News for January 2006
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The first thing to say to everyone is that we wish you all a very happy new year. We have really enjoyed having feedback from the site and in response to a couple of people, a technical page on the Web is going to be produced giving practical information about the length. draught, layout of the boat etc. The start of the year has sparked our thoughts about boating plans for 2006. The maps are out and all sorts of possibilities are being considered including a cruise towards Paris in the spring. We have time to decide on our direction and if on our travels we find somewhere really nice, which happened so often last year, the plans may change. Meanwhile we are continuing to enjoy our winter mooring at Decize.
We had a lovely new year celebration in Montlucon where Diane lived for a while. Our efficient 'driver', Alain, came to collect us on the morning of the 31st December and we had lunch together with Alain and Suzanne at their home in Moulins. Early evening we drove to Montlucon to join other friends. There were eleven of us in total and people took responsibility to contribute different courses. Our contribution was the cheese course which was very easy. A trip to the Friday market at Decize soon sorted that out. We really enjoy our trip to the market and it has become an essential part of our weekly food shopping . It is colourful with the different stalls and we do have visits to our favourite cheese and fish stalls. To watch the expertise of one of the fishmongers preparing the fish for customers is educative and what makes it even more enjoyable is the banter and friendliness of everyone who serves us. We are enjoying trying new recipes with a variety of fish thanks to the recent Rick Steins book, a Christmas present (thank you Barbara and Roger, sister and brother -in - law of Diane). This week it is Squid and potato stew!
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Following the New Year came a period of "Gallettes des Roies". A loose translation is the Cake of the Kings. Apologies to any French speaking people who have a better command of the language. What we have understood about the tradition is that it is a celebration of the arrival of the three wise kings to visit Jesus. There is a pastry filled with a sort of vanilla cream and there is a small figure hidden in the cake. Whoever finds the little figure wears a paper crown. It is clear from the photographs in the local newspaper that there are kings but also queens so the celebration does represent sexual equality and therefore politically correct!
We have had virtually no rain this winter and the river Loire is apparently 25cms lower than it should be at this time of year. We will be setting off on our travels in March on the Canal Latéral ŕ la Loire and it is very unusual for there to be stoppages due to water levels on that canal. However, we have been usefully advised to be cautious about the Canal du Centre. We will have to take that into account when making final decisions about our Spring / Summer cruising. At the moment we have a white world which is very picturesque. This morning (28th Jan) we woke up to about 13 - 14 centimeters of snow. The basin and the canal, which was in parts frozen, looked very pretty with the snow lying on it. Our advantage is that we do not have to worry about driving or getting to work so we can enjoy the winter snowy scenes. Marco and Carmen our Italian friends are pleased to see the white countryside as they were visiting family in Rome late December when we had snow but not as much as we have now. Finding the stop cock covers under the snow to be able to turn on water to fill the tank on the boat proved to be a bit of a challenge but was achieved. All in all everything is going well and we are keeping warm with the recent delivery of coal.
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February will soon be with us and we are looking forward to having visitors during that month but we must not get ahead of ourselves, more of that in our next update and we hope you will join us again then.
