When I say slow I do mean slow

Mileage so far on 2013 mega trip.

Saturday 1 mile 1 lock
Sunday 2 and a bit miles 2 locks
Monday rien, nix, nada

I had a lovely lunch in the Munch Box cafe in Burton, cauliflower cheese with chips and a side salad £3.99 (small portion) and it was yum I would have licked the plate but felt it would perhaps not be a good idea!

Slow boat to Wigan

And they're off ...

Having trouble using up my electric

I've used the electric heater almost non stop, I even brought my hair dryer onto the boat to dry my hair this morning.  I've made bread ...

I am running out of time and still got loads left in the meter.  If I had switched on the water I suppose I could run the washing machine, but that seems a bit excessive.

Next winter I will not make the same mistake again.

But hey I will be on the move again soon.

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!