Cavalcade Days 2 and 3, post Cavalcade, Limehouse

4th to 7th May

You can tell we've been busy – neither Sheila nor I have had time to do the regular blog, so this is a catch up.

On Sunday, I spent time with the sparks gang again, firstly checking that all was well on the show site, then assisting Malcolm Bridge to wire a new set of lights to the genny trailer – these are fancy state of the art ones, LED based so that they well take either 12 or 24 volts – no need to change them depending on which vehicle is towing.

It was a reasonably straightforward job for an experienced hobby electrician like Malcolm – the main problem being getting the relevant bits off the trailer.

Meanwhile Sheila was doing the behind the scenes stuff that's not very glamorous but is nonetheless essential, like litter picking and rubbish collection. It makes all the difference to a show if the site remains tidy and presentable throughout.

The show was very busy in warm but rather humid weather – it felt like it might thunder at any time, but never did.

Monday was another day for routine stuff, making for a relaxed start (ie eight o'clock) and pottering round keeping the show going. I spent much of the day driving the little tug we borrow from Wood Hall and Heward, Lenny. Lenny is actually two sterns of Springer narrow boats welded together with a BMC 1.5 under the deck. She's capable of pushing a big pan, but we use her for rubbish collection and the like.

She also took part in the parade of historic boats, carrying three members of the Police presence at the show. The early evening was a case of flinging ourselves back on site, taking down banners, clearing up rubbish and so forth.

Later in the evening, an old colleague of mine, Gethin Griffith, now working at Brunel University, took us out to dinner. We had a very pleasant meal at an Italian place we found not far from Praed Street. It was good to catch up on gossip from Bangor – being still in the groves of academe, he's kept up with their doings much more than I've been able to.

Tuesday was a matter of more of the same, dismantling the last bits of the show structures, sweeping and litter picking and so on. We managed to get Sanity round to the coal and diesel boats Archimedes and Ara to get diesel, before Sheila, Liz and I took Opportunity back to the Laburnum Boat Club, dropping off the market stalls at Camden on the way.

At half six I set off to collect Michael from Stansted Airport. This was one of those logistic exercises which went surprisingly well. In order to get back from Laburnum, I'd got a couple of Oyster cards, the cashless system for paying for tube and bus journeys in London, and I was able to use those to get from Paddington to Liverpool Street Station, to catch the Stansted Express to the airport. The plane was on time, and we were back at the boat by eleven.


Today we set off on our travels again. The weather has been getting hotter and hotter as the week's gone on, and sun block and floppy hats were definitely needed. We had a good trip along the length of the Regent's Canal, arriving at Limehouse by four.

Michael took to lock working as if born to it, Sheila steered ands I ran around making sure everything went to plan ( OK, this is the way I see it). Highlights of the trip:

• A pair of coots mating on a floating plank above St Pancras Lock
• A sunbathing terrapin on another plank a bit later on, below Mile End Lock
• A family of swans sharing Johnson's Lock with us.

We're now tied on the wall at Limehouse, hiding from the sun, getting cool showers and planning to go for a meal in the Grapes tonight. Tomorrow, the Thames.

Cavalcade Eve and Day 1

2nd & 3rd May

Bruce is run off his feet so this is Sheila's contribution to the blog.

Yesterday started quite easily as breakfast was not until 8 am. But we were not allowed to linger over it. Bruce was detailed to help Bungle and Malcolm with putting in the electricity supply. That was particularly fun when it came to wiring up lights on the island in the middle of the pool. There were nesting Canada Geese and a pair of swans already fighting each other for possession. None of them much liked the idea of surrendering their territory to humans. They had also booby trapped the island with liberal supplies of poo.

Other cables were needed to supply power for the public address system and the festoon slung from the bridge at the entrance to the pool. It was a full day of work, then in the evening the traders started to arrive and needed to have their power supplies wired in.

I meanwhile was working round a variety of jobs, starting with hanging banners and covering with plastic sheeting the rather tired boards for the market stalls that we had collected the day before. Then there were tables and chairs to be set out in the Entertainments Marquee for the Boaters' fish and chip supper. As soon as the Water Bus had made its last run of the day there were detour signs to put up to direct travellers to the temporary Water Bus Stop that will be in use for the weekend. Finally the stall holders started to arrive and I was on the towpath in a high vis jacket leading the traders vehicles to their pitches. It was a bit like the days when there was a man with a red flag walking in front of each motor vehicle only I wasn't supplied with a red flag.

One nice event was the receipt of an e-mail from Davinia of Incite. She had caught up with the blog and wanted to thank Bruce for the nice comments. She was very interested in the link Bruce had posted to the web site of Incite as it was the wrong company! Someone else is using a very similar company name, the correct addresses are here and here.

The day felt a bit as though it would never end but at last Maria called everyone into dinner at 8.30 pm then just as we were finishing Elanor arrived but we only had time for a brief chat before we decided that enough was enough and went to bed. Elanor went off the bar to socialise.

Today started very early for Elanor as breakfast was 6.30 to 7 am. We decided to skip breakfast in favour of a lie in and eat on our own boat a little later as we were to take most of the day off. Jane and Tom, Graeme's mother in law and her husband, were coming to see us and have a look at Cavalcade and we needed time to tidy up.

Bruce took the opportunity to type out a notice to put on the fence of the wrg compound. It was deliberately written to look like the sort of notice seen on an enclosure at the zoo. It seemed appropriate in view of the way we spend a lot of our free time sitting in a fenced compound with commuters streaming past us and giving us some rather strange looks. The text ran as follows:

Homo wergiensis

This compound contains some interesting specimens of Homo wergiensis, a species closely related to Homo sapiens. H. wrgie, as it is known, was first described by Palmer and Arnold in the 1970s, but is believed to have existed in secret for many years prior to that.

Territory

It is quite unusual to find H wrgie in an urban environment such as this; they are normally to be seen lurking about in rural habitats, usually near old watercourses. This group was attracted here by placing the Dualit toaster and Burcos on a table, and within a few hours the first specimens had arrived and assembled the typical fenced area around them. Sleeping accommodation has been provided on the old boats behind you – this is always a popular move, as in the wild wrgies sleeping arrangements are best described as basic.

Feeding

H wrgie is probably the most omnivorous species known to man. The diet is widely varied, and invariably involves some form of alcohol, although subspecies H wrgie veggie and H wrgie vegan have been recorded.

Breeding

The breeding habits of H wrgie are something of a mystery, as normally only mature specimens aged between 18 and 70 can be found. Wrgies younger than this are very seldom seen. Older wrgies have been known to shed the typical bright red colouration for the blue "eclipse" colouration. This mimics the blue which appears on the related species Homo iwa. It's thought that they do this in order to avoid having to do any hard work around the nest site.

Much more research is needed into the habits and distribution of this fascinating animal. You can find out how to contribute by visiting the website dedicated to them, www.wrg.org.uk. It is also possible to subscribe to the research journal Navvies, which contains details of recent sightings of the species.

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It was a reasonably fine day and quite warm so we had a really nice day. Jane and Tom did not have a good journey coming up from near Maidstone as the railways were disrupted by maintenance but they arrived in time for a leisurely lunch. Then we took a ramble round the pool to look at the boats and see some of the decorated boats in the parade. After a cup of tea back at the boat Jane and Tom had to start their epic journey back without knowing which trains would be running.

Most of the wrgies have gone out to a Spanish restaurant for dinner so Bruce agreed to cook for the five remaining workers. That is why he has no time to write today's blog.

Getting set for Cavalcade

30th April and 1st May

Making an early start yesterday, we were on the mooring outside Sainsbury's and shopping by 7.30. By 8.45 we were on the water point at Little Venice, filling the tank and running the washing machine. It was tipping it down again, but apart from that all was well. A couple of BW guys arrived on the natty little boat they use to clean rubbish off the surface of the canal. Someone had spilt some diesel on the towpath by the sanitary station, so they carefully spread some sand over it. When the diesel had been absorbed, they swept it all into the water, this being ecosensitivity, BW style.

At 9.30 we arrived at the workers' boats mooring on the arm down to Paddington Basin, after a total of one hour's boating. First task was a lot of boat shuffling, moving those boats who had tied where we needed the workers' boats to be, and arranging ours in the way our leader, Mr Hearnden (aka Moose – don't ask) wanted them.

The afternoon was spent carting fencing panels to the site and creating the compound where we will store stuff and eat most of our meals for the next week. There was a certain amount of other fetching and carrying to be done, but there was a quite relaxed atmosphere on this first day – that can be expected to change.

Late in the day, the main accommodation boat, Belfast arrived. We were able to eat dinner on her, as it was still raining small domestic mammals outside. Belfast is a community boat from Dacorum Council, and well laid out for that type of boat, but it still means getting very friendly with one another as you squeeze to and fro.

Today was a distinctly relaxed start for a camp run by Moose, and breakfast was available from 8.30 to 9. I had already had a bit of entertainment first thing – when I got up to make the early morning tea, the gas ran out. Hopping about on the bow in your PJs is not a good idea in central London, with the commuters going to and fro to Paddington Station, so I threw my clothes on and went out there to switch the cylinders over. A passer by promptly stopped for a chat about the boating life.

Since the whole point of Cavalcade is to increase people's awareness of the cut and those who live on it, it didn't seem appropriate to give her the same advice as Noah gave the departing animals. Accordingly, I spent some time chatting to her, despite my desperate need to go and get the kettle on.

On our way to breakfast, we met a familiar figure who was nonetheless difficult to place as he stood there immaculate in business suit and holding a briefcase. Suddenly the penny dropped – this was Peter Harper of Cala, normally encountered in boating costume. He was on his way to a meeting nearby, poor soul.

Three of us had agreed to fetch another of the regular boats, Opportunity, from Laburnum Boat Club. This meant getting a taxi across to where she was moored on the Regent's Canal in Haggerston, then Liz, Sheila and I took her up the six locks between there and the summit pound at Camden Lock. After a break to eat our packed lunch, we went into the amazing world of Camden Lock Market and made contact with the Market Office.

We collected from them the parts for six market stalls, and carted them to the waters edge where we loaded them onto Opportunity's long well deck. Then Sheila took over the helm to steer her back to Little Venice to be off loaded.

Final event of today for us has been connecting the boat to the genset supplied shoreline power, so that we won't need to run the engine again whilst working here.