Note to Faithful Readers: kindly click on highlighted links to view David's incredible photos - thanks.
Well, it has been quite some time since we sent out an update on our
lives here in the UK - it has been a very, busy few months - all the
little jobs on the boat we thought we would get to... not yet done,
arghhh...
But, we start our cruising season in just over a week - will be out for
7 months, cannot wait!!
So, what have we been up to..
December was busy, as the Christmas season usually is - we had a quite a
few Christmas fairs to attend, definitely different in a venue as
opposed to selling from the boat - but December is not the time of year
to be heading out on a boat, especially as the canals were frozen from
Nov. 26th for over 7 weeks! But, ERII was safe and warm, plugged in at
the marina.
After Christmas, we had a lovely Boxing Day with our
friends from Cheese Boat 1 then back for a couple of days before heading
to my family in Scotland for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) - and what a hoot
that was! My niece, Gaby, who turned 11 in January, had the time of her
life... once she could understand what everyone was saying. It's just
one party after another up there, culminating in 'first-footing' after
midnight on New Year's Eve. Upon returning home, her dad asked her if
she'd like to visit Scotland again and the reply was, "No... I want to
LIVE there!".
We did find time to do a couple of small jobs on the boat until we
headed to the Lake District with Cheesies 1 in mid-January. Had a great
time, beautiful weather (which, for those of you who know that area, is
quite unusual), lots of lovely hiking and exploring the pretty towns
like Grasmere, nice pubs - you get the drift..
We were home for a couple of days before flying to Canada to visit with
our daughters and sons-in-law and other family members - a very brief
trip (only 6 full days) and lots of visits to pack in - so, if you
didn't hear from us before you now know why.
Upon return, we picked up our tools and renovated the ugliest bathroom
we've ever seen, God's truth! Our poor clients went to one of those
flashy bathroom showrooms and got sold lots of lovely stuff that
wouldn't work in their small (not quite 6 foot by not quite 7 foot room)
bathroom - we argued to return lots of it and get them refunds, had to
make many changes but we got there in the end, although it took a full
week longer to do because of delays in products, etc.. Clients are
delighted, lovely, modern bathroom with the plumbing actually embedded
in the wall - radical over here!
So, back to the boat for a few days then we went to Dublin last week for
a couple of nights - beautiful city, very European and clean, straighter
streets, except for areas like Temple Bar. And, we had the most
gorgeous weather to top it off - bright blue skies, no wind and 11
degrees - walked miles and miles seeing the medieval and viking
quarters, Dublin Castle, of course did the Guinness tour and ended up at
the Gravity Bar on the top floor - David had his pint of Guinness and I
had a diet coke (just couldn't face a pint of it, although I did have a
Guinness burger for lunch, that counts, right?!) and took in the views,
back to the Temple Bar area - my favourite part of Dublin, hands down!
Walked around Trinity College then to the St. Stephen's Green area (tip
for those of you who want to have a drink in a real 'local' bar, not a
tourist spot - and this comes from Heather and Jamie who know their
stuff - O'Donoghue's just off the green, near the Huguenot cemetery) -
that night David had Guinness beef pie, he's topped up on Guinness for
awhile!
Flew back to Liverpool on a half-empty Ryanair flight, very rare,
usually packed like sardines on their flights - so we both took window
seats and enjoyed the views back to Blighty! Back on the boat to,
seriously, get her ready for the season - we are currently on our
'shakedown' cruise and all is going well. Have used my BBQ the last 2
nights, my favourite appliance in the whole world!
Lots of events happening over the next few months so watch this page!
* Diary 2011 for the ERII ( Or Cheesy 2)
Come buy! Some Cheeses and Chutneys if you are in the neighbourhood.
| 2011 | Mar | 25-27 | The Fox & Anchor, Coven (Featherstone), Staffs. & Worcs. canal (WV10 7PW) |
| Apr | 1-3 | Mother's Day, The Tame Otter, Hopwas, Coventry canal (B78 3AF) | |
| Apr | 8-10 | Fradley Junction, junction of Trent & Mersey and Coventry canals | |
| Apr | 15-17 | Great Haywood, Trent & Mersey canal | |
| Apr | 22-25 | Easter weekend, Fox & Anchor, Coven (Featherstone), Staffs. & Worcs. canal (WV10 7PW) | |
| Apr - May | 30 2 | Norbury May Day Rally, Norbury Junction, Shropshire Union canal | |
| May | 7-8 | Middlewich, Trent & Mersey canal (check `Where are We Now` for exact location) | |
| May | 13-15 | Anderton Boat Lift, Trent & Mersey canal | |
| May | 25-30 | Audlem Music & Arts Festival - Bank Holiday weekend, Audlem, Shropshire Union canal |
Love to all,
Helen & David
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