WATER – I have come to respect and value it now that I don’t have it in endless supply. Infact for part of today we have not had it at all on the boat and you can imagine that is quite problematic when we are all meant to be washing our hands more often and for longer. Ironically the first thing we did this morning was go and fill our water tank up to the brim. But then James suggested we turn the boat water pump off, thus cutting our water supply , because whenever the pump is on more water leaks inside the boat. Luckily we have 2 5L flagons that we can keep refilling and I can heat water in the kettle and use it sparingly for cooking, washing up and hand washing. It is the labourious process of refilling the flagons that makes you appreciate and try not to waste the water you have. Having said that, because we had the engine on a lot today we had copious amounts of stored hot water and I did infact have a bath while R mopped and mopped the floor (he has his vv stockings on so can’t luxuriate in our 4ft bath at the moment!).
Today I was quite the housefrau. I found the vacuum cleaner and hoovered all the carpets and floors, then washed off all the floor mud (thankless task really!). R and I swept the chimney (involved a lot of soot) and rearranged some of the furniture. A challenge in itself to find anything you can move anywhere else on the boat but I managed! I just like variety. The worst part of the day was definitely emptying the potty cassettes. The Elsen that we thought was mended was infact blocked yet again. The only positive was that I remembered to wear a mask and rubber gloves! The Elsen is very close to the watertap which is why the two jobs are often done together and take quite a bit of time. Closer to the water tap than the Elsen is a Greggs – anyone remember the vegan sausage roll advert? R had one of those for elevenses and for sustenance before the reverse manoeuvre required to get our boat home. Quite a tricky feat since a wide beam had decided to moor up next to the water tap overnight (frowned upon as the moorings for the watertaps are meant to be kept free) and on the opposite bank a double narrow boat had moored. The air turned a bit blue in the 15 mins it took us to go 30yds backwards!.
I had decided to cook a vegetarian cottage pie for supper and the only missing ingredient was cavelo nero which I wasn’t too fussed about as I nearly always improvise any recipe I am trying to follow. So we went off for a lovely country walk (with the saw and rucksack – R found some wood on a bridle path which was an ideal spot for me to do my exercises as not so public as the Waitrose carpark!) and ended up in the allotments above where the canal runs. Who should we bump into but our old friend Clive, who we spent a long time chatting to a few weeks ago. He and another Clive (confusedly!) were tending a bonfire but he immediately left it to offer me, wait for it, cavelo nero from his allotment (I wasn’t to tell his wife!) and swiss chard. Delicious. Just as we were about to leave he called us back and gave us some freshly picked carrots from the allotment of ‘Fred the carpenter’. One of Fred’s many parttime voluntary jobs had been to make cobteeth for an historical windmill in Hertfordshire. However he died very recently and just before his death he asked Clive to make sure his allotment goodies were equally shared out. And that is how we came to have delicious freshly picked carrots for supper!
NarrowboatTLC 