Last day out for a bit

We've had a quiet day here in Willington, though it started early, body clocks not yet having adjusted to the changed time. We got a bit of shopping in at the Co-op, and otherwise have been lurking on board, dealing with emails and the like.

One item was the latest BW Boater's Update; nothing much new, frankly, I seem to have read it all already in other places, but I was struck by this encomium about the Canal & River Trust's new logo:

In the same way, the Canal & River Trust’s magnificent swan evokes serenity, protectiveness and much more in people’s minds. From the research and the reaction we know that it resonates well with the general public.

Now, to an extent all this is true, in the sense that this is indeed the myth that surounds the mute swan. I'm very happy to see them around, but anyone who has much to do with them knows that they are great, bullying, stroppy, murderous beasts, quite capable of demanding bread with menaces and of driving away any competition.

In the spring, the males or cobs have been known to drown an entire brood of ducklings to make sure that their own offspring get first crack at the grub.

There's a moral in there somewhere, as the Red Queen keeps saying in Alice in Wonderland. When she's not shouting "Off with his head" of course.

Tomorrow, into the marina...

What time is it?

It's not often one can say "Earlier than you think", but for those of us in the UK, that's true today. We switched from Summer Time to GMT at 2 this morning, so if you are reading this at your desk on Monday morning and wondering where everyone else is, that's the explanation.

/nobigdeal

Best example of the confusion that the old "Spring forward, Fall back" rule can cause was evident this morning in the Co-op. Visiting it to buy guess what, I also decided to get four cans of Bass to keep the supplies going until we can get an Ocado delivery in. This meant that we had to wait a couple of minutes at the till until it was ten o'clock, as they are not allowed to sell booze before then on a Sunday.

Whilst we did so, another gent came through and expressed surprise: "It's nearly twelve o'clock" he said.

Er no, I think you may have just moved yourself onto Moscow time there…

Best bit of the day was visiting the marina, where we had a cheerful encounter with the guy in the office to do the paperwork, producing our insurance cert and Declaration of Conformity, paying the balance of the bill and so on. We also got our radio key fobs to get in through the gate into the mooring area; no remembering pin codes here.

We took another look at where we are to moor, and were impressed all over again. On the way back, we had another natter with Stephen and Jayne; Dolce Far Niente is tied just a bit in front of us.

Since lunch, we've been chilling out with the paper and stuff. It'll be another quiet day tomorrow, then on Tuesday we move into the marina, stopping for diesel and a pump out on the way.

We're also dog sitting that day, so could be interesting...

Busy, busy

Having got ourselves sorted at Willington, we had a busy day with the family today. Elanor came over and collected us midday, and we rendezvoused with Graeme, Cathy and the boys in the centre of Burton. Amazingly, it all went fine, given that the other half had driven up from North London that morning.

We had a great session at the photographers; she turned out to be a really nice old dear, who was excellent at getting the boys to pose. We'll be going back next Saturday to choose which prints we want.

Since that will be the acid test, I won't plug the name just yet; watch this space.

Then we all went back to Sanity Again for refreshments and stuff, and I was presented with a belated birthday present from the Lincoln branch of the clan in the form of a bottle of 12 year old Bowmore. Yum.

After all this excitement, I'm pretty knackered, frankly, so will leave it at that for now...

On to Burton, then Willington

It was another A-team day, when the plan came together in a very gratifying way. We got up in good time and arrived at Shobnall just before nine. Into Cooper's Square we went, and chose some frames for new glasses at Vision Express. Then came the painful bit, agreeing what lenses we needed and which arm and leg were going to have to go to pay for them…

We're getting two pairs each, of which the simpler ones will be ready by Wednesday (they couldn't do them in the spot, the machine had broken down) and the varifocals will take a week or so longer. After giving the credit card a fright, we went back to Shobnall where we bought some more kindling and four bags of mixed ovals to keep us going until we get into Mercia.

By now it was after eleven, so we set off for the last stretch to Willington, lunching on the way. In fact, Sheila was in the middle of hers when we arrived, to find the moorings incredibly busy. We've ended up just off the end of the visitor moorings. Initially, we had a rather grotty bit of towpath to tie on, and indeed I took a tumble getting off the bow; it had drifted out, so I made a big jump, put my foot down a hole and fell flat on my face, skidding briefly along still clutching the whirligig support pole I'd been fetching.

The good news is that the pole was undamaged, and I'd been planning to put that hoodie and pair of trousers out for the wash anyway. A bit later, the boat in front left, and we were able to pull forward onto a better bit of towpath.

Once we were all sorted, we popped back along the moorings for a good old natter with Ivor Batchelor, who's swapped his working pair, Mountbatten and Jellicoe for a single motor, in fact a butty converted into a motor, Lepus. The pair are up for sale on Apollo Duck.

Ivor's no longer trading in coal, but Mel is still painting and selling canalware.

Tomorrow, we're having a family get together; Elanor has a free voucher for one of the Burton photographers, so Graeme, Cathy and the boys are coming over and we're all going to get our photies took.

Dog to dog blog: spending the day with the AGPs

Hi guys

I spent yesterday with the AGPs; dunno why, just when I'd got used to being left alone to get some kip during the day (while Mummy goes out to work to earn dosh to buy me more stuff), she decided to cart me off to the boat. NO sooner have I got there than it's on with the orange buoyancy jacket (does suit me, I admit) and off we go.

Loads of time spent turning round, then I stayed on the back to supervise Granny's steering. It means I can do Olympic looking when I feel like it, and Granny had put my blanket down just inside on the engine box to get some kip if I needed it. Didn't bother with it too much, just a lot going on.

Didn't need to bark a lot this time; I'm getting the ducks and swans just about where I want them. We finished up back at the water park where we were last time I visited, and Grandpa took me for another walk in the afternoon. This wasn't too hot, frankly, just a plod along the towpath and then a bit of field path, but at least it stretched my legs.

It made up a bit for the cruel treatment over lunch; Grandpa made himself the scrummiest sandwich you've ever smelt, sardines in tomato sauce, and though I kept practising my hypno stare on him, no joy at all, he scoffed the lot. I obviously haven't got the knack yet.

Grandpa says that if it had worked, I'd be doing the hippo stare instead, the way I put weight on.

He can be so cruel at times, it's just not true.

Things looked up in the afternoon, when new friends Stephen and Jayne came to visit. They used to own a labrador, but despite that showed a proper appreciation of how to treat me, and I was able to work the room for strokes and ear fondling for a good hour.

After that, finally got some kip before Mummy came to collect me. It's the night she spends at Capable Canines terrorising puppies, so she left me in the car for most of it, as I'm not fond of the little ankle biters. She brought me out for the last section to show them how to do it, but I'd stiffened up and could hardly hobble round the arena.

What with being dragged down the towpath and then left abandoned in cars, it's no wonder. Jacky the boss at CC says I need a proper coat to keep me warm, and she's going to let me try one on tonight.

Me, I fancy something like the one here.

That's about all for now; I'm having a regular day at home today, hence the chance to catch up with you all.

Loads of licks

Your houndie friend

Sally

Back to Branston

In the days when we hired, we'd often take a boat out in the October half term, as the weather can be brilliant at this time of year, and so it's turned out this year. Elanor dropped Sally off with us at eight, and we boated up to the winding hole, turned round and by half eight were locking down the river lock.

Last time we boated with Sal, she seemed to enjoy being on the stern, rather than helping the lock wheeler, so we kept her there all the time this time. She was able to do some serious Olympic looking round the end of the cabin side:

The rake of the ears shows how much she's enjoying it

Most of the locks were with us, so we had a quick trip to Branston. I tried rigging the Gorillapod flexible tripod that I got for my birthday on the top plank of the cratch, and shot some video through the Fuji Finepix camera.

It's worked quite well, though I'm sure a proper camcorder would have done a better job; I was going to put a sample up here, but video files are very big even with a lot of compression, so I don't think it's feasible, sadly.

We've tied by Branston Water Park just a boat length ahead of Dolce Far Niente. I took Sally for a good walk at lunchtime, and then in the afternoon, Stephen and Jayne came round for a natter.

They were very popular with Sal; former dog owners themselves, they understand a dog's need to be cosseted, especially round the ears.

We'll stay here tomorrow, do a bit of Morrisons shopping and maybe try a meal in the Blacksmith's Arms in the evening.

Last day in Alrewas

We were able to have a very relaxed start this morning, after an excellent meal in the George and Dragon last night. Will joined us for a drink or two, and brought my post. This included a bowel cancer screening test kit. For those under 60, you don't want or need to know about these; for the rest, all I can say is that it gives a whole new world of meaning to playing Pooh sticks.

/blur

Apart from that things have been great. Sheila had a good session at the dentist this morning; it was good to find out that the new guy is as skilled as the previous owners of the practice. Whilst she was away, I set things up to repaint the starboard gunwale, and after coffee, the two of us got stuck in and did it. This means that the boat is set up to cope with the worst that the winter can throw at the outside at least.

This afternoon, we took a stroll to see if we could find a route through a culvert under the A38 that would be a better way of walking to the National Memorial Arboretum than the one we used last time.

We found the culvert, and I've recorded that bit of it on the Garmin and on RoadTrip on the Mac. I'll see if I can find away of making it available more generally; we still need to check out the the other half of the route, from the far end of the culvert to the NMA.

Tomorrow, we set off again for Branston, where we should catch up with Stephen and Jayne on Dolce Far Niente. They left this morning:

Stephen hovering

Jayne waiting for the lock to fill

Oh look, it's Alrewas again

It is nice when a plan comes together, and that's what happened today, with an added bonus I'll come to shortly. We dragged ourselves out of bed at 6.45, drank tea whilst dressing and breaking our fasts, and were on the way by half seven.

Tatenhill lock was soon passed, and on arrival at Barton Turn we stopped on the water point.

Thus far, it was a straight rerun of the last time we came this way, even to starting a washload whilst filling the water tank. The big difference was a lot less traffic, despite the fact that it's half term for most of the country. We did cross with Balmaha at Wychnor Lock; they told us that there was plenty of room at Alrewas, as indeed there was when we got there.

We've tied on the moorings by Rebel's field, which soon filled up. A quick trip into the village got enough grub for lunch and dinner, so we settled down to chill out for the afternoon. Elanor then rang to change arrangements for dog sitting this week; we'd been going to tomorrow, but she's asked us to take Sally on Wednesday instead.

No sooner was this organised than Stephen and Jayne from Dolce Far Niente turned up, and the rest of the afternoon slid happily by drinking tea and chatting.

Dolce is spending the winter in  Mercia Marina, like us, so lots more opportunities will present themselves. Indeed, we may well catch up with them on our way back towards Burton, as they are planning to spend a few nights at Branston.

We've decided to eat in the George and Dragon tonight, and hopefully will meet up with Will Chapman whilst we're there.

Two black jobs

Jobs involving the colour black have been the theme of the day, first with black paint and then with the black hearted sinner dog otherwise known as Sally the hound.

Sheila has been complaining for some time about the state of the port side gunwale, which never got a fresh coat of black sheen this spring. So while she was off getting my paper and taking a stroll round the Water Park lake, I made a start, sorting out the brushes, paint and stuff and getting the bucket and sponge out of the bow locker.

I vigorously brushed down the rusty area of the heavy rubbing strake that protects the bow of the boat, and then gave it a going over with wet and dry paper. Then I washed the whole area that was to be painted. Purists might comment that I should have used a rust converter and then primed the rubbing strake, but frankly, since it takes an awful lot of punishment even with skilled steerers like Sheila, there's just no point in taking too much trouble over it.

Whilst the washed area was drying, I went over the main cabin side and forward bulkhead, using a rag soaked in white spirit to clean off places where the Oxford Blue had got chipped. Then I took a large artists paint brush and touched in those places.

Sheila came back whilst this was going on, so we had a coffee before I got started on the heavy work with the black sheen. I used a foam wedge brush to do the tricky bits at the boundaries with other colours, then a big 3" brush for the rest. I was interested to try it this way; previously, I've used a small roller for this job.

It seems to be much of a muchness both in terms of effort and amount of paint used. By twelve, the job was done bar tidying up. Sheila had helped in the final stages, holding the boat away from the side, and glaring at those inconsiderate sods people who don't see the need to slow down even when they can see that someone is working on the side of their boat.

After lunch, Elanor and Sally arrived. Elanor was on her way to a performance of Riverdance at Lichfield, and left Sal with us for the afternoon. I took her for a walk in due course, up to Tatenhill Lock, across the canal and over the fields towards Tatenhill village, deliberately coming out somewhat to the west to increase the amount of exercise involved.

We had to do a bit of road walking on narrow country roads, which wasn't too pleasant, but eventually found the footpath leading back towards the canal, emerging onto the track which runs along the offside of the canal opposite the Bridge Inn.

I worked out this route with the aid of a bit of OS map printed off from the OS Get a map service. It's free unless you want to use their print service – they obviously haven't heard of partial screen capture, which produces a perfectly useable map square for this kind of shortish walk.

For anything more adventurous, I would want to use the proper purchased sheet anyway.

Sally is looking a good deal better exercised now than she did first thing yesterday, between her chase on the Chase and now her walk with me.

Tomorrow, we'll head back to Alrewas for Sheila's dental appointment on Tuesday.

A bit of catching up, and Sally on the Chase

Today, we went to Morrisons, and later on walked Sally on Cannock Chase with Elanor. The walk was very entertaining; Elanor drove us round to Brocton and up into the Chase, and we did a circular walk from there. Sally was hilarious – she was very excited, having had comparatively limited exercise during the week now that Elanor is working, and spent a huge amount of time initially bounding up and down through the heath and heather.

We came down to the stream and walked along it to the Stepping Stones site, and so back up the ridge to the car park. We did about two miles, but Sal must have clocked up at least four times that.

I'm looking after her tomorrow, as Elanor is off to see Riverdance with some fellow dog trainers, so I'll make sure she gets some more walking then.

That's about all about today, so a couple of items of catching up:

First off, a while back, I was asked about the route from Branston to Morrisons, and never got round to answering properly as the IWA Festival happened. So here it is:

From the towpath by the Bridge Inn at Branston, walk up the steps onto the road and away from the canal into Tatenhill Lane. At the end of the road, (*) go through the underpass beneath the A38 and carry on until you come to Main Street. Turn left and walk past the little parade of shops (includes a PO and a newsagent/stores) and the pub to the main road.

Cross at the pedestrian crossing and turn right, still on Main Street, which is now a busy road. After a few hundred yards, turn left into Clays Lane and walk quite some distance along it on the right hand side until you pass a grassy play area. At this point the street bears left, but you go straight on along a footpath which leads into the back of the Morrisons car park.

If you are tied on the Water Park moorings, you can walk through the park, keeping to the left, until you come to another entrance to the A38 underpass, then carry on from (*) above.

Secondly, regular readers will recall our attempts to get our money back on the Gelert folding chairs which came apart on us. I'm sorry to say that despite letters, Bromley Hayes Garden Centre by Kings Bromley marina has declined even to enter into discussions about repaying us. An email to Gelert got nowhere either, so it looks as if we shall just have to write this one off to experience. At less than £50 for the two, it's not worth even going into the Small Claims court.

I can't recommend that Garden Centre, needless to say.

/omg

I can see for miles and miles and miles...

Now that the drops have worn off, that is. We had a good session at Vision Express, just a shade late running. Sheila needs new specs, and I am just about changed enough to justify some too, so we'll sort those out on the way back through, I reckon.

I didn't feel like helping Sheila choose new frames whilst squinting through blurry eyes…

/blur

The run down this morning was very straightforward, and we got there in very good time, so were able to a) wind the boat before tying and b) unload all our recycling at the handily positioned council tip on the way. It was nearly lunchtime when we got back, so we ate and then moved the boat.

It was my turn to steer, and I was nearly fully functional again, so did the business. Actually, despite a certain fuzziness at more than 100 foot off, I managed a neat approach to the bottom of Branston Lock, though I say it myself. A single hander had just emerged and closed up as we came into view, but since the move off the lock landing into the lock is a bit tedious for a full length, I took Sanity Again gently up to the gates and Sheila hopped off to open them.

She afterwards told me that I'd stopped with just a few inches between the bow fender and the gates.

Neat, huh?

/nobigdeal

Back at Branston once more, we had a quick chat with Elanor on the phone, she being at home in her lunch break to run the pooch; she's stopping by tonight with a mail delivery.

The rest of the day has been pretty quiet, reading, doing the crossword and codeword, winding up Sue Cook of Indigo Dream on Twitter (Should that be twinding up?).

She claims that describing her car as stationery is valid as it's full of paperwork, but I thought it was already full of greyhounds…

/wahaha

We'll stay here for a couple of days, then back to Alrewas one last time for now.

To the Morrisons mooring

Thinking that our eye test appointments were starting at 9.30 tomorrow, we decided to go to the Morrisons mooring, half way between Branston and Shobnall, today. This meant a reasonably early start, since we had to wind Sanity Again first. Accordingly, we set off at 7.45, just after I got back from a quick trip to the shops for, guess what, bread and a paper.

Sheila did her usual skilled job of the winding, though the winding hole below Bagnall is frankly only just long enough for 70'. It looks a lot longer, but the bend in the towpath opposite means that this is deceptive. Sheila motored the stern round, but actually I wonder if next time I'm doing it, I might not try just resting the stem on the fender at the back of the hole and hauling the stern round with a line.

Anyway, it was just on eight as we set off back for a straightforward run. Most of the locks were more or less with us, and we started to see some traffic going both ways. The weather was clear and cold, very pleasant as long as you were well wrapped up.

On this point, I should mention that we've been keeping the stove in all day for the last couple of days, so the boat is only chilly first thing in the morning. I suspect most boaters are in the same position, though some Kiwis turned Aussies living somewhere up the Llangollen are apparently making a virtue out of shivering in their multiple layers of clothing without even the Webasto on.

/hmm

It's all right, Tom and Jan, you are allowed to light the fire even though we're still on summer time you know…

;)

We got to the Morrisons mooring just after eleven, to find one boat at each end, so we've tucked ourselves in as neatly as we can, hopefully leaving room for one more here.

After lunch, we had handy texts from Vision Express reminding us that our appointments start at ten, not nine thirty, so we could have stopped at Branston. Oh well, it'll mean a lazier start in the morning, that's all, when we'll boat the twenty minutes to Shobnall and then walk into town. I hope to be able to blog at the usual time tomorrow, assuming my eyes have returned to normal after the effect of the dreaded atropine drops have worn off.

I don't know, I never touched anything bar booze and fags all the time I was an undergrad and postgrad, but since I've retired I seem to spend my whole life scarfing down one substance or another, all now provided free by a caring state.

Gosh I'm glad I don't live in the USA...

Another quiet day

After yesterday's bustling around, today has been pretty quiet, both activity-wise and weather-wise. I was up early, so as to get to the surgery for 8.15 to make an appointment to see the GP. It's just as well I was, as Elanor rang at seven to discuss what to do with the hedgehog Sally had caught.

There wasn't much I could think of just then, and indeed since the tiggy was apparently unharmed by its trip in Sally's mouth, leaving it to recover in its own time seemed the best.

I'm due to see the doc at 3.40, which is why I'm doing this post a bit earlier than usual, the likelihood being that I'll be late back with cooking and stuff to do.

Apart from that, it's been a case of loafing in the boat, doing a bit of tidying up and reading the paper. I managed to finish the Codeword without cheating, but Sheila had to do the last couple of clues in the concise crossword.

Good grief, I must be short of stuff to write about...

Never mind, we're off again tomorrow, to the Morrisons mooring probably, so as to get to Shobnall in good time to walk into town and see the optician at half nine on Friday.

Just a quickie

Blame Will Chapman; I went over to his house to collect some NHS mail (we live with Will and Jane for NHS purposes) and we got talking about this and that and the other, so it's nearly six and I should be cooking dinner.

In brief, I had a good session at the surgery, all well there, but I still need to see the doc tomorrow. Sheila needs some more work on her teeth, so we'll be back here in Alrewas next week.

Better and further particulars tomorrow.

Back to Alrewas

One good thing about having to hang around and about Alrewas like this whilst we sort out our regular medical/dental/optical checks, it convinces me, if I ever needed convincing, that the life of a bridge hopping continuous moorer would drive me potty.

OK, pottier.

With exception of the bit right alongside the A38, the Trent and Mersey around here is a perfectly pleasant canal. It wouldn't win awards in a "most scenic waterway in the country" competition, but it's a good example of the early efforts of the canal engineers. And yet it bores me to tears, almost, to plod to and fro along such a short segment from Burton to Alrewas and back.

No matter. Today we made our early start without too much trouble, and were soon working up Tatenhill Lock. There was just enough traffic about to keep it interesting, but the weather was really not encouraging. We've gone from scenic autumnal conditions to just grim, cool, breezy and damp, though it didn't actually rain whilst we were underway.

We stopped at Barton Turn for half an hour and refilled the water tank. Sheila got a washload going at the same time, which was just nicely finishing as we arrived at Alrewas. I had to hover below Wychnor, the radios earning their keep as Sheila kept me briefed about what was happening at the lock, Wychnor being one of those where it's best to stay well back and let the descending boat get well clear before you head on into the lock.

Alrewas was pretty busy, but we've found a space on the 14 day moorings by the Bowling Green, so we will be able to sit here until Thursday, by which time we'll have finished here for the next six months, hopefully. Friday, we need to be back at Burton for the opticians first thing, so on Thursday we'll go all the way to the Morrisons mooring, I expect.

What a nice day, mostly

Every year round about this time, I have the same thought. If I'd known I was going to live this long when I was twenty, I'd have taken better care of my body.

Probably. Too late now, anyway.

First off and before I forget, many thanks to Nev and Mike and Sue for your kind wishes; they are much appreciated. I shouldn't complain, really I shouldn't, I'm a very lucky guy and much better off in lots of ways than almost everyone else that's ever lived on the planet. I doubt if things will ever be as good again as they were for my generation…

Anyway, enough already, I'm sounding maudlin and I haven't even started drinking yet.

After opening presents this morning, we boated off to Shobnall and got a pump out, and I bought some Carnauba wax and boat wash. Peter at Shobnall very kindly pointed out that if I bought the two together in a pack, I'd save a fiver. That was really kind of him, considering that we'd made his Sunday by turning up asking for a pump out before he was even properly open.

(For reference, Shobnall does open on Sundays, but not till ten.)

Then it was tally ho back to Branston, stopping on the Burton side of the bridge this time. We're only here for the one night, and then on to Alrewas again.

I had a go at topping up the domestic batteries, but it's just too difficult. The first one is OK, more or less, but the rest are inaccessible. We knew that this was going to be a problem, as the battery bank is tucked away under the electric cupboard in order to make room for the Hurricane, which sits on the swim on the same side.

After the experience of building Sanity Again, Braidbar don't put a Hurricane in in the same way, but that's no help to us.

It's the penalty of being the innovator, I guess. The long term solution is going to have to be maintenance free batteries. The only way to service these ones would be to drag the whole bank out, and my heart failed at the thought today.

Later on, Elanor and Sally came over with their present for me. Actually, I don't think Sally had a lot to do with choosing it, but she looked on very cheerfully as I opened it.

We're not going anywhere special tonight; I'm saving that for when we're in Willington and I can visit the Dragon again.

A milestone

I was just wondering what to headline this post with, when I noticed that it's my 1,000th. Isn't it amazing how much dribble drivel, either or both, you can get away with? According to Sitemeter, around 180 people read my witterings on any given day, so it must be doing some good somewhere.

Thank you very much one and all, I'm really pleased that my burblings are of some use.

Hah – I feel a nice warm glow, and not just because I was a bit slow turning the stewing dried fruit off.

We've been quite busy today, mostly shopping at Tamworth. Elanor ran us over there as part of her payback for us looking after Sally all week (mind you, she'd have done it anyway, I'm sure).

She'd also driven up to the APC depot in Derby first thing to collect a parcel from Julian Graves for me, hence the aforesaid stewing fruit. And she brought over the pack of LR1, N-size batteries I'd bought via Amazon, so the galley clock is working again.

Elanor, I don't know how we'd manage without you, really I don't.

/hihi

I've got my money back for my M&S sandals that started coming to bits, and bought a pair of moccasin type slippers in Brantano to replace them. I also nipped into Halfords and got a 5 litre drum of battery top-up water; the battery bank is due for an annual service, I reckon.

Oh, and we went into Sainsbury's so the galley cupboards are full again, including the wine cellar and wine rack.

Tomorrow, we celebrate my natal day by going down to Shobnall and getting a pump out, and I may buy some Carnauba wax whilst there.

Who said boating would be dull?

Away from Alrewas

Things went largely to plan today; we got up in reasonable time, and I was just setting off to get the paper and some supplies from the Co-op when Elanor arrived with Sally. I got back as Elanor was leaving, and we were soon setting out for Branston.

Sally helped with the first couple of locks, but we discovered later that she quite likes being on the stern with the steerer. It makes it interesting for that person, as we can't quite trust her off the lead yet, so you have to juggle the dog, the tiller, the throttle and the PMR radio. Four hands would be good.

We coped thus with Barton and Tatenhill locks, Sally being reasonably well behaved. Indeed, she was very good with a twit gentleman walking a couple of dogs on the towpath, just as we were approaching Tatenhill. One dog was a well behaved terrier, but the other was a curly coated retriever, with all the intellectual endowment of that group of breeds.

/hmm

It charged up and down the towpath, woofing frantically, working from opposite one end of the boat to the other and back again. Sal stood on the back just looking at it for quite a while, and eventually gave vent to her feelings.

BARK!


Then she was quiet again, obviously having come to the same conclusion as us, that the dog was pretty well off its head. Its owner, meanwhile, just walked on up the towpath, occasionally calling it with no effect whatsoever. At last, just as I was thinking I might have some problems when I had to get off to work the lock, the dog realised that its owner was nearly out of sight and charged off.

It's not the dog's fault, of course. Some people are just amazingly casual about establishing a decent level of control over their mutt. If it's a small or inoffensive beast, this doesn't matter so much (though the poor thing will probably spend a lot of its life worrying about defending its owner) but not everyone realises that that sort of behaviour is just barminess, and would be seriously distressed if they had to confront the animal.

If you keep a dog, a) pick up after it and b) train it at least to be a good citizen.

/please

Rant over.

We found loads of space at Branston, and tied by the Water Park. Elanor came and collected Sally at lunchtime. Elanor gets off early on Friday, so it's a good chance to find out if the arrangements for keeping the hound quiet when alone in the house will work for a longer period. It's another situation where it's actually about reassuring the dog that it doesn't have to defend the property.

If Sal is calm and relaxed in her cave-like den in the back bedroom, then she doesn't feel obliged to go off like a banshee every time she hears something happening outside.

Geoff and Mags turned up on Seyella in the early afternoon; we've had a nice cup of tea and natter with them already.

A last day at Alrewas

Well, at least until next week…

It's been another quiet day; I'm pretty well fully recovered and Sheila is well on the way. The internet connection has been more spasmodic than usual; maybe the mobile phone systems are getting more use whilst BlackBerry are struggling.

Apart from that, not much to report; walked the pooch, bought a copy of the latest Waterways World, that's about it, really.

There should be more to talk about tomorrow, when we boat to Branston for the weekend, coming back here on Monday for the last appointments (hopefully) on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then it will be back to Burton for the opticians and we'll be done for six months.

We'll have a little bit of time to kill before the start of our winter moorings at Mercia Marina.

Oh, and my pre-ordered Kindle copy of the latest Terry Pratchett, Snuff, has been delivered , just in time for my birthday. Nice.

On the mend

Feeling a bit better this morning, we decided to head for Branston. We'd warned Elanor to expect to find us on the water point at eight, the tank being down to less than an eighth full. When we got there, we had to hang about for a Canaltime to finish filling, during which time Elanor turned up with Sally.

I think the Canaltime had finished; at any rate, they moved off soon after, and Sally wasn't at all vocal towards them…

The effort of doing all this demonstrated that we weren't as fully recovered as we thought. Fortunately, there was a space on the moorings beyond the water point, so we've stopped on it for at least today, and possibly tomorrow as well. We've got until Friday to move away and still comply with the 14 day rule.

I gave Sally a walk to Wychnor Lock this morning, but apart from that we've been taking it quietly. The good news is that Elanor's training exercise with Sal last night, working on her staying in the house quietly, seems to have been successful. Elanor was out for an hour and the neighbours reported no noise from the pooch.

The combination of the anti bark collar (it vibrates if she barks loudly), being shut in the room with her home cage in it, having something to chew and Radio 2 to listen to seems to be doing the trick. We'll carry on dog sitting this week, and Elanor will hopefully be able to complete the training over the weekend.

Not much to say today

My apologies to those who reckon that if I've got not much to say I shouldn't post; if I don't say something, folk start to worry.

We're both a bit under the weather, Sheila more than me; nothing serious, I hope, just grotty, so not much has been done. I made it to the dentist; Sheila had to postpone, and I've managed to walk the pooch, but that's about it.

Oh, and I did the new codeword puzzle in the revamped Independent. It's 25 years old today, and I've lost count of the restylings it's had. Fortunately, the writing continues to be as strong as ever.

Hopefully, we'll feel better tomorrow, as we're planning to move the boat; we need water.

A bit weary

It was too warm last night to light the fire, and anyway, we had had a good dinner of roast beef with wow-wow sauce, spuds and green beans. Possibly it was the impact of this meal that gave both Sheila and I a bit of a rough night for starters, but in addition, at around half three, Sally started whining. At first, I thought that she was just trying it on to get some company, but after quite a while, and after it had woken Sheila, we realised that things must not be right with her.

The poor tender little wuss was cold.

There was nothing for it but to let her into our bedroom, and therefore onto our bed. With a happy sigh, she soon settled down and was both whiffling and dreaming away. This meant, of course, that we got the benefit of the twitching limbs and strange noises, but we did eventually manage to doze off again.

We're looking forward to tonight, when she'll be back with Elanor overnight, and just coming to us for the day. As it is, we're getting a lot more exercise than usual.

The high spot of the day was checking out some photos of the Open Day and Owners' Weekend taken by Graham Johnson of Priscilla last month. One in particular has been captioned "Wilson, Keppel and Betty"; I've been haunted all day by an image of the two men concerned, Peter Mason, who's 6' 4", and Des Barnard, who's a good deal shorter, dressed in white sheets and fezzes and shuffling around to the strains of The Old Bazaar In Cairo.

Maybe next year we need to have a party pieces session at the Owners' Weekend…

/wahaha

Doggy Sunday

I tried to get Sally to do this blog, but she's on strike. In fact, she's now lying in the kneehole of my desk, having started off sitting in there. That didn't work terribly well, as her head hits the underside of the desktop, so she's sort of lying down, with her forepaws on my left foot.

This is to let us know that she's a very tired dog, having been walked far too much over the last two days. Actually, I reckon it's the greyhound coming out; she's glad enough to go for the walk, and bounds about cheerfully for the first five miles, but then starts walking to heel incredibly well, and just collapses once back on board.

After first slurping up an amazing amount of water, of course. She will now spread herself out asleep wherever we happen to be, only waking up a bit when I start cooking, and doing so properly when we have finished eating, which is the signal for her to be fed.

This morning, Sheila did the walk into the village for the paper and some perishables like lettuce and hummus, and I walked Sal up to Common Lock and back for her morning stretch. That's around one mile, so she's had about 6½ altogether today; this afternoon we did the walk to Fradley village over the fields, then along the towpaths to the Junction and so home.

If I was being sadly anthropomorphic, I'd say that she's realised what the plan is for this week and is trying to demonstrate that she can be trusted to go to the office with Elanor, but really, it's just the Dobermanny bit about being close to her humans.

Office work is so tiring!

Dog sitting

Elanor's got a temporary job for the next four weeks, starting on Monday, and couldn't get any dog sitting organised for the first few days, so it's handy that we're in the area…

We were looking after Sally this weekend anyway, as Elanor's off at the WRG reunion dig on the Basingstoke, and now we'll have her during the day for the week as well.

It's meant rejigging our cruising plans, as we need to be within easy reach of Burton; the job is from half eight to half five. We'll still leave Alrewas on Wednesday, after seeing the dentist on Tuesday, but instead of going to Tamworth and Kingsbury Water Park, we'll just chug gently into Burton, stopping at Branston Water Park on the way in and Barton Turn on the way back, probably.

Today we took the pooch a long walk through the fields to Alrewas Hayes and then back along the towpath. She was generally well behaved, despite provocation by an overweight labrador bitch at Alrewas Hayes, who came out and disputed the right of way with us for a bit until her owner came and removed her.

He wasn't very gentle with the lab, and it was at that point that Sally barked a bit; I really didn't blame her under the circumstances and she soon quieted on command. Elanor really has achieved a lot with the very nervous, mouthy dog she gave a home to fifteen months ago.

Oh, just to catch up; last Thursday's meal at the George and Dragon was as good as ever, if a bit over-salted for our taste. Definitely better than the Jaipur Cottage, though.

Lots to say

I'm not sure where to start today, as there are three different topics I want to mention, and I probably won't be blogging tomorrow, so can't leave any of it until then.

People are more important than anything else, so let's start there.

We had a nice chat with Geoff of Seyella yesterday, together with his dog. Seyella is tied just a bit back up the canal from here, and he'd walked the dog down to see if we were about, which was really nice of him. The dog is another Bearded Collie bitch, like the "Flying Hearthrug" that inhabits Farne, and about as loopy, judging from her behaviour.

Geoff, it was good to meet up, and here's looking forward to more encounters in the future.

Next up is Bill and Eileen's visit this morning, to trim Sheila's hair. It's really coming on, and we are ever so grateful to Bill for taking the time and trouble to do it. They put a lot of time into keeping track of various Braidbar Owners too, so it's always great to catch up on all the gossip with them. For example, they were able to update us on the progress of Chris Herriot, whose boat, Eleventh Heaven, is in build at the moment.

Chris has just had a major operation and is still in intensive care as a result, so we're all thinking of him and his wife Lesley. Best of luck for a full recovery, Chris, and for many happy years boating on Eleventh Heaven.

Finally, as Sheila was sat there being trimmed, Streamline was seen going past, still with Alan and Liz on board. Obviously, we couldn't dive out for a chat just then, so after lunch, we walked down the moorings on the off chance, and there she was, tied by what used to be Rebel's field. It meant we could have another catch up session with them.

Another owner of Streamline, Peter Beckett, is a regular reader of this blog, so hi Peter, and make sure Alan leaves the old boat in decent condition for once…

/floor

Next up, at last we know what the new waterways charity is going to be called – it's to be the Canal and River Trust, with a logo not too dissimilar from the current BW one:

Hmmm… so will it be the CRT, like an old cathode ray tube, or will we all be in the CaRT?

The Welsh version will be Glandwr Cymru, so if the boss of that bit happens to be called Owen, presumably he'll be Owain Glandwr? (Jôc Cymraeg, ydy o).

Finally, a correspondent thinking of making the big move from land to water asked us about the annual costs of running Sanity Again. This worked out more or less as follows, all in pounds sterling:

Winter mooring	1100
Insurance	500
Licence	830
Engine maint	200
Blacking	400
Diesel	2000
Gas	120
Coal	300
Pump out	250
Repair and replace	500
Total	6200

That's all for now; probably no blog tomorrow, as I'll be at the Eye Clinic in the afternoon, so see you on Saturday.

Wild outside, quiet inside

It's been a bit of a somnolent day on board, partly because it's been rather the reverse outside. The weather has been getting wild and woolly – no rain yet, but loads of wind. It made the cabin feel quite chilly, so we've relit the Squirrel. That's rather sleep inducing, not because of carbon monoxide leaks, I hasten to add, but just because it's so nice and warm and cosy…

We've both made expeditions out, myself first to get a blood test at the surgery. For once, they'd messed up; I'd got the right day and time according to the note the receptionist gave me on Friday, but it wasn't on their computer system. I had to hang around for a while (half an hour, maybe) before Gail the vivisector venusector could fit me in. (Sorry, I've been rereading HG Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau.) No matter, it was soon done, and that's me finished with that side of things until a couple of days after my birthday, when I'll see the nurse for a full review.

After lunch, Sheila went back to the dentist to be fitted with her repaired plate. All was well this time; she's looking forward to being able to chew again.

The rest of the day has drifted by, catching up with email, reading The Independent and the latest Canal Boat and the like.

Tomorrow, Bill and Eileen are visiting to give Sheila's hair a trim, so things will be a bit livelier. We had hoped to give them lunch at the George and Dragon, but Eileen's got a dentist's appointment in the afternoon...

The National Memorial Arboretum

It being a fine autumnal day, just not ridiculously hot like recent days, we visited the National Memorial Arboretum, the second time we've done so. Last time, when we drove there with Graham and Cathy, it was very cold and windy and we just went round the areas nearest the car park, including the Armed Forces Memorial, which had not long been opened.

The name of one of Graham's colleagues and fellow trainees from his trade training is recorded there, so it was a moving moment.

Today was rather different; we were more interested in the place as an arboretum and opportunity for exercise, though of course we did pay attention to some of the many memorials there. We went on foot, using the directions displayed on one of the public notice boards in Alrewas:

These worked, though when it says "footpath on the far side of the A38", it means just that. You end up walking alongside the off slip road, then the main carriageway for a very unpleasant few hundred yards/metres. One day, they'll put a footbridge across the A38 from the end of the main road in Alrewas, but not anytime soon, I guess.

It was coffee time when we arrived after about 1½ miles walking, so our first port of call was the excellent cafe. Then we went the length of the Millennium Way, and on onto the riverside walk. This took us to the confluence of the Tame and the Trent. Coming round a bit of a loop sent us back the way we'd come. We took a slightly different route back, but could have gone much further round if we'd chosen or had any energy left; as it was, we'd walked about 2½ miles.

Instead, we got a very good lunch in the cafe, checked out the gift shop and walked home.

The NMA is a remarkable concept. As an arboretum, it needs around another twenty years to achieve its full potential, but it's already both a focus for remembrance and a haven for the flora and fauna of the UK. It's well worth several visits; although you pay to park, entrance to the site itself is free.

The weather is breaking

After the amazingly hot weather of the past few days, it's beginning to break. The pressure is dropping, and we had a lot of cloud around this morning. This afternoon, the sun has returned and it's quite warm again, but with a lot of wind, presumably the foretaste of this ex-hurricane that's due to torment Scotland and North West England tomorrow. It's due to be calmer but cooler here.

We've had a quietish day; the main excitement was Sheila having her first dentist appointment, to get her plate repaired. A tooth has broken off the small plate she has; it's gone back to the lab for repair, and won't be back until Wednesday afternoon. That's a bit of a drag, as we were planning to entertain Eileen and Bill to lunch at the George and Dragon that day. Hopefully, we've managed to put them off until Thursday.

Apart from that, we took a walk along the towpath to the river section. There are very few boats around now, the weekend rush having all returned to their marinas, I guess.

We'll aim to have a few non-alcoholic nights, after the weekend's excesses. Tomorrow, if the weather is dry as forecast, we might well take a walk to the National Memorial Arboretum.

The truth about this weekend...

Despite what some bitches might have been telling you, we did not spend the last 72 hours blind drunk. In fact, we were really quite restrained, considering it was Graham and Carolann off Autumn Years we were socialising with.

/wahaha

Admittedly, joining them on the towpath at three o'clock for "tea" led to beers and then wine quite quickly, but it was very Mediterranean weather, and it seemed appropriate, somehow. As usual, a merry time was had, and we were able to exchange chat with Jane Howarth who came past, having a walk after having had a bit of an op a couple of weeks ago.

We saw her again yesterday, in very similar circs, except that we were on the towpath outside Sanity Again rather than Autumn Years. Anyway Jane, I hope your recovery continues and that you are soon back to full fitness.

In between one afternoon and the next, it is true that we tried getting a take away from the Jaipur Cottage. Sadly, given their enthusiastic marketing by distributing leaflets to all the boats tied in Alrewas, this wasn't a great success. In its earlier incarnation (can't remember the name then) we'd had a couple of meals there and it had been OK, a cut above your standard sub-continental restaurant/take away.

This time, we were pestered by the staff to have a drink whilst we were waiting, which was the last thing we wanted, of course, having taken on board about six units of alcohol apiece during the afternoon. A couple of other punters came through whilst we were waiting, but eventually, a guy appeared with a tied up carrier bag, said something that sounded like what we'd ordered, and with some difficulty was restrained from carrying it all the way to the boat for us.

We got aboard, opened it up and fell on it ravenously. It was then that the doubts started: why did we have poppadoms, when we hadn't ordered any? Where were the king prawns? Finally we tumbled to it, we'd been given the wrong order, a bit of an achievement under the circs, given the restricted take away trade.

We were well into it by then, so really couldn't face taking it back. It was more or less the sort of thing we might have ordered anyway, as far as we could tell, but not of a particularly high quality, frankly. Lots of rather undistinguished sauce, and a few lumps of meat in each dish.

We won't be going back.

Elanor brought over our Ocado order yesterday lunchtime, and then Nev Wells came past on Waterlily, on his own. Elanor and I  gave him a hand to lock down Bagnall, and waited whilst he winded below. There was, of course, an immediate rush of boats, so (assisted by Sally) we must have turned the lock three times before we got Waterlily back up.

By this time, Graham and Carolann had arrived, and the rest of the afternoon was pretty much as Sally described it in her reply to Lynx's comment yesterday.

Today, after a very quiet night, we took a walk across the fields to Fradley, coming back down the towpath, and refreshing ourselves with ice creams on the way. The batteries were well down; I didn't run the engine yesterday and though there was lots of it, the October sun doesn't generate as much power as the June one. So I ran the engine and Sheila did a washload, putting it out to dry on the whirligig.

She's just taking it in now; it should be pretty dry, though we've not had anything like the hot sun today that we had yesterday. Summer's final fling seems to be flung. The calendar is spattered with appointments for the next two weeks, so we're going to sit here for around ten days probably, or as long as the water lasts.

Dog to dog blog: a quick sleepover

Hi guys

Mummy had to do something called a job interview yesterday, and didn't want to leave me alone in the house. When she goes out, I like to sing songs to keep myself cheery, but seemingly the neighbours aren't musical. What's an environmental health enquiry, does anyone know?

Mum got me this weird collar that vibrates when I bark. She seems to think that it will stop me making a noise, but truth to tell, I quite enjoy the challenge of working out how to sing (quietly but emphatically) without getting the old vibes round the throat.

Anyway, the upshot of it was I got to spend a night on my boat. That was great, haven't seen the AGPs* for yonks. I kept my usual eye on them, popping through to check up whenever one of them went to the loo in the night, and at five I reckoned it was light enough for some action, so went and put my forepaws on the bed and stuck my tongue down Grandpa's ear. (Pretty disgusting experience, frankly, he uses this polytar shampoo and the ear tasted like flea spray, but I know my duty.)

He told me to go away, very quietly but firmly, so went and did the humph crash onto my bed in the saloon. At six, I decided they really shouldn't try to kip any more, old people don't need as much sleep as us youngsters, and I was well rested, so went and jumped on the bed and rearranged the AGPs to make enough room for me to curl up.

After we'd all got up, we pushed the boat across to get some more water; I helped by making sure the ducks kept out of the way, very satisfying, woof, woof.

Then I helped Granny work the locks. There were a number of sinister black dogs about, but soon put them in their place. Granny isn't as sure about dogs as Mummy is, so I have to bark at a lot more of them.

We finally tied at the start of Alrewas, and hung about for absolutely ages in horribly hot weather. I spent some time bored out of my skull, too hot to walk or chase bunnies, and anyway all the bunnies hiding from the heat, so it was  case of play "Hunt the thing" around the saloon with the sparkles of sunshine.

In the end, after tweeting about it, Grandpa rang Mummy and asked if she was coming to collect me, which she did by half two. Seems the interview was probably OK, but won't know the result until next week, loads more people to be seen, boo.

I'm told the AGPs then went and got ratted with their friends on Autumn Years all afternoon, bought a carry out from the Jaipur by the moorings, got back to the boat, found out that it was the wrong one but ate it anyway.

They must have been well away, I think I'd better pop back today and see if they're OK.

Loads and loads of licks, don't get heatstroke, guys,

Your friend

Sally

*PS AGPs = Aged GrandParents, get it? WOOF WOOF!