First of, Sheila says thank you to all those who sent her good wishes on the occasion of her not getting any older...
/blur
Today has generally gone to plan, in that we managed to drag ourselves out of bed in good time, despite being a bit Takey Tezey-ed last night. By ten past eight we were on the pump out, pumping out, and by 8.30 were heading out of the marina. At 8.32 Sanity Again stuck her bow onto the opposite towpath, and by 8.40 we'd managed to haul her round, Sheila with a bow line on the towpath, and your correspondent with a stern line on the off side, the wind having ensured that trying it any other way just meant blowing sideways down the cut until becoming wedged again.
Off we went at last, and at 8.50 we passed Ivor Batchelor walking his dogs along the towpath. If we'd been just ten minutes later getting going this morning, he'd have found us wrestling with the boat jammed across the cut, and the story would have been the length and breadth of the system with about 48 hours.
We stopped at Shobnall and had a conversation with Andy there about Boaters Phone Company adaptors for the Samsung Galaxy, Mark at BPC having recommended that we do so. All this demonstrated was that neither the Galaxy SII nor the Galaxy Europa antenna socket will take any of the currently available adaptors, so it's back to Mark on that one.
We did buy four bags of Mixed Ovals and a couple of bags of kindling, then plodded off again, getting to Branston just on twelve. I baked some baguettes whilst we discovered that a) the T-mobile signal doesn't support data here, and b) the old 3 MiFi modem had a flat battery.
Later on, after a restorative lunch, I got the new 3 Galaxy sorted as a WiFi hotspot, propping it in the side hatch to do so, since we can't use the external antenna on it. It's successful, as you can tell by the fact that you're reading this.
The weather has been seriously wet and windy this afternoon, but we're hoping it will dry up and calm down a bit tomorrow, long enough for us to get to Alrewas, anyway.
Showing posts with label Shobnall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shobnall. Show all posts
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Handover post
Handover your post!
No, that's not what I meant, though Elanor has just brought us some. This is a quick post to say that we've arrived at Shobnall Fields, after some interesting encounters at the marina. As last year, I'll be posting to the Shobnall Fields Forever blog first thing each morning, with photos and stories of the set up of the IWA Waterways Festival.
See you over there!
(Norwyn: thanks for your question about the route to Morrisons from Branston – I will reply, as soon as I work out how to describe it!)
No, that's not what I meant, though Elanor has just brought us some. This is a quick post to say that we've arrived at Shobnall Fields, after some interesting encounters at the marina. As last year, I'll be posting to the Shobnall Fields Forever blog first thing each morning, with photos and stories of the set up of the IWA Waterways Festival.
See you over there!
(Norwyn: thanks for your question about the route to Morrisons from Branston – I will reply, as soon as I work out how to describe it!)
Labels:
Shobnall
Friday, 6 May 2011
To Willington
We'd thought when planning this trip that we'd stop at Shobnall Marina for diesel, but the bright sunny weather means that the solar panel has been earning its keep, and we've not used quite enough fuel charging the batteries. The thing is, Shobnall only offers a decent price if you take more than 100 litres, so it's a good idea to have plenty of room in the tank before stopping there. In addition, it's a bit of a pain turning into the arm to get fuel, so on balance we decided not.
We'd also thought about going to the Marston's Brewery shop for some beer for me, but they don't open until ten, so it all looked too much of a hassle.
Checking Sue's Diesel Splits webpage, I see that Sawley is described as "yes but need to negotiate" whereas Sileby Mill gets a straightforward yes. With more than half a tankful, I think we'll go for Sileby. Similarly, Elanor has asked us to dogsit for a weekend later this month, so I reckon it might be possible to persuade her to bring a case of ale for me at the same time.
We've taken to keeping the small camera in the radio cubby hole, making it easier to take photos as we go, and so to add some to this blog. I got a couple of shots of the site of this year's IWA Festival as we went past:
We'd also thought about going to the Marston's Brewery shop for some beer for me, but they don't open until ten, so it all looked too much of a hassle.
Checking Sue's Diesel Splits webpage, I see that Sawley is described as "yes but need to negotiate" whereas Sileby Mill gets a straightforward yes. With more than half a tankful, I think we'll go for Sileby. Similarly, Elanor has asked us to dogsit for a weekend later this month, so I reckon it might be possible to persuade her to bring a case of ale for me at the same time.
We've taken to keeping the small camera in the radio cubby hole, making it easier to take photos as we go, and so to add some to this blog. I got a couple of shots of the site of this year's IWA Festival as we went past:
 |
| The exhibition boats will be here, with the show behind them |
 |
| Some overnight moorers further along; not recommended at the weekend, usually |
My captions assume the layout will be similar to 2004, but I haven't seen the plans as yet. Although a very pleasant place to stop during the day, and fine at night during the week, probably, the park does become the haunt of less desirable characters at the weekend, so we wouldn't choose to stop there then.
Once down Dallow Lane Lock, you're on a broad waterway, as witness this boat seen near Bridge 25:
 |
| Clinically obese narrowboat |
These wide beam "narrowboats" always look to me as if they've been stood on, or that the designer brought a diagram of the cross section of a conventional narrowboat up on his screen, clicked and held a handle on one side of the frame and pulled it out sideways. If you want a wider boat, why not go for a proper barge shape, like a luxemotor or tjalk?
Willington was pretty busy when we got here, but we found a mooring with no trouble and have spent the afternoon pottering about. We bought some petunia and campanula plants from the flower shop, and Sheila has potted them up in a trough, so we've made a start on the summer flowers on the roof.
Labels:
Shobnall,
Willington
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
On to Burton
Better than going for a Burton, anyway. The internet connection at Branston was quite tedious to deal with. I'd bought a 24 hour pass from O₂ the day before yesterday, and that ran out just after lunch. I didn't want to cough up another couple of quid for the afternoon, so used the Vodafone phone as a bluetooth modem.
That costs 50p for 50 Mb, so just what's needed for a bit of fill in coverage. The problems were, a) it took a while to persuade Sheila's MacBook to agree to use the connection via my Mac Mini, and b) it was very slow, and got slower as the day went on. In the end, we just gave up. It was too much hassle, knowing that we would be back in a good coverage area today.
Apart from that, it was very pleasant at Branston. The sun shone, we pottered about, and in the afternoon Elanor drove over with a bunch of books to swap for some of ours on the boat. (She keeps a library for us at her house.)
She ate dinner with us and went on to obedience training with Sally. She continues to wrestle with the problem of persuading Sally to recall when there are bunnies about, but apart from that she's coming on well; they achieved the Silver Good Citizen standard last week. The trainer at Capable Canines reckons that hunting dogs will hunt, and that there's only a limited amount you can do to persuade them not to.
Today, we made a relaxed start, then ambled through to Shobnall, tying by Jannel cruisers yard first off. I took some recycling round to the tip, then we both walked up the road to the Marston's Brewery Shop for some supplies.
After a coffee back on the boat, we chugged on to Shobnall Fields for the afternoon. I can easily walk to the hospital for my clinic appointment from here, but we won't stop overnight. Instead, when I get back from the hospital, we'll carry on out into the country a bit for the sake of a quiet night.
This is where the IWA National Festival will be this year. We remember the last one here, in 2004, very well, but it's still hard to see just where all the boats will fit in this time round. I'll be blogging about it on the dedicated blog, now called Shobnall Fields Forever, so you'll be able to see from that just how the Waterspace Team manages it.
That costs 50p for 50 Mb, so just what's needed for a bit of fill in coverage. The problems were, a) it took a while to persuade Sheila's MacBook to agree to use the connection via my Mac Mini, and b) it was very slow, and got slower as the day went on. In the end, we just gave up. It was too much hassle, knowing that we would be back in a good coverage area today.
Apart from that, it was very pleasant at Branston. The sun shone, we pottered about, and in the afternoon Elanor drove over with a bunch of books to swap for some of ours on the boat. (She keeps a library for us at her house.)
She ate dinner with us and went on to obedience training with Sally. She continues to wrestle with the problem of persuading Sally to recall when there are bunnies about, but apart from that she's coming on well; they achieved the Silver Good Citizen standard last week. The trainer at Capable Canines reckons that hunting dogs will hunt, and that there's only a limited amount you can do to persuade them not to.
Today, we made a relaxed start, then ambled through to Shobnall, tying by Jannel cruisers yard first off. I took some recycling round to the tip, then we both walked up the road to the Marston's Brewery Shop for some supplies.
After a coffee back on the boat, we chugged on to Shobnall Fields for the afternoon. I can easily walk to the hospital for my clinic appointment from here, but we won't stop overnight. Instead, when I get back from the hospital, we'll carry on out into the country a bit for the sake of a quiet night.
This is where the IWA National Festival will be this year. We remember the last one here, in 2004, very well, but it's still hard to see just where all the boats will fit in this time round. I'll be blogging about it on the dedicated blog, now called Shobnall Fields Forever, so you'll be able to see from that just how the Waterspace Team manages it.
Saturday, 24 April 2010
Shopping, cleaning, and boating
22nd, 23rd & 24th April
We found ourselves on our own at Shobnall overnight, Wednesday to Thursday, only the second time that’s happened, but although it felt about exposed, we had no trouble at all. To our surprise, the batteries were still well charged in the morning, making us wonder if the street lights were bright enough to generate some juice in the solar panel.
We’d been thinking about the virtues of having our own oil extractor, or “sucky thing” as a certain boat builder of our acquaintance calls it, and I found a miniature, 1.5 litre one on the Machine Mart site, so ordered it. We don’t need it for changing the oil, but it will be very handy for drying out bilges and the like.
I know, more storage space = more stuff to store.
In compliance with this adage, we then went off on a very successful shopping trip, obtaining such things as a small set of kitchen scales, some Mr Sheen and a new watch from the Watch Hospital in Coopers Square.
We had an interesting example of why WH Smith’s is struggling, and Ryman’s thriving, in a search for a soft pencil eraser. In Smith’s, the assistant whom Sheila approached just gave some vague directions as to which aisle to look in; in Ryman’s we saw the woman on the till respond to a request for a single paint brush by calling another assistant over “John, just show this gentleman where the paint brushes are, will you?”
As I think it was Sir Stuart Rose said: “Succeeding in retail isn’t hard, you just give the customers what they want,” which includes good service, of course.
Back at the boat by 10, we set off for Branston, finding a mooring before the bridge without difficulty in the mid morning, the T-mobile signal being better there than by the water park.
In the afternoon, we did some boat cleaning; Sheila made cardboard masks to go round the portholes, and started cleaning them with Peek, whilst I had a go at washing Icelandic volcano dust off the roof and port side.
Then we quietly collapsed to enjoy the warm evening.
Yesterday we stayed put on the 48 hour moorings, and made an expedition to Morrisons for perishable supplies. A lazy morning followed, which I improved by taking some shots of Sanity Again and putting them up on Flickr.
In the afternoon, we co-operated on a blog post for Building Sanity Again, describing our impressions of her after the first three weeks on board.
Today, we made an early start to get back to Alrewas mid morning, when we’d have the best chance of getting a 70 foot mooring. It was a good run, with not much traffic about (we started at 7.30). Sheila pointed out a little grebe she’d spotted on the way down, and also recorded a pair of swans necking, and a magpie perched on some cattle.
We’d barely arrived and got tied up before our old Ownerships boat, Streamline, turned up, with Alan and Liz Rowbotham on board. We had a good old natter with them, and showed off Sanity Again, needless to say.
We’ve tied by the water point, and cleaned the ventilator mushrooms (Sheila) and the starboard cabin side (Bruce). Whilst engaged in this, Elanor turned up with our post, including the sucky thing. It is indeed a dinky little beast, scarcely large enough to be away from its mother, but entirely adequate for our purposes, and easily storable.
The rest of the day has been spent dozing in the sun, chatting to passing boaters and towpath walkers, and generally chilling out. Tomorrow, we’ll move up through Bagnall Lock to tie near Sanity; she needs one last engine service before we part with her.
We found ourselves on our own at Shobnall overnight, Wednesday to Thursday, only the second time that’s happened, but although it felt about exposed, we had no trouble at all. To our surprise, the batteries were still well charged in the morning, making us wonder if the street lights were bright enough to generate some juice in the solar panel.
We’d been thinking about the virtues of having our own oil extractor, or “sucky thing” as a certain boat builder of our acquaintance calls it, and I found a miniature, 1.5 litre one on the Machine Mart site, so ordered it. We don’t need it for changing the oil, but it will be very handy for drying out bilges and the like.
I know, more storage space = more stuff to store.
In compliance with this adage, we then went off on a very successful shopping trip, obtaining such things as a small set of kitchen scales, some Mr Sheen and a new watch from the Watch Hospital in Coopers Square.
We had an interesting example of why WH Smith’s is struggling, and Ryman’s thriving, in a search for a soft pencil eraser. In Smith’s, the assistant whom Sheila approached just gave some vague directions as to which aisle to look in; in Ryman’s we saw the woman on the till respond to a request for a single paint brush by calling another assistant over “John, just show this gentleman where the paint brushes are, will you?”
As I think it was Sir Stuart Rose said: “Succeeding in retail isn’t hard, you just give the customers what they want,” which includes good service, of course.
Back at the boat by 10, we set off for Branston, finding a mooring before the bridge without difficulty in the mid morning, the T-mobile signal being better there than by the water park.
In the afternoon, we did some boat cleaning; Sheila made cardboard masks to go round the portholes, and started cleaning them with Peek, whilst I had a go at washing Icelandic volcano dust off the roof and port side.
Then we quietly collapsed to enjoy the warm evening.
Yesterday we stayed put on the 48 hour moorings, and made an expedition to Morrisons for perishable supplies. A lazy morning followed, which I improved by taking some shots of Sanity Again and putting them up on Flickr.
In the afternoon, we co-operated on a blog post for Building Sanity Again, describing our impressions of her after the first three weeks on board.
Today, we made an early start to get back to Alrewas mid morning, when we’d have the best chance of getting a 70 foot mooring. It was a good run, with not much traffic about (we started at 7.30). Sheila pointed out a little grebe she’d spotted on the way down, and also recorded a pair of swans necking, and a magpie perched on some cattle.
We’d barely arrived and got tied up before our old Ownerships boat, Streamline, turned up, with Alan and Liz Rowbotham on board. We had a good old natter with them, and showed off Sanity Again, needless to say.
We’ve tied by the water point, and cleaned the ventilator mushrooms (Sheila) and the starboard cabin side (Bruce). Whilst engaged in this, Elanor turned up with our post, including the sucky thing. It is indeed a dinky little beast, scarcely large enough to be away from its mother, but entirely adequate for our purposes, and easily storable.
The rest of the day has been spent dozing in the sun, chatting to passing boaters and towpath walkers, and generally chilling out. Tomorrow, we’ll move up through Bagnall Lock to tie near Sanity; she needs one last engine service before we part with her.
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Walking then boating exercise
20th & 21st April
It’s been a busy couple of days, first doing the village walk yesterday, and then some boating today. In addition, I had a fasting blood test just after nine yesterday; I came out of the surgery and ravenously ripped open the chewy bar in my pocket. Still at least it meant that I had a late breakfast, which was just as well, as the walk proved hard work for some reason.
I’m really not sure quite why this was; it wasn’t as long as the ones we were doing around Lyme Park last month, and we weren’t going particularly fast. At least it made the meal in the George and Dragon all the more welcome.
The George really is the place for a pub meal in Alrewas these days. The Indian by Bagnall Lock has renamed itself the Jaipur Cottage, but Will Chapman tells us that the staff and the food are much the same as before. The William IV has abandoned its pretensions to haute cuisine, but is now the youngsters boozing pub, and the Crown is sadly likely to close when the landlord’s lease runs out, as he can’t make it turn a profit.
Elanor made contact with us just as we got back to the pub, and brought some post. After a good lunch, we wandered back to the boat and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
Today was an early start – down to the water point as the tank was in its last quarter, and then on to Burton for a pump out and diesel. We got to the Morrison’s mooring just at lunch time, after a pleasant run with a fair amount of traffic about. The weather was sunny, but still with a cold wind, which was fine for me as I was lockwheeling, but less fun for Sheila standing on the back.
I took over for the final run to Shobnall, and managed to turn Sanity Again into the narrow opening without much trouble. It’s very reassuring that the extra 10 feet doesn’t cause a lot of difficulty in manoeuvring; the main problem tends to be that you need to put one end or the other into water that doesn’t otherwise get used much, and is rather shallow.
With toilet tank empty and diesel tank nearly full (at 83 pence per litre at the domestic rate, I wasn’t too worried about filling up the the brim), we backed out and tied on the towpath just outside. Then we popped back into the chandlery for some bits and pieces, like oil to do Sanity’s last service (as far as we are concerned, that is) and some Odorloss toilet fluid for Sanity Again.
Tomorrow, we’ll take a walk into town, then amble back to the Branston Water park moorings for the night.
It’s been a busy couple of days, first doing the village walk yesterday, and then some boating today. In addition, I had a fasting blood test just after nine yesterday; I came out of the surgery and ravenously ripped open the chewy bar in my pocket. Still at least it meant that I had a late breakfast, which was just as well, as the walk proved hard work for some reason.
I’m really not sure quite why this was; it wasn’t as long as the ones we were doing around Lyme Park last month, and we weren’t going particularly fast. At least it made the meal in the George and Dragon all the more welcome.
The George really is the place for a pub meal in Alrewas these days. The Indian by Bagnall Lock has renamed itself the Jaipur Cottage, but Will Chapman tells us that the staff and the food are much the same as before. The William IV has abandoned its pretensions to haute cuisine, but is now the youngsters boozing pub, and the Crown is sadly likely to close when the landlord’s lease runs out, as he can’t make it turn a profit.
Elanor made contact with us just as we got back to the pub, and brought some post. After a good lunch, we wandered back to the boat and relaxed for the rest of the afternoon.
Today was an early start – down to the water point as the tank was in its last quarter, and then on to Burton for a pump out and diesel. We got to the Morrison’s mooring just at lunch time, after a pleasant run with a fair amount of traffic about. The weather was sunny, but still with a cold wind, which was fine for me as I was lockwheeling, but less fun for Sheila standing on the back.
I took over for the final run to Shobnall, and managed to turn Sanity Again into the narrow opening without much trouble. It’s very reassuring that the extra 10 feet doesn’t cause a lot of difficulty in manoeuvring; the main problem tends to be that you need to put one end or the other into water that doesn’t otherwise get used much, and is rather shallow.
With toilet tank empty and diesel tank nearly full (at 83 pence per litre at the domestic rate, I wasn’t too worried about filling up the the brim), we backed out and tied on the towpath just outside. Then we popped back into the chandlery for some bits and pieces, like oil to do Sanity’s last service (as far as we are concerned, that is) and some Odorloss toilet fluid for Sanity Again.
Tomorrow, we’ll take a walk into town, then amble back to the Branston Water park moorings for the night.
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
Some sense of closure
8th & 9th September
It's been a busy couple of days, but things are gradually getting sorted out. Yesterday we walked from Branston Water Park to Morrison's again, and bought fresh supplies such as bread. Then we made the short cruise down to Shobnall Marina. The cut continues quite busy but at mid morning there was no difficulty in finding a mooring.
Leaving Sheila guarding the boat, I wandered into the chandlery and swapped a wrong sized fuel filter for a bottle of FuelSet. Early afternoon was spent pottering, then at three I walked across to the Eye Clinic in the grounds of Burton Hospital. As these clinics go, it's quite efficient, but it was still an hour and a half before I got the all clear and could walk back to the boat.
It was a busy evening; Sheila gave me a haircut, I had a shower and then cooked chilli con carne for tea.
This morning we went into Burton, calling at the council tip on the way to unload our recycling. My sixtieth birthday is in the middle of next month, and we tried going into the Council Offices to see if I could apply for my bus pass. Unfortunately, we were a week too soon, so I'm going to have to wait for six months before I can get one.
The trip was not wasted, as we went into Julian Graves to get some more dried fruit and stuff, and did some more general shopping before going back to the boat. It was still only mid morning, so we winded and set off to go back to Branston. Sheila seems to be doing all the winding at the moment and on this occasion disproved the variant of Sod's Law that says you only do a good job of manoeuvring the boat when there's no-one watching.
The Saltire was waiting to leave the marina and hovered with her bow sticking out from under the towpath bridge whilst Sheila spun Sanity in her own length. Who needs a bow thruster?
We've had a very pleasant sunny afternoon on the visitor moorings just to the east of the bridge at Branston. We've sorted out the ilst of all Braidbar boats, and uploaded the current version to the relevant area of the Yahoo! Braidbar Owners' Group webpage.
We've had an emollient e-mail from Clive Henderson about our blue shirt hassles; it feels perhaps a touch complacent, but in the interests of good relationships there's no point in going on any further.
I'd also sent a stroppy e-mail to Nick Wall, the editor of Canal Boat, about the continuing non-delivery of the bottle of whisky the magazine owes us after winning last year's Christmas Quiz. I had a phone call from him today, apologising and undertaking to get things sorted out within the week. Watch this space.
All in all, there's a developing sense of getting some of these vexatious issues closed off.
IWA continues to struggle with the issues around the National Festival. As I've said, it's operated under the aegis of Inland Waterways Enterprises, the charity's trading arm, and I am told that this means it must make a profit so that the charity is not subsidising the trading arm. This doesn't actually feel quite right to me, based on my experience as a senior official of a very much larger charity, the British Psychological Society.
Since I wasn't chosen to serve on the IWA Finance Committee, I'm not privy to the detailed arguments, so I can't comment further.
It seems to me, though, that the National serves far more important purposes than just making money. (This is just as well; we're told that it's made a net profit of £120,000 on an outlay of £1.5m over the last six years, which is not particularly good in commercial terms.) The National is a campaigning event and a massive PR exercise, which has a huge reputational effect. It also brings together something of the order of at least 1200 IWA members, which could not be achieved in any other way.
I'm told that the Festivals Committee has had to argue strongly to ensure that the Festival continues at all; in my view it would be an act of monumental stupidity to abandon such an iconic event.
It's been a busy couple of days, but things are gradually getting sorted out. Yesterday we walked from Branston Water Park to Morrison's again, and bought fresh supplies such as bread. Then we made the short cruise down to Shobnall Marina. The cut continues quite busy but at mid morning there was no difficulty in finding a mooring.
Leaving Sheila guarding the boat, I wandered into the chandlery and swapped a wrong sized fuel filter for a bottle of FuelSet. Early afternoon was spent pottering, then at three I walked across to the Eye Clinic in the grounds of Burton Hospital. As these clinics go, it's quite efficient, but it was still an hour and a half before I got the all clear and could walk back to the boat.
It was a busy evening; Sheila gave me a haircut, I had a shower and then cooked chilli con carne for tea.
This morning we went into Burton, calling at the council tip on the way to unload our recycling. My sixtieth birthday is in the middle of next month, and we tried going into the Council Offices to see if I could apply for my bus pass. Unfortunately, we were a week too soon, so I'm going to have to wait for six months before I can get one.
The trip was not wasted, as we went into Julian Graves to get some more dried fruit and stuff, and did some more general shopping before going back to the boat. It was still only mid morning, so we winded and set off to go back to Branston. Sheila seems to be doing all the winding at the moment and on this occasion disproved the variant of Sod's Law that says you only do a good job of manoeuvring the boat when there's no-one watching.
The Saltire was waiting to leave the marina and hovered with her bow sticking out from under the towpath bridge whilst Sheila spun Sanity in her own length. Who needs a bow thruster?
We've had a very pleasant sunny afternoon on the visitor moorings just to the east of the bridge at Branston. We've sorted out the ilst of all Braidbar boats, and uploaded the current version to the relevant area of the Yahoo! Braidbar Owners' Group webpage.
We've had an emollient e-mail from Clive Henderson about our blue shirt hassles; it feels perhaps a touch complacent, but in the interests of good relationships there's no point in going on any further.
I'd also sent a stroppy e-mail to Nick Wall, the editor of Canal Boat, about the continuing non-delivery of the bottle of whisky the magazine owes us after winning last year's Christmas Quiz. I had a phone call from him today, apologising and undertaking to get things sorted out within the week. Watch this space.
All in all, there's a developing sense of getting some of these vexatious issues closed off.
IWA continues to struggle with the issues around the National Festival. As I've said, it's operated under the aegis of Inland Waterways Enterprises, the charity's trading arm, and I am told that this means it must make a profit so that the charity is not subsidising the trading arm. This doesn't actually feel quite right to me, based on my experience as a senior official of a very much larger charity, the British Psychological Society.
Since I wasn't chosen to serve on the IWA Finance Committee, I'm not privy to the detailed arguments, so I can't comment further.
It seems to me, though, that the National serves far more important purposes than just making money. (This is just as well; we're told that it's made a net profit of £120,000 on an outlay of £1.5m over the last six years, which is not particularly good in commercial terms.) The National is a campaigning event and a massive PR exercise, which has a huge reputational effect. It also brings together something of the order of at least 1200 IWA members, which could not be achieved in any other way.
I'm told that the Festivals Committee has had to argue strongly to ensure that the Festival continues at all; in my view it would be an act of monumental stupidity to abandon such an iconic event.
Tuesday, 11 August 2009
Heading for the National
10th & 11th August
After the meteorological splendours of the weekend, it was a damp start yesterday morning, although the rain was never very heavy. Since Sheila's sore eye, though improved, was not fully recovered after two weeks treatment, she again presented herself on the doorstep of the surgery at a quarter past eight.
Meantime, I made my way to the butchers and bought a stock of meat to see us through the next ten days or so, after which we will be being fed on the wrg camp. Back at the boat, I had just finished stowing the meat away in the freezer when Pat Barton's boat, Quercus, came past.
Pat was not, however, steering. Instead another blueshirt stalwart, Kevin, was on the back. I popped out to give him and his partner a hand down the lock and we had a brief exchange of news.
Whilst this was going on, Sheila came back from a successful consultation and we were soon able to set off in our turn. Since it was still before nine, the pharmacy was not yet open and we decided to get her prescription filled at the fancy new pharmacy in Branston village.
We stopped on the water point to fill up and then had another steady run down to the moorings at Branston Water Park, at which we arrived just a bit after twelve. As forecast, the weather remained damp and it became rather clammy as the morning went on, sufficiently so that we made ourselves mugs of instant soup to go with lunch.
In the afternoon, Sheila walked through to the village to get her new eye drops and the rest of the day was spent in the boat, opening the doors and side hatches during the brief periods of sun, and closing them again as the next burst of rain swept through.
We managed to get some catching up done and the Braidbar Owners' quiz is very nearly complete.
The weather today began rather cloudy but improved steadily as the day went on, and as I write this it's gloriously sunny. We timed our departure from Branston to arrive on the Morrison's mooring just after eight, and by nine were back on the boat laden down with supplies. Then it was on to Shobnall Marina, where we got diesel and a pump out and I obtained a refund on the fuel filter. They had managed to obtain an engine alternator drive belt for me for the reasonable price of £5.75.
There was another brief scrum as Sheila reversed Sanity out of the marina, made more interesting by the fact that the crew of the hire boat waiting to come in didn't understand that Sanity needed to be well clear of the turning area before they could swing their boat round to slot it in under the towpath bridge.
We crossed with Ami Bovard at Dallow Lane Lock and then had a comparatively uneventful run to bridge 25. There was a good deal of traffic on the cut, mind you, and Sheila's boat handling skills were put to the test from time to time at bridge holes and narrows. Bridge 25 is about half way between Egginton Wharf and Willington and there is a useful length of piling just to the West of it, overlooking some gravel pits. Here we've spent a very relaxed afternoon sitting in the sun.
Tomorrow we will carry on to Swarkestone, probably with a brief pause at Willington to buy a paper and possibly some more bottles of red wine. We did so much other shopping at Morrisons we couldn't have carried any more back with us and we're down to our last two bottles.
After the meteorological splendours of the weekend, it was a damp start yesterday morning, although the rain was never very heavy. Since Sheila's sore eye, though improved, was not fully recovered after two weeks treatment, she again presented herself on the doorstep of the surgery at a quarter past eight.
Meantime, I made my way to the butchers and bought a stock of meat to see us through the next ten days or so, after which we will be being fed on the wrg camp. Back at the boat, I had just finished stowing the meat away in the freezer when Pat Barton's boat, Quercus, came past.
Pat was not, however, steering. Instead another blueshirt stalwart, Kevin, was on the back. I popped out to give him and his partner a hand down the lock and we had a brief exchange of news.
Whilst this was going on, Sheila came back from a successful consultation and we were soon able to set off in our turn. Since it was still before nine, the pharmacy was not yet open and we decided to get her prescription filled at the fancy new pharmacy in Branston village.
We stopped on the water point to fill up and then had another steady run down to the moorings at Branston Water Park, at which we arrived just a bit after twelve. As forecast, the weather remained damp and it became rather clammy as the morning went on, sufficiently so that we made ourselves mugs of instant soup to go with lunch.
In the afternoon, Sheila walked through to the village to get her new eye drops and the rest of the day was spent in the boat, opening the doors and side hatches during the brief periods of sun, and closing them again as the next burst of rain swept through.
We managed to get some catching up done and the Braidbar Owners' quiz is very nearly complete.
The weather today began rather cloudy but improved steadily as the day went on, and as I write this it's gloriously sunny. We timed our departure from Branston to arrive on the Morrison's mooring just after eight, and by nine were back on the boat laden down with supplies. Then it was on to Shobnall Marina, where we got diesel and a pump out and I obtained a refund on the fuel filter. They had managed to obtain an engine alternator drive belt for me for the reasonable price of £5.75.
There was another brief scrum as Sheila reversed Sanity out of the marina, made more interesting by the fact that the crew of the hire boat waiting to come in didn't understand that Sanity needed to be well clear of the turning area before they could swing their boat round to slot it in under the towpath bridge.
We crossed with Ami Bovard at Dallow Lane Lock and then had a comparatively uneventful run to bridge 25. There was a good deal of traffic on the cut, mind you, and Sheila's boat handling skills were put to the test from time to time at bridge holes and narrows. Bridge 25 is about half way between Egginton Wharf and Willington and there is a useful length of piling just to the West of it, overlooking some gravel pits. Here we've spent a very relaxed afternoon sitting in the sun.
Tomorrow we will carry on to Swarkestone, probably with a brief pause at Willington to buy a paper and possibly some more bottles of red wine. We did so much other shopping at Morrisons we couldn't have carried any more back with us and we're down to our last two bottles.
Labels:
Branston,
Shobnall,
Willington
Friday, 24 July 2009
A cautionary tale
23rd & 24th July
It's been a couple of days largely dominated by anxiety about internet access. As I've said before, the Burton area isn't great for connectivity but yesterday morning at Branston things became disastrously worse.
We were tied right outside the entrance to the water park, where the signal is weaker than at our previous location through the bridge, but this time when I tried to connect the modem, the laptop refused to believe that it was there at all. Over the next thirty-six hours a number of strategies were tried to recover the situation. The simplest, such as unplugging and reconnecting the modem and restarting the laptop, were used from time to time amongst more sophisticated strategies such as fixing disc permissions and transferring the SIM card to a phone handset to try to find a better signal.
All of these had only transient success.
In amongst this, we found time to have another chat with Tony and Chris on Louisiana II and to walk through to Branston village in search of supplies. This last was not much more successful than the internet efforts. The shop in Branston is essentially a newsagent with some basic groceries and we only succeeded in obtaining a copy of The Independent.
By the afternoon, Sheila was showing understandable signs of mutiny in view of my continued muttering, pacing about and demonstrating all the other symptoms of a stymied geek.
We therefore set out for a walk, and had made it as far as the Ice Cream Boat at the end of the moorings when it became clear that it was about to tip it down. We therefore bought ice creams and retreated to Sanity once more. After the shower (one of the heavy and prolonged ones) had worked its way through, we did manage to find a nice two mile walk around the lakes on the offside of the canal about which we had been told by Tony.
The modem remaining intransigent, I had a go at putting the SIM card back in the phone handset and using it as a Bluetooth modem. This too was unsuccessful, although that was more to do with my rustiness at configuring the phone than anything else.
We therefore abandoned the internet for the day, having decided to take the modem into the T-mobile shop here in Burton today.
This morning it connected without trouble for a time, but after we had boated through to Morrison's it had stopped working again. Having done our shopping, we came on to Shobnall for diesel and a pump out and have tied outside the marina for the night.
The process of backing out of the marina entrance and turning to go onto the moorings was completed just in time, as immediately afterwards we were treated to the sight of a boat trying to leave the marina, a privateer approaching from Branston and a Shakespeare hire boat coming through the bridge in the other direction all at the same time.
It's good to be able to report that everyone remained good tempered during the ensuing confusion, although it was clear that no one could understand the hand signals that any of the others were making.
Back on the boat after having settled the bill in the marina, it occurred to me to try changing the connecting lead between the modem and the laptop – and all was well.
The moral of the story is, when tracing a fault, especially an intermittent one, always start with the plug and lead.
This afternoon we've had a walk into Burton, and checked out the options for Pay As You Go mobile broadband with either 3 or Orange as a backstop for internet access. It's clear though that the price structures are such that it can't be made to work economically, though it is certainly an option for when the T-mobile contract runs out next spring.
As I've said, we'll stay here tonight for our optician's appointments tomorrow morning, and then probably go back towards Branston for the night.
It's been a couple of days largely dominated by anxiety about internet access. As I've said before, the Burton area isn't great for connectivity but yesterday morning at Branston things became disastrously worse.
We were tied right outside the entrance to the water park, where the signal is weaker than at our previous location through the bridge, but this time when I tried to connect the modem, the laptop refused to believe that it was there at all. Over the next thirty-six hours a number of strategies were tried to recover the situation. The simplest, such as unplugging and reconnecting the modem and restarting the laptop, were used from time to time amongst more sophisticated strategies such as fixing disc permissions and transferring the SIM card to a phone handset to try to find a better signal.
All of these had only transient success.
In amongst this, we found time to have another chat with Tony and Chris on Louisiana II and to walk through to Branston village in search of supplies. This last was not much more successful than the internet efforts. The shop in Branston is essentially a newsagent with some basic groceries and we only succeeded in obtaining a copy of The Independent.
By the afternoon, Sheila was showing understandable signs of mutiny in view of my continued muttering, pacing about and demonstrating all the other symptoms of a stymied geek.
We therefore set out for a walk, and had made it as far as the Ice Cream Boat at the end of the moorings when it became clear that it was about to tip it down. We therefore bought ice creams and retreated to Sanity once more. After the shower (one of the heavy and prolonged ones) had worked its way through, we did manage to find a nice two mile walk around the lakes on the offside of the canal about which we had been told by Tony.
The modem remaining intransigent, I had a go at putting the SIM card back in the phone handset and using it as a Bluetooth modem. This too was unsuccessful, although that was more to do with my rustiness at configuring the phone than anything else.
We therefore abandoned the internet for the day, having decided to take the modem into the T-mobile shop here in Burton today.
This morning it connected without trouble for a time, but after we had boated through to Morrison's it had stopped working again. Having done our shopping, we came on to Shobnall for diesel and a pump out and have tied outside the marina for the night.
The process of backing out of the marina entrance and turning to go onto the moorings was completed just in time, as immediately afterwards we were treated to the sight of a boat trying to leave the marina, a privateer approaching from Branston and a Shakespeare hire boat coming through the bridge in the other direction all at the same time.
It's good to be able to report that everyone remained good tempered during the ensuing confusion, although it was clear that no one could understand the hand signals that any of the others were making.
Back on the boat after having settled the bill in the marina, it occurred to me to try changing the connecting lead between the modem and the laptop – and all was well.
The moral of the story is, when tracing a fault, especially an intermittent one, always start with the plug and lead.
This afternoon we've had a walk into Burton, and checked out the options for Pay As You Go mobile broadband with either 3 or Orange as a backstop for internet access. It's clear though that the price structures are such that it can't be made to work economically, though it is certainly an option for when the T-mobile contract runs out next spring.
As I've said, we'll stay here tonight for our optician's appointments tomorrow morning, and then probably go back towards Branston for the night.
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
Clinics, switches and internet orders
6th & 7th October
I wasn't due at the hospital until ten yesterday, and although I wasn't absolutely certain how long it would take to walk from Shobnall, not having done it from that location before, I knew it couldn't be more than three quarters of an hour. This made for a very lazy start, which was very nice.
In fact it turned out to be just half an hour, including time to buy a paper, so I got there very early. Eye clinics can be very late running indeed, but in the event I was seen early for my bit of hi-techery, and was soon on my way back to the boat.
Meanwhile Sheila had been entertaining Lesley Love from Kala, which is moored in Shobnall marina. Her husband, Dan, has had a real bit of bad luck this year – he has a high risk lifestyle as a motorway cop for Derbyshire, but injured himself falling off his push bike, just like any of us could. He broke his arm, and has then had some complications which have kept him in hospital for several weeks.
Lesley told us that he should be out this week, so all the best of luck, mate, and here's hoping you'll soon be out and about again.
Sheila had also had time to polish her easy chair. Peter Mason at Braidbar used to be in the leather trade, and had recommended good old shoe polish as treatment for the inevitable staining that's occurred over the last four and a half years. I must say that a dose of Cherry Blossom has done it as much good as any of the fancy and expensive treatments would have. The Cherry Blossom was 49 pence for the tin.
After lunch, I started a job I'd planned the last time we were down this way, namely splitting the switch control of the lights in the galley. Sanity's through galley has three 20 watt halogen spots over each side, and as built, these were switched by one switch on each side, so that the choice was to have no, three or six lights on.
Over time, this seemed a bit extravagant of our available battery power, especially if you were just making a cup of tea, or pouring a glass of wine. Fortunately, all three wires had been brought from the individual lights to the back of the switch, so in theory it was easy enough to get a double switch for each side and rewire.
Six months ago I got the switches, and finally yesterday started work on the port side. The new switch fitted onto the same backing plate as the old, so the main challenge was to enlarge the hole in the lining behind it to take the double switch where it poked through the backing plate.
It was a bit of a struggle; Braidbars are lined with solid ash tongue and groove, and it's not like trimming a bit of pine. but in the end I managed it. Then it was a matter of finding out by trial and error which lead led to which spot, and wiring it so that I can now switch on either the spot over the cooker or the two spots over the sink unit and worktop, or both, of course.
After I'd done, I'd run out of the crimp on connectors for attaching the leads to the spade terminals on the switch, which gave me an excuse to pop into the chandlery. For once, I came out with just the pack of connectors at five for £1.05; this must be the least I've ever spent in a chandlery in one go. I did have a good look at the widening range of multiple LED lights that potentially could replace the halogen spots, but that's for another time.
Today I was due at the clinic a bit earlier, and it was possible that I would be anointed with the pupil dilating drops which make it quite hard walking back if it's sunny. For this reason Sheila came with me. In the event, it was a dark and gloomy morning, to go with the dark and gloomy financial news, and I didn't have the dilation anyway, but it was still good to have her company.
We were a bit early again, and again I got into see the man ahead of time. All was well, and we were on our way back to the boat before half nine, the original time of my appointment.
We made a quick trip to the council tip near the marina, to get rid of the recycling, then set off in worsening weather for the Morrison's mooring. Sheila did her usual excellent job of winding by the marina entrance, despite a gusty wind, and half an hour later we were tied up ready to go shopping.
Having got back just before lunch, we decided not to go onto Branston Water Park as we'd originally intended, but to sit tight here; the weather is due to improve tomorrow. There's some doubt as to whether the river section below Alrewas Lock will be navigable, after the rain over the weekend, but we'll just have to see what it's like when we get to Wychnor.
Meanwhile, the data connection is immeasurably better here, so I've been able to order Sheila's Sony Reader form Waterstones.com at last, and to put in an order to Lakeland for kitchen bits and bobs. I have also done the starboard side galley light switch, so now I can have any number from one to six lights on in there.
All in all, a productive couple of days, methinks.
I wasn't due at the hospital until ten yesterday, and although I wasn't absolutely certain how long it would take to walk from Shobnall, not having done it from that location before, I knew it couldn't be more than three quarters of an hour. This made for a very lazy start, which was very nice.
In fact it turned out to be just half an hour, including time to buy a paper, so I got there very early. Eye clinics can be very late running indeed, but in the event I was seen early for my bit of hi-techery, and was soon on my way back to the boat.
Meanwhile Sheila had been entertaining Lesley Love from Kala, which is moored in Shobnall marina. Her husband, Dan, has had a real bit of bad luck this year – he has a high risk lifestyle as a motorway cop for Derbyshire, but injured himself falling off his push bike, just like any of us could. He broke his arm, and has then had some complications which have kept him in hospital for several weeks.
Lesley told us that he should be out this week, so all the best of luck, mate, and here's hoping you'll soon be out and about again.
Sheila had also had time to polish her easy chair. Peter Mason at Braidbar used to be in the leather trade, and had recommended good old shoe polish as treatment for the inevitable staining that's occurred over the last four and a half years. I must say that a dose of Cherry Blossom has done it as much good as any of the fancy and expensive treatments would have. The Cherry Blossom was 49 pence for the tin.
After lunch, I started a job I'd planned the last time we were down this way, namely splitting the switch control of the lights in the galley. Sanity's through galley has three 20 watt halogen spots over each side, and as built, these were switched by one switch on each side, so that the choice was to have no, three or six lights on.
Over time, this seemed a bit extravagant of our available battery power, especially if you were just making a cup of tea, or pouring a glass of wine. Fortunately, all three wires had been brought from the individual lights to the back of the switch, so in theory it was easy enough to get a double switch for each side and rewire.
Six months ago I got the switches, and finally yesterday started work on the port side. The new switch fitted onto the same backing plate as the old, so the main challenge was to enlarge the hole in the lining behind it to take the double switch where it poked through the backing plate.
It was a bit of a struggle; Braidbars are lined with solid ash tongue and groove, and it's not like trimming a bit of pine. but in the end I managed it. Then it was a matter of finding out by trial and error which lead led to which spot, and wiring it so that I can now switch on either the spot over the cooker or the two spots over the sink unit and worktop, or both, of course.
After I'd done, I'd run out of the crimp on connectors for attaching the leads to the spade terminals on the switch, which gave me an excuse to pop into the chandlery. For once, I came out with just the pack of connectors at five for £1.05; this must be the least I've ever spent in a chandlery in one go. I did have a good look at the widening range of multiple LED lights that potentially could replace the halogen spots, but that's for another time.
Today I was due at the clinic a bit earlier, and it was possible that I would be anointed with the pupil dilating drops which make it quite hard walking back if it's sunny. For this reason Sheila came with me. In the event, it was a dark and gloomy morning, to go with the dark and gloomy financial news, and I didn't have the dilation anyway, but it was still good to have her company.
We were a bit early again, and again I got into see the man ahead of time. All was well, and we were on our way back to the boat before half nine, the original time of my appointment.
We made a quick trip to the council tip near the marina, to get rid of the recycling, then set off in worsening weather for the Morrison's mooring. Sheila did her usual excellent job of winding by the marina entrance, despite a gusty wind, and half an hour later we were tied up ready to go shopping.
Having got back just before lunch, we decided not to go onto Branston Water Park as we'd originally intended, but to sit tight here; the weather is due to improve tomorrow. There's some doubt as to whether the river section below Alrewas Lock will be navigable, after the rain over the weekend, but we'll just have to see what it's like when we get to Wychnor.
Meanwhile, the data connection is immeasurably better here, so I've been able to order Sheila's Sony Reader form Waterstones.com at last, and to put in an order to Lakeland for kitchen bits and bobs. I have also done the starboard side galley light switch, so now I can have any number from one to six lights on in there.
All in all, a productive couple of days, methinks.
Labels:
Morrison's,
Shobnall
Sunday, 5 October 2008
Into Burton
4th & 5th October
With a fair bit to do before we could get lunch, we made a prompt start yesterday in a cold wind. Our decision to change over the wardrobes the day before had been providential, as we really needed the Guernsey jumpers below fleeces and heavy waterproofs.
We followed another couple of boats through Alrewas, Wychnor and Barton Turn Locks. There was a good bit of traffic on the cut, including Shakespeare and Canaltime hire boats. We stopped below Barton for water and to start a washload, then went on through Tatenhill and Branston Locks into the more pleasant bit of canal alongside the Water Park which gives a much needed break in what is otherwise a rather grimy and noisy stretch. The A38 is your constant companion, and a quarry and the Marley Block Works do their best to provide an interesting view.
On arrival at the Morrison's mooring, we found just the one other boat tied there. In the course of a wild afternoon a few came charging past, but only two stopped. The first of these was the Town Class motor normally tied at Tatenhill, Hadley, seemingly out for a quick pootle up and down the cut, as later on they went off and presumably winded at Shobnall before coming back past us.
The other was a Shakespeare which really struggled to moor in the strong cross wind, but eventually managed it. I guess they were just looking for somewhere to take a break from the rigours of boating, as they didn't seem to go off shopping, and after a bit set off again.
We treated ourselves to a mega lunch of soup, pasties and sarnies, feeling that our performance in the wind and rain justified it.
This morning dawned much less windy, but with an unpleasant fine rain that really required the full waterproof kit. We only had 30 minutes boating to do, fortunately, as far as the Shobnall visitor moorings. There were three boats there managing to take up five spaces, but we succeeded in tying on the end, with the stern on a pin. The boat in front of us was another Shakespeare, and as we expected, they set off a bit later on, and we pulled a bit forward so as to be fully on the piled moorings.
Using Cheetahwatch was revealing here. The signal strength was much better than it had been at last night's mooring, but the throughput is very slow. I guess there's just not enough bandwidth for the demand here at the moment, so T-mobile need to increase the capacity of their local tower.
After lunch the weather had picked up a lot, so we trolled into town in search of the Waterstone's and a Sony Reader. Guess what; they didn't have one in stock. They had had six, apparently, and sold them all in three days, but then were told that as a branch they were too small to have any more stock. Waterstone's really needs to get its act together on this. Having advertised the things vigorously, they are making it very difficult to get hold of one. I think that what we'll have to do is order one on line, and then send it back if it proves to be a disappointment.
Back at the boat, Elanor looked in on her way into town shopping, and has just called back to show off her purchases (shoes and boots, mostly)
Tomorrow we stay put, as I've appointments at the Eye Clinic both tomorrow morning and on Tuesday.
With a fair bit to do before we could get lunch, we made a prompt start yesterday in a cold wind. Our decision to change over the wardrobes the day before had been providential, as we really needed the Guernsey jumpers below fleeces and heavy waterproofs.
We followed another couple of boats through Alrewas, Wychnor and Barton Turn Locks. There was a good bit of traffic on the cut, including Shakespeare and Canaltime hire boats. We stopped below Barton for water and to start a washload, then went on through Tatenhill and Branston Locks into the more pleasant bit of canal alongside the Water Park which gives a much needed break in what is otherwise a rather grimy and noisy stretch. The A38 is your constant companion, and a quarry and the Marley Block Works do their best to provide an interesting view.
On arrival at the Morrison's mooring, we found just the one other boat tied there. In the course of a wild afternoon a few came charging past, but only two stopped. The first of these was the Town Class motor normally tied at Tatenhill, Hadley, seemingly out for a quick pootle up and down the cut, as later on they went off and presumably winded at Shobnall before coming back past us.
The other was a Shakespeare which really struggled to moor in the strong cross wind, but eventually managed it. I guess they were just looking for somewhere to take a break from the rigours of boating, as they didn't seem to go off shopping, and after a bit set off again.
We treated ourselves to a mega lunch of soup, pasties and sarnies, feeling that our performance in the wind and rain justified it.
This morning dawned much less windy, but with an unpleasant fine rain that really required the full waterproof kit. We only had 30 minutes boating to do, fortunately, as far as the Shobnall visitor moorings. There were three boats there managing to take up five spaces, but we succeeded in tying on the end, with the stern on a pin. The boat in front of us was another Shakespeare, and as we expected, they set off a bit later on, and we pulled a bit forward so as to be fully on the piled moorings.
Using Cheetahwatch was revealing here. The signal strength was much better than it had been at last night's mooring, but the throughput is very slow. I guess there's just not enough bandwidth for the demand here at the moment, so T-mobile need to increase the capacity of their local tower.
After lunch the weather had picked up a lot, so we trolled into town in search of the Waterstone's and a Sony Reader. Guess what; they didn't have one in stock. They had had six, apparently, and sold them all in three days, but then were told that as a branch they were too small to have any more stock. Waterstone's really needs to get its act together on this. Having advertised the things vigorously, they are making it very difficult to get hold of one. I think that what we'll have to do is order one on line, and then send it back if it proves to be a disappointment.
Back at the boat, Elanor looked in on her way into town shopping, and has just called back to show off her purchases (shoes and boots, mostly)
Tomorrow we stay put, as I've appointments at the Eye Clinic both tomorrow morning and on Tuesday.
Labels:
Morrison's,
Shobnall
Friday, 28 March 2008
Eye tests and pies
27th & 28th March
The only problem with mooring at Shobnall is being driven mad by the delicious smell of mashing wort from one brewery or another. We had a peaceful night, and made the trek into town at nine, stopping off at the Council tip that's just behind the marina to dump our recycling on the way.
After visiting Sainsbury's and Julian Graves, we rolled up at the opticians in good time for our appointments, and spent most of the morning there. Main cause of delay was waiting for me to have my photo taken, or rather photos of my retinas. This means having your pupils dilated, and so having to sit around in a world slowly growing fuzzier until they are wide enough to take the shots.
I mustn't complain – it's a neat service, as the pictures get sent to the local eye clinic to check for signs of diabetic retinopathy. At least this time I remembered to take a pair of dark specs with me; as last year, it was a bright sunny morning. Last year I'd not got the shades with me, and Sheila pretty well had to lead me, eyes screwed shut and watering, back to the boat.
This year, I could see where I was going, although not read print or anything. Sheila promptly took us into the Thornton's choccy shop, though only bought a few bars of marzipan choc in the end.
Back at the boat we had a coffee and then lunch, and then Sheila steered us to Branston Water Park for the night. There's been a short discussion on the canals list recently about the merits and keeping qualities of Fray Bentos tinned pies. One result of this was that I discovered that Sheila is quite partial to these traditional items. (Come on, we've only been married less than 37 years, you can't find out everything about each other straight away.)
We'd bought a couple at Sainsbury's and had the steak and kidney one for dinner, with new potatoes and some lightly steamed cabbage.
Today we wanted to get back to Alrewas, where we'll be for the next week, finishing off the various medico-dental stuff. It's been a long haul this year, partly because we got here earlier than originally planned as a result of our dental problems.
Anyway, we got away at eight, and Sheila carried on steering, since she'd had only a short trick yesterday. It wasn't as windy as forecast, well not at first, but it began to rain in a most unpleasant way. I was glad to be able to lurk in the cabin, only popping out for Tatenhill, Barton Turn, Wychnor and Alrewas Locks, and to help at the water point at Barton Turn.
The cunning plan had been to arrive at Alrewas at around ten, when others would be setting off, and with a full water tank. If we got a mooring between the lock and the water point at Alrewas, this would mean we could last the weekend, pull onto the water point on Monday and then go through to one of the other moorings for the balance of our stay.
The only problem was, the weather was so foul, no one had moved at ten, so we came through the first bridge and tied just the other side. I'll just have to reverse Sanity back through the bridge when we need water. Hopefully, the wind will have dropped a bit by then – this afternoon it's been quite blustery, and we're glad to have stopped for the time being.
A quiet afternoon followed – Cathy, Graeme and Daniel are coming to see us tomorrow, hopefully. Last time we stayed with them, they lent us their copy of the Four Weddings and a Funeral DVD (we just missed it at the cinema), so it was a good excuse to sit and watch it so that we can give it back when we see them.
The only problem with mooring at Shobnall is being driven mad by the delicious smell of mashing wort from one brewery or another. We had a peaceful night, and made the trek into town at nine, stopping off at the Council tip that's just behind the marina to dump our recycling on the way.
After visiting Sainsbury's and Julian Graves, we rolled up at the opticians in good time for our appointments, and spent most of the morning there. Main cause of delay was waiting for me to have my photo taken, or rather photos of my retinas. This means having your pupils dilated, and so having to sit around in a world slowly growing fuzzier until they are wide enough to take the shots.
I mustn't complain – it's a neat service, as the pictures get sent to the local eye clinic to check for signs of diabetic retinopathy. At least this time I remembered to take a pair of dark specs with me; as last year, it was a bright sunny morning. Last year I'd not got the shades with me, and Sheila pretty well had to lead me, eyes screwed shut and watering, back to the boat.
This year, I could see where I was going, although not read print or anything. Sheila promptly took us into the Thornton's choccy shop, though only bought a few bars of marzipan choc in the end.
Back at the boat we had a coffee and then lunch, and then Sheila steered us to Branston Water Park for the night. There's been a short discussion on the canals list recently about the merits and keeping qualities of Fray Bentos tinned pies. One result of this was that I discovered that Sheila is quite partial to these traditional items. (Come on, we've only been married less than 37 years, you can't find out everything about each other straight away.)
We'd bought a couple at Sainsbury's and had the steak and kidney one for dinner, with new potatoes and some lightly steamed cabbage.
Today we wanted to get back to Alrewas, where we'll be for the next week, finishing off the various medico-dental stuff. It's been a long haul this year, partly because we got here earlier than originally planned as a result of our dental problems.
Anyway, we got away at eight, and Sheila carried on steering, since she'd had only a short trick yesterday. It wasn't as windy as forecast, well not at first, but it began to rain in a most unpleasant way. I was glad to be able to lurk in the cabin, only popping out for Tatenhill, Barton Turn, Wychnor and Alrewas Locks, and to help at the water point at Barton Turn.
The cunning plan had been to arrive at Alrewas at around ten, when others would be setting off, and with a full water tank. If we got a mooring between the lock and the water point at Alrewas, this would mean we could last the weekend, pull onto the water point on Monday and then go through to one of the other moorings for the balance of our stay.
The only problem was, the weather was so foul, no one had moved at ten, so we came through the first bridge and tied just the other side. I'll just have to reverse Sanity back through the bridge when we need water. Hopefully, the wind will have dropped a bit by then – this afternoon it's been quite blustery, and we're glad to have stopped for the time being.
A quiet afternoon followed – Cathy, Graeme and Daniel are coming to see us tomorrow, hopefully. Last time we stayed with them, they lent us their copy of the Four Weddings and a Funeral DVD (we just missed it at the cinema), so it was a good excuse to sit and watch it so that we can give it back when we see them.
Wednesday, 26 March 2008
One day for relaxation, and one for boating stuff
25th & 26th March
With no plans to move the boat yesterday, we were able to make a relaxed, not to say lazy, start. At around 10.30, Sheila went off to take part in the Willy Walk, and I stayed behind, as I had to be at the Surgery at 11.20 for a blood test.
I wasn't bored, though: first of all Graham and Beryl from Priscilla looked in – unfortunately it was not long before I was due to go out, so we had to settle for a chat on the towpath. Then, just as I was climbing into my going to the doctor clothes, Sheila's sister-in-law, Jennie, rang to say that they'd been able to get hold of a copy of the Shropshire Star in which Phil Hynds article about us had appeared.
When I got back from having a nurse stick needles in my arm, I found a comment on the canals list that led me to the web version of the same article – it's not at all bad, with only minor errors, which is a relief.
Then it was off to the pub for lunch – a merry session which went on until 3 o'clock, just about. A quiet remainder of the afternoon followed, while we ran the engine and did a washload.
Today was a complete contrast. We wanted to get down to Horninglow on the other side of Burton to pump out and water, and then come back to moor at Shobnall for the night, as we have optician's appointments tomorrow.
We woke early without having to set the heating to come on, and were away just after eight. It was a fairly uneventful trip, though the canal is noticeably busier than the last time we were down here less than a fortnight ago – the 'cruising season' has clearly started.
As we got to Horninglow, just after 11.30,a Canaltime was manoeuvring onto the service point, so I winded Sanity at the other end of the moorings, and we waited patiently on the towpath for them to finish.
However, whilst their water tank was filling, three of the crew went off across the road bridge in the direction of Burton town centre. Oh well, we thought, they've left two behind – no doubt they will move the boat off the service mooring when they've finished.
But oh no – they filled the tank, wound up the hose, and disappeared into the boat. Sheila trolled over there, and was told that the other three, the older members of the crew, had gone to the pub for lunch, and the two left behind, being younger (we're talking twenties here) weren't allowed to move the boat.
"Do you want me to fetch someone?" asked the young man.
"Well, yes" replied Sheila.
After a further wait, one of the others came back from the pub and rather grumpily moved the boat onto the towpath.
All in all, it was 12.30 before we could start operations ourselves. Let me be clear, I don't expect first time hirers to be skilled in boat handling or in the lore of the cut, but if you are tied at a place which says in big letters "Mooring for Services only", it's just discourteous to go off to the pub when you can see someone else waiting to use the facilities.
By 1.15, we had finished up, and pulled across onto the towpath ourselves to get a late lunch
After that we followed a couple of other boats back up Dallow Lane Lock and tied at Shobnall. I popped into the chandlery to pick up the light switches we ordered the other day, together with a replacement for the duff LED bulb we bought there last time. I also got a couple of bags of coal.
At this time of year, it's a bit of a gamble. We don't want to run out before the weather warms up properly, but on the other hand, we don't want to be left with bags and bags of coal on the roof all summer. All they had was Taybrite – not my favourite smokeless fuel, but a lot better than nothing.
With no plans to move the boat yesterday, we were able to make a relaxed, not to say lazy, start. At around 10.30, Sheila went off to take part in the Willy Walk, and I stayed behind, as I had to be at the Surgery at 11.20 for a blood test.
I wasn't bored, though: first of all Graham and Beryl from Priscilla looked in – unfortunately it was not long before I was due to go out, so we had to settle for a chat on the towpath. Then, just as I was climbing into my going to the doctor clothes, Sheila's sister-in-law, Jennie, rang to say that they'd been able to get hold of a copy of the Shropshire Star in which Phil Hynds article about us had appeared.
When I got back from having a nurse stick needles in my arm, I found a comment on the canals list that led me to the web version of the same article – it's not at all bad, with only minor errors, which is a relief.
Then it was off to the pub for lunch – a merry session which went on until 3 o'clock, just about. A quiet remainder of the afternoon followed, while we ran the engine and did a washload.
Today was a complete contrast. We wanted to get down to Horninglow on the other side of Burton to pump out and water, and then come back to moor at Shobnall for the night, as we have optician's appointments tomorrow.
We woke early without having to set the heating to come on, and were away just after eight. It was a fairly uneventful trip, though the canal is noticeably busier than the last time we were down here less than a fortnight ago – the 'cruising season' has clearly started.
As we got to Horninglow, just after 11.30,a Canaltime was manoeuvring onto the service point, so I winded Sanity at the other end of the moorings, and we waited patiently on the towpath for them to finish.
However, whilst their water tank was filling, three of the crew went off across the road bridge in the direction of Burton town centre. Oh well, we thought, they've left two behind – no doubt they will move the boat off the service mooring when they've finished.
But oh no – they filled the tank, wound up the hose, and disappeared into the boat. Sheila trolled over there, and was told that the other three, the older members of the crew, had gone to the pub for lunch, and the two left behind, being younger (we're talking twenties here) weren't allowed to move the boat.
"Do you want me to fetch someone?" asked the young man.
"Well, yes" replied Sheila.
After a further wait, one of the others came back from the pub and rather grumpily moved the boat onto the towpath.
All in all, it was 12.30 before we could start operations ourselves. Let me be clear, I don't expect first time hirers to be skilled in boat handling or in the lore of the cut, but if you are tied at a place which says in big letters "Mooring for Services only", it's just discourteous to go off to the pub when you can see someone else waiting to use the facilities.
By 1.15, we had finished up, and pulled across onto the towpath ourselves to get a late lunch
After that we followed a couple of other boats back up Dallow Lane Lock and tied at Shobnall. I popped into the chandlery to pick up the light switches we ordered the other day, together with a replacement for the duff LED bulb we bought there last time. I also got a couple of bags of coal.
At this time of year, it's a bit of a gamble. We don't want to run out before the weather warms up properly, but on the other hand, we don't want to be left with bags and bags of coal on the roof all summer. All they had was Taybrite – not my favourite smokeless fuel, but a lot better than nothing.
Labels:
Alrewas,
Horninglow,
Shobnall
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