The Shropshire Union Canal was known to the working boaters as the Shroppie Cut, so its terminus at Autherley Junction was called Cut End. Having covered the solar panel yesterday to protect it from any flying debris as we came through that part of the world, we set off today in good heart. Sheila started out at seven whilst I had breakfast, then I took over for the rest of the trip.
It was a very pleasant morning for it, sunny and not too cool. No boats were encountered through the narrows of Pendeford Rockin', but I had to wait at the junction for a boat to work down the stop lock that protects the Staffs and Worcs water from running away down the Shroppie.
These days, of course, it's all C&RT water anyway, but once upon a time these things were important. Both canals are actually fed from the same, steady source now, in the shape of the water treatment plant (aka sewage works) that sits in the armpit of the junction. I wonder if C&RT have thought of asking the Wolverhampton and Dudley Brewery to become a corporate partner, since their products (Banks's and Marston's ales) make such a contribution to the water supply of the canals to the north of Wolverhampton?
Eventually, that is.
/wahaha
By now, traffic was building up, and I stemmed Sanity Again up getting too close to the towpath waiting for a boat to emerge from the first of the narrow sections on the Shroppie. We had to do some pushing and poling to get off again, but then had an uneventful plod to our favourite moorings on this stretch, the ones kindly provided by SUCS just north of Bridge 7, or alternatively, just south of Bridge 8.
It would have been perfectly possible to go on to Brewood, but the moorings there tend to be busier, and are down in a dark cutting. Here we have the pleasure of looking over the lower ground back towards Coven whence we have just come. We got here at half nine, just as our in transit washload was finishing off. There were a couple of spaces, and more soon appeared as folk made rather later starts than we had done.
Doug and James on Chance turned up a bit before lunch; we've had one good natter with them already, and they're coming round for a drink later on.
/blur
Fortunately, we don't need a very early start tomorrow; we plan to go just as far as Wheaton Aston, about 90 minutes cruising away.
Showing posts with label Autherley Junction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Autherley Junction. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 August 2012
Thursday, 28 August 2008
A catch up now that the show is over
23rd to 28th August
Here I am again, beginning to recover from another hard working National. I'm sorry to have gone missing for the last few days, but at least this is better than last year, when it took me until the middle of September to get going again on the blog. Admittedly, that was partly because we were slogging up the River Nene as fast as practicable in order to avoid being flood bound yet again. The event itself went reasonably well under the circumstances, which were that we had to tip a total of 80 tonnes of woodchip to make the site at least half decent for the paying public to walk around on.
We had a frantic three hours at the start of Saturday, from seven to ten, taking down the night fence, arranging the fence around the pay booths and flinging woodchip wherever it was especially wet.
The show opened just ten minutes late, which was amazing under the circumstances, but it wasn't in the completely ready state it should have been, with some of the traders still setting up, and various bits and pieces being tidied away.
I spent a chunk of the afternoon helping to collect yet more woodchip from a new source (we'd already cleaned BW's Norbury yard out of their stock). It was only a couple of miles away, but our efforts to take the plant trailer over there to get it were compromised by the fact that the wrg Pasty Wagon*, which we were using to tow it, decided to break down on the way off site.
At the end of the day, the main jobs were putting the night fence back up, and litter picking.
Sunday saw us breakfasting at 7.15, though some had already been out on site from 6.30, opening holes in the night fence for the traders to get at their stands. It proved to be an easier day all round, and our spirits were lifted by the belated issue of the show t-shirts to us (we get a new one every year, with the show logo on it as well as the words waterway recovery group).
The weather began to improve, but woodchip spreading continued through the morning. We also put down some three metre by one metre mats made from recycled tyres, which proved very effective at covering places getting a lot of wear, such as in front of popular stands.
Monday was the easiest day of the three, during the day at least, and we all had a chance to look round the show at last and buy some stuff. I got a pair of warm trousers for each of us from the Regatta stand: fleece lined combats, which have proved excellent in the evenings outside, and some second hand books from the wrg north west stall. The ground was now perceptibly drying up.
Close of show was the herald for a burst of concentrated hard work, as always, as we tore round collecting up tables and chairs and fire extinguishers and the like, before the traders made off with them. (This isn't paranoia; for some reason traders tend to regard such items as fair game.) We also had to put the night fence up, and make a start on dismantling things like the market stalls which we rent put to some traders.
Dinner was at 8.30, but we'd been kept going by a supply of home made pasties from the cooks, brought out to us in those clever bags that keep them warm.
Tuesday we collected up the folding picnic table type seating – it looks really good, and works well, and is a great replacement for the white plastic garden chairs and tables we've used up to now, but boy are they heavy. Each unit is a four person lift, ten to a stillage, and we had around 100 of them to collect together, fold up and put in their stillages.
Other tasks were collecting together and emptying 110 wheelie bins, and generally clearing rubbish away, including loads of mud soaked cardboard. In the evening we had the traditional Tuesday night party for all the volunteers left around, blue and red shirts together. It went as well as I can recall any of these going (five now, though that's nothing compared to some of the old lags around here, who have done 15 0r 20 Nationals).
Yesterday was craning day, when the land based exhibition boats get taken away. It's organised by one of the blue shirts, but wrg provides the security screen around the area of operation. This means standing around with a high vis vest and bright red hard hat on, preventing passers-by from wandering under twenty tons of boat dangling over their heads.
It can be a bit of a bore, but parts are quite interesting, especially of you are into seriously large road going cranes. In this case we had a five axle beast capable of lifting 120 tonnes, and all went quite smoothly, finishing only forty five minutes after it was scheduled to, which is probably something of a record. This time the cooks brought breakfast out to us in the form of warm bacon baguettes.
The rest of the day was mainly taken up with taking down fencing whilst the site was dismantled from around us. It's a bit tricky, co-ordinating the removal of the fence with the reduction of the area needing to be protected, and some bits had to be re-erected at the end of the day to secure tempting piles of marquee frame and the like, but again, it wasn't anything like as bad as it can be.
By the end of the day, I was seriously tired, and aware that my body was making signals about going on strike if I didn't ease up, so I knocked off a bit early and went and had a shower.
We had the final wrg meal, consisting of iffits (as in, "if it's there, we'll eat it"). There were pork chunks on kebabs, huge numbers of roast chicken legs, pizzas, salad and I am sure some other stuff but I can't remember it. (Well, I was tired.)
Today we've dedicated to sorting out the filthy tip that the interior of Sanity had become after three weeks of staggering back to it in the evening to collapse into bed, and then jumping off it in the early morning to go back on site. We've also made two trips to Morrison's to restock on perishables, so that we'll be ready to set off in the morning, exactly three weeks after we got here.
It's fish and chips with the remaining blue shirts tonight, so an easy return to self catering, goody, goody.
*It's an ex Central Networks box bodied Land Rover Defender, used to bring the wrg stock of power cables and other electrical kit to Festivals. So called because it is fitted with a microwave, which Bungle uses for heating pasties. Tells you all you need to know about the wrg attitude to life, really.
Here I am again, beginning to recover from another hard working National. I'm sorry to have gone missing for the last few days, but at least this is better than last year, when it took me until the middle of September to get going again on the blog. Admittedly, that was partly because we were slogging up the River Nene as fast as practicable in order to avoid being flood bound yet again. The event itself went reasonably well under the circumstances, which were that we had to tip a total of 80 tonnes of woodchip to make the site at least half decent for the paying public to walk around on.
We had a frantic three hours at the start of Saturday, from seven to ten, taking down the night fence, arranging the fence around the pay booths and flinging woodchip wherever it was especially wet.
The show opened just ten minutes late, which was amazing under the circumstances, but it wasn't in the completely ready state it should have been, with some of the traders still setting up, and various bits and pieces being tidied away.
I spent a chunk of the afternoon helping to collect yet more woodchip from a new source (we'd already cleaned BW's Norbury yard out of their stock). It was only a couple of miles away, but our efforts to take the plant trailer over there to get it were compromised by the fact that the wrg Pasty Wagon*, which we were using to tow it, decided to break down on the way off site.
At the end of the day, the main jobs were putting the night fence back up, and litter picking.
Sunday saw us breakfasting at 7.15, though some had already been out on site from 6.30, opening holes in the night fence for the traders to get at their stands. It proved to be an easier day all round, and our spirits were lifted by the belated issue of the show t-shirts to us (we get a new one every year, with the show logo on it as well as the words waterway recovery group).
The weather began to improve, but woodchip spreading continued through the morning. We also put down some three metre by one metre mats made from recycled tyres, which proved very effective at covering places getting a lot of wear, such as in front of popular stands.
Monday was the easiest day of the three, during the day at least, and we all had a chance to look round the show at last and buy some stuff. I got a pair of warm trousers for each of us from the Regatta stand: fleece lined combats, which have proved excellent in the evenings outside, and some second hand books from the wrg north west stall. The ground was now perceptibly drying up.
Close of show was the herald for a burst of concentrated hard work, as always, as we tore round collecting up tables and chairs and fire extinguishers and the like, before the traders made off with them. (This isn't paranoia; for some reason traders tend to regard such items as fair game.) We also had to put the night fence up, and make a start on dismantling things like the market stalls which we rent put to some traders.
Dinner was at 8.30, but we'd been kept going by a supply of home made pasties from the cooks, brought out to us in those clever bags that keep them warm.
Tuesday we collected up the folding picnic table type seating – it looks really good, and works well, and is a great replacement for the white plastic garden chairs and tables we've used up to now, but boy are they heavy. Each unit is a four person lift, ten to a stillage, and we had around 100 of them to collect together, fold up and put in their stillages.
Other tasks were collecting together and emptying 110 wheelie bins, and generally clearing rubbish away, including loads of mud soaked cardboard. In the evening we had the traditional Tuesday night party for all the volunteers left around, blue and red shirts together. It went as well as I can recall any of these going (five now, though that's nothing compared to some of the old lags around here, who have done 15 0r 20 Nationals).
Yesterday was craning day, when the land based exhibition boats get taken away. It's organised by one of the blue shirts, but wrg provides the security screen around the area of operation. This means standing around with a high vis vest and bright red hard hat on, preventing passers-by from wandering under twenty tons of boat dangling over their heads.
It can be a bit of a bore, but parts are quite interesting, especially of you are into seriously large road going cranes. In this case we had a five axle beast capable of lifting 120 tonnes, and all went quite smoothly, finishing only forty five minutes after it was scheduled to, which is probably something of a record. This time the cooks brought breakfast out to us in the form of warm bacon baguettes.
The rest of the day was mainly taken up with taking down fencing whilst the site was dismantled from around us. It's a bit tricky, co-ordinating the removal of the fence with the reduction of the area needing to be protected, and some bits had to be re-erected at the end of the day to secure tempting piles of marquee frame and the like, but again, it wasn't anything like as bad as it can be.
By the end of the day, I was seriously tired, and aware that my body was making signals about going on strike if I didn't ease up, so I knocked off a bit early and went and had a shower.
We had the final wrg meal, consisting of iffits (as in, "if it's there, we'll eat it"). There were pork chunks on kebabs, huge numbers of roast chicken legs, pizzas, salad and I am sure some other stuff but I can't remember it. (Well, I was tired.)
Today we've dedicated to sorting out the filthy tip that the interior of Sanity had become after three weeks of staggering back to it in the evening to collapse into bed, and then jumping off it in the early morning to go back on site. We've also made two trips to Morrison's to restock on perishables, so that we'll be ready to set off in the morning, exactly three weeks after we got here.
It's fish and chips with the remaining blue shirts tonight, so an easy return to self catering, goody, goody.
*It's an ex Central Networks box bodied Land Rover Defender, used to bring the wrg stock of power cables and other electrical kit to Festivals. So called because it is fitted with a microwave, which Bungle uses for heating pasties. Tells you all you need to know about the wrg attitude to life, really.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Saturday, 23 August 2008
All work and no play...
21 22 August
Hi Folks
It's Sheila tonight as Bruce is still hard at work. The pace is hotting up.
On Wednesday night we joined the IWA volunteers (blue shirts) for a Chinese carry out which was a really enjoyable meal. Of course the cooking wasn't quite up to the standard of Al and Neil's cooking for the wrg camp but it was a very pleasant banquet. The Chinese on the Wednesday night before the Festival is a long established tradition for the Blue Shirts but it is nice that over the last few years the red shirts (wrg) have been invited to join in and more do so each year. On Wednesday there were 118 participants. Annie the Personnel Manager spends some time before each festival researching the local takeaways and she is a very good picker.
Last year at St Ives the chosen supplier was overwhelmed by the scale of the order and bought in prepared meals from all the other takeaways in the area. The driver who went to collect our order said that while he was waiting there were a range of taxis and cars driving up to the takeaway and carrying trays of food in. It was still a very good meal. This year was even more helpful as the takeaway delivered to us. Unfortunately he then missed the track on his way off site and got stuck in the mud. A team had to go out and push him off. There were many cheers as the food was carried in, including three plastic sacks the size of dustbin liners all containing prawn crackers!
There was heavy rain while we ate our Chinese and more during Thursday so there were many groans. However the pressure is rising and we have a nice drying breeze and a bit of sun today so we are hoping for the best.
Bruce had a busy day yesterday with a mix of fencing, laying wood chip paths over any soft patches and erecting the market stalls which have been rented out to some of the small traders. Last thing last night the night fence had to be erected which leaves access to the bar and food court open for boaters and campers but secures the traders stalls. This year is a particularly long fence and it all has to go up each evening and come down the following morning. Sometimes the layout of the site allows the night fence to run along the back of a row of stalls and it can be left up all weekend but no such luck this year.
Bruce wanted me to give an idea of my work but it is much more mundane than his. Probably the most fun comes from making the badges for the volunteers. We use a rather sophisticated piece of software which enables us to add the name of each volunteer to the IWA logo. Senior staff also have their picture taken on a webcam for incorporation into the badge. I have been threatening to supply a comb and mirror for those who want it and I swear the men are more worried about being tidy for the photo than the women. I've also been doing a lot of laminating of things like maps of the site, telephone instructions, telephone directory lists and instructions to go in the wrg vans for finding the local rail/bus station and the hospital. We have two photocopiers on site, thankfully they are fully featured and fast. The idea is that long runs should go to the one in the print shop and short to the one opposite admin. This leads to a lot of debate about what constitutes a short run. All I can say is that it is a long walk to the one in the print shop and a short one to the one opposite admin so obviously all my runs are short!
I suspect that last night may well prove to be the high point of the festival for me. After dinner twenty seven wrgies (and a dog) were conveyed in three minibuses to the Stourbridge end of the Dudley Tunnel where we joined the electric trip boat Richard. This is an open boat with two rows of seats down her length facing outwards. Between the seats on the top plank is a row of lights facing upwards. I believe she can hold about fifty for a busy trip. When we were all seated the organiser handed out hard hats so, being wrgies, we put them on. By the time he turned round to us and said "I'll tell you when you need to put them on" he was confronted by twenty seven wrgies (but not the dog) all wearing hard hats.
We then had the full tour going through the length of the tunnel and round the loop of the caverns at the Dudley end. The steerer gave us a running commentary but we were also accompanied by the Chairman of the Dudley Canal Trust who added a lot of interesting information. As we went through the tunnel we could see numbered markers every chain (the length of a cricket pitch) and the steerer kept us informed as we passed under various points of note in Dudley. At one point we passed under the municipal cemetery, at another it was Dudley Grammar School. There was a bit where we were eighty feet below a very up market residential area and the steerer felt the residents might not be pleased to know that we were there. Elsewhere we passed under another residential area and although the commentary didn't actually state that it was a house of ill repute that did seem to be the implication.
When we were finally approaching the exit the boat was allowed to stop and we were offered the opportunity to try legging it. That means two people lying back to back on a board across the boat each resting their head on the other's shoulder then using their feet to walk on the side of the tunnel ad drive the boat through the tunnel. I was itching to try but I was sure there would be a huge queue and it was getting very late. However my luck was in, I was in the first pair and we had great fun. The boat weighs fifteen tons and we were not doing badly until the steerer announced that we could feel what it was like with twenty five tons and started to power the boat in the opposite direction. We did keep the boat moving in the right direction but very slowly and my legs were decidedly wobbly when we stopped. Only one other pair tried it and they walked the boat out of the tunnel. We crept back into the camp at a disgraceful 11.30pm and it was hard to get up this morning but well worth it for me at least.
Hi Folks
It's Sheila tonight as Bruce is still hard at work. The pace is hotting up.
On Wednesday night we joined the IWA volunteers (blue shirts) for a Chinese carry out which was a really enjoyable meal. Of course the cooking wasn't quite up to the standard of Al and Neil's cooking for the wrg camp but it was a very pleasant banquet. The Chinese on the Wednesday night before the Festival is a long established tradition for the Blue Shirts but it is nice that over the last few years the red shirts (wrg) have been invited to join in and more do so each year. On Wednesday there were 118 participants. Annie the Personnel Manager spends some time before each festival researching the local takeaways and she is a very good picker.
Last year at St Ives the chosen supplier was overwhelmed by the scale of the order and bought in prepared meals from all the other takeaways in the area. The driver who went to collect our order said that while he was waiting there were a range of taxis and cars driving up to the takeaway and carrying trays of food in. It was still a very good meal. This year was even more helpful as the takeaway delivered to us. Unfortunately he then missed the track on his way off site and got stuck in the mud. A team had to go out and push him off. There were many cheers as the food was carried in, including three plastic sacks the size of dustbin liners all containing prawn crackers!
There was heavy rain while we ate our Chinese and more during Thursday so there were many groans. However the pressure is rising and we have a nice drying breeze and a bit of sun today so we are hoping for the best.
Bruce had a busy day yesterday with a mix of fencing, laying wood chip paths over any soft patches and erecting the market stalls which have been rented out to some of the small traders. Last thing last night the night fence had to be erected which leaves access to the bar and food court open for boaters and campers but secures the traders stalls. This year is a particularly long fence and it all has to go up each evening and come down the following morning. Sometimes the layout of the site allows the night fence to run along the back of a row of stalls and it can be left up all weekend but no such luck this year.
Bruce wanted me to give an idea of my work but it is much more mundane than his. Probably the most fun comes from making the badges for the volunteers. We use a rather sophisticated piece of software which enables us to add the name of each volunteer to the IWA logo. Senior staff also have their picture taken on a webcam for incorporation into the badge. I have been threatening to supply a comb and mirror for those who want it and I swear the men are more worried about being tidy for the photo than the women. I've also been doing a lot of laminating of things like maps of the site, telephone instructions, telephone directory lists and instructions to go in the wrg vans for finding the local rail/bus station and the hospital. We have two photocopiers on site, thankfully they are fully featured and fast. The idea is that long runs should go to the one in the print shop and short to the one opposite admin. This leads to a lot of debate about what constitutes a short run. All I can say is that it is a long walk to the one in the print shop and a short one to the one opposite admin so obviously all my runs are short!
I suspect that last night may well prove to be the high point of the festival for me. After dinner twenty seven wrgies (and a dog) were conveyed in three minibuses to the Stourbridge end of the Dudley Tunnel where we joined the electric trip boat Richard. This is an open boat with two rows of seats down her length facing outwards. Between the seats on the top plank is a row of lights facing upwards. I believe she can hold about fifty for a busy trip. When we were all seated the organiser handed out hard hats so, being wrgies, we put them on. By the time he turned round to us and said "I'll tell you when you need to put them on" he was confronted by twenty seven wrgies (but not the dog) all wearing hard hats.
We then had the full tour going through the length of the tunnel and round the loop of the caverns at the Dudley end. The steerer gave us a running commentary but we were also accompanied by the Chairman of the Dudley Canal Trust who added a lot of interesting information. As we went through the tunnel we could see numbered markers every chain (the length of a cricket pitch) and the steerer kept us informed as we passed under various points of note in Dudley. At one point we passed under the municipal cemetery, at another it was Dudley Grammar School. There was a bit where we were eighty feet below a very up market residential area and the steerer felt the residents might not be pleased to know that we were there. Elsewhere we passed under another residential area and although the commentary didn't actually state that it was a house of ill repute that did seem to be the implication.
When we were finally approaching the exit the boat was allowed to stop and we were offered the opportunity to try legging it. That means two people lying back to back on a board across the boat each resting their head on the other's shoulder then using their feet to walk on the side of the tunnel ad drive the boat through the tunnel. I was itching to try but I was sure there would be a huge queue and it was getting very late. However my luck was in, I was in the first pair and we had great fun. The boat weighs fifteen tons and we were not doing badly until the steerer announced that we could feel what it was like with twenty five tons and started to power the boat in the opposite direction. We did keep the boat moving in the right direction but very slowly and my legs were decidedly wobbly when we stopped. Only one other pair tried it and they walked the boat out of the tunnel. We crept back into the camp at a disgraceful 11.30pm and it was hard to get up this morning but well worth it for me at least.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Wednesday, 20 August 2008
Plodding (plodging?) on
19th & 20th August
The weather has continued very unsettled for the last two days, though frustratingly it was quite fine at times today, only to break down into heavy showers again in late afternoon.
Yesterday morning we spent extending the perimeter fence behind the theatre to create part of the area for the fairground, into which the fairground folks moved their caravans. We also fenced off the bit of the tracking outside the main perimeter along which the trucks will move to deliver supplies to the bar tent.
We did a trial erection of a gazebo being supplied to one of the exhibitors, but decided that, having checked that it would go up, and identified that all its pegs and guys had disappeared and would have to be replaced, there was not much point leaving it standing in the wind and rain, so took it down with a note on the task list to put it back up on Friday morning.
After lunch the fairground was all in position, so we went back and made good all the fencing. Later we did a bit of other heavy shifting type work, but we were still quite restricted by the soggy ground. We really don't want even to walk on it too much until we absolutely have to.
In the evening we had the joint red and blue shirts' cheese and wine party, which went very well.
Today has brought a different role for me. It's craning day, when the exhibitors' boats come in, some to be craned off their flat bed lorries to positions on the land, and others to move into position on the floating pontoon. My job was to act as harbourmaster for these latter boats.
In practice, one of them had to stay at the yard where it was craned in, as no one turned up from the exhibitor's to move it. Two others duly arrived and were positioned. The rest of the floating exhibits are coming under their own steam. Of these, only one had turned up by lunch, so that of 14 boats expected, we had three on the pontoon, and one waiting to be moved from where it was craned in.
Late afternoon another one arrived, and we are aware of two others somewhere in the vicinity. As I'm back to my normal role as a wrg team leader tomorrow, folks from the commercial team will have to sort them out.
Tonight we have a giant Chinese carry out, mainly with the blue shirts, then things really get frantic for the final 48 hours of preparation. I'll do my best to post as usual on Friday, but don't be surprised if it doesn't appear until the weekend!
The weather has continued very unsettled for the last two days, though frustratingly it was quite fine at times today, only to break down into heavy showers again in late afternoon.
Yesterday morning we spent extending the perimeter fence behind the theatre to create part of the area for the fairground, into which the fairground folks moved their caravans. We also fenced off the bit of the tracking outside the main perimeter along which the trucks will move to deliver supplies to the bar tent.
We did a trial erection of a gazebo being supplied to one of the exhibitors, but decided that, having checked that it would go up, and identified that all its pegs and guys had disappeared and would have to be replaced, there was not much point leaving it standing in the wind and rain, so took it down with a note on the task list to put it back up on Friday morning.
After lunch the fairground was all in position, so we went back and made good all the fencing. Later we did a bit of other heavy shifting type work, but we were still quite restricted by the soggy ground. We really don't want even to walk on it too much until we absolutely have to.
In the evening we had the joint red and blue shirts' cheese and wine party, which went very well.
Today has brought a different role for me. It's craning day, when the exhibitors' boats come in, some to be craned off their flat bed lorries to positions on the land, and others to move into position on the floating pontoon. My job was to act as harbourmaster for these latter boats.
In practice, one of them had to stay at the yard where it was craned in, as no one turned up from the exhibitor's to move it. Two others duly arrived and were positioned. The rest of the floating exhibits are coming under their own steam. Of these, only one had turned up by lunch, so that of 14 boats expected, we had three on the pontoon, and one waiting to be moved from where it was craned in.
Late afternoon another one arrived, and we are aware of two others somewhere in the vicinity. As I'm back to my normal role as a wrg team leader tomorrow, folks from the commercial team will have to sort them out.
Tonight we have a giant Chinese carry out, mainly with the blue shirts, then things really get frantic for the final 48 hours of preparation. I'll do my best to post as usual on Friday, but don't be surprised if it doesn't appear until the weekend!
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Monday, 18 August 2008
I'd like it to stop raining, please!
17th & 18th August
Just a quickie this time, as I'm getting quite tired and I want my shower before going back for the evening meal and the main health and safety talk.
The barbeque at Wolverhampton Boat Club was one of those good ideas that didn't quite work, mainly because it was a victim of its own success. In the event, 80 of us descended on the club, and not surprisingly, they really struggled to cope with the demand. The catering arrangements in particular meant queuing for a long time (around 45 minutes in some cases) though the bar managed rather better.
It did mean the all those involved with the early stages of setting up had a chance to socialise together, which was great, but it didn't do my prejudice against barbeques any good.
The weather has stopped cooperating altogether, with worrying amounts of rain leaving parts of the site very wet indeed.
I've carried on with yet more fencing jobs, such as putting crowd barrier around a section of roll out tracking that was both outside the main boundary fence, and sticking up at the edges in a hazardous way.
We put a temporary fence around the campsite manager's tents and trailers, though by this morning it looked like we would have to adjust the arrangements for that campsite, and so had to move a load of the fencing near him.
We've started using chippings laid over terram membrane in the worst patches of mud in the wrg compound, and I suspect we'll have to do a lot more of the same on the main site. Site 1 has also ordered a lot more roll out tracking, to help the traders get to their stands without breaking up the ground too much.
We are building on the horrendous experiences of St Ives last year to cope better with very similar conditions this time. We keep hoping that this amazingly wet summer will relent a bit in time to give us a chance of delivering a good show, but it is quite worrying.
Fortunately, we'd already planned to use car parking at the Dunstall Race Course and the Birmingham and Midshires HQ, with a park and ride facility to the show, so at least that bit will be less affected by the soggy conditions.
The wrg compound has pretty well taken shape now, so folks turning up for the main camp (which starts tonight) will find things ready for them. This afternoon has been very quiet, work wise, a sort of calm before the storm, I guess. I've been persuaded to be a team leader on the main camp for the first time, so will just have to hope that the power trip doesn't go to my head. (As will my team, I guess.)
Just a quickie this time, as I'm getting quite tired and I want my shower before going back for the evening meal and the main health and safety talk.
The barbeque at Wolverhampton Boat Club was one of those good ideas that didn't quite work, mainly because it was a victim of its own success. In the event, 80 of us descended on the club, and not surprisingly, they really struggled to cope with the demand. The catering arrangements in particular meant queuing for a long time (around 45 minutes in some cases) though the bar managed rather better.
It did mean the all those involved with the early stages of setting up had a chance to socialise together, which was great, but it didn't do my prejudice against barbeques any good.
The weather has stopped cooperating altogether, with worrying amounts of rain leaving parts of the site very wet indeed.
I've carried on with yet more fencing jobs, such as putting crowd barrier around a section of roll out tracking that was both outside the main boundary fence, and sticking up at the edges in a hazardous way.
We put a temporary fence around the campsite manager's tents and trailers, though by this morning it looked like we would have to adjust the arrangements for that campsite, and so had to move a load of the fencing near him.
We've started using chippings laid over terram membrane in the worst patches of mud in the wrg compound, and I suspect we'll have to do a lot more of the same on the main site. Site 1 has also ordered a lot more roll out tracking, to help the traders get to their stands without breaking up the ground too much.
We are building on the horrendous experiences of St Ives last year to cope better with very similar conditions this time. We keep hoping that this amazingly wet summer will relent a bit in time to give us a chance of delivering a good show, but it is quite worrying.
Fortunately, we'd already planned to use car parking at the Dunstall Race Course and the Birmingham and Midshires HQ, with a park and ride facility to the show, so at least that bit will be less affected by the soggy conditions.
The wrg compound has pretty well taken shape now, so folks turning up for the main camp (which starts tonight) will find things ready for them. This afternoon has been very quiet, work wise, a sort of calm before the storm, I guess. I've been persuaded to be a team leader on the main camp for the first time, so will just have to hope that the power trip doesn't go to my head. (As will my team, I guess.)
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Starting the wrg camp, and almost finished the fencing
15th & 16th August
Yesterday was rather a day of more of the same. I spent a lot of it doing yet more fencing, though much of it was redoing sections that weren't working for some reason. The marquee contractors had found that the inner line of the perimeter fence was too close to the side of the bar tent, so rather than call us to sort it, they had shoved the inner line right up against the outer, bending one of the panels at 30 degrees to do so.We had to dismantle both lines along the side of the tent and re-erect them properly.
The main activity in the afternoon was moving a whole section around the workers' campsite. Unfortunately, we'd had a break-in there the day before, and a laptop and wallet taken from a trailer tent, so we had agreed with the Council to close the footpath that runs round that side of the site, and push the fence line back into the trees alongside.
By the end of the afternoon we'd done about two thirds of the outer line, which takes longer because of the security clips that hold it together. We finished the rearrangement this morning, with some extra input from wrgies who had arrived last night.
The main other event yesterday was a visit from Graeme, Cathy and Daniel. They were on their way back from Bath where they had been visiting Cathy's brother. They could only stay for lunch, but it was great to see them, of course, and to see how much Daniel has grown in the short time since we saw him last.
This afternoon we had some odd bits and bobs of fence adjusting to do, but I've spent much of the time helping set up the wrg camp, unloading trailers, shifting stuff into the kitchen and brew hut and the like. Truth to tell, it's not been a huge effort on my part. New arrivals are coming in all the time now, so there's plenty of workers available, many of them very experienced, for whom the routine of setting up camp is almost automatic.
One of those was Elanor, who turned up after lunch; she'll be here for a week, but sleeping in the wrg accom, rather than borrowing our side berth. This means a) she can party until late without worrying about disturbing us, and b) we don't have to clear the junk off the berth.
I know Sheila has been working hard too, harder than I, probably, but doing office type stuff instead.
I'm also spared the cooking chores from here on in. Last night we had fish pie with wrg, and tonight we are heading for Wolverhampton Boat Club, 15 minutes walk up the towpath, for a barbeque. The weather has turned wet again, just at the end of the afternoon, but the club has, we are told, a decent sized club room.
Yesterday was rather a day of more of the same. I spent a lot of it doing yet more fencing, though much of it was redoing sections that weren't working for some reason. The marquee contractors had found that the inner line of the perimeter fence was too close to the side of the bar tent, so rather than call us to sort it, they had shoved the inner line right up against the outer, bending one of the panels at 30 degrees to do so.We had to dismantle both lines along the side of the tent and re-erect them properly.
The main activity in the afternoon was moving a whole section around the workers' campsite. Unfortunately, we'd had a break-in there the day before, and a laptop and wallet taken from a trailer tent, so we had agreed with the Council to close the footpath that runs round that side of the site, and push the fence line back into the trees alongside.
By the end of the afternoon we'd done about two thirds of the outer line, which takes longer because of the security clips that hold it together. We finished the rearrangement this morning, with some extra input from wrgies who had arrived last night.
The main other event yesterday was a visit from Graeme, Cathy and Daniel. They were on their way back from Bath where they had been visiting Cathy's brother. They could only stay for lunch, but it was great to see them, of course, and to see how much Daniel has grown in the short time since we saw him last.
This afternoon we had some odd bits and bobs of fence adjusting to do, but I've spent much of the time helping set up the wrg camp, unloading trailers, shifting stuff into the kitchen and brew hut and the like. Truth to tell, it's not been a huge effort on my part. New arrivals are coming in all the time now, so there's plenty of workers available, many of them very experienced, for whom the routine of setting up camp is almost automatic.
One of those was Elanor, who turned up after lunch; she'll be here for a week, but sleeping in the wrg accom, rather than borrowing our side berth. This means a) she can party until late without worrying about disturbing us, and b) we don't have to clear the junk off the berth.
I know Sheila has been working hard too, harder than I, probably, but doing office type stuff instead.
I'm also spared the cooking chores from here on in. Last night we had fish pie with wrg, and tonight we are heading for Wolverhampton Boat Club, 15 minutes walk up the towpath, for a barbeque. The weather has turned wet again, just at the end of the afternoon, but the club has, we are told, a decent sized club room.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Thursday, 14 August 2008
Fencing in better weather
13th & 14th August
It's Bruce again.
Yesterday was a red letter day, my very own scaff spanner arrived. For those not initiated into the arcane art of temporary fencing, you need a scaffolding spanner to tighten the standard fencing clip that holds it all together. We always have a stock in the Tardis, but naturally there's never enough to go round, and the cry you hear ringing across site from time to time is "Who's got a scaff spanner?).
Sunday, I finally got round to ordering one from ScrewFix, together with a pair of high vis vests for Sheila and I, and they came just 24 hours later. One of the useful aspects of being at the National is that we have access to a postal address for the duration.
I spent yesterday and today with the fencing team again. We've made a start on fencing the exhibitors' campsite, leaving the fence stabilised with triangles, and gaps in it so that the public can continue to have access to their park. We also took down a bit of the perimeter fence where it hadn't left room in a bay for the intended activity.
Having taken a section down, the tree work contractors went in and cleared the undergrowth back, and we returned after lunch to re-erect the fence with rather more space inside.
I thought I had detected a similar problem at the far end of the main site, where the fairground will be, but a discussion with Site 1 today revealed that the plan has been modified since the main drawings were done, and the line is fine.
The fencing team have also been used as general muscle. The most serious task yesterday of this type was to move the cages for storing gas cylinders to their proper positions. They didn't have to move far, but they are remarkably heavy; it took six of us, with poles through convenient slots ,to carry them.
Today we took down the section of perimeter fence where the pay booths were to go, as the cabin was due for delivery. Once more we went back after lunch and redesigned the fence around the new cabin..
We've also sorted a problem with the fence next to the Tardis. Every year we put the fence up quite quickly, because of the need to protect the Tardis immediately, and then when we go back to do a better job, others have unloaded masses of stuff from the Tardis and leaned it on the fence.
We'd deliberately waited until a lot of this had been used, then went in and shifted the rest out of the way, installed some more props to pull the fence back upright, and then put the stuff back tidily.
Further general work was helping to unload the fire extinguisher stock from the Tardis so that it can be tested, and shifting a plant trailer full of cookers and fridges and freezers into the wrg kitchen cabin and brew hut.
Sheila has been beavering away in the admin cabin meanwhile, doing stuff like making badges and signs. Next time she's doing this blog I'll try and persuade her to give more detail about that.
Last night was a joint fish and chips session for the blue shirts – we all gathered in the marquee by the worker's boats, drank some beer, ate fish and chips, and generally had a quite raucous time of it.
The weather today has been much more promising, sunny and a bit breezy. We are just praying for a continuation of it. We've filled the ruts around the site before they set hard, and a big roller has been hired in to start pressing the ground flat again.
Tonight we are having a quiet one on the boat; the wrgies will start reappearing tomorrow, so that we move into wrg camp mode. I probably only have a couple more meals to provide before I get my break from cooking for a couple of weeks.
It's Bruce again.
Yesterday was a red letter day, my very own scaff spanner arrived. For those not initiated into the arcane art of temporary fencing, you need a scaffolding spanner to tighten the standard fencing clip that holds it all together. We always have a stock in the Tardis, but naturally there's never enough to go round, and the cry you hear ringing across site from time to time is "Who's got a scaff spanner?).
Sunday, I finally got round to ordering one from ScrewFix, together with a pair of high vis vests for Sheila and I, and they came just 24 hours later. One of the useful aspects of being at the National is that we have access to a postal address for the duration.
I spent yesterday and today with the fencing team again. We've made a start on fencing the exhibitors' campsite, leaving the fence stabilised with triangles, and gaps in it so that the public can continue to have access to their park. We also took down a bit of the perimeter fence where it hadn't left room in a bay for the intended activity.
Having taken a section down, the tree work contractors went in and cleared the undergrowth back, and we returned after lunch to re-erect the fence with rather more space inside.
I thought I had detected a similar problem at the far end of the main site, where the fairground will be, but a discussion with Site 1 today revealed that the plan has been modified since the main drawings were done, and the line is fine.
The fencing team have also been used as general muscle. The most serious task yesterday of this type was to move the cages for storing gas cylinders to their proper positions. They didn't have to move far, but they are remarkably heavy; it took six of us, with poles through convenient slots ,to carry them.
Today we took down the section of perimeter fence where the pay booths were to go, as the cabin was due for delivery. Once more we went back after lunch and redesigned the fence around the new cabin..
We've also sorted a problem with the fence next to the Tardis. Every year we put the fence up quite quickly, because of the need to protect the Tardis immediately, and then when we go back to do a better job, others have unloaded masses of stuff from the Tardis and leaned it on the fence.
We'd deliberately waited until a lot of this had been used, then went in and shifted the rest out of the way, installed some more props to pull the fence back upright, and then put the stuff back tidily.
Further general work was helping to unload the fire extinguisher stock from the Tardis so that it can be tested, and shifting a plant trailer full of cookers and fridges and freezers into the wrg kitchen cabin and brew hut.
Sheila has been beavering away in the admin cabin meanwhile, doing stuff like making badges and signs. Next time she's doing this blog I'll try and persuade her to give more detail about that.
Last night was a joint fish and chips session for the blue shirts – we all gathered in the marquee by the worker's boats, drank some beer, ate fish and chips, and generally had a quite raucous time of it.
The weather today has been much more promising, sunny and a bit breezy. We are just praying for a continuation of it. We've filled the ruts around the site before they set hard, and a big roller has been hired in to start pressing the ground flat again.
Tonight we are having a quiet one on the boat; the wrgies will start reappearing tomorrow, so that we move into wrg camp mode. I probably only have a couple more meals to provide before I get my break from cooking for a couple of weeks.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Tuesday, 12 August 2008
Setting up the National, part 2
11th & 12th August
Hello. It's Sheila at the keyboard tonight.
Sunday night we went off site in a group of ten wrgies to have a meal at the nearest pub called the Pendulum. Other workers had said that the food was good. The sign in the car park was a bit off-putting. It informed us that drug taking and dealing was forbidden in the car park. When we went in the ambience was a little doubtful with several very small children and during the evening a couple of noisy football fans came in and started shouting. However they were told by a customer to shut up and amazingly they did. There was a good range of curries on offer at very reasonable prices so we all got drinks and ordered food and waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed a long time before the first person was served, it was probably three quarters of an hour later when the last person was served. The curries were very nice but perhaps a little liberal with the hot spices.
Monday was the driest day so far and we made good progress. In the morning Bruce and I were marking out the mooring positions on a section of bank just outside the show site. It involved using a surveyor's wheel which was rather fun then marking the ends of the mooring with white spray paint such as is used to mark lines on a football pitch. Pat Barton who plans the moorings must have had a merry time allowing for the length of each boat (plus a metre) with a two metre gap every six boats as a firebreak. Then there had to be an allowance for passing places at regular intervals. All this and still fit in the maximum number of boats possible.
In the afternoon Bruce was back to fencing and I was back in the admin office turning my hand to whatever came up. There were banners to put up on the outside fence to show the local people what is happening here. There were notices to laminate. The furniture and equipment was still being moved in so there was a lot to unpack. As it is early in the build up there was not yet any sense of urgency so we were able to knock off at 5.00 pm. It was very pleasant to take a can and a glass along to the workers gazebo and sit down and have a drink before dinner. We were able to meet far more of the people working in other areas than we have at previous festivals. One great advantage of this site is that all the volunteer workers are in the same compound. At previous festivals the IWA volunteers who wear blue t shirts have been in a different compound from the wrgies who wear red t shirts and there has been a lack of communication between red and blue shirts.
This morning was wet. It had been raining on and off all night. When we reached the admin area we discovered that Site 1 had decreed that no wheeled vehicles should go on site until it dried a bit. Then the artic loaded with marquees arrived. Luckily the lorry could be kept on the trackway that was laid at the weekend and the marquees were offloaded from there. The next problem was that the marquee erectors took exception to the public footpath that runs across the site. Fence had been put down either side of the path to secure the site but allow the public to continue walking their dogs through the area. We hastily printed and laminated notices to explain that it was only a temporary measure and Bruce's fencers extended the fence to block the path.
We were really pleased this morning to get rid of all the recycling that we have been saving for the past couple of weeks. The skips are in place to take a full range of recycling. Bruce commented that the attachment points on the skips for lifting onto the lorry were blocked with special anti theft devices. It's that sort of area.
Bruce continued with fencing all day and I got on with bits and pieces in admin. Again we were glad to knock off at 5.00pm and retire to the boat. It is strange to be moored with a boat either side of us but not unpleasant. The couple on the boat inside us have a Chesapeake Bay Retriever called George (think of a brown Labrador with a semi curly coat and you're not far off) and an African Grey Parrot. George is an asset. When some stumps needed to be dug out to remove trip hazards from the towpath George was told to fetch the stick. He went into action digging and worrying at the stump until he got it out of the ground. The only job he left was to wash the mud off the boat alongside.
The parrot is a wonderful talker with a wide range of sounds. He can imitate a number of telephone ring-tones and produces a very convincing cat's miaow. Apparently he could fool their previous dog and would make it sit every time it walked past his cage. George has a better ear and can tell the parrot from his master's voice.
One of the boaters who arrived recently and moored a couple of boat lengths from the workers' moorings said jestingly that he had moored there because they had no food on board. He comes from a boating family and told us how, if a boater was down on his luck and had no food for his family he would moor at a little distance from the other boats so they couldn't see that there was no food on board. He told us of one boater, who had only bread and jam for his family at Christmas, put bacon rinds on the stove to make the smell of meat rise from the boat. It was a hard life.
Hello. It's Sheila at the keyboard tonight.
Sunday night we went off site in a group of ten wrgies to have a meal at the nearest pub called the Pendulum. Other workers had said that the food was good. The sign in the car park was a bit off-putting. It informed us that drug taking and dealing was forbidden in the car park. When we went in the ambience was a little doubtful with several very small children and during the evening a couple of noisy football fans came in and started shouting. However they were told by a customer to shut up and amazingly they did. There was a good range of curries on offer at very reasonable prices so we all got drinks and ordered food and waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed a long time before the first person was served, it was probably three quarters of an hour later when the last person was served. The curries were very nice but perhaps a little liberal with the hot spices.
Monday was the driest day so far and we made good progress. In the morning Bruce and I were marking out the mooring positions on a section of bank just outside the show site. It involved using a surveyor's wheel which was rather fun then marking the ends of the mooring with white spray paint such as is used to mark lines on a football pitch. Pat Barton who plans the moorings must have had a merry time allowing for the length of each boat (plus a metre) with a two metre gap every six boats as a firebreak. Then there had to be an allowance for passing places at regular intervals. All this and still fit in the maximum number of boats possible.
In the afternoon Bruce was back to fencing and I was back in the admin office turning my hand to whatever came up. There were banners to put up on the outside fence to show the local people what is happening here. There were notices to laminate. The furniture and equipment was still being moved in so there was a lot to unpack. As it is early in the build up there was not yet any sense of urgency so we were able to knock off at 5.00 pm. It was very pleasant to take a can and a glass along to the workers gazebo and sit down and have a drink before dinner. We were able to meet far more of the people working in other areas than we have at previous festivals. One great advantage of this site is that all the volunteer workers are in the same compound. At previous festivals the IWA volunteers who wear blue t shirts have been in a different compound from the wrgies who wear red t shirts and there has been a lack of communication between red and blue shirts.
This morning was wet. It had been raining on and off all night. When we reached the admin area we discovered that Site 1 had decreed that no wheeled vehicles should go on site until it dried a bit. Then the artic loaded with marquees arrived. Luckily the lorry could be kept on the trackway that was laid at the weekend and the marquees were offloaded from there. The next problem was that the marquee erectors took exception to the public footpath that runs across the site. Fence had been put down either side of the path to secure the site but allow the public to continue walking their dogs through the area. We hastily printed and laminated notices to explain that it was only a temporary measure and Bruce's fencers extended the fence to block the path.
We were really pleased this morning to get rid of all the recycling that we have been saving for the past couple of weeks. The skips are in place to take a full range of recycling. Bruce commented that the attachment points on the skips for lifting onto the lorry were blocked with special anti theft devices. It's that sort of area.
Bruce continued with fencing all day and I got on with bits and pieces in admin. Again we were glad to knock off at 5.00pm and retire to the boat. It is strange to be moored with a boat either side of us but not unpleasant. The couple on the boat inside us have a Chesapeake Bay Retriever called George (think of a brown Labrador with a semi curly coat and you're not far off) and an African Grey Parrot. George is an asset. When some stumps needed to be dug out to remove trip hazards from the towpath George was told to fetch the stick. He went into action digging and worrying at the stump until he got it out of the ground. The only job he left was to wash the mud off the boat alongside.
The parrot is a wonderful talker with a wide range of sounds. He can imitate a number of telephone ring-tones and produces a very convincing cat's miaow. Apparently he could fool their previous dog and would make it sit every time it walked past his cage. George has a better ear and can tell the parrot from his master's voice.
One of the boaters who arrived recently and moored a couple of boat lengths from the workers' moorings said jestingly that he had moored there because they had no food on board. He comes from a boating family and told us how, if a boater was down on his luck and had no food for his family he would moor at a little distance from the other boats so they couldn't see that there was no food on board. He told us of one boater, who had only bread and jam for his family at Christmas, put bacon rinds on the stove to make the smell of meat rise from the boat. It was a hard life.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Early days at the IWA National site
8th, 9th & 10th August
I've missed a day so that the blog is due on the day it's my job to come back to the boat in the late afternoon to do housekeeping.
A quick run down of what we've been up to here at the IWA National site:
On Friday, things got under way with the safety briefing from Dave Jones, the Site and Services Director, aka Site 1 from his radio call sign. Having had the chat we've heard just once or twice before, we got our blue all-areas wristbands and set to.
It was a slowish start, in fact, with various bits and pieces to do whilst we waited for stuff to arrive. In due course the Tardis turned up. The Tardis is the IWA artic trailer full of everything you need to run the Festival, just about. Since the driver bringing it had his own ideas about the best route to where we wanted it on site, it promptly got stuck in a soft patch.
Said driver was also reluctant to admit he had a problem, and tried unhitching the trailer and pulling the tractor forward, whereupon he got really stuck.
Four hours later (yup, four hours) we finally got him out of his hole, recoupled to the trailer and started unrolling the temporary roadway (which had been available all the time) in front of him so that we could get the trailer into position, the tractor uncoupled and get down to work.
The main task was throwing a fence around the Tardis compound, by which time it was knocking off time, and we all retreated to our boats for a drink and dinner.
Yesterday was fencing most of the day, much of it in the pouring rain. It's a long site perimeter, with a fair bit of internal fencing, and because we are amongst a number of housing estates with rather high crime stats, the outer fence is to be double skinned. In total, we have over four kilometres of fence to put up in the course of the next week or so.
By the end of the day, we'd got a double skin round the areas which need protecting right now. Wrg had set up a short weekend camp to assist with this, so we were able to get fed without using the boat facilities, always welcome when working as hard as this in poor weather.
I personally don't especially enjoy barbeques, mind, which is what we had last night, but there you go. It is difficult at this stage of the game to do much creative catering, as most of the stuff we need has not yet arrived.
Today was yet more fencing in the morning, though Sheila went over to the admin side to help with putting up explanatory banners and the like. In the afternoon, I changed team to start working with Bungle and Malcolm on the electrics – the first gensets are here, and by the end of the afternoon we had power to the Tardis, the chippies workshop and brew hut and to the first cabins in the admin compound.
In addition, chunks of temp roadway have been laid, so we are ready for it if the weather deteriorates again. The weekend wrgies have now gone home, and the rump of us are off to a local pub with a high rep for Indian food tonight.
I've missed a day so that the blog is due on the day it's my job to come back to the boat in the late afternoon to do housekeeping.
A quick run down of what we've been up to here at the IWA National site:
On Friday, things got under way with the safety briefing from Dave Jones, the Site and Services Director, aka Site 1 from his radio call sign. Having had the chat we've heard just once or twice before, we got our blue all-areas wristbands and set to.
It was a slowish start, in fact, with various bits and pieces to do whilst we waited for stuff to arrive. In due course the Tardis turned up. The Tardis is the IWA artic trailer full of everything you need to run the Festival, just about. Since the driver bringing it had his own ideas about the best route to where we wanted it on site, it promptly got stuck in a soft patch.
Said driver was also reluctant to admit he had a problem, and tried unhitching the trailer and pulling the tractor forward, whereupon he got really stuck.
Four hours later (yup, four hours) we finally got him out of his hole, recoupled to the trailer and started unrolling the temporary roadway (which had been available all the time) in front of him so that we could get the trailer into position, the tractor uncoupled and get down to work.
The main task was throwing a fence around the Tardis compound, by which time it was knocking off time, and we all retreated to our boats for a drink and dinner.
Yesterday was fencing most of the day, much of it in the pouring rain. It's a long site perimeter, with a fair bit of internal fencing, and because we are amongst a number of housing estates with rather high crime stats, the outer fence is to be double skinned. In total, we have over four kilometres of fence to put up in the course of the next week or so.
By the end of the day, we'd got a double skin round the areas which need protecting right now. Wrg had set up a short weekend camp to assist with this, so we were able to get fed without using the boat facilities, always welcome when working as hard as this in poor weather.
I personally don't especially enjoy barbeques, mind, which is what we had last night, but there you go. It is difficult at this stage of the game to do much creative catering, as most of the stuff we need has not yet arrived.
Today was yet more fencing in the morning, though Sheila went over to the admin side to help with putting up explanatory banners and the like. In the afternoon, I changed team to start working with Bungle and Malcolm on the electrics – the first gensets are here, and by the end of the afternoon we had power to the Tardis, the chippies workshop and brew hut and to the first cabins in the admin compound.
In addition, chunks of temp roadway have been laid, so we are ready for it if the weather deteriorates again. The weekend wrgies have now gone home, and the rump of us are off to a local pub with a high rep for Indian food tonight.
Labels:
Autherley Junction
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Arriving a day early
6th & 7th August
This is going to be the last "normal" (hah!) blog for a while, as we've now arrived at Autherley and will be heavily involved in setting up the IWA National Festival. Last year I just stopped posting for three weeks, but then found it really hard to get going again afterwards.
This year, we plan to try to keep to the alternate day schedule, but some of the time it may be Sheila who posts rather than me, and the timing may well be a bit more variable than normal.
To bring things up to date:
Yesterday, we set off for an early start, getting away at 7.30. Sheila got on her bike from the outset; this is one of those runs where it really comes into its own, as the locks are about half a mile apart on average, though some are closer together and others more spaced out.
We chugged steadily along, being pursued by some novices in a very big Anglo Welsh, who at first seemed quite fierce, but this proved to be nervousness on their part, and we soon established cordial relations.
We had a short wait at the foot of the Bratch whilst a couple of boats came down, then went up in our turn. There was plenty of room on the visitor moorings at the top, where we settled for the afternoon and evening. The internet connection there was quite odd; it was showing a fast connection according to the modem, but in fact was very unreliable.
After lunch I took a walk back to Wombourne to get a paper. As I left, Reece and Di turned up and moored just ahead of us. On my return, I found Di walking along the towpath calling to their Springer spaniel, Holly. Holly had jumped into the cut and was swimming to and fro for exercise. Apparently this is a habit of hers, and although normally a well behaved pooch, in these circumstances it can be an hour before she agrees to come out.
I spent most of the rest of the afternoon using the discs so kindly provided by Andy Greener to update the iBook's operating system. Although a reasonably straightforward procedure (this is a Mac, after all), it's always a bit nerve wracking doing such radical work to the computer which is so important to our lifestyle. I had, of course, taken the precaution of backing everything up, so if the worst came to the worst, I could just put it all back the way it was.
All went well, in the event; I had to reinstall the drivers for the modem, and PhotoShop is whingeing about something, but still seems to be working.
The only trouble was that this morning the internet connection was not just unreliable, it didn't work at all. We set off for Compton anyway, but couldn't get a signal there. Meantime, we'd had an interesting morning's boating in that we passed another boat at each lock between the Bratch and Compton. Quite why this section of canal was so busy comparatively early in the day wasn't clear; just chance, I guess, and the fact that it was very pleasant, weather-wise, with the risk of rain later, so everyone had decided to get their boating done while the sun shone.
After lunch, we decided to carry on to Autherley in the hope of finding a better connection. In fact, as soon as we'd worked up Compton Lock, the signal reappeared, and everything is working again. Since there's nowhere we'd want to stop between Compton and Autherley, we came on to the Festival site anyway.
So here we are again, meeting and greeting old friends from previous years and getting a feel for the place.
Watch this space for progress reports as we put the Festival together.
This is going to be the last "normal" (hah!) blog for a while, as we've now arrived at Autherley and will be heavily involved in setting up the IWA National Festival. Last year I just stopped posting for three weeks, but then found it really hard to get going again afterwards.
This year, we plan to try to keep to the alternate day schedule, but some of the time it may be Sheila who posts rather than me, and the timing may well be a bit more variable than normal.
To bring things up to date:
Yesterday, we set off for an early start, getting away at 7.30. Sheila got on her bike from the outset; this is one of those runs where it really comes into its own, as the locks are about half a mile apart on average, though some are closer together and others more spaced out.
We chugged steadily along, being pursued by some novices in a very big Anglo Welsh, who at first seemed quite fierce, but this proved to be nervousness on their part, and we soon established cordial relations.
We had a short wait at the foot of the Bratch whilst a couple of boats came down, then went up in our turn. There was plenty of room on the visitor moorings at the top, where we settled for the afternoon and evening. The internet connection there was quite odd; it was showing a fast connection according to the modem, but in fact was very unreliable.
After lunch I took a walk back to Wombourne to get a paper. As I left, Reece and Di turned up and moored just ahead of us. On my return, I found Di walking along the towpath calling to their Springer spaniel, Holly. Holly had jumped into the cut and was swimming to and fro for exercise. Apparently this is a habit of hers, and although normally a well behaved pooch, in these circumstances it can be an hour before she agrees to come out.
I spent most of the rest of the afternoon using the discs so kindly provided by Andy Greener to update the iBook's operating system. Although a reasonably straightforward procedure (this is a Mac, after all), it's always a bit nerve wracking doing such radical work to the computer which is so important to our lifestyle. I had, of course, taken the precaution of backing everything up, so if the worst came to the worst, I could just put it all back the way it was.
All went well, in the event; I had to reinstall the drivers for the modem, and PhotoShop is whingeing about something, but still seems to be working.
The only trouble was that this morning the internet connection was not just unreliable, it didn't work at all. We set off for Compton anyway, but couldn't get a signal there. Meantime, we'd had an interesting morning's boating in that we passed another boat at each lock between the Bratch and Compton. Quite why this section of canal was so busy comparatively early in the day wasn't clear; just chance, I guess, and the fact that it was very pleasant, weather-wise, with the risk of rain later, so everyone had decided to get their boating done while the sun shone.
After lunch, we decided to carry on to Autherley in the hope of finding a better connection. In fact, as soon as we'd worked up Compton Lock, the signal reappeared, and everything is working again. Since there's nowhere we'd want to stop between Compton and Autherley, we came on to the Festival site anyway.
So here we are again, meeting and greeting old friends from previous years and getting a feel for the place.
Watch this space for progress reports as we put the Festival together.
Labels:
Autherley Junction,
Compton
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