Cosgrove 14 day moorings.

Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th November.

Cosgrove 14 day moorings.

Saturday morning began with Marmite climbing over us both and meowing, she was making sure we knew it was time to get up and feed her. That cat is the most vocal cat I have ever met. Siamese cats I know are very vocal, but Marmite would out do most of them in the meowing stakes. It usually ends in a wrestling match with Keith, with yes of course Keith winning. Having crawled out of bed, which was not far from the truth as my sciatica is playing up at the moment. It is from an old lower back problem, which developed when having my first born. Every now and again it rears its ugly head and leaves me walking like an old woman, which is not a pretty sight. Still it does not stop me working the boat or delivering coal. I just keep taking the tablets ha ha ha.So having got up, folded up the bed into its cupboard, I got the fire stoked up, which sent huge plumes of smoke bellowing from the chimney. I could have sent smoke signals to the cowboys off of it LOL. Keith laid up breakfast, which as with most mornings, it consisted of cereal and a cup of tea. Paddy then got his walk, whilst Marmite continued to protest that she needed feeding, despite the fact that she had dried food still in her bowl. On our return from our walk the boat became silent as Marmite tucked into her duck meat breakfast (No we did not kill a duck to feed her, it was provided by Whiskers pouches). Whilst we did the usual morning chores onboard, Gary on working boat Ascot headed up the cut to do more diesel and coal deliveries. I was going to get stuck in to chopping some kindling, but the chopper was so blunt, you could have ridden to London on it. Keith got his sharpening stone out and put a new edge on it. We then both got down to the task of chopping the wood for our own use. We have bagged kindling onboard which is to sell to other boaters, but I prefer to chop my own for our fires. On Gary’s return to moor up alongside his butty Beverley, Keith and I took a walk down to introduce ourselves. We wanted to reassure him that we were not here to take his regular customers. Gary sells diesel and coal to boaters from Cosgrove to Leighton Buzzard.We spent well over an hour nattering to Gary about working boats and everything to do with the canals. His working boat Ascot appears in the photograph showing the women trainees sitting on Ascots roof, they worked the boats during the war years.You may have seen the photograph in ‘Troubled Waters’ by Margaret Cornish, it has also appeared in magazines and is in the Stoke Bruerne Museum. Gary has owned the pair for 8 years now, and has collected some of her history in that time from magazines. Whilst chatting we got to meet Oliver his black cat, which he rescued as a kitten. Oliver is now 11 years old, but still has a lot of fight in him apparently. As always when chatting to other boaters the time flies by, so we said our goodbye’s and headed back to the boat, it was soon time for lunch, which consisted of egg’s and mushrooms on toast with a coffee to wash it down. The afternoon was not quite as nice as the morning had been, in fact it turned really chilly, so we sat and watched the afternoon movie on BBC2 before settling in for the evening. The evening’s TV was actually darn good. We watched the X-Factor, Leona Lewis was the guest performer. She is an amazing singer and is conquering the world with her wonderful talent. She gave an outstanding performance. It was time for Daniel to leave the show after he and Rachel were left in the bottom two. We actually thought it was a tough decision on who should go this week. Unlike last week, when the country it seems was up in arms over Laura leaving. What astounds me is the fact that with the country in the state it is in at the moment, the government were discussing the X-factor, even a petition was set up by the angry public to bring back Laura. At the end of the day, if they did not vote, then they cannot expect that person to stay. It is no good moaning about it later. I wonder how many of those who signed the online petition actually voted for Laura? Someone needs to get a life. After that we were well and truly entertained by ‘We are amused’ for Prince Charles 60th Birthday. It was really very funny. All of the comedians were excellent. I think this was the first time we had seen Robin Williams in stand up, he was brilliant. So having enjoyed a great evening’s entertainment on ITV we then headed off to bed. Marmite and Paddy had gone to bed much earlier and were both curled up asleep.

Sunday 16th November.

It began with Marmite playing with the pegs on our short washing line in the engine room. She pats the pegs with her paw to make them rattle, knowing full well it will get our attention, she then jumped onto Keith with a thud, then walking across me meowing loudly. We can practically set our clock by her these days. So with no further a do we got out of bed to a pretty drab but mild morning. Whilst I took Paddy out for his walk, Keith did grilled bacon and poached eggs on toast for breakfast, with a cup of tea. My sciatica is still playing up so I have upped the tablet’s, to see if that will calm things down. It is actually better if I am moving around, rather than sitting for any length of time. It is the joys of getting older. Marmite and Paddy got their breakfast, they then settled down in the back cabin for a morning snooze, having slept all night. Oh to be a dog or a cat, they have the ideal life, well these two do.
The rest of the day was spent taking things easy. We then sat and watched the new series of I’m a celebrity get me out of here. What a great selection of people in the outback this year. I already have my favourites to go far in the competition and yes I also have those I dislike. But not going to say yet, I want to see how things go. Already it looks like it is going to be fun, with lots of personality clashes. Keith and I love the idea of the Home and Away camps, with one having more home comforts than the other; this is bound to cause friction for the ones in the Away camp. It is one of those reality shows that once you begin to watch it, you cannot leave it a lone. I am full of admiration for George Takei (71) and Esther Rantzen (68) for taking up the challenge, good on them both.