Monday 26th February Day 219
It’s cruising week! Well, it was… more on that later.
I’m about to hit the big time after I received my PLR statement; this is money authors receive for people borrowing their books from a library. I think it’s something like 13p per loan which is very good if you’re well known enough to have your books loaned out a lot. I only managed 14 loans for my first book in the Fantasy Series; Escape which are the only books of mine in the library at the moment so I won’t be booking a cruise ship holiday for all my friends just yet. Newark Library where they are stocked, is being refurbished at the moment so I suppose that won’t help. But if you use libraries and can request one of my books that would be great.
The car is due to go back today so we head into Stafford and Chris drops me off in town on route as I have an eye test booked at Specsavers. Thought I might as well get it done whilst we are still here. It’s funny because when I sit there waiting to be seen the young lad asks me if he can check my address and I say; I don’t have an address because I live on a boat. The young person is suitably impressed and says that is ‘very cool’ ((He didn’t mean you were cool just that the lifestyle was cool)) Whatever.
Eye test done, I meet up with Chris after he’s dropped of the hire car. It really is a very good service from Enterprise. Then it back to the bus and home where we decide to start fitting the carpet in the lounge.
It’s the anniversary of my dad passing away and some years are harder than others so it pays to keep busy. I cannot believe 23 years have gone by in the blink of an eye! I’m always one for making the most of life because it really does go by too quickly the older you get! Stay safe and look after each other. Day done. Until tomorrow. x
P.S. I’m just going to do a little experiment this week and set the daily blogs to be live at 6.30pm.
Tuesday 27th February Day 220
I received a lovely review for Power of Nature… “I loved this book, couldn’t put it down read it in 2 sittings. What a great thriller, I liked it was told in 2 different time lines, alternating between past and present, it was very cleverly done. Great book, would highly recommend it.“
It’s always a nice boost to get a lovely review. Everything is a little quiet on the book sales front and I know a lot of that is due to the fact I haven’t the time, or in fact the skills, to market the books as I should. I’ve spoken before about promotion being a different skill set to be able to market effectively, and consistently. I’ve tried different platforms as you know but maybe my focus needs to change a bit on where I place my books. More on that as I think on it and decide what to do! I have a few ideas! ((If it’s to stop writing all together then you better finish the Tom and Hope book or else you will be banished from your family forever!)) Oh no, it’s not that drastic.
In between boat jobs I have a chat with the book group crew as I missed chatting with them and then it’s back to painting, faffing, DIY and trying to keep the boat in some kind of order! Day done. Until tomorrow. x
Wednesday 28th February Day 221
Today we finish fitting the carpet trim in the lounge and it looks wonderful. We are really pleased with it and The Plot is looking very homely after all this work. ((Oh no. Not another tour of the boat coming to YouTube! Please no!)) Not much more of the new flooring left to fit and then horrible wooden flooring I don’t like will be completely covered! We always wanted the boat to look fresh and modern inside. After viewing many different boats when we were looking to buy this, some of them were so dark and boaty ((Erm!)) lol, I know it’s a boat but we wanted ours to be homely. Obviously, it still looks like a boat inside – we have port holes after all, but mostly we forget we are living on a boat when sitting inside and it’s decorated to our taste.
More painting is done in the shower room today. So hopefully only a couple more coats to cover this and then all the wood we want to paint will be finished as well. It really is such a massive transformation and a real big tick for the jobs we wanted to get done. You know when you sit chatting and say ‘imagine when this job is done or that’s all finished. Well we are nearly at that point. Right, DIY waits for no-one… Day done. Until tomorrow. x
Thursday 29th February Day 222
Yes, another coat of paint. ((Can you just get it finished now and get back to cruising. I’m bored of the DIY!!)) You’re bored! Think how we feel. We had to buy some new paint but unfortunately didn’t buy the water based one so this one stinks and takes an age to dry. ((I’m saying nothing)) We are due to leave the marina tomorrow and the boat is still in a tip and loads left to do so we might try and stay a few more days.
We try and clear one thing hanging around in the way by cutting up the rug which was in the lounge, which we no longer need now we have fitted the new carpet, and it fits in the bedroom perfectly after much musing, measuring and faffing. What a difference to have a nice comfy carpet under foot. It’s also one less thing to trip over. It only takes one thing out of place or in the way to make living in a boat that much harder due to the lack of space.
Not much else to report today as we get ready for leaving the marina. ((Make the most of these smaller blog posts people as there are some epic ones coming when Peachy gets cruising again – be warned)) day done. until tomorrow. x
Friday 1st March Day 223
Chris wakes up with a very dodgy and swollen knee so we take the decision to stay an extra few days. The marina are very flexible about it. It gives us a few more days to get the boat straight and hopefully Chris can rest his knee so he’s okay for cruising ((Old age is creeping in Peachy!)) Don’t we know it! Chris does have a condition which affects his ankle and the consequences of this mean it often makes not only his ankle swell but also sometimes his knee although I’ve never seen it this bad. Between resting, we crack on and get the painting and tiling done as well as putting together the bathroom cabinet – I love a bit of flatpack furniture and then fit the sink and new taps. I cleaned the sink up using elbow grease and some wet and dry sandpaper – the sink is made of acrylic I think! So I managed to get off a lot of the old varnish, paint and scratches and has saved us not only money but the faff of fitting a new sink and it looks good with the new taps. This should be on one of the vlogs very soon. Day done. Until tomorrow. x
Saturday 2nd March Day 224
I’ve had to put my foot down and ordered Chris to stay in bed for the day to rest his very swollen knee. So, in-between feeding him, making drinks, ordering him to rest and giving him painkillers, I crack on and give the boat a thorough good clean as well as grouting the tiles, painting the wall where the cabinet is going in the shower room as we decide we want it green, fitting the sticky vinyl into the cubby holes in the shower room so they look nicer and a million other jobs. ((Alright, taking all the credit whilst he’s laid up!))
I emptied the toilet ((Oh how the mighty have fallen)) normally Chris’s job but I really don’t mind. First I wandered up to the marina office and brought a trolley back, then I loaded it with the toilet cassette, sorted the stern out and got rid of all the rubbish, all the boxes from the various deliveries to be recycled. It feels really good to be getting everything straight again even if we still have stuff to do.
I’m absolutely knackered by the end of the day but have thoroughly enjoyed having the energy to do it, as you will know if you read this blog I’ve had one cold after another as well as bloody hormones playing up so it’s nice to actually be able to get something done. A very satisfying Day Done! Until tomorrow. x
Sunday 3rd March day 225
Today is our last day in the marina. I’m really glad we stayed an extra few days as at least we managed to get the boat straight and Chris’s knee is feeling a little better even if he is still hobbling around.
We fit the matting into the bow so that we can transfer all the bikes, coal and logs back where they belong as the stern needs to be clear for cruising tomorrow. Hopefully the paint will have had long enough to dry and we won’t have too many bits to touch up. It’s really nice to get everything back in there and it all fits perfectly. I think we might end up just using it a storage area rather than a seated area as we thought, as other than the roof, there is nowhere else for it to go. It’s essentially like a shed to us.
The stern looks really nice now it’s clear although I wish we’d had time to paint it. ((I think it’s well known Peachy that it doesn’t matter how much you do there is always another job!)) isn’t that true! Anyway that will be a job for another day to finish that off.
I wander up to get rid of the rubbish as Chris is still trying to rest his knee and I pop into a couple we met last year as they had come into the marina to fill up on diesel etc. It was really lovely to see them and feels nice to making friends on the canal network who we see every so often. A good old chinwag was had and it was nice to see them before we left the area.
Back at the boat I crack on with some of my freelance work as I want to make sure I keep tomorrow free for cruising as you never know what is going to happen. Day done and we are excited and a little apprehensive about tomorrow but definitely more excited! Day done. Another week done. x((I cannot wait for the cruising blogs again. Be gone fowl DIY! Let the adventures begin!))
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C.L. Peache 