Narrowboat Muriel

Use It or Polish It

Sun, 25 May 2008 18:10:49 GMT

Two trips to Muriel this Bank Holiday weekend - neither, I'm afraid to say, to take her out of the marina. We're in a funny old situatuion at the moment, one where we're happy and sad at the same time. We had hoped to be out on Muriel most of the summer, but due to our house not selling we are both still working - sad. We had hoped, despite this, to be using Muriel on our days off, but as Jack, our ageing and sick labrador, is still with us, this has not been possible - happy. Yes, happy, because Jack is still here.

So, in the short time we have left with him, one of us stays at home to look after J while the other goes to Muriel. A trip last week saw the engine run up and the batteries charged, while on another, Sue took keys for Foxton Boats who are going to sort out some of our warrenty issues. I had hoped to take Muriel out this weekend on my own - the weather, though, has had other ideas. On Saturday it was very windy and today, Sunday, just plain wet. There seemed little point in taking her out if I would not enjoy it, so I didn't bother.

Instead, I polished a few things and did a bit of adjusting to Muriel's mooring. When I say polished I actually mean oiled. Chrome is built up, so I'm told, of little flakes. Light oil will get in amongst these and keep corrosion at bay. Armed with rag and cycle oil, I gave our mushrooms and fittings a good going over. They needed it: even in the short time she has been at Pillings Lock marina they had deteriorated, looking dull and unkept.

Muriel's mooring is another matter, not one of maintenance but of adjustment. Pillings Lock uses short finger jetties and mooring piles, or posts, to which the bow or stern of a boat is tied. Muriel being a Cruiser is stern on, so the bow is out on the post - sometimes literally. On days where the wind is strong enough and in a certain direction, Muriel bangs on her mooriing post, sending a judder through her hull every time she strikes. All around the marina there are old tyres strung from posts and jetties at every angle and position imaginable. We are not the only ones with the problem and now have an old tyre suspended on the post.

The Pan

Wed, 21 May 2008 18:20:31 GMT

The Pan

I was reading Granny Buttons’ blog the other day and was interested by the entry on the boat-friendly food processor. Well, we have another very boat friendly bit of kitchen kit that was given to us as a wedding present last year. We admired The Pan, used it once or twice like any other pan, but mainly kept it in its box so as not to damage it. It is after all a very nice looking pan, and our kitchen cupboards are a bit of a mess, well a lot of a mess really. You open them, lob something in, and shut them quickly before something else falls out.

Then, whilst kitting out Muriel, we decided to give The Pan a nice home in a well ordered kitchen (or should I say galley) where we could put it to good use. And good use it was put to. In fact we used it for every single meal of our trip.

So, what is so special about The Pan? Well, it is constructed so that it will keep food hot for up to 2 hours. We had been told this, and read it in the accompanying bumf, but hadn’t really used the pan enough to test it out. And, as we usually just cook and eat, this particular facility didn’t seem overly useful. Then, as the major chef of the house/boat-hold, Simon used The Pan’s thermal properties in a slightly different way. He would for example, briefly fry up some veggies in The Pan for about 5 mins, then take it off the heat, sit it on the base plate for 20 mins, and hey presto, perfectly cooked, hot veg. Worked just as well for pasta, spuds and rice. This would obviously be an equally valuable technique in a house to reduce your energy bills and carbon footprint, but is even more important when all the gas you have is in a bottle, which could run out (which is particularly true for us as we have yet to buy a second bottle).

When we stopped off at Napton Junction, Gloria & Derek our live-aboard friends came for dinner. Well they actually brought dinner with them in the form of a rather nice spaghetti bolognaise. The sauce was ready, and we used The Pan for the spaghetti. They were suitably impressed, and are now in the market for one.

There is however one problem. You can’t actually buy The Pan in the UK. It was a present from our friend Mary who lives in Switzerland, and she brought it over with her. It’s made by Kuhn Rikon, and the only pans I’ve been able to find here that are made by them are pressure cookers. If I was an entrepreneur, I’d think about starting an import business. As it is, I’ll be talking very nicely to Mary before her next visit to see if she can squeeze another one into her rucksack.

Although Simon independently invented the ‘blast it & wait’ cooking method, since arriving home I’ve discovered the Kuhn Rikon website, which I’m sure wasn’t there before! They have a section on the ‘hot pan’, which looks different to ours but obviously has the same basic construction. It includes a demo video, where they use Simon’s technique!

http://www.kuhnrikon.co.uk/products-hotpan.asp

Revenue and Customers

Mon, 12 May 2008 16:39:52 GMT

We've discovered a fantastic new way that can get you out of doing anything you don't want to do. And the thing that makes it oh-so special is that you don't actally have to refuse to do the thing, whatever it might be - in fact the very opposite is true. You agree to do it; you put it in writing that you will do it; when asked why you haven't made any effort to do it, you act horrified - but still don't do it. It's simple, time and money saving, and above all, it don't half get up peoples noses - especially if they are a customer who has just spent a lot of money on a new narrow boat from your company (If you don't want to know who that company is, look away now) at Hanbury, a boat that was built in Poland.

The technique goes something like this:

DAY 1

Phone rings a few times and is answered promptly, adding an air of efficiency. "Hello N.. and .... Boat Company, how can I help you"

"Hello, Mr M here", polite, softly spoken, controlled calmness in evidence. "We have a port hole and central heating radiator leak on our new Madison. Can you get some one out to fix them please?"