Warmth and the lack thereof

So on Thursday the oil fired central heating/cooker at home was playing up.

Friday I was at work and himself doesn't feel the cold so we lit a fire when I got home and turned the heated blanket on the bed on.

Saturday we thought about contacting the man who can but himself decided it might be an idea to check it wasn't lack of oil before calling him out

So he braved the sleet and peered down into the depths.

And of course it was. . .

Because we need to move the tank again we didn't want to buy too much and it appears we bought too little.

Ho hum


I have returned to the boat armed with the electric heater to use up my electric that I have paid for before I get turfed out of the Marina on Friday and I am glad I did.  The fire is proving a pig to light.

A bit more comic relief

I was fetched out of the bath this morning by a knock on the door.  Little old lady said she had got into a bit of a pickle turning around and could she leave the car there for a bit?

She had decided rather than turn around as everyone else does in our gateway at the top of the lane that she would use the new quagmire next to the house instead.  Unfortunately the strip down the lane that her back wheels are on is sheet ice!

To be fair an hour later she was back and had put some grit down and got herself out of said pickle without any assistance from anyone and without having to move Sue's car.  Shame I was looking forward to coming to the rescue in the Winter Tyred Diesel Panda with a rope to haul her back end around.

She was American and therefore used to proper snow and ice.  She has now decided to get some Winter Tyres like she used to have over there!

Comic Relief

Inspired by watching the Comic Relief Bake Off I decided I would give it a go.

Custard Slice was the choice I made and it was all going so well.

The pastry element whilst a little dark in one corner was as it should be, the custard was so thick when I got it out of the pan I was confident ...

Perhaps too confident ...

I am blaming the instruction to add butter to the custard after sieving it into the clean bowl/jug for the fact that 

as you can see 

only the dish is holding the custard in place!

Still I soldiered on

Glace ice no problem

Melted chocolate into a piping bag made out greaseproof paper and sellotape (and staples).  

Not easy as greaseproof paper repels sellotape - hence the staples to hold the sellotape in position!

Still all going relatively well all things considered

ah forgot to alternate direction of swipes.

Cutting into portions destroyed the design anyway!

Slice on plate looking not too bad.  

Pastry nice and flaky.  

Amazingly the bottom is not soggy.

Tastes pretty good - shame about the custard.

I think we will leave the rest in the dish don't you?

Something tells me

I won't be going to check on the boat today!

Praise for the Mug Tug

This year I went local for my Christmas presents and had a lot of fun doing it, I am now addicted to painting pottery at the Mug Tug moored at Barton Turns Marina.

Three trinket boxes

Two sets of condiments

 one dip tray (olympic themed - honest)

One vase - double sided

 For the fox family

Coasters - Mick the 'Installation sculptor'

Lorna - the ex Queen of Pain Aus and NZ

The 'Ducati and tea loving' dearly beloved Fox

it is official

I have winterised the boat (well sort of) and brought two large bags of bedding etc home for washing.  I hope I haven't been too hasty as although we now have oil in the tank at home it still hasn't been connected up and deemed safe for the big switch on.

See y'all in February.

Ways to go home

It is possible to cycle home on an electric bike.

But don't do it again without someone on standby to collect you when the battery dies!

I set off at 11.15 with the bike on eco which means I do 75% of the work and it is not terribly fast but you don't notice any hills which is good as it is uphill pretty much all the way home.  It died at 3pm about 7 miles from home and just before the one section of busy main road with no pavement.  Typical.

At 4.45pm I reached The watersports centre about 3 miles from home absolutely shattered as cycling an electric bike after the battery has died is like cycling through thick treacle.  And the hills oh god the hills!

I managed to collar a poor unsuspecting farmer with a landrover to carry me and bike the last 3 miles home. What a gent.  So I was home by 5pm and straight into a hot bath.