A Photo to Share

After reading Heth’s blog,(Takey Tezey Tales) and seeing her swan photo’s, I couldn’t resist posting this gorgeous photo that was sent to me in an email.

Straight Jacket required!

I have a great Mum, who on many occasions has helped me through difficult times. It wouldn’t do to tell you all how old she is, she would kill me. So to give you some idea of her age, I am fifty and Mum is twenty two years older, oops!

When we had the real bad weather, snow and ice, you would think a lady of her years would be wrapped up warm indoors, with a nice hot drink and swooning while listening to her Daniel O'Donnell Cd, but oh no not my Mum!

Here is the photographic evidence of what she got up to, if any of you were in any doubt as to where I got my streak of madness from, here is your  answer!                                                                                                                                                                          My Mum just got this overwhelming urge to go out in the garden and build this lovely Snowman!

   

       Not content with letting the neighbours know how mad she is, Mum decided to throw herself on the floor to make a snow angel, this would leave onlookers in no doubt that action would have to be taken………….

              Straight Jacket on order!!

Joking aside, Mum is one in a million, and I won’t hold it against her that she has passed her, loopy genes on to me!

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you

After reading one of the Blogs I follow, ( Lesley, Nb Caxton) about us all pulling our weight to clear litter from our waterways and towpaths, I left a comment on her Post agreeing with everything Lesley had said.

How much nicer would our towpaths be without litter, left by rude people who dump it and then go home to their litter free gardens! Well the towpath is our garden and we don’t want your litter, thank you very much!

About ten minutes after leaving my comment, I looked out of the window to see this……………..

I have seen this man before on numerous occasions. He gives up his time to litter pick on the tow path opposite Tickety Boo. I don’t know who he is, but I am very grateful to him for the thorough job he does!

As you can see from the two big bin bags of rubbish, there are still people who think it is acceptable to just dump litter anywhere they like.

A very BIG thank you to you, our mystery litter picker, just to let you know your hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, and is really appreciated. 

Dancing on Ice!

Triple Axel, Double Toe Loop, and Spiral, and that was just me trying to walk down the towpath! I did admit I love the snow, that doesn’t include the ice.

I was really happy when the big thaw kicked in, it was becoming a bit tedious, walking like a constipated duck!

The ice was a nightmare to walk on, I lost count of the amount of times I nearly went, just about saving myself by throwing my hands up in the air and letting slip from my mouth the, s--t word! Then to look around sheepishly to make sure no body saw my slip, or heard my expletives!

Anyway thankfully its all melted away now, but who knows it could be back.

I loved the snow when it first fell, we all got great photos to remind us of winter 2010. I think we have had quite enough of that weather now thank you!

The Canal is thawing out nicely and I am looking forward to seeing the water moving again. Its fascinating to see the canal frozen, but it then,  becomes a bit eerie. Its good to see the ripples back, oh and the Ducks!

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Best Christmas Present Ever!

I have been keeping a secret since Christmas day, its been hard but I was sworn to secrecy, but now I can share my news! My Daughter Kirsty and her lovely partner Ian, gave us the fantastic news that they are having a baby! I am to become a Nan in August and I am ecstatic, can’t wait!

When needs must!

I have no problem with the weather being cold, nice warm and snug on the boat. The only thing spoiling my “ smugness”, ( there’s that word again Pickles no 2)! is the fact I have no water! I do have some in the tank and I am being very frugal with that, but once that goes I don’t quite know what I will do.

You can’t really take water for granted on a boat as you do in a house, you only have water at your disposal when you keep your tank topped up, in this weather that is nigh impossible! All the water taps on this mooring have been turned off as we have had a few bursts, sooo , there is no water to replenish the tank.

Strip washes at the moment and a trip to Mums for a shower. I have been scraping snow off the roof of the boat and heating it to wash the dishes, very, “ Little House on the Prairie-ish”! it does save using the tank water though which I would sooner use for cups of tea and cooking. Heth, ( Takey Tezey) was worried I might scrape up snow that Bobby may have earlier used as a toilet!, but I assured her that was why I was taking it from the roof, as he doesn’t, do “it” up there. Mind you I can’t say the same for birds that fly over! Anyway all the snow I scraped up was as pure as the driven…… you know how it goes!

I am heating the snow on top of the wood burner in a pan, very boaty I must say, but its all good fun. I don’t want to be a fair weather boater, so I will take any challenges that are thrown my way, ( within reason )! This cold spell is set to last according to the weather forecast, so we will see how I feel about these," challenges” after being without water for a few weeks!

I am sure I will be able to organise some containers of water from somewhere if the situation gets really bad.

Earlier on today I was filled with horror to see two lads playing with a ball walking down the middle of the frozen canal!. My heart was in my mouth watching them, they were totally oblivious to the danger they were in, if they were to fall through the ice into the water….. it just doesn’t bear thinking about.

Well must go, my snow is boiling! 

Let it snow let it snow let it snow!

Yes I am one of the mad people who loves the snow! Yes it causes havoc, disrupts the traffic, closes schools, makes people land on their backsides in a very undignified manner, but hey, lets enjoy it, it doesn't happen that often. It looks gorgeous on the mooring. 

                                                                                                                                          I couldn't wait to get home from work to take these pictures before it got too dark. 

                                               

                                                Bobby loves the snow!         

                                                                                                                                                                                 

                                           Click on images to enlarge.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              There are still Roses on the mooring, trying their best to bloom in the cold weather.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Ok let me in I’m freezing!                                            

Brass Monkeys!

Its freezing, the canal is hard the grass is crispy and I have a bruise on my backside, (don’t laugh)!

I slipped on the ice, flat on my back, legs up in the air, very lady like! Well to be honest I had called in to the farm shop with my Mum, and managed to fall over, I didn’t hurt myself, thankfully, I just felt like a right plonker!

Bobby my dog goes out on the back deck every morning and takes up his position, looking for dogs coming down the opposite towpath. He was a bit confused when he looked at the frozen canal, but after looking at the solid mass for a while it was soon forgotten when he spied a dog coming!  He loves being on the boat watching the world go by, he sits for hours. I have let his coat grow for the winter to keep him warm! He looks a bit like a hippy, but I love him like that.

Well, according to the weather forecast we are in for more of the same, more snow and ice. Its funny the amount of people who ask me am I warm enough on the boat. I can understand them thinking that. The boats do look quite cold and uncosy from the outside, but if only they could see the inside, its toasty warm, in fact I would go as far as to say its warmer than any house I have lived in. So as long as I have plenty of wood and coal for the fire, the cold weather isn’t a problem!

I will hopefully be even warmer next year as I want to get an Ecofan, and thanks to Halfie saying how good they are, it will be top of next winters shopping list!

   After such a cold day this was the gorgeous view from the side hatch, of the sun going down.                                                                                                                                                  click on image to enlarge

Happy New Year!

Wishing you all, Love, Luck and Happiness in 2010! I could have added "wealth" to that list, but to be honest peace of mind is more important, and to be happy with your lot! Have fun in the following year, as I intend to!

Back at last!

I was going to wait till the New Year before I started blogging again, but why wait?

Hope you all had a great Christmas, I certainly did. We had a nice xmas dinner and then a very enjoyable evening at my Daughter, Kirsty's. We played on the Wii, and I have to say I haven't laughed so much! My Mum being the one who made me laugh the hardest! We insisted she joined in, and to be honest she did really well. The funniest moment was when Mum played the football game, where you have to head the balls that come flying at you, the first ball she headed was done with such force, I thought she was going through the flat screen!

Anyway, just quickly I have to tell you all my news! After trawling through loads of boats for sale, it suddenly dawned on me I would never get a boat as nice as Tickety Boo, not for the money I could afford anyway, so with a lot of help from my Brother, ( Thank you John ) I decided to buy out John and keep Tickety! I am so happy I didn't have to let her go to somebody else, not after all the hard work we put in to her.

So now the crew of Tickety Boo is down to two, me and Bobby the Scotty! It took a while to get used to being on my own, but I very soon realised there is a lot of advantages! The main advantage being more storage space, and pleasing myself what time I eat, sleep etc.

I am relieved I don't have to change the name of my blog too, any other name just wouldn't have been the same. I am working more hours now, for obvious reasons, but I hope to blog on a regular basis, so for all of you who thought you had got rid of me waffleing on, apologies but I am back! I can honestly say it feels good to be back in blogging world! Bring on 2010.

I should have been back at work today, but without too much information,I will just say that anything I eat or drink at the minute is doing its utmost to leave my body as soon as possible! Nuff said!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.Back to blogging in 2010, take care till then Debbie x

Update.

I have taken up residence in Limbo here for a while. Just thought I would let you all know I am ok. Should have some good news to tell you all soon. Watch this space!

Keep up all the good blogging.

They don't sell postcards in Limbo!

They don't sell them honestly! If they did I would send you all one. You will have to settle for a post instead.

Being in Limbo isn't all bad, just a bit scary, a kind of inbetweeny land. In a funny way I can put up with being here for a short while, I am looking forward to my "new chapter" its just taking a while to turn the page! None of my doing either, like everything else, the more impatient you are to get things sorted, the more things stand in your way!

I am so looking forward to getting my life back on track, getting my teeth stuck in to my life afloat again, making whatever boat I end up on, my own. I have lots of new things I want to try in my new abode.

I am looking at the hundreds of boats for sale on the many sites, and finding it quite mind boggling! There are so many out there! Many gorgeous ones that are way out of my price range, but also quite a few that I could possibly manage to buy. I have a good imagination, I can visualise how nice the interior of a boat could look with a bit of hard work, just as well really as some of the boats are awful! Even Bobby my dog would turn his nose up at them!

My main priority is making sure I get one that has a sound hull, the inside I can work on over time to make it a cosy home. Quite looking forward to that!

What I can't get over is the state some of the boats are in. You would think that if people wanted to sell their boat they would at least tidy up before they took the photo for the advert! One such boat which will remain nameless, made me gasp when I saw the photo, you couldn't see any space on any of the surfaces, probably under all the mess there was a nice boat lurking, I am sure many people would just bypass the boat and go on to the next advert!

Anyway, I would be grateful if anybody knows of any reasonably priced boats out there I would be very interested to hear from you.

In the meantime I will try and enjoy my stay in Limbo, Wish you were here and I wasn't!

I am confident it wont be forever, but I have to say it doesn't surprise me that Limbo isn't listed on any maps, you wouldn't visit here through choice!!

Even here my glass is very much half full!

Nice Surprise!

I had a really nice surprise yesterday, a visit from Nb Cosy Toes, ( love that name ) and her crew. They were on  their way back from a trip through to Liverpool.

 

They had a great time, and really enjoyed the experience.  Sue Kindly showed me around Cosy Toes, she is a lovely little boat, immaculate and a credit to them all. It was great to meet them all, and I look forward to seeing  them all again.

Sue made me a cup of coffee, and then we came on board the boat I am staying on at the moment. We had a good old natter, then they headed off to catch up to Sue’s parents. They had gone on ahead on their boat, Cheshire Lad.

Cosy Toes had just pulled away when I noticed Sue had left her coffee mug on my boat! It will be a good excuse to go and see them to return the mug. In the meantime Sue, just so you know how your mug is doing……………..

                        Not a happy Mug!

            In fact he has threatened to report you to,

                 The Cruelty to Crockery Association!

An after thought!

Well I think I have mastered "Live Writer" its easier to upload photos and put them where you want them, ( kinda...)! I put a picture of Tickety Boo's Galley as it is now. I have now decided its not a nice photo. Soooo here is one I like better!

  Finally managed to get on Live Writer!

Well hopefully Heth on WB Takey Tezey, will be proud of me as I think I have finally worked out how to use Windows Live writer! It has only taken me a couple of months to work it out!

To be fair, I did try some months back only to give up, exasparated with myself, but now, here we are!

This post is just an experiment really to see how it all works. Apparently writing your blog with Live writer makes things a lot easier. When then does it get easier I ask myself.

Now that Tickety Boo is up for sale I think it would be a shame to let her go without letting you all see what I have been blogging about!

So now I will attempt to get some photos on here to show you.                                                                                                                                  Tickety being moved to the boatyard we rented, after our original builders went Bankrupt.

                                                                                                                                     

   Me adding last minute touches, before the boat was transported to her mooring.

 

 

 My Brother, John, driving the lorry taking the boat to the cut!

 

               

 

 

 

At last Tickety on the cut where she belonged!

 

 

             

This is what we were left with, after paying for a fully fitted boat. At least we now had the windows and doors fitted.

 

 

My Brother John, without him we would have been well and truly lost. He did all the plumbing and electrics, fitted the windows, the fire, central heating and numerous other things!

 

 

 The two John’s working in the Bedroom While the bedroom was being fitted, we slept on a blow up bed in the Saloon.

                         

                                                    The Bedroom as it is now, after sleeping on a blow up bed for months, it was bliss to get  into a proper bed!

 

Things were beginning to take shape slowly. Tickety was starting to look like the boat I had dreamed of.

            

                                       

From this empty shell, sitting on deckchairs…..

                                          To this,our cosy home!

  From this half finished kitchen, with the two ring camping stove …

 

 

                                        

                                                 

      To my “ Galley Slave” Kitchen!                                                                                                      

New Beginnings.

Well I did say I would be back! God I have missed blogging.

The break up of a relationship is never easy, I feel like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards! You tend to go through many phases, anger, sadness, loneliness and at a total loss as to where it all went wrong.

There is one thing I am certain of, there will be no going back. Too many things have been said and done to hurt me, things I will never be able to forgive, and that makes me so sad. I thought I had found my soul mate, but obviously I was so wrong.

Well that's enough of that. As I have done before, I have decided self pity and recriminations never helped any body. Even though this episode of my life has left me sad and confused, wallowing in self pity is pointless.

My way of life won't change, living on a narrow boat is my passion. I have been staying at my Mums in her bungalow, where I was made welcome and more than comfortable, but being back on land and ensconced in bricks and mortar fills me with horror!

For me to stay on Tickety Boo was out of the question. We did come to an agreement that we would each have alternate weeks on the boat, until she is sold, but devastatingly for me John went back on his word.

I think that's enough of washing my dirty linen in public!

I had heard rumour that somebody on our mooring was maybe selling a boat, when I enquired about it the owner very kindly said I could stay on their boat for a couple of months, how thoughtful was that? I will always be truly grateful for this opportunity, as its got me back on the cut where I belong!

The boat is slightly smaller than Tickety, and yes I am missing her, but this little boat is really nice, and I may even consider buying her myself.

I have moved on T.F.T.T.M., I wont divulge the name just yet, maybe later. I bet those initials will have you guessing! Answers in the post please!

I moved on the boat on the first of August, new month, new start! I spent all of the first day cleaning, not that the boat was in a bad way, it just hadn't been used for months. Most of my time was spent evicting the many spiders that had taken up undisturbed residence! Once all moved in, tidy and organised I sat with a well earned cuppa, and reflected on how lucky I was in the circumstances, to be once again afloat! Thank you so very much to P and C for the very very kind gesture of letting me stay on their boat.

Bobby is settling in well and has just accepted we are on a different boat. I am so grateful to have him with me and hope and pray that it stays that way. He is my little soul mate now, and I would be heartbroken to lose him.

Tickety Boo is sadly now up for sale. After all we went through to get her to this stage. I would like to think I could buy John out, but don't know if that will be possible just yet, either way I will still be living afloat, whether on Tickety Boo, T.F.T.T.M or some other boat!

When I started this blog a couple of months ago I wrote that I wanted to share my happy, sometimes sad stories with you, this chapter is rather sad but happier times hopefully are on the horizon. Goodness knows what my blog will be called, if I some how manage to keep Tickety Boo the name will stay the same, if I can't your guess is as good as mine!

This is the first post of my new life, I hope you will continue on the journey with me, knowing me it will be a bumpy ride! Hold on tight!

Another one of lifes challenges.

Without going into too much detail, my life has been turned on its head, and had the living daylights shook out of it! Not for the first time either. Some people have a sedate, "Merry Go Round" life, where I have a bloody,"Roller Coaster" life. Even after the ups and downs and the heartache, I couldn't ever have imagined choosing the Merry Go Round, so now I have to accept I chose the rougher ride.

Us Boaters are made of stern stuff I have faith that I will get through this bad patch, and once I get my head from out of my backside I will be fine, its quite dark up here but its getting lighter by the day!

I may not blog as much over the coming weeks, but believe me I will be following all your blogs and as Arnie said, "I will be back "...

Please keep up the good work. I hope to be back soon to share a brand new chapter of my life with you, Happy Boating!

Much needed Tonic!

I have been having problems of late that have really been getting me down. I have reached a turning point in my life, but not quite sure which path to follow. Any way needless to say I haven't really had much reason to smile, until that is I got my Tonic!

We have a great couple next to us on our mooring, they shall remain nameless but they read this blog, and they know who they are. Feeling really down yesterday and not feeling much like company, I was just pottering about when said neighbours turned up. Within minutes of them arriving I cheered up, they had me laughing at their antics, if they could bottle whatever it is they have, they would be millionaires!

The first thing that literally had me splitting my sides with laughter, was when Mrs Neighbour, passed me a cuppa out the side hatch and said she would come out and have a natter with me. I was already sitting outside, so watched her stepping off the back of their boat. I still don't know how she did it but she fell out the boat backwards, she then seemed to roll in slow motion on to the bank!. Well by this time I was laughing myself silly. Bless her, I was laughing so much I couldn't even ask if she was ok! Luckily she was fine, but the incident had me giggling all afternoon!

The second thing that had me laughing was when Mr Neighbour decided to take their two little Dogs for a walk, two gorgeous little Shitzu's. Mr Neighbour wears a straw hat on account of the sun, I commented that he looked like a french man with his hat on, he then started to talk with a french accent which really made him look french!

So without even realising it my neighbours had cheered me up no end!

Later that evening Mrs Neighbour had told me about Skype, you can download it and make free calls to other people who have Skype, I have heard of it but didn't realise just how good it was, not only can you call people you can see them too with web cam, brilliant! So after a quick run through of how to use Skype I downloaded it and made my first call to Mrs Neighbour. It was great I could see her, and hear her really well, only one problem, she couldn't see or hear me! So for the umpteenth time that day I was left screaming with laughter. I could see Mr and Mrs quite clearly looking into the web cam and saying over and over, " can you here me, are you there", and then having a conversation between themselves about me not being there! In actual fact I was still there but they couldn't see me! I then watched Mrs getting fed up and making a cup of tea!

We have vowed to try again later, so no doubt more laughter in store!

So just one more thing to say, A HUGE BIG THANKYOU to my fab neighbours for pulling me out of the doldrums, you two were just the tonic I needed!

Darling Fishermen!

Why when your happily sailing along on your boat do some fishermen glare at you? They have a look on their faces that makes me want to tell them to straighten their faces before they scare the fish away! To be fair most of them are great they give you a wave and a smile and appreciate the fact that you have slowed down for them, and I always say thank you when they move rods and poles so we can sail past.

You always get one miserable old git that moans, " Bloody Boats", as if we have a cheek being there! How very dare we make waves on their patch! When this happens and they moan, I politely ask them to remind me just how much they pay for their fishing license, I then politely remind them just how much I pay for mine!

To all you nice fisherman out there who are friendly and accept we all have a right to be there, Thank you, to all you miserable old gits out there, GO GET A LIFE,find another pass time, because fishing doesn't suit you, it makes you too damn narky!

That sure felt good. Rant over!

Thunder and frightening!

In the early hours of Wednesday we had a really bad thunder storm. Now normally storms don't bother me, but this one really scared me! It seemed to be directly above the boat, and when the thunder claps came the noise seemed to boom through the boat.

Because the weather has been so humid and sticky, we have been leaving the porthole stoppers out to let cool air in at night time. Big mistake when a storm comes along. The lightening lit up the whole boat, the port holes lit up like spotlights!

Since being on the boat that must be the closest storm we have had, which got me to thinking. What would actually happen to the occupants inside the boat if it were struck by lightening? Does anybody out there know? Do I want to know or is ignorance bliss?!

To lighten the mood somewhat, I was delighted to see John and Fiona passing by on Nb Epiphany on their way through to Liverpool. Its great when you actually see people who's blog you have followed. Here's hoping they enjoy the trip!