Christmas Day 2015

The big man in red managed to get down our chimney, which was quite a feet with all the presents he brought us. We were very happy boaters as deep in our stockings he had popped three pots of Pink Stuff, the brilliant cleaning paste that Tom on NB Waiouru had sung the praises of two summers ago. Unfortunately this does mean we’ll have to make use of it. He’d also got us both some heat holders mittens, amongst other things, which we decided to test out after breakfast.

Nether Lock still exists

A very quiet East Coast mainline

With rain forecast for late morning we headed out to check if Nether Lock was still there straight after breakfast, delaying the present unwrapping til later. We walked around where the King’s Sconce had been, now Homebase and a rather dull housing estate. A small narrowboat was moored under the A46 bridge close to both rail lines that pass through Newark. Not the nicest of places to moor, but then we noticed a hook up cable going across the towpath and into the old buildings on the other side. Was this free electric? The lock was still there with it’s lights on red. The boom above the weir at Cromwell lock (next lock downstream) broke in the high winds a few weeks ago and the navigation has been closed to boats as it is currently unsafe.

Hooray! Present time!!

It was nice to be out in the fresh air, but the weather report had been wrong, so we’d timed our trip to coincide with the rain! Once drying out and the duck was stuffed and in the oven we could get on with the important things, presents with Bucks Fizz! Christmas always comes first. Lots of good reading matter and another two pairs of mittens for me. Mick got an anglepoise type thing to be able to mount his tablet on, so expect more time lapse footage from us next year. Lots of lovely presents, thank you!

Who would have thought Lillian’s oven would manage this!

Excuse the serving dishes

The duck was a very tasty bird and all the accompaniments came together to make a very good feast, possibly one of the best. We have plenty of left overs and hope that our overflow fridge (the stern deck) doesn’t warm up too much over the next few days.

The watching of Dr Who was only delayed by 5 minutes after which it became my Birthday! The cake was very tasty, but more like my Mum’s Choc and Chess dessert than a cake. Then more presents! I am now the proud owner of a stick blender, which will save me time when making soups, but where to put it when not in use as it’s much bigger than I’d thought. Maybe NB Oleanna will have to be stretched before she’s even built!

Birthday cake

action shot

A quiet day rounded off with more wine and Downton Abbey.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 soggy walk, 2 pairs of mittens, 1 golden duck, 2 more pairs of mittens, 1 Harry calendar, 1 bag, 1 cap, 1 caen hill, 1 extremely gooie cake, 1 lovely Christmas day, 1 year older.