As the days ticked on, we were slowing making room for our belongings and having some sort of system of storage. Summer clothes and things we wanted to “archive” went under the bed – it’s not too hard to get to them if needed. The kitchen had lots of cupboards and drawers so we were spoilt for choice as to where things go. We tried many different variations until finally agreeing.
The other, perhaps more important thing we discovered, was that we weren’t on our own…
MAKING NEW FRIENDS
Making new friends, like making new memories, was simply a case of taking a walk around the marina, something we still do each day. And it’s during these daily walks that we met people who all had the same outlook as us.
Lock down affected everyone no matter where you lived and meeting new people was tricky. The marina has a lovely moorers lounge that had been used for social gatherings, the outside space for barbeques and there had been many groups of people meeting up regularly – those who do yoga (so not Tony then!) knitters and book clubs and the like.
It was decided that to continue to bring those of us who lived aboard together, we could get together via Zoom (what would we have done without that or the other online meeting platforms??) However, rather than just chat away aimlessly, a chef who lives here, Steve Love, suggested doing a Cook-A-Long. He would provide the recipe in advance together with a list of ingredients and those who wanted to join in would go out and get everything before we met up online.
The first one was coq au vin with mashed potato. It was a hoot and, naturally we filmed it for our YouTube channel.
It was the first time we’d thought of cooking the potato in the multi stove and the flavour was awesome! If you don’t have a multi fuel stove, try putting one or two on a barbeque. The recipe and details are all on the vlog, so have a look if you fancy trying it.