally thought it was a bad cold, because I just did. And so I didn’t test myself until it was clear the Cold and Flu meds weren’t working, and in fact, were having me feel really crappy – racing heart, dizzy ...
 

When I did test, the second red line was nearly black with infection! We were staying at my cousin’s home in Surrey and while I had spent a fair amount of time resting in or on the bed, I hadn’t isolated until the test. I felt really dreadful about that – I had not been vigilant and I had not looked out for anyone I was around. I’d worn a mask when out and about, but not in the house.

We decided we needed to decamp to somewhere I could isolate and David could be ready to isolate, if he got infected by me - and given we had been sleeping together, it was extremely likely he would get it.

 

We headed for a hotel outside Market Harborough with a stop for David to go (masked up) to the supermarket – clearly we couldn’t eat in the hotel restaurant, so ‘now’ food was important – fruit, fruit and fruit. Lemons for lemon and honey drinks, and paracetamol – in the UK, you can only buy two packs at a time. That is not very useful when having covid means going through a pack of 16 in a day and a half. 

And it's meant to be spring!

 

 

Ordinarily we would have gone straight to the boat to set up camp, especially if feeling the need to be away from others. However the boat needed quite a degree of clearing and cleaning before we could move back on board, bedding needed to be aired, Julia had taken down the curtains for washing, the squab covers in the dinette and saloon had been removed for dry-cleaning and none of them had been reinstated.Given how cold it was, curtains needed to be up, and we couldn't sit on the sofa in the saloon or at the dinette until other stuff had been cleared.

So we had three nights in the hotel, the first night in separate rooms in a desperate attempt to protect David from infection. Did that work? No - the following morning, after having come into my room in the middle of the night to get Panadol, David tested positive, although his test result wasn't anywhere near as dramatic as mine...

 

Over the next three days, masked up we did what we could at the boat to get it ready. We could only manage short days as we were both poorly.

The marina staff were wonderful, as was the amazing Julia. We gradually cleared things that weren’t ours, and also gradually got our clothes etc unpacked. I discovered that I had left a whole boxful of socks in the wardrobe as well as plenty of footwear – so most of the latter that I brought over with me this time have stayed in the suitcase and are now under the bed… A few months ago, Julia had loaded the washing machine door seal with baking soda, so my first washload was a towel I had wiped up a spill with. Purely for research purposes, you understand – did it still work? Answer: yes!

 

To really feel like we were back on board and on holiday, we needed to get out on to the canal. So our journey started late one afternoon,

·      after I’d made a vegetable and chickpea curry

·      after David had spent part of the day doing more clearing and tidying and putting stuff away – he has much more patience for the necessity of creating a mess to clear one – so I keep out of the way with my eyes averted

·      after I’d collected 21 bricks to use as ballast – the boat was on a lean to starboard as ballast had been removed to enable other equipment on board. Given David and I were both wobbly on our feet, having a list to starboard was very disconcerting!

·      after I’d delivered cheese scones to the marina staff,

·      after we’d refilled with water, disconnected the power, made sure the ropes were in place.

 

The veg curry.

 

We only boated for about half an hour, almost to Saddington Bends, but it was enough. And muscle memory is amazing – things I haven’t done for over 3 years, just occurred naturally.

Bed made - gosh it looks inviting at this point!

 

Can you tell it was cold? And it started to rain as we moored up.

On our portside we passed the late Mick and the lovely and alive Julia's mooring. Still unoccupied and not looking anywhere near as smart as it used to when Julia was in charge of strimming!

 

Across the cut from where we were moored - mist in the morning when I got up to make tea.

 

Our plan, given we have to go and visit people where there are no canals, was to leave the boat at Sawley Marina for a few weeks, borrow Ian and Irene’s motorhome, and drive away. So on Day 2, when we had boated another whole ½ hour (!) I rang Sawley, only to discover that the longest they do casual moorings is 28 days. After that, we would have to pay for 3 months at the princely sum of £870-ish. Nope. So that meant a return to Debdale where the price will be much more reasonable.

And a return to Debdale meant going down a set of locks to get to the winding hole, then back up the locks.

We had set off at about 7 in the morning – it was beautiful: sunny but chilly, and there were no other boats moving. Two had come past about half an hour before, so we knew we would have to set the locks – when I say we, I mean David, of course.

Fortunately, we didn’t look at the canal map, so we thought there were 3 locks in the flight. Turns out there were 5. So that meant 10 locks for David to do. He managed like a champion. And he walked between them all. I think his phone showed he did 13,000 steps that day! I kept offering to help, but after his initial concern that he’d be too wobbly on his feet or not strong enough to do the lockwheeling (the remnants of the ADT being still in his system, or at least the effects of it) he was delighted to find he was well able to take the task on.

It was lovely to have our confidence back.

And the lockwheeler is underway!

 

Working, boss.

Of course, that was blasted into non-existence for me when I truly messed up mooring up in Foxton at about 12.30. We had wanted to get there by about 12.15 so we could go and catch the bus into Market Harborough; but in my rush (always a bad idea on the boat) I overshot and had to reverse. And of course it didn’t go terribly smoothly…

Shopping abandoned, a blobby afternoon moored up just back from the Rainbow Bridge, a vegan burger and fries and ginger beer at Bridge 61, the clean curtains put back up, a walk up the locks, and an early night.

Some random boat coming towards the rainbow bridge at Foxton having come down the lock flight. Not us, as we were on the bridge ...

... on our way to this lunch at Bridge 61!

A well-deserved rest for David after his mammoth locking effort and after that lovely lunch!

 

We are now up the top of the locks, having come up first thing on Sunday morning.

David has been continuing the sorting of the boat, so now we have the cratch cleared out, all of the squab covers back on, all suitcases are emptied (bar one – techie stuff) and under the bed. 

Second go at getting the sourdough underway again - this one was very successful, whereas the first batch of 2 loaves was a bit heavy - a result of forgetting the diastatic malt and probably not cooking the loaves long enough.

 

After one of our shopping trips into Market Harborough (the one where Julia was our taxi driver, not the one yesterday where we went in and out by bus – adventure!) I planted out the rooftop allotment in the newly acquired pots and planters: lettuces, parsley, mint, coriander, thyme, chives. I also potted the rooted cuttings of Caitlin’s rose that I brought over – wrapped in newspaper and sacking and sealed up in plastic containers. They have survived most happily – thank you, Shona for tending to them and Clint for helping me get them ready for their long flight!

 

The last jobs to do are cleaning the floor** and windows, and cleaning the outside of the boat, including cleaning the cratch cover** which has three and half years of algae onboard. Plus rust patch sorting on the roof.

If I say it fast enough, it doesn’t sound like much …

 

** Both done - after the latter (done yesterday 5/05) which took about 3 hours and still not done as well as I'd like, I had to have a sleep. We both participated in washing the floor - David did most of it as I had to cook dinner for Julia and Maggie!

Moving in

Okay, so we are moved in to our new villa in Parkwood Retirement Village. I truly don't feel grown up enough to be here, but chronology says I am...

The move was relatively smooth overall. That was achieved through the following factors:

• Mads, Bevan and Diane came to help with the unpacking - a very efficient team
• Olek was here to lend young strong muscle
• the movers were fast and efficient and very helpful about placing furniture in the right places and also about moving stuff if we changed our minds
• a large batch of cheese scones I made early that morning, if I remember correctly - or perhaps the night before (?)
  
• we were pretty stoic and speedy with decisions about what we could dispense with to the op shop (that has continued as we've unpacked the mountain of stuff in the garage)
  
• Olek in combination with the trolley and the bike and with the cooperation of his grandfather, provided a lot of light relief for us as well as the neighbours! He determined that he could tow the trolley with the bike, so he made the necessary attachments and off he went. David was inveigled/pressured into getting into the trolley to be towed around ...
  
• the builders, painters, plumber, kitchen installer, tiler and electrician had all done a magnificent job getting inside things completed or close enough to being done that we could move in while they finished off stuff on the outside. A big thank you to John who project managed it all and problem solved very very effectively.

An early morning load

The truck is here with our remaining worldly goods. Note the tradie's white van in front - work on the outside of the house was still going on!

We set the bed up early in the morning

Cheese scone time - but to be honest, there was constant grazing by all of us throughout the day.

The chair had to move out of the bedroom - too large. It didn't survive the cut and was donated to Robert and Glenn a couple of days later.

There wasn't really time for many photos - I was busy directing traffic inside, assisting with unpacking, clarifying where stuff should go in the kitchen/hall pantry, etc. 

It was a very full on day. We fitted in but there was still a garage load of stuff in boxes to unpack! And much of that had to wait while we went away in the motorhome...

Early days in Olek's visit

 In the main, I will let the photos tell the story...

Olek eats meat and we don't, and cooking for vegetarians is different from cooking for meat eaters. My cooking style has changed considerably! To make sure Olek had a meal that he would love (i.e. not a pumpkin and kumara curry ...) we went to the Roast Shop. The meal was so big it was best served in a bowl!

The day of the big bake - 9 loaves of sourdough. Yay!!

Olek, David and I tried out putting up the BUG, i.e. the Blow Up Gazebo. Olek was assigned the role of pumper upper - well, he is by far the youngest of us all.

And then it was time for Olek to practise putting up his tent - important skill as he'd be sleeping in it for weeks once we went away.

Amazing how much like his dad he looks!

The BUG is up and the tent is getting started.

Tents are so much easier to put up these days.

The fly is on.

And now for the camp stretcher.

David heading over from Brian's place to our new place before the carpet was due to go down. He loves his new backpack vacuum cleaner! I don't, because the hose is the perfect height to knock ornaments off bookcases ...

Olek wanted a swim so off to Waikanae Beach we went.

And in he went

And under

5'11" next to 5'1' ...

and 5'6"

The battle of the folded washing and the tea towel was ON!!

That battle became the tipping point competition - could David withstand the force and height of an 18 year old?

We moved stuff from Brian's before moving day to lessen the load on the day. I wanted to use the trolley for these cases, but Olek was sure he could carry them all at once. He was not wrong ...

And off he goes

The next day was actually moving in day - so more about that in the next post.