Christmas Day (continued)

This is our second Christmas aboard Bridge Street, but one very different to last year when there was just the two of us, moored at Stoke Golding on the Ashby Canal.

This year we are still sat at the Middlewich Narrowboats site. We have been in Middlewich, our past home for 20 years, since the beginning of November apart from a few runs out. It has been nice to see the grandkids and catch up with friends.

While moored up at Middlewich, there really has not been much to report, a normal life albeit whilst living on a boat. We have had a few days out to Northwich travelling by bus. The car journey would normally take about 15 minutes, by bus it is an hour, but the longest it has taken has been 2½ hours. Quite often, at the end of another seemingly busy day, we ask ourselves what we have done today. Retirement is a bitch and you wonder how you fitted everything into a working life.

A few jobs have been done around the boat and at Tracey’s. In Tracey’s house her new front door was adjusted and a new door fitted to the kitchen, with two more doors being ordered. On the boat, Brenda finished decorating the last porthole bung and a catch has been fitted to the rear doors so as to be able to bolt them properly closed and cut down significantly on draughts. 12V 5A sockets have been fitted, replacing the 12V cigarette lighter type sockets that had LED indicator lights and thus drew electric even while not being used. 12V USB charging points have been fitted so that items can be charged without running the inverter, a massive saving in battery life and winter engine running. However, while doing the changes to the electrics, I managed to drill a hole clean through one of the central heating pipes. Me, with my background, couldn’t quite believe I had managed this. The pipe has been repaired with a Speed-Fit straight connection, but the system has yet to be refilled and tested. Fortunately, we rarely use the heating anyway, and the weather, while being mainly wet, has been mild, so the heating can wit, at least until after Christmas.

We have enjoyed spending time in the ‘Kings Lock’, our old local and I have enjoyed going to the ‘Golden Lion’, my old drinking place. Kenny and Sue left on 21^st December to spend Christmas with their daughter down south and so we were left as unofficial caretakers of the Middlewich Narrowboats site. Fine, it gives us an added reason to stop here. The mooring has been convenient without the need to move, and watering and the emptying of the loo is performed from the empty site for which Kenny has keys.

One of the main reasons for spending the winter in Middlewich, was to have Christmas Day with Tracey and the kids.

Christmas Eve was spent with last minute shopping and the evening with Martin and Michelle and a meal in the Kings Lock. Unfortunately, their chef had let them down and the meals were awful.

Christmas morning, we opened our presents in bed with a cup of tea. We enjoyed doing this last year, also this year and doubtless, it will become a favourite part of our Christmas’s on board. Living on the boat, we must be difficult to buy presents for with space being an issue, and to each other is no exception, so we tend to buy lots of little things that fit into a stocking, along with a larger present. After a smoked salmon and scrambled egg breakfast, we walked to Tracey’s where we spent the remainder of Christmas Day. Of course, the kids are getting older, but still a joy to spend Christmas with them. Throughout the day, the dinner was prepared and cooked and enjoyed by all.  

   

Back on the boat in the evening, we relaxed with a few quiet drinks between us, and reflection, before bed.