First Footer

Happy New Year everyone!
I've had a really good Christmas, very busy, visiting various friends and family members. I spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my parents, travelling up from Patrick's flat in Bath which is not far away from their house in Dorset. My sister was also there, always good to see Shirl. The mantle fell to Patrick to cook the Christmas meal, and he made an excellent job of it - his baked mushroom and stuffing starter is one to be noted for the future! The Waitrose turkey roll was also lovely and succulent.
Had a fantastic walk on Boxing Day with Pam and Chris - Patrick led the walk around Ham Hill Country Park and Montacute village in ideal walking weather, with some glorious views, plenty of historical interest and a good real ale pub, the Prince of Wales, at the end!
Then it was off to Marple for New Year to stay with Patrick's parents, and to do more work on the narrowboat. The new seats for the front had been cut and needed some minor adjustments before being painted and secured. I continued with my job of painting the bathroom. The bad news was, we found that Ripple's 3 batteries fail to hold any charge overnight so they will need replacing. And narrowboat batteries are expensive.
Good whisky and good company on New Year's Eve - as well as Patrick's Mum and Dad, his Auntie Vera and friend Irvin (whose moorings Ripple stays on) stayed up with us till five to midnight, when I got sent out of the house with a slice of bread, a jar of salt, a narrowboat made out of coal and a glass of whisky. I then had to be the 'first footer' back into the house in the New Year, as the darkest person in the house (although female)! It's supposedly a Scottish tradition but it looks like it's found it's way a little further south.
Patrick and I had time to spend one last night together in Dorking before each heading back to work and our (for now) separate abodes. Roll on the day when we can finally live together...