Hi folks
We're at the top of Adderley on a really poor T-mobile signal, so no blog post today. Normal service tomorrow, hopefully!
Saturday, 28 February 2009
Thursday, 26 February 2009
Heading North on the Shroppie
25th & 26th February
We got away by nine on a cool, misty, murky day yesterday, cruising the best bit of the northern section of the Staffs and Worcs, the summit from Gailey to Pendeford Rockin'. In typical fashion, we met nothing moving until we approached the Rockin', whereupon an OwnerShips, Spring Dew, appeared just as we were lining up.
In the absence of any wind, it was no big deal to wait for them to emerge: they told us that there were two boats ahead of us. We had been aware of one, as Epinone, a Louis and Joshua, had passed us whilst we were eating breakfast.
I'm pleased to say that I managed the rather tricky turn into the Shroppie at Autherley, or Cut End as the old boaters called it, without touching the sides. It's a very acute turn coming from the North, as the Shroppie runs almost parallel to the Staffs and Worcs for the first couple of miles.
Through the stop lock it was another challenge to get past all the Napton Narrowboats tied just beyond. The next bit of cut was lined with fishermen, but they seemed a relatively cheerful bunch, and several exchanged a few words with us as we went by.
There's this big variation in the anglers you pass; I'm always ready with a smile or nod, or to try to take whatever line they signal they'd prefer, but sometimes they just don't look at you. It can be hard to guess just where they've prepared their swim – when in doubt, take the centre, but always be ready to move to one side or the other. I've even known one ask me to send a bit of prop wash into where he's fishing, if he wants the water a bit murkier than it is.
On the way up the Shroppie, we spotted a group of 14 herons all standing around in a field – most unusual for the UK, though presumably the term heronry implies that they make a habit of it somewhere or sometime.
We tied between Bridges 7 and 8 just in nice time for lunch, to the sound of a skylark calling; Sheila managed to spot it, but I was too busy navigating to be able to take the time needed to do so. After lunch, we identified three geocaches nearby, one to the north and two to the south, so we popped out and found the southern ones. It wasn't a mega haul like the other day, but still a very pleasant stroll on a cool early Spring day.
Back at the boat I did some internet work, then Sheila took over whilst I showered. We didn't need any heat in the boat during the day, but I relit the stove and ran the Eberspacher as things cooled down in the late afternoon.
It has been much cooler again today, with a sharp wind blowing from the West. Sheila had soon steered us to Wheaton Aston, where we worked down the lock and stopped at Turners for diesel. He's currently charging 48.9 pence per litre at domestic rate, and will take any split you want to declare. We're now running at 20% propulsion, having been down on 10% whilst hanging around for the last month.
Note that even if you declare the "standard" 60/40 split, that still works out at less than 75 ppl overall, so I don't understand anyone who prefers to collect white diesel at around 99 ppl from the local supermarket.
Refuelled, we went on to Gnosall; not being sure that we'd get there in time to shop for lunch, I made some bread from a kit as we boated along. We've tied on the visitor moorings just through the tunnel, not far from where we took part in our little bit of real life Casualty drama last year.
The Vodafone connection is pretty poor here, but the T-mobile internet is not bad. After walking into the village to shop, we came back and watched a DVD, the copy of St Trinians that Elanor lent us before we left Alrewas.
Tomorrow, we'll go on to Norbury to water and visit the chandlery, then finish at Market Drayton to do a supermarket session.
We got away by nine on a cool, misty, murky day yesterday, cruising the best bit of the northern section of the Staffs and Worcs, the summit from Gailey to Pendeford Rockin'. In typical fashion, we met nothing moving until we approached the Rockin', whereupon an OwnerShips, Spring Dew, appeared just as we were lining up.
In the absence of any wind, it was no big deal to wait for them to emerge: they told us that there were two boats ahead of us. We had been aware of one, as Epinone, a Louis and Joshua, had passed us whilst we were eating breakfast.
I'm pleased to say that I managed the rather tricky turn into the Shroppie at Autherley, or Cut End as the old boaters called it, without touching the sides. It's a very acute turn coming from the North, as the Shroppie runs almost parallel to the Staffs and Worcs for the first couple of miles.
Through the stop lock it was another challenge to get past all the Napton Narrowboats tied just beyond. The next bit of cut was lined with fishermen, but they seemed a relatively cheerful bunch, and several exchanged a few words with us as we went by.
There's this big variation in the anglers you pass; I'm always ready with a smile or nod, or to try to take whatever line they signal they'd prefer, but sometimes they just don't look at you. It can be hard to guess just where they've prepared their swim – when in doubt, take the centre, but always be ready to move to one side or the other. I've even known one ask me to send a bit of prop wash into where he's fishing, if he wants the water a bit murkier than it is.
On the way up the Shroppie, we spotted a group of 14 herons all standing around in a field – most unusual for the UK, though presumably the term heronry implies that they make a habit of it somewhere or sometime.
We tied between Bridges 7 and 8 just in nice time for lunch, to the sound of a skylark calling; Sheila managed to spot it, but I was too busy navigating to be able to take the time needed to do so. After lunch, we identified three geocaches nearby, one to the north and two to the south, so we popped out and found the southern ones. It wasn't a mega haul like the other day, but still a very pleasant stroll on a cool early Spring day.
Back at the boat I did some internet work, then Sheila took over whilst I showered. We didn't need any heat in the boat during the day, but I relit the stove and ran the Eberspacher as things cooled down in the late afternoon.
It has been much cooler again today, with a sharp wind blowing from the West. Sheila had soon steered us to Wheaton Aston, where we worked down the lock and stopped at Turners for diesel. He's currently charging 48.9 pence per litre at domestic rate, and will take any split you want to declare. We're now running at 20% propulsion, having been down on 10% whilst hanging around for the last month.
Note that even if you declare the "standard" 60/40 split, that still works out at less than 75 ppl overall, so I don't understand anyone who prefers to collect white diesel at around 99 ppl from the local supermarket.
Refuelled, we went on to Gnosall; not being sure that we'd get there in time to shop for lunch, I made some bread from a kit as we boated along. We've tied on the visitor moorings just through the tunnel, not far from where we took part in our little bit of real life Casualty drama last year.
The Vodafone connection is pretty poor here, but the T-mobile internet is not bad. After walking into the village to shop, we came back and watched a DVD, the copy of St Trinians that Elanor lent us before we left Alrewas.
Tomorrow, we'll go on to Norbury to water and visit the chandlery, then finish at Market Drayton to do a supermarket session.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009
Pump outs and caches
23rd & 24th February
The cunning plan yesterday was to make a prompt start so as to get both shopping and a pump out done before boating on. This worked reasonably well, except that the bakers didn't have any bread ready by the time we were there, just after they opened at nine.
It's all baked on the premises, but clearly they don't start in the middle of the night in the way small bakers used to do.
By half nine we were on the service point doing our first self pump out for quite a time. You could tell that we'd had a number of commercial pump outs by the amount of sludge we rinsed out of the bottom of the tank. Fortunately, my mods to the power supply to the pump had made a distinct difference, with a lot more suck going on, but it still took quite a while to get even two good rinses through the tank.
We'll do another one at Nantwich, probably, so that we begin to make an impression on the state of the tank. If you don't keep clearing the sludge out, it eventually begins to set on the bottom, so that you permanently lose capacity. It is just so hard to persuade boatyards that it makes a difference using the proper rinse out line, rather than just pouring water down the pump out connection and sucking it back out again.
By half ten we were away once more, and worked up Filance, Otherton, Rodbaston and Boggs Locks, tying just before lunch between Boggs and Brick Kiln. There was much less traffic about this week, as expected, and there continues to be a Spring like feel to the air, so we are really getting the benefit of our lifestyle at the moment.
After lunch we walked back to Boggs Lock and found the Life in the Slow Lane geocache. Back at the boat, I improved the shining hour by taking advantage of an unexpectedly fast internet connection to do another post on the Building Sanity Again blog, on heating systems. It's already attracted some interesting comments about the merits of the various options, which is very gratifying.
Today we had only a short bit of boating to do, as we'd decided to stop just beyond Gailey, just before Hatherton Junction, in fact, at Long Moll's Bridge. This was because we'd spotted a whole set of caches, mostly on the towpath, around here, using the excellent waymarked Long Moll's Walk.
I worked Sanity up the remaining two locks, and we stopped to top up the water tank and post a letter before ambling on to our mooring. I also took a photo of the Round House at Gailey, as we'd dropped off a Travel Bug called Otto's Lighthouse in the last cache, and its owner had asked for photos of other towers to be added to its web page.
We still got tied up well before lunch, so ran a washload of socks to take advantage of the fact that the engine needed to be left running to finish charging the batteries.
After lunch we duly walked just under five miles, finding all seven caches, about which we felt very pleased with ourselves, especially as the last three were tiny micro caches of the kind which previously have given us much more trouble.
It was interesting to note that several other boaters had been there before us, and we particularly admired No Problem Sue's fancy laminated cards which she leaves in caches she finds.
The rest of the afternoon has passed quite quietly, as might be expected. Tomorrow, we do some serious boating, to Autherley Junction and on to the first set of SUCS moorings on the Shroppie. It'll be good to be back on that canal, one of our favourites -– it must be a year since we were last there.
The cunning plan yesterday was to make a prompt start so as to get both shopping and a pump out done before boating on. This worked reasonably well, except that the bakers didn't have any bread ready by the time we were there, just after they opened at nine.
It's all baked on the premises, but clearly they don't start in the middle of the night in the way small bakers used to do.
By half nine we were on the service point doing our first self pump out for quite a time. You could tell that we'd had a number of commercial pump outs by the amount of sludge we rinsed out of the bottom of the tank. Fortunately, my mods to the power supply to the pump had made a distinct difference, with a lot more suck going on, but it still took quite a while to get even two good rinses through the tank.
We'll do another one at Nantwich, probably, so that we begin to make an impression on the state of the tank. If you don't keep clearing the sludge out, it eventually begins to set on the bottom, so that you permanently lose capacity. It is just so hard to persuade boatyards that it makes a difference using the proper rinse out line, rather than just pouring water down the pump out connection and sucking it back out again.
By half ten we were away once more, and worked up Filance, Otherton, Rodbaston and Boggs Locks, tying just before lunch between Boggs and Brick Kiln. There was much less traffic about this week, as expected, and there continues to be a Spring like feel to the air, so we are really getting the benefit of our lifestyle at the moment.
After lunch we walked back to Boggs Lock and found the Life in the Slow Lane geocache. Back at the boat, I improved the shining hour by taking advantage of an unexpectedly fast internet connection to do another post on the Building Sanity Again blog, on heating systems. It's already attracted some interesting comments about the merits of the various options, which is very gratifying.
Today we had only a short bit of boating to do, as we'd decided to stop just beyond Gailey, just before Hatherton Junction, in fact, at Long Moll's Bridge. This was because we'd spotted a whole set of caches, mostly on the towpath, around here, using the excellent waymarked Long Moll's Walk.
I worked Sanity up the remaining two locks, and we stopped to top up the water tank and post a letter before ambling on to our mooring. I also took a photo of the Round House at Gailey, as we'd dropped off a Travel Bug called Otto's Lighthouse in the last cache, and its owner had asked for photos of other towers to be added to its web page.
We still got tied up well before lunch, so ran a washload of socks to take advantage of the fact that the engine needed to be left running to finish charging the batteries.
After lunch we duly walked just under five miles, finding all seven caches, about which we felt very pleased with ourselves, especially as the last three were tiny micro caches of the kind which previously have given us much more trouble.
It was interesting to note that several other boaters had been there before us, and we particularly admired No Problem Sue's fancy laminated cards which she leaves in caches she finds.
The rest of the afternoon has passed quite quietly, as might be expected. Tomorrow, we do some serious boating, to Autherley Junction and on to the first set of SUCS moorings on the Shroppie. It'll be good to be back on that canal, one of our favourites -– it must be a year since we were last there.
Labels:
Gailey,
Hatherton JUnction
Sunday, 22 February 2009
It's Penkridge again
21st & 22nd February
We made a prompt start on a bright and breezy morning yesterday, having woken to a battery bank full of volts. It's really good to be back to not having to watch the electric use like a hawk.
As I said in an earlier comment, it really is like the Dead Parrot sketch in Monty Python; as the capacity of the bank declines, you start taking more and more care of your power consumption, all the time trying to persuade yourself that there's nothing wrong with the batteries. This is particularly easy to do when they start declining at the beginning of winter, when the dark evenings and need to run the heating more often genuinely impose more power discipline.
In future, I think our expectation will be that a given bank lasts two years and a bit, so as soon as we are past the 24 months mark, it's a case of deciding the most convenient place to change over, rather than trying to eke out the last few weeks from the old batteries.
In addition, our thinking is moving towards a less power hungry set up on Sanity Again, with no big freezer. More on this in due course – I really will get round to another post on the Building SA blog soon. I planned to do one yesterday, but between some problems Sheila was having with her proof reading sites and the fact that the connection was very temperamental, I didn't get to it.
We'd had a good morning's boating, after I'd made a quick trip in to Great Haywood for bread and a paper. There's still a fair bit of traffic about at the end of the half term week, and the weather, though a bit blowy, was so Spring like it was really encouraging.
On one of my walks whilst Sheila was off the boat, I'd noted the water point at Milford as referred to recently in Retirement with No Problem, so we thought it would be good to get a fill there, as the tank was down to 40%.
I promptly forgot exactly where it was, and we had a bit of a hunt to find it, before spotting it between the turn over bridge and the tunnel under the railway. No matter, once there we found it to be a good one, with excellent pressure, so we were soon in possession of a full tank once more. It's contained in what proved to be an old ammo box, on its end and fastened to the wall, and I took a couple of photos of it just for a laugh, a water point that thinks it's a geocache.
As before, we worked up Deptmore Lock and tied just a little beyond. It's a nice quiet mooring, except for the rumble of the M6 across a couple of fields, but as I say, the internet connection, though high speed, kept dropping out.
Today we got away in good time, chugged round Acton Trussell, and up the three locks into Penkridge. On the way, I started experimenting with the Garmin, using it to add winding holes and locks to its map as waypoints. By saving the day's cruise as a track, it is possible to transfer the data onto the Mac in RoadTrip; I really must get hold of a text about this sort of thing, as I'm a complete tyro with it, and it's always good to add to one's areas of expertise.
We had a quick coffee on arrival in Penkridge, did some shopping and got back to the boat in time for lunch. The engine hours counter was just short of 6400, so I've done the oil and filter change due at that point, taking the opportunity to refill the stern greaser at the same time. I must get some more grease at the next chandlers we come too, as the current tin is nearly empty.
Sheila has been proof reading again, using the Canadian site, as the US one has continued to have problems. She says the Canadian books are more interesting anyway, and has already downloaded some of their finished texts.
Tomorrow we'll do some more shopping: this is the last chance for a few days, as Gailey and Hatherton don't have anything, and the day after we'll be on the Shroppie and plan to stop before we get to Brewood. You can shop at Pendeford as you go through Autherley Junction, but that means leaving the boat in a pretty rough area, as we discovered during last year's IWA National.
Once stocked up, we'll work up Penkridge Lock and pump out on the service point above (diesel purchase can wait until we get to Turner's at Wheaton Aston). then we'll go on to Gailey for the night, and Hatherton the day after.
We made a prompt start on a bright and breezy morning yesterday, having woken to a battery bank full of volts. It's really good to be back to not having to watch the electric use like a hawk.
As I said in an earlier comment, it really is like the Dead Parrot sketch in Monty Python; as the capacity of the bank declines, you start taking more and more care of your power consumption, all the time trying to persuade yourself that there's nothing wrong with the batteries. This is particularly easy to do when they start declining at the beginning of winter, when the dark evenings and need to run the heating more often genuinely impose more power discipline.
In future, I think our expectation will be that a given bank lasts two years and a bit, so as soon as we are past the 24 months mark, it's a case of deciding the most convenient place to change over, rather than trying to eke out the last few weeks from the old batteries.
In addition, our thinking is moving towards a less power hungry set up on Sanity Again, with no big freezer. More on this in due course – I really will get round to another post on the Building SA blog soon. I planned to do one yesterday, but between some problems Sheila was having with her proof reading sites and the fact that the connection was very temperamental, I didn't get to it.
We'd had a good morning's boating, after I'd made a quick trip in to Great Haywood for bread and a paper. There's still a fair bit of traffic about at the end of the half term week, and the weather, though a bit blowy, was so Spring like it was really encouraging.
On one of my walks whilst Sheila was off the boat, I'd noted the water point at Milford as referred to recently in Retirement with No Problem, so we thought it would be good to get a fill there, as the tank was down to 40%.
I promptly forgot exactly where it was, and we had a bit of a hunt to find it, before spotting it between the turn over bridge and the tunnel under the railway. No matter, once there we found it to be a good one, with excellent pressure, so we were soon in possession of a full tank once more. It's contained in what proved to be an old ammo box, on its end and fastened to the wall, and I took a couple of photos of it just for a laugh, a water point that thinks it's a geocache.
As before, we worked up Deptmore Lock and tied just a little beyond. It's a nice quiet mooring, except for the rumble of the M6 across a couple of fields, but as I say, the internet connection, though high speed, kept dropping out.
Today we got away in good time, chugged round Acton Trussell, and up the three locks into Penkridge. On the way, I started experimenting with the Garmin, using it to add winding holes and locks to its map as waypoints. By saving the day's cruise as a track, it is possible to transfer the data onto the Mac in RoadTrip; I really must get hold of a text about this sort of thing, as I'm a complete tyro with it, and it's always good to add to one's areas of expertise.
We had a quick coffee on arrival in Penkridge, did some shopping and got back to the boat in time for lunch. The engine hours counter was just short of 6400, so I've done the oil and filter change due at that point, taking the opportunity to refill the stern greaser at the same time. I must get some more grease at the next chandlers we come too, as the current tin is nearly empty.
Sheila has been proof reading again, using the Canadian site, as the US one has continued to have problems. She says the Canadian books are more interesting anyway, and has already downloaded some of their finished texts.
Tomorrow we'll do some more shopping: this is the last chance for a few days, as Gailey and Hatherton don't have anything, and the day after we'll be on the Shroppie and plan to stop before we get to Brewood. You can shop at Pendeford as you go through Autherley Junction, but that means leaving the boat in a pretty rough area, as we discovered during last year's IWA National.
Once stocked up, we'll work up Penkridge Lock and pump out on the service point above (diesel purchase can wait until we get to Turner's at Wheaton Aston). then we'll go on to Gailey for the night, and Hatherton the day after.
Friday, 20 February 2009
New batteries, and a relaxed day
19th & 20th February
As we didn't have to be back at Anglo Welsh until eleven yesterday, we made an extremely lazy start. Even so, we found ourselves hanging about, and the challenge was to put the time to good use.
Sheila improved the shining hour by sorting the cuffs of my boating fleece. This is the slightly scruffy one I use for boating and other potentially mucky situations, It's very old, in fact it came from a farmers' store in Llangefni on Anglesey, and over the years the cuff elastics had become completely slack. Sheila was able to open up the cuff hems and insert fresh elastic: it's amazing how much more comfortable it makes it.
I spent most of the time surfing the net and catching up with email replies.
At around half ten we started getting Sanity ready to cruise, and by quarter to eleven were on our way. Another sweeping turn off the towpath sent us heading back towards Swivel Bridge and the short run to the junction. We had to pause a while for Tobermory, one of the boats on the permanent moorings by the aqueducts, to reverse into the junction, and turn and go onto the service point just where we wanted to be, but as there was no demand for water at the time, I put Sanity on the moorings just in front of her.
The new batteries had already arrived, in a very snazzy bright yellow cases, so I set to and started getting the old ones out. It's just a fiddle to undo all the connections and get the cabling out of the way whilst heaving the heavy lumps onto the stern deck. At least the Braidbar design of the engine hole makes the domestic batteries easy to get at, unlike some others I've seen.
AW charged £70 a piece for the new ones, which is at the low end of what they seem to cost these days, and I reasonably soon had them installed and checked out. Sheila meanwhile had gone into the village to get supplies, and came back whilst all this was going on.
Engine restarted, we came back to our mooring on Tixall which was still free. I kept the engine running for a while: new batteries are seldom fully charged, as lead acid cells self discharge in storage, and these were no exception, but it was soon apparent that they were making a big difference to performance. We had a decent voltage this morning for the first time for quite a while, so that's one less hassle to worry about.
I also took the opportunity to get a couple of bags of coal, more of the Newflame I got here last time. It's not brilliant stuff, to be honest, a bit slow to catch, prone to go out if allowed to burn down too far, and full of ash (brick dust by the looks of it) but beggars can't be choosers. At this time of year, I tend only to buy a couple of bags at a time, so as to avoid having too many left when we finally stop using the Squirrel in the Spring.
We had planned to move off today, but we had a call from Elanor to say that our replacement credit cards had arrived, and she doesn't want to post them on. Neither Acton Trussell nor Penkridge is desperately convenient for her to reach from her place of work in Rugeley, so we've put in yet another day here at Tixall.
It's been very relaxed: the internet connection has finally speeded up and the March edition of Waterways World had arrived when we went into the village. I'm actually mentioned in the editorial, with reference to our diesel split spreadsheet, so that may mean yet more hits on the website.
Sheila's taken advantage of the connection to do some family finance stuff, whilst I refixed the new bow fender (it had twisted round to one side yet again) and took the switch out of the connecting lead for the self pump out pump.
I've commented before about the need to reduce voltage drop as far as possible in the supply to the pump, and using heavy cable has made a difference, but we decided that the convenience of having a waterproof switch in the line did not justify the voltage drop it presented, so it's been removed.
The toilet tank gauge has just gone to amber, so we'll probably do a pump out at the Penkridge service block when we're there on Monday.
Meantime, we'll see Elanor for dinner tonight, then hi ho for the open cut tomorrow.
As we didn't have to be back at Anglo Welsh until eleven yesterday, we made an extremely lazy start. Even so, we found ourselves hanging about, and the challenge was to put the time to good use.
Sheila improved the shining hour by sorting the cuffs of my boating fleece. This is the slightly scruffy one I use for boating and other potentially mucky situations, It's very old, in fact it came from a farmers' store in Llangefni on Anglesey, and over the years the cuff elastics had become completely slack. Sheila was able to open up the cuff hems and insert fresh elastic: it's amazing how much more comfortable it makes it.
I spent most of the time surfing the net and catching up with email replies.
At around half ten we started getting Sanity ready to cruise, and by quarter to eleven were on our way. Another sweeping turn off the towpath sent us heading back towards Swivel Bridge and the short run to the junction. We had to pause a while for Tobermory, one of the boats on the permanent moorings by the aqueducts, to reverse into the junction, and turn and go onto the service point just where we wanted to be, but as there was no demand for water at the time, I put Sanity on the moorings just in front of her.
The new batteries had already arrived, in a very snazzy bright yellow cases, so I set to and started getting the old ones out. It's just a fiddle to undo all the connections and get the cabling out of the way whilst heaving the heavy lumps onto the stern deck. At least the Braidbar design of the engine hole makes the domestic batteries easy to get at, unlike some others I've seen.
AW charged £70 a piece for the new ones, which is at the low end of what they seem to cost these days, and I reasonably soon had them installed and checked out. Sheila meanwhile had gone into the village to get supplies, and came back whilst all this was going on.
Engine restarted, we came back to our mooring on Tixall which was still free. I kept the engine running for a while: new batteries are seldom fully charged, as lead acid cells self discharge in storage, and these were no exception, but it was soon apparent that they were making a big difference to performance. We had a decent voltage this morning for the first time for quite a while, so that's one less hassle to worry about.
I also took the opportunity to get a couple of bags of coal, more of the Newflame I got here last time. It's not brilliant stuff, to be honest, a bit slow to catch, prone to go out if allowed to burn down too far, and full of ash (brick dust by the looks of it) but beggars can't be choosers. At this time of year, I tend only to buy a couple of bags at a time, so as to avoid having too many left when we finally stop using the Squirrel in the Spring.
We had planned to move off today, but we had a call from Elanor to say that our replacement credit cards had arrived, and she doesn't want to post them on. Neither Acton Trussell nor Penkridge is desperately convenient for her to reach from her place of work in Rugeley, so we've put in yet another day here at Tixall.
It's been very relaxed: the internet connection has finally speeded up and the March edition of Waterways World had arrived when we went into the village. I'm actually mentioned in the editorial, with reference to our diesel split spreadsheet, so that may mean yet more hits on the website.
Sheila's taken advantage of the connection to do some family finance stuff, whilst I refixed the new bow fender (it had twisted round to one side yet again) and took the switch out of the connecting lead for the self pump out pump.
I've commented before about the need to reduce voltage drop as far as possible in the supply to the pump, and using heavy cable has made a difference, but we decided that the convenience of having a waterproof switch in the line did not justify the voltage drop it presented, so it's been removed.
The toilet tank gauge has just gone to amber, so we'll probably do a pump out at the Penkridge service block when we're there on Monday.
Meantime, we'll see Elanor for dinner tonight, then hi ho for the open cut tomorrow.
Labels:
Tixall Wide
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
This battery bank is a Norwegian Blue*
17th & 18th February
Yesterday morning, the battery monitor showed 12.3 volts, and I thought, aha, it was a one off problem the day before (ever the optimist, me). With light hearts we made a reasonably prompt start, getting away at half eight, in damp weather that eventually turned to a fine rain. Still, it was reasonably mild and windless, so I didn't complain too much.
It being half term, there continued to be a good bit of traffic about, and we took care going through the narrows between Handsacre and Armitage, and through the Armitage Tunnel itself. We've heard reports that the hire firms have been getting good bookings this year, and if this is what it's like in February, it's going to be mayhem in the summer.
As ever, I was entertained to pass Hawkesyard Hall, and to ponder what it must have been like to go to school there, as I know some of my readers have from their comments.
As always, the steering prowess of the boaters we met was variable, from the clearly first timers (hirers and privateers) to the regulars getting back into the swing of it after the winter break.
We arrived in Rugeley in good time, did a thorough shop and got back to the boat a little after eleven. Since we had about another hour's boating to do, we decided to take it easy. I put the shopping away in leisurely fashion, then surfed the net and read the paper until it was time for lunch.
The short afternoon's cruise took us to Bridge 69. The last couple of times we've been here, we've been alone, but this time there were a handful of other liveaboards about. I left the engine on whilst we ran a washload, and then whilst the heater ran for my shower. All in all, the batteries got about six hours charging.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, except for a strange incident in the evening as I was chatting to Elanor on the phone. There came a mighty rattling, clonking noise from the roof, then some hissing and flapping.
Looking out, it became apparent that a swan fight had broken out and involved Sanity. It's the time of year when the cobs get very assertive about territory, very ready to hiss at intruders, and to see off potential rivals by busking at them, that is, half raising their wings and swimming with both legs moving together so that they surge through the water in a menacing way, hissing all the time like a boiling kettle.
Last year's cygnets are particular targets of this ire, and it seemed we had such a situation now. In their rush to get away, one of them must have taken off and not quite cleared Sanity's roof, with the results we'd heard from underneath.
This morning, the battery voltage was back down to 12 volts, despite yesterday's efforts. It was clear that no purpose would be served by struggling on with them, especially as, since we're selling the boat within 12 months or so, the batteries we install now will certainly see us through.
(I said I was an optimist, didn't I?)
We set off immediately after breakfast and went straight through to Great Haywood. After a short wait at the lock (BW have still not fixed the ground paddle, so it is filling as slowly as ever), we tied on the water point and I went and had a word with the guys at Anglo Welsh.
There was no problem at all about replacement batteries: "we can't have them today, but we can get them in by around 11 tomorrow."
"How old are they? Two and a half years? – you've had your time from them, then."
After filling the water tank, we came through to Tixall Wide once more. I took care to tie well along the Wide, in the hopes of finding the fast internet connection, but no joy. Hey ho, you can't have everything, I guess.
I'm currently reading The Riddle of the Sands on the Sony, courtesy of Project Gutenberg, so by contrast with that piece of boating, all our troubles are nugatory.
Tomorrow we'll go back and get the new batteries in, then come back here for the night. After that, we may actually get to set off to go up the Shroppie.
*with apologies to Monty Python
Yesterday morning, the battery monitor showed 12.3 volts, and I thought, aha, it was a one off problem the day before (ever the optimist, me). With light hearts we made a reasonably prompt start, getting away at half eight, in damp weather that eventually turned to a fine rain. Still, it was reasonably mild and windless, so I didn't complain too much.
It being half term, there continued to be a good bit of traffic about, and we took care going through the narrows between Handsacre and Armitage, and through the Armitage Tunnel itself. We've heard reports that the hire firms have been getting good bookings this year, and if this is what it's like in February, it's going to be mayhem in the summer.
As ever, I was entertained to pass Hawkesyard Hall, and to ponder what it must have been like to go to school there, as I know some of my readers have from their comments.
As always, the steering prowess of the boaters we met was variable, from the clearly first timers (hirers and privateers) to the regulars getting back into the swing of it after the winter break.
We arrived in Rugeley in good time, did a thorough shop and got back to the boat a little after eleven. Since we had about another hour's boating to do, we decided to take it easy. I put the shopping away in leisurely fashion, then surfed the net and read the paper until it was time for lunch.
The short afternoon's cruise took us to Bridge 69. The last couple of times we've been here, we've been alone, but this time there were a handful of other liveaboards about. I left the engine on whilst we ran a washload, and then whilst the heater ran for my shower. All in all, the batteries got about six hours charging.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, except for a strange incident in the evening as I was chatting to Elanor on the phone. There came a mighty rattling, clonking noise from the roof, then some hissing and flapping.
Looking out, it became apparent that a swan fight had broken out and involved Sanity. It's the time of year when the cobs get very assertive about territory, very ready to hiss at intruders, and to see off potential rivals by busking at them, that is, half raising their wings and swimming with both legs moving together so that they surge through the water in a menacing way, hissing all the time like a boiling kettle.
Last year's cygnets are particular targets of this ire, and it seemed we had such a situation now. In their rush to get away, one of them must have taken off and not quite cleared Sanity's roof, with the results we'd heard from underneath.
This morning, the battery voltage was back down to 12 volts, despite yesterday's efforts. It was clear that no purpose would be served by struggling on with them, especially as, since we're selling the boat within 12 months or so, the batteries we install now will certainly see us through.
(I said I was an optimist, didn't I?)
We set off immediately after breakfast and went straight through to Great Haywood. After a short wait at the lock (BW have still not fixed the ground paddle, so it is filling as slowly as ever), we tied on the water point and I went and had a word with the guys at Anglo Welsh.
There was no problem at all about replacement batteries: "we can't have them today, but we can get them in by around 11 tomorrow."
"How old are they? Two and a half years? – you've had your time from them, then."
After filling the water tank, we came through to Tixall Wide once more. I took care to tie well along the Wide, in the hopes of finding the fast internet connection, but no joy. Hey ho, you can't have everything, I guess.
I'm currently reading The Riddle of the Sands on the Sony, courtesy of Project Gutenberg, so by contrast with that piece of boating, all our troubles are nugatory.
Tomorrow we'll go back and get the new batteries in, then come back here for the night. After that, we may actually get to set off to go up the Shroppie.
*with apologies to Monty Python
Labels:
Rugeley,
Tixall Wide
Monday, 16 February 2009
Getting away from Fradley once more
15th & 16th February
Yesterday got off to a less than enthusiastic start, despite us having had a good night, and feeling the benefit of the milder weather that has thankfully arrived. The Eberspacher failed to start: it fired up OK, but then cut out. On investigation, the problem proved to be the battery voltage, which was well down. In fact, just before starting the engine after breakfast, the fact that the fridge was running had dropped it to the danger level of below 10.5 volts. Just a little more and the inverter would have cut out, leaving us without AC power, including the fridge freezer.
A good charge in the morning, and another couple of hours in the evening meant that things were much better this morning, but I'm having an email correspondence with Peter at Braidbar about the need for either a new set of batteries or whether a shot of landline charging would rescue them. His advice is that a landline charge overnight once a month is recommended to maintain the batteries in best nick. This is no doubt true, but I think most continuous cruisers would see it as a counsel of perfection. It's hard enough finding a marina that will let you hook up for a while when you need to leave the boat for some reason.
Doing it once per month would require a good bit of forward planning. Heigh ho, we'll be giving them more charging than before now we are cruising regularly once again, but as Peter says, it won't be enough to bring them up to full charge in the way that they need.
The rest of the day was much better. We spent a chunk of the time on the computer each. Sheila is getting back into her proof reading, having recovered from her cold and the after effects of her dentistry, and I did the first post on the new blog, with a bit of history about our involvement with boating and the move to living aboard.
In the afternoon we set off to take a short walk: up to Shade House Lock, then crossing it and going along the footpath on the offside. There's a geocache along there, over the road from the canal. I hadn't expected Sheila to want to walk so far, but had taken the Garmin with me anyway. In the event, we found it quite easily (makes a change from some others recently), and so were able to return with a pleasant feeling of achievement.
Today, it was just about warm enough first thing not to need the heating on, though, as I say, the battery voltage was much better. As soon as we'd had breakfast we pushed across to the water point, and I left Sheila filling the tank whilst I walked into Alrewas to collect my prescription and the paper/milk/bread daily purchase.
By ten we were on our way up the locks in what felt like the first faint signs of Spring. It was really very good to be boating without worrying about snow and ice. We had a slight delay waiting for a single hander to come out of Shade House Lock. He was a novice moving a very well worn Springer to Coventry to have it docked. In getting off the boat in the lock, he must have just knocked it into reverse, because as the lock emptied, it went back to the top and sat on the cill. He saw it in time to avoid disaster, but it had been a real fright for him.
Apart from this bit of excitement, we had an uneventful run to our usual stop by Bridge 55 at Kings Bromley, getting there a bit before lunch. There's a fair bit of traffic about at the moment, it being half term for many schools, but we had no difficulty getting in here.
In the afternoon, we cut up the rest of the wood on the roof, and spent a bit of time nattering to the folks on The Old Bovine, tied in front of us, and had a brief word with the guy off the boat behind.
He leant us a longer, 32" bow saw, which did indeed prove to be much faster than our 24" one at getting through the logs. You wouldn't think it would make all that much difference, but it certainly did.
Since then, we've been relaxing after our endeavours, keeping up with emails, reading the paper and of course doing this blog post. Tomorrow, we'll head off for Rugeley and probably moor at Wolseley Bridge, then back to Great Haywood and onto the Staffs and Worcs, We'll have to give the planned trip to Stourport a miss, which is a shame but can't be helped. Instead we are going to head straight up the Shroppie for a few weeks.
Yesterday got off to a less than enthusiastic start, despite us having had a good night, and feeling the benefit of the milder weather that has thankfully arrived. The Eberspacher failed to start: it fired up OK, but then cut out. On investigation, the problem proved to be the battery voltage, which was well down. In fact, just before starting the engine after breakfast, the fact that the fridge was running had dropped it to the danger level of below 10.5 volts. Just a little more and the inverter would have cut out, leaving us without AC power, including the fridge freezer.
A good charge in the morning, and another couple of hours in the evening meant that things were much better this morning, but I'm having an email correspondence with Peter at Braidbar about the need for either a new set of batteries or whether a shot of landline charging would rescue them. His advice is that a landline charge overnight once a month is recommended to maintain the batteries in best nick. This is no doubt true, but I think most continuous cruisers would see it as a counsel of perfection. It's hard enough finding a marina that will let you hook up for a while when you need to leave the boat for some reason.
Doing it once per month would require a good bit of forward planning. Heigh ho, we'll be giving them more charging than before now we are cruising regularly once again, but as Peter says, it won't be enough to bring them up to full charge in the way that they need.
The rest of the day was much better. We spent a chunk of the time on the computer each. Sheila is getting back into her proof reading, having recovered from her cold and the after effects of her dentistry, and I did the first post on the new blog, with a bit of history about our involvement with boating and the move to living aboard.
In the afternoon we set off to take a short walk: up to Shade House Lock, then crossing it and going along the footpath on the offside. There's a geocache along there, over the road from the canal. I hadn't expected Sheila to want to walk so far, but had taken the Garmin with me anyway. In the event, we found it quite easily (makes a change from some others recently), and so were able to return with a pleasant feeling of achievement.
Today, it was just about warm enough first thing not to need the heating on, though, as I say, the battery voltage was much better. As soon as we'd had breakfast we pushed across to the water point, and I left Sheila filling the tank whilst I walked into Alrewas to collect my prescription and the paper/milk/bread daily purchase.
By ten we were on our way up the locks in what felt like the first faint signs of Spring. It was really very good to be boating without worrying about snow and ice. We had a slight delay waiting for a single hander to come out of Shade House Lock. He was a novice moving a very well worn Springer to Coventry to have it docked. In getting off the boat in the lock, he must have just knocked it into reverse, because as the lock emptied, it went back to the top and sat on the cill. He saw it in time to avoid disaster, but it had been a real fright for him.
Apart from this bit of excitement, we had an uneventful run to our usual stop by Bridge 55 at Kings Bromley, getting there a bit before lunch. There's a fair bit of traffic about at the moment, it being half term for many schools, but we had no difficulty getting in here.
In the afternoon, we cut up the rest of the wood on the roof, and spent a bit of time nattering to the folks on The Old Bovine, tied in front of us, and had a brief word with the guy off the boat behind.
He leant us a longer, 32" bow saw, which did indeed prove to be much faster than our 24" one at getting through the logs. You wouldn't think it would make all that much difference, but it certainly did.
Since then, we've been relaxing after our endeavours, keeping up with emails, reading the paper and of course doing this blog post. Tomorrow, we'll head off for Rugeley and probably moor at Wolseley Bridge, then back to Great Haywood and onto the Staffs and Worcs, We'll have to give the planned trip to Stourport a miss, which is a shame but can't be helped. Instead we are going to head straight up the Shroppie for a few weeks.
Labels:
Fradley,
Kings Bromley
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Down Fradley for the weekend
13th & 14th February
Yesterday was a much milder start than had been forecast, and we woke to find no ice on the cut. Since the water tank was getting low, and Elanor was due to join us for the night, we decided that moving down to the visitor moorings by the water point would be a good idea.
It was Sheila's turn to steer, and since she still felt a bit groggy after her dental work, we agreed that me working the locks was the sensible way forward. However, when we got below Middle Lock, and with the prospect of winding in the junction and reversing down Junction Lock, Sheila felt that she wasn't really up to it, as she was leaning on the tiller for support.
I took over the helm, after lifting the bottom paddles on Middle, and she closed up behind me and went and opened Junction. Meanwhile, I had pulled off an immaculate manoeuvre for once, and backed Sanity into the lock when it opened. I hopped off and drew the paddles for her, then popped back onto the stern as we descended.
A passing gongoozling cyclist helpfully opened one of the bottom gates, and I managed to reverse out and down to the water point without trouble. We filled up and ran a washload, then pushed across to the moorings.
I spent a bit of time setting up the new blog, which is here, but does not yet have any posts bar a holding one. Strangely, it already has a follower, namely Tom, but I don't know how he knew it was there.
Hopefully I'll get some stuff on it tomorrow.
Elanor duly rolled up at the end of the day, and we had a very pleasant family evening of nattering and discussing design ideas for Sanity Again. ("What are you going to call your new boat?" "Oh we're calling it Sanity Again." Hmmm... should it have a comma i.e. Sanity, Again?)
Today was a reasonably prompt start for a Saturday. Elanor needed to go into the bank in Burton to open a new account, and I had cajoled her into giving me a lift in to buy oil and a filter in Shobnall and to do some shopping.
She left me in Shobnall admiring a gas hob, nipped home to feed the cats and get the paper work she needed for the bank, then collected and abandoned me at Sainsbury's whilst she went off and did her stuff.
We got back to the boat by lunchtime, and had a relaxed meal. Just at the end, I realised I'd forgotten to pick up my prescription from the Alrewas Pharmacy, so hitched another lift with Elanor when she left to go home mid afternoon.
This didn't work as well as it might have, as the pharmacy had closed at lunch time. (It's not the hardest working pharmacy in the world.) It looks as if we'll have to overstay here for one night so that I can walk back into Alrewas on Monday morning to get my drugs.
It's probably just as well; it will let Sheila recover fully, hopefully, and we can enjoy some serious boating again next week. At least the weather forecast is for milder if damper weather for a bit. As I say, I should get some content up on the other blog tomorrow; if so, I'll mention the fact here.
Yesterday was a much milder start than had been forecast, and we woke to find no ice on the cut. Since the water tank was getting low, and Elanor was due to join us for the night, we decided that moving down to the visitor moorings by the water point would be a good idea.
It was Sheila's turn to steer, and since she still felt a bit groggy after her dental work, we agreed that me working the locks was the sensible way forward. However, when we got below Middle Lock, and with the prospect of winding in the junction and reversing down Junction Lock, Sheila felt that she wasn't really up to it, as she was leaning on the tiller for support.
I took over the helm, after lifting the bottom paddles on Middle, and she closed up behind me and went and opened Junction. Meanwhile, I had pulled off an immaculate manoeuvre for once, and backed Sanity into the lock when it opened. I hopped off and drew the paddles for her, then popped back onto the stern as we descended.
A passing gongoozling cyclist helpfully opened one of the bottom gates, and I managed to reverse out and down to the water point without trouble. We filled up and ran a washload, then pushed across to the moorings.
I spent a bit of time setting up the new blog, which is here, but does not yet have any posts bar a holding one. Strangely, it already has a follower, namely Tom, but I don't know how he knew it was there.
Hopefully I'll get some stuff on it tomorrow.
Elanor duly rolled up at the end of the day, and we had a very pleasant family evening of nattering and discussing design ideas for Sanity Again. ("What are you going to call your new boat?" "Oh we're calling it Sanity Again." Hmmm... should it have a comma i.e. Sanity, Again?)
Today was a reasonably prompt start for a Saturday. Elanor needed to go into the bank in Burton to open a new account, and I had cajoled her into giving me a lift in to buy oil and a filter in Shobnall and to do some shopping.
She left me in Shobnall admiring a gas hob, nipped home to feed the cats and get the paper work she needed for the bank, then collected and abandoned me at Sainsbury's whilst she went off and did her stuff.
We got back to the boat by lunchtime, and had a relaxed meal. Just at the end, I realised I'd forgotten to pick up my prescription from the Alrewas Pharmacy, so hitched another lift with Elanor when she left to go home mid afternoon.
This didn't work as well as it might have, as the pharmacy had closed at lunch time. (It's not the hardest working pharmacy in the world.) It looks as if we'll have to overstay here for one night so that I can walk back into Alrewas on Monday morning to get my drugs.
It's probably just as well; it will let Sheila recover fully, hopefully, and we can enjoy some serious boating again next week. At least the weather forecast is for milder if damper weather for a bit. As I say, I should get some content up on the other blog tomorrow; if so, I'll mention the fact here.
Labels:
Fradley
Thursday, 12 February 2009
The start of an exciting time, and a painful experience
11th & 12th February
With nothing special to do yesterday, we had a relaxed start. The weather was pretty horrid, damp and cold and a bit blowy, so I decided I could manage without a paper for once, and didn't go shopping at all.
We got some exercise cutting wood, to eke out our coal supply (we're down to the last two bags on the roof: why oh why are all the coal boats lurking down the Oxford Canal this year?) The forecast keeps changing, making it hard to know when we'll be able to move off from here once Sheila's mouth is fixed, and in turn be able to get some more coal.
In the afternoon, I did a good bit of work on the new project, which is...
We need a bigger boat.
It's great having grandkids, and I distinctly remember being told that it was much cheaper being a grandparent than the first time around, but it looks like it's not going to apply to us. Graeme and Cathy are quite keen on the idea that, in the fullness of time, we will be able to give Daniel and Alex holidays on the boat, and Sanity just isn't set up to cope with that. We really should have looked ahead, I guess, though at the time we were building Sanity Graeme hadn't even met Cathy, so we can't be blamed too much. It is after all, nearly five years since we moved on board.
Obviously I'll keep folks posted with the our thinking about the design as we go along, either in this blog, or I may start another one just for the build, making it easier for people to keep track of it. Anyway, this is the exciting phase: we've booked a build slot with Braidbar for the end of the year (luckily they can fit us in before the VAT rate goes back up), and we've started sketching the layout and transferring notes from that post I did a while ago about what we'd do differently.
Thinking about it, a separate blog is definitely going to be better, and I'll announce on this one when I've added stuff to that one. Meantime, on with the diary:
Not surprisingly, Sheila had a bit of a broken night last night, and an anxious sort of morning. I trekked into Alrewas for a paper, a copy of Canal Boat and some supplies. Back at the boat, reading the CB was good: Adam had already commented here that we've won the Christmas Quiz, but it seems we got 61 out of a possible 70, which for one of Martin's quizzes is really quite respectable. There's supposed to be a bottle of whisky in it for us, but we've not heard anything about that yet.
(Comment from Elanor, who knows Mr Ludgate well via London WRG, "Knowing Martin, it's a wonder he didn't make it a crate of Marston's, and then ask me to buy it for him at the brewery shop." One of Elanor's informal roles in London WRG is ferrying supplies of what made Burton famous to WRG digs.)
After lunch, Sheila went in to keep her appointment with the dentist. I gave her half an hour, then went in again myself to walk back with her.
It all went as well as could be expected, given that it was an extraction of a fractured canine root which had already been root treated and crowned. We walked back slowly, and on arrival Sheila was happy just to sit back in her chair and doze for a while.
World's Greatest Lies, #3: "This may be a bit uncomfortable when the anaesthetic wears off."
To be fair to the dentist, he's actually done a very good job of a tricky bit of work, but it's still a painful situation.
We're going to have a quiet evening, with some very soft food for dinner (pasta and cheese sauce, probably), and an early night, I reckon.
With nothing special to do yesterday, we had a relaxed start. The weather was pretty horrid, damp and cold and a bit blowy, so I decided I could manage without a paper for once, and didn't go shopping at all.
We got some exercise cutting wood, to eke out our coal supply (we're down to the last two bags on the roof: why oh why are all the coal boats lurking down the Oxford Canal this year?) The forecast keeps changing, making it hard to know when we'll be able to move off from here once Sheila's mouth is fixed, and in turn be able to get some more coal.
In the afternoon, I did a good bit of work on the new project, which is...
We need a bigger boat.
It's great having grandkids, and I distinctly remember being told that it was much cheaper being a grandparent than the first time around, but it looks like it's not going to apply to us. Graeme and Cathy are quite keen on the idea that, in the fullness of time, we will be able to give Daniel and Alex holidays on the boat, and Sanity just isn't set up to cope with that. We really should have looked ahead, I guess, though at the time we were building Sanity Graeme hadn't even met Cathy, so we can't be blamed too much. It is after all, nearly five years since we moved on board.
Obviously I'll keep folks posted with the our thinking about the design as we go along, either in this blog, or I may start another one just for the build, making it easier for people to keep track of it. Anyway, this is the exciting phase: we've booked a build slot with Braidbar for the end of the year (luckily they can fit us in before the VAT rate goes back up), and we've started sketching the layout and transferring notes from that post I did a while ago about what we'd do differently.
Thinking about it, a separate blog is definitely going to be better, and I'll announce on this one when I've added stuff to that one. Meantime, on with the diary:
Not surprisingly, Sheila had a bit of a broken night last night, and an anxious sort of morning. I trekked into Alrewas for a paper, a copy of Canal Boat and some supplies. Back at the boat, reading the CB was good: Adam had already commented here that we've won the Christmas Quiz, but it seems we got 61 out of a possible 70, which for one of Martin's quizzes is really quite respectable. There's supposed to be a bottle of whisky in it for us, but we've not heard anything about that yet.
(Comment from Elanor, who knows Mr Ludgate well via London WRG, "Knowing Martin, it's a wonder he didn't make it a crate of Marston's, and then ask me to buy it for him at the brewery shop." One of Elanor's informal roles in London WRG is ferrying supplies of what made Burton famous to WRG digs.)
After lunch, Sheila went in to keep her appointment with the dentist. I gave her half an hour, then went in again myself to walk back with her.
It all went as well as could be expected, given that it was an extraction of a fractured canine root which had already been root treated and crowned. We walked back slowly, and on arrival Sheila was happy just to sit back in her chair and doze for a while.
World's Greatest Lies, #3: "This may be a bit uncomfortable when the anaesthetic wears off."
To be fair to the dentist, he's actually done a very good job of a tricky bit of work, but it's still a painful situation.
We're going to have a quiet evening, with some very soft food for dinner (pasta and cheese sauce, probably), and an early night, I reckon.
Labels:
Fradley
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
A quick trip back to Alrewas
9th & 10th February
There was a further fall of snow the night before last, as there was for much of the country, I guess. We walked into the village first thing and went into the local dentist to see about Sheila getting some emergency treatment. There was a possibility of an appointment in the afternoon if no more urgent case came up, but it would cost £42.50 just for the consultation, with any treatment charged on top of that.
We went back to the boat to consider the options. We have Denplan policies, but they don't cover you for emergency treatment if you are less than 40 miles from your regular dentist. Sheila rang to speak to Denplan Customer Services, and they confirmed that this rule would be applied come what may.
I checked the weather forecast, which indicated that there was a window of opportunity to move the boat yesterday and today, before the ice closes in again. We decided to take an early lunch and then set off for Alrewas, stopping just north of Rugeley last night, between Bridges 69 and 68, then making a prompt start today to get to Fradley, within walking distance of Alrewas.
This plan worked well: we pulled onto the water point as soon as we'd eaten, and got diesel and a pump out from Anglo Welsh. Sheila winded Sanity in the junction, and off we went.
Today we were on our way before nine, and made a brief stop at Rugeley for bread and a paper. The moorings above Shade House Lock had only a couple of boats on them when we got there just after 12 noon.
It was very pleasant boating I must say, with a lot of wintry sun and a breeze which died away as the morning went on. Our dentist has not long taken over the Alrewas practice, as I think I've said before, and has still not built up his patient list. Unlike Great Haywood, where if there wasn't an emergency slot we'd have had to wait until the 23rd of the month to be seen, at Alrewas Sheila got an appointment for two o'clock this afternoon.
There was just time to eat lunch, as it's a good three quarters of an hour's walk from where we're tied down to Alrewas. I walked down with Sheila; whilst we're here, I may as well get a repeat prescription filled, and of course it had been the Village Walk this morning, and sure enough, they were all still in the George and Dragon.
I sat and had a pint with Jane Howarth (Will wasn't there, being off on Save Our Waterways business in London), and Sheila came and joined us in due course.
It seems the root of the offending tooth has irretrievably cracked, and it will have to come out. In the circumstances, it was the right decision to come back here. Sheila will have to go back on Thursday to have the extraction; fortunately, she already wears a small dental plate, and a tooth can be added to it to replace the crown that's to go.
We're safely back on the boat now -– the weather forecast is for yet more frost, so we may well be here for a while after Sheila's teeth are fixed.
At least I've got a fast internet connection here, so I'll see what more enhancement can be applied to the website, with more pictures. Dundustin has indicated that he spends a bit of time day dreaming about where Sanity is. Granny Buttons uses a Twitter gadget to give quick updates as to her position; I wonder if it's worth me doing the same for Sanity?
There was a further fall of snow the night before last, as there was for much of the country, I guess. We walked into the village first thing and went into the local dentist to see about Sheila getting some emergency treatment. There was a possibility of an appointment in the afternoon if no more urgent case came up, but it would cost £42.50 just for the consultation, with any treatment charged on top of that.
We went back to the boat to consider the options. We have Denplan policies, but they don't cover you for emergency treatment if you are less than 40 miles from your regular dentist. Sheila rang to speak to Denplan Customer Services, and they confirmed that this rule would be applied come what may.
I checked the weather forecast, which indicated that there was a window of opportunity to move the boat yesterday and today, before the ice closes in again. We decided to take an early lunch and then set off for Alrewas, stopping just north of Rugeley last night, between Bridges 69 and 68, then making a prompt start today to get to Fradley, within walking distance of Alrewas.
This plan worked well: we pulled onto the water point as soon as we'd eaten, and got diesel and a pump out from Anglo Welsh. Sheila winded Sanity in the junction, and off we went.
Today we were on our way before nine, and made a brief stop at Rugeley for bread and a paper. The moorings above Shade House Lock had only a couple of boats on them when we got there just after 12 noon.
It was very pleasant boating I must say, with a lot of wintry sun and a breeze which died away as the morning went on. Our dentist has not long taken over the Alrewas practice, as I think I've said before, and has still not built up his patient list. Unlike Great Haywood, where if there wasn't an emergency slot we'd have had to wait until the 23rd of the month to be seen, at Alrewas Sheila got an appointment for two o'clock this afternoon.
There was just time to eat lunch, as it's a good three quarters of an hour's walk from where we're tied down to Alrewas. I walked down with Sheila; whilst we're here, I may as well get a repeat prescription filled, and of course it had been the Village Walk this morning, and sure enough, they were all still in the George and Dragon.
I sat and had a pint with Jane Howarth (Will wasn't there, being off on Save Our Waterways business in London), and Sheila came and joined us in due course.
It seems the root of the offending tooth has irretrievably cracked, and it will have to come out. In the circumstances, it was the right decision to come back here. Sheila will have to go back on Thursday to have the extraction; fortunately, she already wears a small dental plate, and a tooth can be added to it to replace the crown that's to go.
We're safely back on the boat now -– the weather forecast is for yet more frost, so we may well be here for a while after Sheila's teeth are fixed.
At least I've got a fast internet connection here, so I'll see what more enhancement can be applied to the website, with more pictures. Dundustin has indicated that he spends a bit of time day dreaming about where Sanity is. Granny Buttons uses a Twitter gadget to give quick updates as to her position; I wonder if it's worth me doing the same for Sanity?
Labels:
Fradley,
Great Haywood,
Rugeley
Sunday, 8 February 2009
A weekend of two halves
7th & 8th February
After a restless night, I woke early yesterday, but loafed in bed for quite a while on a frosty morning. Eventually, I dragged myself out and ambled down to the shop to buy a paper; there was no need to get anything else as Sheila and Elanor were shopping on their way back from Lincoln.
My walk was enlivened by the twanging wooden ruler noise of a woodpecker drumming. It seems a bit early for him to start the mating process, but it was a fine if chilly day, so I suppose you can't really blame him.
Back at the boat, I managed to get another bag of coal off the roof without having to climb up there, for which I was grateful as it was still covered in frost. I filled in the rest of the morning pottering and watching a succession of boats breaking their way through the ice, some to turn into the junction, a hard task in firm ice, others to go onto the water point.
There were a number of folks just strolling about; it's nice to see locals appreciating their waterside. One young woman boggled me slightly; she was attired in low slung jeans and a cropped top, thus exposing a foot or so of midriff, complete with navel stud. That metal must have been cold.
I was feeling dozy after lunch so took a walk down the towpath to the bridge that leads to Little Haywood, and then back by the road to Great Haywood and so back to Sanity.
There was still a fair bit of afternoon to fill before I could expect to see Sheila and Elanor turn up, so I started watching some of the documentary material included with the DVD of The Two Towers. It's really very interesting, with an account of the various amazing bits of technology they used to produce the film.
Eventually the two women in my life appeared, and the rest of the time was given over to loading stuff from the car into the boat and generally getting sorted out.
Today has been more of the same really: a walk to the village for a paper first thing, getting stuff put away and sorted out, another walk after lunch and then various relaxing activities.
The only down side at the moment is that Sheila has come back with a recurrence of her dental trouble from before Christmas. I blame all this unhealthy living in houses myself. The simple solution will be to go back to Alrewas to get it fixed, but it looks as if we are going to be frozen in here for a few days at least. Since the relevant crown has come loose and is leaking yuck from behind it, I think Sheila is going to have to consult the dentist here tomorrow, if only to get some more antibiotics to get the infection back under control.
Apart from that, everything is just fine, relaxing back into our routines with a huge sigh of relief.
After a restless night, I woke early yesterday, but loafed in bed for quite a while on a frosty morning. Eventually, I dragged myself out and ambled down to the shop to buy a paper; there was no need to get anything else as Sheila and Elanor were shopping on their way back from Lincoln.
My walk was enlivened by the twanging wooden ruler noise of a woodpecker drumming. It seems a bit early for him to start the mating process, but it was a fine if chilly day, so I suppose you can't really blame him.
Back at the boat, I managed to get another bag of coal off the roof without having to climb up there, for which I was grateful as it was still covered in frost. I filled in the rest of the morning pottering and watching a succession of boats breaking their way through the ice, some to turn into the junction, a hard task in firm ice, others to go onto the water point.
There were a number of folks just strolling about; it's nice to see locals appreciating their waterside. One young woman boggled me slightly; she was attired in low slung jeans and a cropped top, thus exposing a foot or so of midriff, complete with navel stud. That metal must have been cold.
I was feeling dozy after lunch so took a walk down the towpath to the bridge that leads to Little Haywood, and then back by the road to Great Haywood and so back to Sanity.
There was still a fair bit of afternoon to fill before I could expect to see Sheila and Elanor turn up, so I started watching some of the documentary material included with the DVD of The Two Towers. It's really very interesting, with an account of the various amazing bits of technology they used to produce the film.
Eventually the two women in my life appeared, and the rest of the time was given over to loading stuff from the car into the boat and generally getting sorted out.
Today has been more of the same really: a walk to the village for a paper first thing, getting stuff put away and sorted out, another walk after lunch and then various relaxing activities.
The only down side at the moment is that Sheila has come back with a recurrence of her dental trouble from before Christmas. I blame all this unhealthy living in houses myself. The simple solution will be to go back to Alrewas to get it fixed, but it looks as if we are going to be frozen in here for a few days at least. Since the relevant crown has come loose and is leaking yuck from behind it, I think Sheila is going to have to consult the dentist here tomorrow, if only to get some more antibiotics to get the infection back under control.
Apart from that, everything is just fine, relaxing back into our routines with a huge sigh of relief.
Labels:
Great Haywood
Friday, 6 February 2009
Two final days on my own
5th & 6th February
Another post which starts with my thanks, this time to everyone who passed on congratulations and best wishes to the new arrival. John, I'm still trying to decide if your remarks were ironic, but thanks either way! It didn't feel like hard work, so much as a chance to realise how much more fun my boating is with Sheila. This is not bad since it is (careful calculation, here) forty years since we became an 'item' and 37 years since we married.
Graduates of our generation will recall the days when the government encouraged undergrads to live in sin, (as we called it then, young man, yes, yes) since one of you would lose her grant if you married, but the other didn't become eligible for a married man's grant.
It's been a quiet couple of days from my point of view, and it's a little difficult to concentrate on this post as I'm counting the hours until I see Sheila again. Anyone would think it was three years, not three weeks, I know.
Yesterday was a regular shopping, loafing and DVD watching day. Today, as the weather was still quite good, no ice to speak of and no wind, I took the chance to come through to Great Haywood, fill the water tank and tie next to the Junction Bridge.
In fact, I did a do-si-do with Moore2Life, who were just leaving that mooring to come onto the water point. With any luck, when Elanor arrives with Sheila, she'll be able to park on the broad pavement of the road bridge, I'll pull Sanity forward onto the water point again, and loading up the shopping and luggage will be fairly easy.
The Junction bridge is still very slippery, and likely to be worse tomorrow if the forecast freeze occurs tonight. Elanor is driving across to Lincoln to collect Sheila, saving Graeme the hassle of driving over this way when of course they are in the merry chaos of adjusting to the new arrival.
I've emailed Sheila a shopping list, and then spent the rest of the day remembering stuff I should have put on it (Sheila's closed down her email account at that end now).
I watched The Return of the King yesterday and today. Just as I was finishing and watching the credits, there came a bump as Jampak's stern hit Sanity's bow. When I went out to see what was going on, it turned out half Jampak's crew was overboard in the freezing water off her bow. By the time I'd sorted myself out, her stern had drifted out into the middle of the junction and I couldn't get on to help haul the casualty back on board, which was not a pleasant feeling, so helpless.
They managed it in the end, and all seemed to be well, but it was a nasty moment. I went back and finished watching the credits, deciding as I did so that I reckon Faramir came out of it better than Aragorn, as, given the choice (in my dreams!), I'd rather have Miranda Otto than Liv Tyler.
Finally, I'm going to take a chunk of this post to share my misgivings about the new Google Latitude service, whereby you can advertise your location to selected friends, either via your laptop, or (what the service is really aimed at) a GPS enabled mobile phone.
You have to sign up for it, and on the face of it, it seems just one more internet based networking facility, but once done, it means Google knows where you are, all the time. Google now collects an awful lot of info about you if you let them.
I started a discussion on the canals-list about it, the conclusion of which seemed to be that it's probably OK, given the voluntary nature of it at the moment, but what happens if the state demands that data from Google for its own purposes?
I'm now undecided; unlike Andrew Denny, I won't be signing up for it as I value my privacy more than keeping track of where my friends are. I'd rather have the excitement of bumping into folks unexpectedly, and between blog, email and mobile, it's not hard to arrange a rendezvous with someone if you want to meet up for a particular purpose.
Hey ho, next time will be a post with Sheila back (yippee!) so don't be surprised if it's a shortish one.
Another post which starts with my thanks, this time to everyone who passed on congratulations and best wishes to the new arrival. John, I'm still trying to decide if your remarks were ironic
Graduates of our generation will recall the days when the government encouraged undergrads to live in sin, (as we called it then, young man, yes, yes) since one of you would lose her grant if you married, but the other didn't become eligible for a married man's grant.
It's been a quiet couple of days from my point of view, and it's a little difficult to concentrate on this post as I'm counting the hours until I see Sheila again. Anyone would think it was three years, not three weeks, I know.
Yesterday was a regular shopping, loafing and DVD watching day. Today, as the weather was still quite good, no ice to speak of and no wind, I took the chance to come through to Great Haywood, fill the water tank and tie next to the Junction Bridge.
In fact, I did a do-si-do with Moore2Life, who were just leaving that mooring to come onto the water point. With any luck, when Elanor arrives with Sheila, she'll be able to park on the broad pavement of the road bridge, I'll pull Sanity forward onto the water point again, and loading up the shopping and luggage will be fairly easy.
The Junction bridge is still very slippery, and likely to be worse tomorrow if the forecast freeze occurs tonight. Elanor is driving across to Lincoln to collect Sheila, saving Graeme the hassle of driving over this way when of course they are in the merry chaos of adjusting to the new arrival.
I've emailed Sheila a shopping list, and then spent the rest of the day remembering stuff I should have put on it (Sheila's closed down her email account at that end now).
I watched The Return of the King yesterday and today. Just as I was finishing and watching the credits, there came a bump as Jampak's stern hit Sanity's bow. When I went out to see what was going on, it turned out half Jampak's crew was overboard in the freezing water off her bow. By the time I'd sorted myself out, her stern had drifted out into the middle of the junction and I couldn't get on to help haul the casualty back on board, which was not a pleasant feeling, so helpless.
They managed it in the end, and all seemed to be well, but it was a nasty moment. I went back and finished watching the credits, deciding as I did so that I reckon Faramir came out of it better than Aragorn, as, given the choice (in my dreams!), I'd rather have Miranda Otto than Liv Tyler.
Finally, I'm going to take a chunk of this post to share my misgivings about the new Google Latitude service, whereby you can advertise your location to selected friends, either via your laptop, or (what the service is really aimed at) a GPS enabled mobile phone.
You have to sign up for it, and on the face of it, it seems just one more internet based networking facility, but once done, it means Google knows where you are, all the time. Google now collects an awful lot of info about you if you let them.
I started a discussion on the canals-list about it, the conclusion of which seemed to be that it's probably OK, given the voluntary nature of it at the moment, but what happens if the state demands that data from Google for its own purposes?
I'm now undecided; unlike Andrew Denny, I won't be signing up for it as I value my privacy more than keeping track of where my friends are. I'd rather have the excitement of bumping into folks unexpectedly, and between blog, email and mobile, it's not hard to arrange a rendezvous with someone if you want to meet up for a particular purpose.
Hey ho, next time will be a post with Sheila back (yippee!) so don't be surprised if it's a shortish one
Thursday, 5 February 2009
Stop Press
Alexander made a slightly reluctant entry to the world (can we blame him?) at ten past midnight last night, and weighed in at 7lb 9oz.
Mum and babe both well.
More detail in my regular post, and thanks for all your support, folks.
Mum and babe both well.
More detail in my regular post, and thanks for all your support, folks.
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
More snow
3rd & 4th February
I must start this post with another word of thanks to all those who have posted encouraging comments in the last few days; as always, it's a big help to know that not only are there folks out there reading my witterings on, but that they actually enjoy them! Many thanks to all of you for your support during a time of waiting and suspense for me.
I shall be so glad when Alexander has arrived safely and Sheila is back with me.
Now, if everyone's wiped their eyes and put their hankies away, I'll get on:
Like everyone else in the country, I woke yesterday to find that a lot more snow had fallen, justifying a very lazy start. The wind had dropped a good deal, which meant that the boat was a much warmer than before. Up until now, it's been a battle between the Ecofan blowing hot air from the Squirrel down the boat from the bow, and the easterly wind blowing cold air in from the stern. Now, the warmth was able to spread much further, making the whole boat feel better.
I took a few photos of Sanity in the snow, and of Tixall Gatehouse across the white fields, before taking my usual walk to Great Haywood for daily supplies. The bridge over the junction is getting quite tricky to negotiate, the cobbles of the bridge deck being covered with half melted snow and ice. The pavements in the village were a bit of a challenge yesterday too, though much better today.
On my way back, I found the Gailey shared boat Alexandrine tied on the water point. Her crew were pleased to discover that the tap hadn't frozen, but then found that the cap on the water filler in the well deck had. They'd given up struggling with it and were scratching their heads when I passed.
"Try pouring hot water on it" quoth I.
"Oh, that's a good idea, thanks."
You can tell we haven't had much in the way of cold winters recently. I wonder what they'd have said if I suggested the traditional boater's solution to a frozen pipe: dip a rag in the fuel tank, tie it round the pipe and set fire to it.
All those Gailey share boats have names that feature either a twelve or an eight, depending on how many shares they have (Twelfth of Never, Pieces of Eight and so on). I looked up alexandrine today, and find that it's the name for an iambic hexameter, that is a line of poetry twelve syllables long, comprising six iambic feet. (I.e. pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM.)
There you go, today's bit of trivia for you.
Back at the boat, I did the other tricky bit of work for the day, namely getting a bag of coal off the roof to refill the box in the well deck. Fortunately, most of the snow and ice had gone from the roof, except the big lumps in amongst the folds of the tarp, so it wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but I was glad to have it done without taking a dive into the cut off the roof.
I ran the engine and a washload in the second half of the morning, and spent a chunk of the afternoon watching the first half of The Two Towers. The film is so long it's split over two discs, which just breaks it up nicely. I've just finished watching the second half, leaving The Return of the King for tomorrow and Friday.
I'm hoping that Saturday will be taken up with other things, but not counting on it; there's no news from Lincoln at the moment.
It was milder overnight last night, and the snow has started to thaw off the towpath, but the bridge was as tricky as ever. There's more snow forecast for tomorrow, so when I got back from the village today, I dipped the diesel tank to make sure that's there's enough to get through to the weekend.
The fuel consumption figures built into Sheila's spreadsheet are obviously quite pessimistic. It was predicting 75 litres left in the tank, but in practice it's still more than half full. I've tinkered with the numbers in the spreadsheet to bring it more into line.
It's a tricky business, this measuring consumption. I do it by trying always to have the tank filled to the same point each time, that is, just to the bottom of the filler tube which projects down into the tank, but a few millimetres of difference in level represents quite a lot of fuel, as the tank is quite wide, being the whole of the back end of the stern. In addition, I suspect that boat yard pumps are quite variable in their mensuration, as I've commented before.
They are usually ex-filling station pumps, and I don't suppose that Trading Standards come round to check them very often. Be that as it may, it looks as if I'm presently getting about 1.1 litres per hour out of the Beta 43, and about 0.6 lph out of the Eberspacher.
Moore2Life came by today: Annie was walking along the towpath, and knocked on the boat to ask for news from Lincoln, which was kind. They've been to Milford and back, and hope to be able to get away altogether by the end of the week, assuming Chas's leg is fully recovered (good luck, mate)
I think that's about it for now: hopefully I'll have some news next time, but as I say, who can tell?
I must start this post with another word of thanks to all those who have posted encouraging comments in the last few days; as always, it's a big help to know that not only are there folks out there reading my witterings on, but that they actually enjoy them! Many thanks to all of you for your support during a time of waiting and suspense for me.
I shall be so glad when Alexander has arrived safely and Sheila is back with me.
Now, if everyone's wiped their eyes and put their hankies away, I'll get on:
Like everyone else in the country, I woke yesterday to find that a lot more snow had fallen, justifying a very lazy start. The wind had dropped a good deal, which meant that the boat was a much warmer than before. Up until now, it's been a battle between the Ecofan blowing hot air from the Squirrel down the boat from the bow, and the easterly wind blowing cold air in from the stern. Now, the warmth was able to spread much further, making the whole boat feel better.
I took a few photos of Sanity in the snow, and of Tixall Gatehouse across the white fields, before taking my usual walk to Great Haywood for daily supplies. The bridge over the junction is getting quite tricky to negotiate, the cobbles of the bridge deck being covered with half melted snow and ice. The pavements in the village were a bit of a challenge yesterday too, though much better today.
On my way back, I found the Gailey shared boat Alexandrine tied on the water point. Her crew were pleased to discover that the tap hadn't frozen, but then found that the cap on the water filler in the well deck had. They'd given up struggling with it and were scratching their heads when I passed.
"Try pouring hot water on it" quoth I.
"Oh, that's a good idea, thanks."
You can tell we haven't had much in the way of cold winters recently. I wonder what they'd have said if I suggested the traditional boater's solution to a frozen pipe: dip a rag in the fuel tank, tie it round the pipe and set fire to it.
All those Gailey share boats have names that feature either a twelve or an eight, depending on how many shares they have (Twelfth of Never, Pieces of Eight and so on). I looked up alexandrine today, and find that it's the name for an iambic hexameter, that is a line of poetry twelve syllables long, comprising six iambic feet. (I.e. pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM, pom-POM.)
There you go, today's bit of trivia for you.
Back at the boat, I did the other tricky bit of work for the day, namely getting a bag of coal off the roof to refill the box in the well deck. Fortunately, most of the snow and ice had gone from the roof, except the big lumps in amongst the folds of the tarp, so it wasn't as bad as I'd feared, but I was glad to have it done without taking a dive into the cut off the roof.
I ran the engine and a washload in the second half of the morning, and spent a chunk of the afternoon watching the first half of The Two Towers. The film is so long it's split over two discs, which just breaks it up nicely. I've just finished watching the second half, leaving The Return of the King for tomorrow and Friday.
I'm hoping that Saturday will be taken up with other things, but not counting on it; there's no news from Lincoln at the moment.
It was milder overnight last night, and the snow has started to thaw off the towpath, but the bridge was as tricky as ever. There's more snow forecast for tomorrow, so when I got back from the village today, I dipped the diesel tank to make sure that's there's enough to get through to the weekend.
The fuel consumption figures built into Sheila's spreadsheet are obviously quite pessimistic. It was predicting 75 litres left in the tank, but in practice it's still more than half full. I've tinkered with the numbers in the spreadsheet to bring it more into line.
It's a tricky business, this measuring consumption. I do it by trying always to have the tank filled to the same point each time, that is, just to the bottom of the filler tube which projects down into the tank, but a few millimetres of difference in level represents quite a lot of fuel, as the tank is quite wide, being the whole of the back end of the stern. In addition, I suspect that boat yard pumps are quite variable in their mensuration, as I've commented before.
They are usually ex-filling station pumps, and I don't suppose that Trading Standards come round to check them very often. Be that as it may, it looks as if I'm presently getting about 1.1 litres per hour out of the Beta 43, and about 0.6 lph out of the Eberspacher.
Moore2Life came by today: Annie was walking along the towpath, and knocked on the boat to ask for news from Lincoln, which was kind. They've been to Milford and back, and hope to be able to get away altogether by the end of the week, assuming Chas's leg is fully recovered (good luck, mate)
I think that's about it for now: hopefully I'll have some news next time, but as I say, who can tell?
Labels:
Tixall Wide
Monday, 2 February 2009
Sitting out the snowy weather
1st & 2nd February
We seem to have started February in the same cold mode as we left January; I'm glad I got in a good stock of coal before settling here on the Wide. The Newflame is OK as a fuel, burning well, but some investigation on the web suggests that, like its stable mate, Coalite, it's really intended for open fires, although approved for closed stoves like the Squirrel.
It burns with more flame than most solid fuels, and doesn't keep in overnight very well at all. Nonetheless, it does its job of heating the boat, and that's the main thing, especially when there's only the one of us rattling round in it.
I've been spending a fair bit of time snuggled up in Sheila's usual chair (which is nearer the stove than mine), reading and watching DVDs. I've also been heading for bed quite early, even by my standards. If at nine in the evening it's a choice between putting more coal on the fire or going to bed and reading there, the decision kind of makes itself.
The only thing is, the last two nights I've put the light out at ten, had a good night's sleep, and thus woken around six having had my eight hours. It then becomes a question of how long I can stay in bed before the twin attractions of the loo and a cup of tea drive me forth.
Mind you, it's then very pleasant to hop back in again, listening to the radio and drinking the tea until the prospect of the end of my hour's run of the heating encourages me to get up.
That's how it was yesterday. Once breakfasted, I spent the day in a mixture of internet browsing, going to the village for a loaf and a paper, lazing about reading as described and actually cleaning the boat a bit, sweeping the floor, washing the dirty bits of it and, after recharging it, using the mini Dyson, Blake, to get into the corners and so forth.
Just after lunch I was contemplating actually going out for a walk, when Golden Eagle came chugging past, blowing its horn and shouting that they were mad to be boating in the snow. We last met them in Weston on 28 April 2007, when we helped them eat a load of barbequed meat.
This drew my attention to the fact that it was indeed snowing, so I gave up on the walk idea and tried to watch The Draughtsman's Contract instead, but didn't stick it more than half way through. I guess I'm just not that into art house films, even ones described as erotic.
It came across about as erotic as a banana and peanut butter sandwich to me, but maybe I'm just blasé.
It snowed on and off all afternoon and evening, with a fair bit of wind still pushing it around
Today was much the same, only with more snow. There's no real ice on the cut as yet – just a bit by the moorings at the end of the Staffs and Worcs, but there was enough snow about to make it necessary to walk carefully.
I bought some more firelighters in the village, just to be on the safe side, and I've started watching my collection of the Lord of the Rings DVDs all the way through, which should keep me busy for a few days.
Incidentally, I went to check the Met Check site this morning and it was down because overloaded; guess that's my fault for name checking it the other day☺.
Checking the bank accounts when I got a fast connection again (it's been a bit variable over the last 24 hours) I found that BW have finally taken my licence fee, so that's all right.
It's still snowing as I write this, so it's going to be another quiet afternoon and evening. I'm just glad I don't live in a house with all the hassles of frozen pipe work and the risk of power cuts when snow overloads the lines. My only problem is that I reckon I'll have to go to Anglo Welsh again by the weekend to get more diesel; I must have used half a tank by now, so only around 100 litres left.
We seem to have started February in the same cold mode as we left January; I'm glad I got in a good stock of coal before settling here on the Wide. The Newflame is OK as a fuel, burning well, but some investigation on the web suggests that, like its stable mate, Coalite, it's really intended for open fires, although approved for closed stoves like the Squirrel.
It burns with more flame than most solid fuels, and doesn't keep in overnight very well at all. Nonetheless, it does its job of heating the boat, and that's the main thing, especially when there's only the one of us rattling round in it.
I've been spending a fair bit of time snuggled up in Sheila's usual chair (which is nearer the stove than mine), reading and watching DVDs. I've also been heading for bed quite early, even by my standards. If at nine in the evening it's a choice between putting more coal on the fire or going to bed and reading there, the decision kind of makes itself.
The only thing is, the last two nights I've put the light out at ten, had a good night's sleep, and thus woken around six having had my eight hours. It then becomes a question of how long I can stay in bed before the twin attractions of the loo and a cup of tea drive me forth.
Mind you, it's then very pleasant to hop back in again, listening to the radio and drinking the tea until the prospect of the end of my hour's run of the heating encourages me to get up.
That's how it was yesterday. Once breakfasted, I spent the day in a mixture of internet browsing, going to the village for a loaf and a paper, lazing about reading as described and actually cleaning the boat a bit, sweeping the floor, washing the dirty bits of it and, after recharging it, using the mini Dyson, Blake, to get into the corners and so forth.
Just after lunch I was contemplating actually going out for a walk, when Golden Eagle came chugging past, blowing its horn and shouting that they were mad to be boating in the snow. We last met them in Weston on 28 April 2007, when we helped them eat a load of barbequed meat.
This drew my attention to the fact that it was indeed snowing, so I gave up on the walk idea and tried to watch The Draughtsman's Contract instead, but didn't stick it more than half way through. I guess I'm just not that into art house films, even ones described as erotic.
It came across about as erotic as a banana and peanut butter sandwich to me, but maybe I'm just blasé.
It snowed on and off all afternoon and evening, with a fair bit of wind still pushing it around
Today was much the same, only with more snow. There's no real ice on the cut as yet – just a bit by the moorings at the end of the Staffs and Worcs, but there was enough snow about to make it necessary to walk carefully.
I bought some more firelighters in the village, just to be on the safe side, and I've started watching my collection of the Lord of the Rings DVDs all the way through, which should keep me busy for a few days.
Incidentally, I went to check the Met Check site this morning and it was down because overloaded; guess that's my fault for name checking it the other day☺.
Checking the bank accounts when I got a fast connection again (it's been a bit variable over the last 24 hours) I found that BW have finally taken my licence fee, so that's all right.
It's still snowing as I write this, so it's going to be another quiet afternoon and evening. I'm just glad I don't live in a house with all the hassles of frozen pipe work and the risk of power cuts when snow overloads the lines. My only problem is that I reckon I'll have to go to Anglo Welsh again by the weekend to get more diesel; I must have used half a tank by now, so only around 100 litres left.
Labels:
Tixall Wide
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