A Paint Job, Peachy Soles and HRT

Freshly painted roof

Morning All

We've only boated for one day this week, travelling through Leicester City on a very sunny Monday morning. We left our lovely mooring just above Blue Bank Lock and pottered along the river, under Soar Valley Way towards Freemans Lock and the Mile Straight. The morning sun lit up the water and we nosied our way through the splendid back gardens of Aylestone, chatting to the dog walkers at Aylestone Mill Lock, through St Mary's Mill and moored by the weir by Leicester City Football club while a little open sided day boat chugged out. It was full of volunteers wearing life jackets and they were armed with gripper sticks, ready to clear the water of floating rubbish. I spoke to the Captain and found out that Leicester City Council run the boat and the volunteers are regularly out on litter picking patrol, keeping the river clean. We were singing their praises until we reached the grim stretch of canal between Lime Kilns and Belgrave Locks. We saw the debris of city life floating past and wondered why the litter pickers were chasing the tiniest mouse sized litter problem up by Freemans Lock when there was this elephantine problem down here. Once we got through Frog Island, we started to see armchairs floating along and a whole continent of carrier bags, bottles and tin cans mixed up with discarded toys, pushchairs and anoraks. Carl edged along on tickover lest he foul the prop and had to get down into the weed hatch, amongst all the filth, to clear it. I couldn't blame the volunteers for not wanting to come this way;they could have filled a wide beam working barge clearing this lot up. Still, it's only that stretch which is so bad and we were soon back in the sparkling clear water of the Soar as it passed under Loughborough Road Bridge and we reached our mooring on Watermead Park. We love this mooring above the lock in Birstall, it's handy for the village and there are some lovely walks around the lakes here.

Heron fishng

The forecast for the coming days was fine and dry so on Tuesday, Carl got straight on with sanding, rust-proofing and priming the roof until finally, by Thursday he was ready to apply the top coat. That's when he looked in his paint store and decided that he probably wouldn't have enough of the cream gloss to do the job. There was nothing suitable in the nearby builders merchants so I had to do an emergency dash into town to get the paint before the weather changed. I waited till my bus pass kicked in at 9.30 then rattled off on the 22B, round the houses and down the Golden Mile, where the sari shops display their most gorgeously embroidered finery, into the main shopping area near the Haymarket. I ran straight down to Wilko's, got the paint and supplies and was back in Birstall by 10.30. (Double thumbs up emoji)

Golden Goat

Painting the roof is back breaking work - the top box and contents have to be removed and stowed safely so no-one trips over anything and sues us. The solar panels have to be disconnected and eased down onto the grass without damaging them or us and put back up every evening just in case someone runs off with them. I'm glad to say that the job is done now, thanks to the hard work of Captain Carl, We decided against cream in the end and went for 'Abbey Grey' but it's a bit pale and came out looking more like 'Wash-Day Off-White'. I like it now it's done and Carl is just grateful to finish it with his knees still in one piece!

Graffiti at North Lock

I'm ashamed to say that while Carl has been working so hard, I've been pampering and preening - Carl is very insistent that I do this, I think he just wants me out of the way. I had a list of errands to run so I left him to it while I walked into the village to check in with my dentist – this is, after all, the whole point of our long trip to get here. I'll gloss over the details of our conversation as I'm afraid I couldn't go through with the planned work and will have to have another try later in the year when I've found the Wizard of Oz and ordered some extra courage to get me through it. Having got that out of the way, the rest of the day was much better. I purchased more HRT for Tricky from the vet and collected my own electronic prescription from the chemist without a hiccup - this is always a relief as neither of us can manage without our medication, although it's much easier to get an appointment with a Vet than with a Doctor these days. I think I may have written that sentence before - please do let me know if I start repeating myself. I had a light lunch in Ruby Tuesdays - the sandwich I ordered was so big I couldn't finish it and took the rest home in a doggy bag for lunch the next day. My afternoon was spent in various pampering establishments and I strolled home feeling quite glamorous for a change – blow dried and waxed to almost normality - all I needed to complete the full makeover was a pedicure but they couldn't fit me in - what a pity. I got home to find Carl still on the roof - he'd worked straight through without stopping to eat and was looking a little pink from being out in the sun all day. I felt more than a little guilty so I quickly put on the kettle for a brew and tried to make myself useful by tidying up. We'd just got everything back on the roof when there was an unscheduled sacrifice of the 'Best Screwdriver' to the River Gods! The offering must have worked because our friends Richard and Mel arrived soon after and we spent a very 'Happy Hour' rehydrating Carl in the nearby 'White Horse'. When we were all pleasantly squiffy from cider/beer and sun, we trooped off to the 'Aroma Spice' for lashings of curry and Schloer (we forgot it was unlicensed-doh!)

Unusual decoration on this boat

That's all for this week – there will be more boating and less pampering next week

Love from

The Floating Chandlers

City Bridges

ps I managed to get a pedicure yesterday and spent a very interesting hour with a very chatty Indian lady and her instruments of medieval torture. She was charming but tutted at the state of my feet and put me through a whole lot of ticklish torture until she was satisfied that my soles were peachy.

Swans nesting by a building site

pps I'm happy to say that all the wildlife that is missing from Market Harborough has moved to Leicester City centre. There are egrets on the weir by the football ground and a huge gathering of swans by the Castle moorings. It was good to see so much wildlife again.

City Swans

Ppps – Tricky has HRT, my prescription is for very boring things but I thought I should clear that up in case anyone was wondering.

Adventure Centre