February has arrived

It does not seem possible that we have already been aboard for 4 months! Although January has been a quiet month in comparison to the previous 3, as we have spent most of it on a very short length of the canal in Loughborough.

We have been making good use of the time though. The kitchen cupboard has been sorted with some pull out wire drawers, the portholes in the bed room area have had the curtains removed and the foam squabs covered. This makes the walls look much better as they are not broken up by curtains and the rails which were annoying me have now gone :-)
From this:

To this:

Andrew has resolved the problems with the washing machine by re-plumbing with a thermostatic mixing valve, set to 43 degrees, so that the washing machine will fill with hot water every time, negating the need for the washing machine thermostat to heat the water. We can of course only use the machine when the engine is running as that is what heats the water, but that will not really be an issue as we run it each day to charge the batteries anyway. We have not tried the dryer but we shall probably not need it much anyway. Air drying will suffice.

Our photos of the girls and Andrews fishing have been framed and fitted to the walls. Wooden blinds have been ordered for the living area, to replace the curtains there. Hopefully these will arrive soon and we can then complete the redecoration in the boat. Just need to finish the shelving in what is now the laundry cupboard.

Now that the updates which we wanted to make are almost complete, we are making plans to move on and start making our way north for so that we may be up there for summer.

I am looking forward to spring, as two winters with no summer break in between is really starting to wear me down. Not long to wait now though, the days are getting longer and slightly warmer.

We did do a short trip to get the loo pumped out and it made me realise that we are missing the open rural areas just a bit.  So our plan is to stock up early in the week and take a rural break for a few days before venturing back into town.  Andrew has a 'work' night organised for the 12th Feb and then some time after that we will possibly be moving on.  I must admit I am getting quite excited to be on the move again, especially as I will not have to worry about being iced in far from any conveniences :-)  Just not looking forward to going up the Stenson lock again. I might just offer to do the locking for that one. My wrist has improved quite a bit since the cast was removed although I still do not have as much movement in it as before. Hopefully it will eventually get back to almost normal.

I have some hand sewing/craft projects all organised to keep me busy on any rainy days that we encounter over the following months. 3 mohair teddy bears to make, a cross stitch to complete and a scarf to finish knitting.  Hopefully that should b more than enough to keep me busy in the quiet times, oh and also another 3 puzzles :-)