Preparing for Crick Show

22nd & 23rd May

On Wednesday evening we visited Austin and Liz on Just Siviting and had a grand evening catching up on Braidbar news and telling tales of previous Crick Shows. Austin and Liz are helping for the first time this year. As a result we made a leisurely start yesterday. We discovered the boat was liberally covered with bits of tree flower that had landed on our nice clean boat overnight. An hour's boating brought us to Crick but the tunnel was wet, as usual, so our nice clean boat was now covered in wet bits of tree. We paused at the Wharf to top up our water tank then moved onto our reserved mooring on the towpath. I had filled both our buckets with hot water while we were on the water point so we had plenty of hot water available to wash and polish the port side and stern without touching our full tank. By the time we had finished polishing the roof had dried so while Bruce made a first foray to the Co-op I got up on the roof and swept off the bits of tree.

The weather was very pleasant and we were able to eat lunch on the towpath in between greeting old friends and making new ones. Mooring at Crick is very sociable and we have many friends that we see each year at Crick so there is a lot of catching up to do.

There is much speculation this year about the absence of the footbridge which in previous years has been erected across the canal from the moorings to the marina. Not only did it greatly reduce the distance to be walked but it removed the necessity to cross the canal on the road bridge which carries a lot of fast moving traffic and has only a very narrow pavement on one side. We have heard two theories for the lack of foot bridge: one is that the only position for the crane that lifted the bridge span into place is no longer available as it is part of the marina extension and now under water. The other theory is that Daventry Council refused planning consent for a temporary bridge as they wanted a permanent structure. This seems improbable as the marina would not be likely to accept that for security reasons. There was a suggestion in one of the canal mags that there was going to be a ferry to replace the bridge but that has not materialised and the rumour is that BW refused to supply a ferry for reasons of Health and Safety.

Personally I suspect simple penny pinching and I think it will be counterproductive in the long run as moorers are pretty unhappy about it. Certainly several people have said that they will not go back in the evening so the bar and food court units will feel the effect.

We had just finished lunch when Just Siviting turned up and we helped them moor behind us. Liz and I got busy with freezer labels and a felt tipped pen to correct the mooring sign for Just Siviting. It had been mistyped as Just Visiting – maybe someone thought that the Siviters played a lot of Monopoly. There are several interesting variations on the mooring signs. one of my favourites is for a boat called Kiwi which has been renamed K1 W1.

We tried for an internet connection after lunch but couldn't get a stable connection. However we were just within the range of the Wifi service at the marina so for £9 we signed up for a weeks connection.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning the inside of the boat and chatting on the towpath. The Braidbar showboat Kala turned up later on in the afternoon and went straight into the marina. We decided to leave them in peace to settle in. Austin and Liz joined us on Sanity for another convivial evening.

This morning we were up in reasonable time (considering the demands of the last two evenings) but we decided not to disturb Dan and Lesley too early on Kala. I rang Lizzie on Shimshams to see when they expected to arrive and they were just about to enter Crick tunnel and would be with us within the hour. That being so Bruce and Austin set off for the marina to see what help was needed and Liz and I stayed on the towpath to help Shimshams moor outside us.

Bruce and Austin returned shortly after Shimshams arrived so we stopped for a coffee break on Sanity. Six people in our saloon is a bit cosy. We shall have to see what happens tonight when there are thirteen for supper! There wasn't a great amount to do on Kala. Austin was going back to help fit a cupboard door but the rest of us were not needed until after lunch. Bruce and I made another raid on the Co-op.

This afternoon saw a mass polishing party. You would not believe that five people could fit into the back cabin and engine room with two more standing on the gunwales outside and we were all busy polishing although there were only two cans of Brasso between us. Periodically a cry went up of "Who's got the Brasso?" but whoever requested it would have to wait as it was passed across with everyone who touched it stopping to take some themselves. Of course there was plenty more polish back on the boats on the towpath but nobody wanted to walk back to fetch it.

Now we are all back on our respective boats and tonight we will be getting together for supper either on the towpath or spread across Sanity, Shimshams and Just Siviting according to the weather.