All good things must come to an end. Out with the old and in with the new.  This month we’ve been ditching some things which have outlived their useful lives.  And before you ask, no we haven’t broken up or bought another car!

What a pane in the glass

This summer has been pretty poor in terms of hot sunny days but we spotted an opportunity and invited Marlpit Lane Social Club aka the neighbours for a BBQ as they are always great fun with the usual banter, jokes and jibes plus good food. 

One renovation job we put off has been sorting out the windows at the front of the house.  They look grand but close up you can see how much they have deteriorated since they were installed in the 1990s. In addition they are a security hazard as they were glazed from the outside which was common practice back then. We even resorted to white tape on the inside of the large windows in the front bay in winter as the wind whistles in. 

Our plan was to get quotes before we left for Goa last Jan and then get them installed early in the Summer.  What we were blissfully unaware of was that all the local  companies have a 6 month waiting list from accepting their quote.  So  when the window company finally offered us a date we had to grab it. 

Unfortunately, it clashed with our BBQ but, as they say, ‘the show must go on’.  We were sat at our swanky new patio table with comfy reclining chairs (we only needed two more chairs but Neil’s into this spending regime and it was much better value to buy another whole set!!!) having drinks and chatting before the food.  Then the chat became raised voices and shouting as the window men used all sorts of power tools to remove the old windows and fit the new ones.  Fortunately, it didn’t last too long, but it did make us all laugh. 

Life in the slow lane

Cruising took on a different look mid-September. Last month we were on the 3000 passenger Regal Princess, this month we were on the 6 berth (as long as they are teeny tiny people) canal boat, Australian King. This was our second narrow boat trip of the year.  Once again we were with our friend Gail and her dog Oren.  She had always wanted to do The Caen Locks in Wiltshire so that was the plan.

Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane’), is one of the longest continuous straight flight of locks in the country. A total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over two miles with a 1-in-44 gradient.  It is a visually stunning flight. 

We left the marina and headed towards Bath and moored near Bradford on Avon for dinner.  It was a Sunday and, unfortunately, we found that many of the pubs were closed.  Cheryl asked a local guy if he knew of anywhere that might be open, and he pointed us to an Indian restaurant overlooking the River.  We were not disappointed; it was probably one of the best Indian meals we have had in the UK, even if we had to sit outside with the dog sheltering under an enormous parasol as the rain started.

Next day we cruised slowly reaching Bath at midday.  Cheryl decided to hit the shops to get some retail therapy and Neil and Gail took a walk around Bath.  We all met up for dinner later to have one of the pies at the famous Raven pub.  It didn’t disappoint, so much so, that we overheard a group of Americans who were on their third visit as they worked their way down the pie menu!

We turned the boat round and headed back towards Devizes and the locks mooring up at the bottom of the flight so we could take them on next day.  All the locks are double width so if you’re lucky you can buddy up with another boat to help reduce water usage and take the strain off winding the lock paddles.  We were not lucky!  On the plus side, we didn’t have any slower boats in front of us or many boats coming down.  However, Cheryl and Gail are lock experts and we flew up in less than three hours.

At the top of the locks is the market town of Devizes.  It has a large square in the centre with a market, lots of pubs and shops.  More retail therapy for Cheryl and Gail while Neil held onto Oren who attracted numerous ‘oooo, isn’t he lovely’ and ‘he’s being so well behaved’.  ‘Actually’, Neil said, ‘he’s not always good and doesn’t always do as he’s told’.  To be fair, he is still quite young, so we tried to cut him a bit of slack although he did have an uncanny knack of always being in the way in the boat.  We ate out two nights in Devizes, first at a very good but pricey pub and followed that with the complete contrast of a cheapie session in a Spoons on the second night.

That little ship has sailed

Over the next couple of days, we headed back to the marina to hand the boat back.  Overall, it was good to do Caen Locks, second time for us and first time for Gail.  We have done many, many canal trips over the years including our epic 3 week adventure when we crossed the Pennines.  It has been fun and we have a lot of happy memories of our times on the canal network but we have decided to call it a day.  It was with some nostalgic thoughts that we unloaded the boat, said ‘goodbye’ to Gail and headed home.

Up on the roof

We’ve been having a problem in our bedroom for some time now – no, not that, although it has produced a rather unsightly damp patch – eeeeeew!  We suspected that the chimneys weren’t completely watertight when we moved in and had them re pointed and coated with a special and very expensive waterproof coating.  It seemed to be fine so we carried on with the decorating.  Then there was a period of heavy rain and some stains began to appear in our guest bedroom where the ceiling met the outer wall.  B*gger! We’ve only just put the painting stuff away.

Our favourite singing builder, Stacy came back and re did the flashing around the base of both chimneys and we repainted again.  That’ll sort it.

The first clue that things still weren’t right was that every time we came back home after a few weeks away Cheryl noticed a strange smell as she went up the stairs towards the bedroom.  She put it down to the house not being properly ventilated when we were away, and it was an old building with a few quirks.

We went away for our Winter sun to Goa and on our return we were greeted with this

Yep we had a serious problem! Stacy was baffled and we even got Stuart the Sweep in so he could put his camera into the chimney and we stood and watched the camera screen which revealed lots of jagged bricks and slate plates within the chimney which we concluded must have been holding the moisture from heavy rainfalls, allowing the wet to seep into the inner walls.  Not a problem when the house was built as fires would have been lit throughout the winter keeping the chimneys dry.

The solution was not for the feint hearted – the problem was in both sides of the house so the chimneys would have to come down and be rebuilt to modern standards with special lead plates which allow rainwater to drain out if it gets in.  Not an easy job, and not cheap either.  On top of that Stacy and his family building firm are in demand so we had to wait a long time to get this sorted out.  All the time watching our unique piece of modern art on the wall get bigger and bigger.

It’s not just buses which arrive all together – tradesmen do the same thing so first we had Stacy ask if the scaffold could go up in the driveway while we were on our hols in August – yes please do!  However, that’s all that happened for a few weeks so we couldn’t get to the garage and then of course the window guys arrived and it was chaos with all their vans crammed into the driveway.

The work has now started and one old chimney has gone, and he’s rebuilt it  with two lead trays instead of the old slate one.  One down and one to go!  We are hoping that the scaffold blocking the drive can come down in a week or so.  Then it’s time for the scaffold to go up on the other side to do tackle the other one.

Walking on Sunshine

We also hosted a Couchsurfer, Rachel, for one night.  She wasn’t enjoying her job so decided to quit and walk from John O’Groats to Lands’ End for The Save the Children Fund.  She decided to do it the hard way by including the entire Southwest Coast Path.  We were happy to provide her with a hot meal and a bed for the night.  She was great company and told us all about her walk and she raised over £7000 so well-done Rachel.

Bottoms Up

We joined U3A a couple of years ago and are members of the wine appreciation society.  We have a lot of fun in our meetings and this year we had a trip out to our local winery, Lime Bay, based in Shute.  Our host Steve was extremely informative and entertaining and a very pleasant afternoon ensued as we sampled seven different wines followed by gin and mead. 

Cheers.