Help please - online canal info

I've been looking for some sort of online version of a Nicholsons guide.  Does such a thing exist? I found this http://www.waterexplorer.co.uk as suggested by someone on a previous blog entry of mine but it doesn't seem to tell you the winding holes, water points etc... or have I not looked in the right place.

Where is the best place to get up to date information about the necessary facilities we'll need?

Help will be much appreciated!

Memories of living in a caravan

With only a couple of days until we know for certain our house deal is done, we've started planning for our next living arrangements.  We won't have long to finish up the other house, move out of our house, and have temporary living arrangements set up out at Mick's shed.  Phew!

At first we had intended to turn a small office at the shed into a bathroom but it is a fair way from the existing basic toilet facilities.  The water pipes and waste would have to be moved a long way away.  At present there are very basic mens and ladies toilets from the days of the shed being used as a factory.  Now we're thinking we'll put a shower in the ladies toilet area and put our caravan on that side of the shed instead.  We'll only be there for 3 months.  If our house had sold much earlier we could have been living out there for a year so had thought we should have more permanent arrangements.

It will be interesting living in a caravan over the Winter.  I'm thinking it will be good practice for the cold in the UK and also for living in a confined space.  Next weekend, once we know for certain the house is sold, we'll go looking at caravans.  We have lived in a caravan for 6 months before.  We hired one and lived in it onsite while building our little house in Melbourne.  We had bought my parents' backyard so had to go outside and up their back stairs to use the toilet and bathroom.

I do have vague recollections of swearing that never again in my life would I live in a caravan.  Funny how time fades your memories because here we go again!  It was such a difficult time for us back then.  We had very little money, two large dogs, a vast quantity of paperwork to do with the building of the house, I was unwell, and to top it all off I had surgery twice while we were living in caravan.  Poor Mick was relegated to the dinette for a few nights each time because the bed was so narrow and he kept bumping into me and causing me pain in the night.  At least this time we'll have one of the offices at the shed to use as a living room and we won't be sharing the toilet and bathroom with 3 other adults.

We were in that caravan heading into the heat of the Summer of 1995 so moved into the house well before it was habitable - to escape the heat and to save the rent of the van.  By then we had only a couple of rooms in the house with plaster on the walls, not a single door in the house (including the front door or bathroom door), no running water except a hose connected to my parents' garden tap, and the only electricity being an extension cord from my parents' house with a multiboard on the end of it.  We could use only 4 electrical items at once.  The fridge used one of the four permanently and at night a light used a second one.  Add to that the tv (there wasn't much else we could do in an empty house at night with only one light) and that left one spot for a kettle, microwave or whatever else we needed.

We had a lockable gate across the driveway that ran down the side of my parents house so the front door wasn't such a security hazard.  We hardly had anything in the house except our bed, fridge, tv, sofa and a few other bits and pieces so there wasn't much to steal anyway.  I wasn't working so between the five of us - my parents, my sister, Mick and I - there was pretty much someone home in one of the houses at all times.

Mick rushed to get the toilet connected to the sewer once we decided to get rid of the caravan but we had to flush it by hand with a bucket of water.  We still had to used Mum and Dad's shower.  Our cooking facilities comprised a microwave and an electric frying pan.  With it being a sloping block and no landscaping or steps yet we had a plank from the level where we'd had the caravan (eventually becoming a carport) down to the front door of the house.  It was a balancing act to get into the house and we were living in the midst of a building site.  But..... somehow I recall finding this preferable to living in the caravan!

To do list update

With our plans starting to come together I thought I should review our "to do" list.  We've made some progress but also added extras.

Buy a cheaper house - done

Sorting and packing up belongings for garage sale - done

Apply for Elly's Finnish passport- done

Sell our house - almost done!

Arrange insurance for stored belongings - hmm... better do this one now

Move to new house - remove from list

Open a UK bank account - in progress

Send remaining chickens to their new home

Cancel private health insurance

Arrange for our mail to be dealt with at home

Arrange for mail in the UK

Book airfares

Ship belongings to UK

Rent out our house - in progress

Arrange for someone to have the pot plants

Pack up remainder of our belongings and store

Sell Elly’s car (Mick's truck to be left at workshop)

Book hire car in UK

Transfer money to UK account

Work out what to do with our mobile phone numbers
Buy a caravan for temporary home
Set up bathroom for temporary home
Correspondence to arrive by email rather than post where possible - in progress

Pick of the week - Hydeaway

Looking at boats is feeling a bit more real to us now.  We're not quite there yet but by the end of this week we're hoping to have it wrapped up.  If the exchange rate stays close to what it is now, we'd have a budget for our boat of about £55,000.

This one is from Braunston Marina : nb Hydeaway.   It has a very thick base plate!  The rear area where the engine is looks to be a great storage area - we're hoping to have somewhere to store a folding bicycle.  We like the colour scheme too.  We'd need to find somewhere for a washing machine and to turn the bed into a cross bed but other than that it ticks all our boxes.

Price : £59,950

57 ft All Steel Trad-Style Narrowboat

Year : 2004

Hull by Hudson

Fit-out by Hudson

Hull: Original thicknesses 15/6 mm. Typically attractive Hudson hull with thick bottom plate, long swims, false rivets detailing & long foredeck. 3-coat blacking 2009. Glazed cratch with fold-down decorated table/shutter & fitted cover. Stirrup step, pigeon box, brass mushroom vents & equipment rack. Starboard side-doors. Brass portholes (venting aft). Brass tunnel lamp on foredeck mast. 124 gal approx. s/steel water tank. 40 gal fuel tank. Livery: green roof, cream sides, green panels, red lines. Traditionally decorated aft, forward & side doors.

Fit out: Quality fit-out. Headroom c. 6ft 3ins (min). Light oak veneered ply panels with matching or mahogany trim. Solid timber fitted furniture. Brown fitted carpet throughout except for tile-effect vinyl in galley. Beige curtains.

Berths: Four. Fixed double bed in own room aft. Conversion double in dinette.

Engine room & electrics: Beta 43 4-cyl 43HP diesel + PRM150D2 gearbox. Calorifier. 70A & 40A alternators. 1500VA/65A inverter/3-step charger. Advanced alternator regulator. 240V shore connection. Aquafax 8HP electric bowthruster. 

Batteries: 1 starter, 3 domestic, 2 bow-thruster. Mikuni diesel-fired heating unit.

Bedroom: Fixed ‘4-poster’ style double bed, storage under, o/h cupboard & adjustable reading lights. Double wardrobe, cupboard over. Small dressing unit, cupboard under, wall mirror, cupboard over. Radiator shelf. Gangway door.

Toilet: Side cabin. Part tiled in white ceramic + decorative slips. Fully tiled & curtained shower enclosure. Dometic gravity pump-out toilet. Large white ceramic basin on cupboard. 2 airing cupboards. Wall cupboard. Mirror. Radiator.

Galley: ‘U’-shaped. Dark grey granite-effect laminate worktop + small brick-effect slips to splashback. Large white acrylic sink & drainer, double cupboard with cutlery drawer under. Vanette GG7000 fitted gas oven & grill, separate 4-burner hob. 12V fridge. Double wall-cupboard. Suspended double-fronted glazed cupboard. Decorated side doors + acrylic insert, shallow cupboard under.

Dinette: Raised ‘Pullman’ upholstered 4-seater dinette, storage under, veneered timber table, converting to double bed.

Saloon: Morso solid-fuel stove in tiled surround + brass scuttle & tools. Fitted corner TV cupboard + radio/CD & fitted speakers, power & aerial sockets. Glazed book case. Low-level open shelves. Overhead corner cupboard. Adjustable wall spotlights. Iron log-basket. 2 cream leather revolving armchairs. Solid bulkheads & decorated doors to covered well-deck with side lockers & fold-down decorated table.

Other equipment: Diesel-fired central heating to 3 radiators. 2 x 13kg gas bottles. Deck & mooring equipment. 3 fire extinguishers & blanket. Water hose. 

Chestnut soup

I found a recipe on the internet for chestnut soup and made a small batch tonight - my own adaption.  It's really good!  The reason I only cooked a small amount was because peeling them was such a nuisance.  Even with the help of a neighbour, my fingers were sore.  I wonder if there is an easier way?  Mind you, I didn't see the bit in the recipe that said to pour 1/4 cup of water on the tray before baking the chestnuts so I just roasted them dry like I usually do.  I wonder if it makes the peeling easier.  I might have to try that.  I also didn't have anything to put the cloves/bay leaf in so I just added them to the pot and picked them out before blending the soup.


So here is my version.

Ingredients

• 1 litre chicken stock
• 1 cereal bowl of roasted, peeled chestnuts
• ½ a chopped onion
• 2 sprigs fresh parsley
• 2 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 cup light cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. To Cook Chestnuts: With a sharp knife, slice an 'X' across each chestnut. Place chestnuts in a single layer on a  tray. Pour 1/4 cup water into the pan. Bake in a preheated 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) oven for 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, shell and peel.
2. In a saucepan combine the chicken stock, shelled chestnuts and onion. Place the parsley, cloves and bay leaf in a spice bag and add to the saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 45 minutes.
3. Discard the spice bag and puree the chestnut mixture in a food processor or blender. Add the cream, and salt and pepper to taste. Return mixture to saucepan and gently heat through.  

So close we can almost taste it...

We've spent the week negotiating with a potential buyer for our house and today... finally... they've agreed to our bottom line.  No contract signed yet but it's agreed in principle.  I think we're a bit shell shocked!

General update - April 2012

1. We're still waiting

2. Up the street - the shower screen being measured up today, carpet going in tomorrow.  The curtains and blinds will go up on the weekend.  We even have a potential tenant.

3. Quilts - I've made fantastic progress on my Hexagon Star and look forward to our sewing group today to show them my hard work.  I also got a a rev up from Rachel in our sewing group (when she came to measure up the for the carpet up the street).  I have a smaller hexagon quilt that I've stitching with hexagons I made in 1999/2000 when I wasn't well.  They were the first hand sewing I'd done and it was almost finished when I made a start on the Hexagon Star.  Big mistake.  I haven't done anything on it for 2 years and Rachel gave me a bit of a challenge to finish the quilt top by our next sewing group.  It's done! 

4. Our garden is a bit confused.  The weather has been quite warm for this time of year - until a couple of days ago, anyway.  A couple of plants that are spring flowering have had a few flowers on!  One of the plum trees outside our fence had some blossoms on it and the other day at a friend's place she had some flowers on a Banksia Rose.  The vegie garden's doing well though.

5. We're still waiting

Anzac Day - Lest we Forget

A day to remember the Anzacs landing at Gallipoli, this year being the 97th anniversary. There are dawn services held all over the country - from crowds of 40,000 in the cities to 100 people at our local service.  It got us wondering whether there was somewhere in the UK where Aussies and Kiwis could attend a service. 

I found this website : Anzac day london

And a list of services all over the UK and Ireland : Commonwealth Forces WW2

Chestnuts

Up the road we have three huge chestnut trees.  I couldn't believe it when I went up there the other day - the ground beneath them is a carpet of prickly chestnut cases.  I spent an hour sifting through them collecting the decent sized nuts and came home with a bag weighing nearly 6 kilos!

I've been sharing them round to neighbours and friends and toasting a handful in our Rayburn stove each night.  One of the girls at sewing last night said her aunt used to make chestnut soup when she was young so I'm on a mission to find a good recipe and give it a try.  Suggestions for other chestnut recipes are most welcome!

A bank account in the UK

After reading of Paul's problems with trying to open a bank account (click here), I made it my mission today to find a way for us to open an account before we go.

I spent an awful long time on the phone but finally have a resolution.  HSBC will open an account for us now.  We'll have an account in Australia with HSBC and an account in the UK with HSBC.  There is an initial fee of $200 for them to process the application but no ongoing account keeping fees.

The UK account comes with a Visa debit card and a cheque book if you want, but there is a minimum monthly deposit requirement of £500.  If you don't maintain the minimum deposits the account could be downgraded to a basic account which it seems doesn't have the cheque book facility and the card provided is a basic ATM card. 

We will wait until our house is sold before we open the account, but at least we know it will work out.