Monthly Archives: December 2021

Going For Gold! 27th to 29th December

A bit of a tradition for us (when in Scarborough with a car) is to visit Thornton-le-Dale to see the Christmas lights. In days gone by we used to drive back from my Dad’s in York via one of the scenic routes so that we could see them.

They are not a huge spectacle like Regents Street and pretty much remain the same year in year out but they are still very pretty to us. Multi-coloured festoons swag up the street and along Thornton Beck, which runs along side Maltongate. I especially like the group of swans, one all puffed up and head down.

Whilst in the village we also popped along to have a look at the old cars at Mathewsons Auctions, made famous in Bangers and Cash. The showroom is now full of merchandise and the cars out of the forecourt weren’t anything special. We did however bump into Derek Mathewson, as well as running the vintage garage and museum Derek owns The Moorcock Inn, Langdale End where Mick used to drink. The next vintage car auction is in February and there are several very pretty cars going under the hammer LINK

We then headed back to the coast to see more lights. Scarborough Harbour for the last year or so has put on a display of it’s own. The boats bobbing on the low turning tide are festooned with lights up their masts and rigging.

There were plenty of people out taking photos despite the chilly breeze. Centre stage is the lighthouse, one of my favourite buildings. Big pea bulbs decorate the building which glows in the dark. Wonderful.

Christmas Cheese selection, Smoked Brie, Harrogate Blue, Kit Calvert Wensleydale and Keens Traditional Cheddar

Last week we’d been considering moving Oleanna to Huddersfield, making use of the break in the winter maintenance over Christmas and the New Year, so that I could have her to stay on whilst working for Dark Horse. We are now quite glad that we didn’t set out on the trip as with all the recent rainfall the flood locks on the Aire and Calder have been shut, Doncaster lock (not that we’d have been going that way) is closed due to high water and the Don Doors are closed protecting the New Junction Canal from rising waters on the River Don. Oleanna can stay put and I’ll stay in a hotel instead.

Janet, what a fab costume. Photo Tony Bartholomew

The last couple of evenings we’ve been to the theatre whilst sitting on our sofa. We had booked tickets to see Jack and the Beanstalk at the SJT, but sadly the night we were going coincided with some of the company having positive covid tests. Instead we decided to watch the show from home. Adapted by Nick Lane we knew we’d be in for a silly time and it was designed by Helen Coyston (costume designer for panto at Chippy). We really enjoyed it especially Janet and The Paella of love, from heaven above.

Last night we sat down to watch Hull Truck’s production of The Railway Children. This was originally filmed for a live stream so it included 15 minutes of nothing before it actually started, a full interval break and no credits which we thought was a big shame. The show has been getting great reviews, although we really enjoyed it I think quite a lot was lost in the filming. Well live theatre is magical and not being in the room with an audience let it down somewhat. The camera angles at times, although capturing the full set meant that the actors were smaller than they would have been even if we’d sat on the back row of the theatre. Have to say I felt a little bit short changed even if Sian Thomas’s costumes were lovely.

Back to the title of the blog. Going for Gold!

This isn’t that I’ve beaten Tim Larmour to the top of a mountain (Fulford School joke) therefore depriving him of Gold! No we actually got round to making a decision, we’ve bought Oleanna a Gold license for the coming year. Mick had looked on line, found where to buy a Gold License on the C&RT site but not where you could apply for a refund on a standard license.

They’re not as fancy as they used to be. Just a black G not a gold one!

Our license ran till the end of May, but a Gold License runs from January to the end of December, so to make the most of it we needed to trade in our old license this month to get a maximum refund. Mick rang C&RT and was assisted by a very helpful lady. Within minutes we had an email confirming our purchase, then a little while later another saying that they had refunded us £300 plus from our old license. Really easy.

For those readers who don’t know what the difference is. The Environment Agency is the navigation authority for the River Thames, Anglian Waterways plus a few more. With a standard C&RT license you need to pay for a visitors license to cruise EA waters. We’ve done this several times on the Thames. A Gold license however means you are covered for both C&RT and Environment Agency waters, it costs around about £300 more than our previous license but now we can come and go as we like onto the Thames or on the River Nene.

Our cruising plans for next year are still dependant on a few things, but we thought it best to invest in a Gold license now as they only run from January to December and we could get a refund for what remained of our existing one.

Who knows we may spend a couple of months exploring the Thames in greater detail than we did a few years ago along with other rivers in the south. Or we may head eastwards to the Nene, Great Ouse etc. Time and commitments will tell.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 Christmas shows, 2 Christmas lights, 3 red napkins, 4 pink t-towels,1 painting, 1 of several rivers closed due to flooding, £338.04 refund, 1 Gold license, access all areas, 1 cat licensed to kill!

Presents All Round. 25th 26th December

Scarborough and Thorne

Father Christmas brought us lots of goodies, of course there was chocolate but there were also socks. Years ago I used to think, Oh Thanks! when receiving socks, but I think when you get past a certain age it’s quite exciting as you can now justify throwing out the pairs that have gone beyond the darning stage. Amongst other things I got a Mikron bag and Mick a can of Marmite Beer, he’s not sampled it yet so we don’t know if he loves or hates it!

After smoked salmon and scrambled eggs we joined the Geraghty Zoom. Everyone was present even Ruth, James and Penelope who had headed to Lanzarote for a week. Then a long chat with the London Leckenbys.

With the fire lit we opened our presents. Tilly got a mouse and fish rammed full of catnip from her friends Mungo and Dog (they are both cats and can be friends as she’s never met them!), so she spent much of the morning occupied with them high as a cat can be!

Not cheap, but my last pair have lasted nine years.

Mick and I both got a new pair of sheepskin slippers from my Dad, great for wearing on the boat. Yes I know he passed away some years ago, but last summer a small chunk of money came to light so thank you Daddy Fatso for warm cosy toes again.

Many of my presents were things for the kitchen and arrived just in time. A carving board, electric hand whisk. I have both on the boat so now we don’t need to move them back and forth. Kath knitted me a snood to wear whilst winter boating. My neck certainly won’t get chilly and there’ll be no loose ends of a scarf to get caught in lock mechanisms. Mick got a new rope knife, very handy for stubborn things around Oleanna’s prop and it has a hole to attach a string so you can’t drop it in (mental note do this before taking it to boat!).

I always get scissors, this year however they were a touch different. These are herb scissors which have five blades so five times as much cut. Suspect they may be annoying to wash, but Mick does the washing up so that doesn’t matter! We also got wine and books. Thank you very much to friends and family.

A Christmas walk down to the beach helped clear our heads after a glass of bucks fizz.

Blimey it was cold out there with a keen breeze off the sea, but the sun was out so we battled on a touch further.

Under Spa Bridge and the now roundabout is an underpass and a car park, somewhere I’d never really fancied exploring, but a group of local artists have covered the walls of the underpass with wonderful images of fish, jelly fish all sorts. The area was once a large aquarium and still has the name Aquarium Top. Here’s a link to how it used to be, some great photos including a tram that once took a nose dive!

Frank arrived mid afternoon, watched us cook and then helped us eat just about everything. Duck with all the trimmings, followed by clementine and prosecco jelly, then upside down banana chocolate chip birthday cake, served slightly warm with ice cream.

A very nice cake and worth keeping the bananas until they were very ripe!

Birthday presents next. I got a pair of sandals, yes I know it’s winter but I’ve been hunting for sandals to wear on the boat for years and these look really good. I of course had to model them with some Christmas socks, the only time the two items will be on my feet together! There was also some chocolates, pasta, an oven glove and a new pie tin.

We rounded off the evening with another glass of wine in front of Morecombe and Wise.

Having hired a car for a few days over Christmas, original plans now cancelled, we put together a pack up lunch and headed off to see Oleanna, she had presents too, new filters! The drive was quite foggy over the Wolds, but when we reached the River Ouse it cleared somewhat, the tide was neither in or out and on the Aire and Calder there were no boats on the move.

This time last year we also headed to Oleanna as the Aire and Calder breach had just happened. Today we were pleased to see she was safe and sound and not a couple of feet below the pontoon. Mick flicked switches on in the electrics cupboard and then fired up her engine. She started up first time, we let the engine run for about an hour.

Cheddar and braised red cabbage butties with a cuppa

Blimey it was cold! Such a different place to be when the stove isn’t lit, she’ll need a good 24hrs to get back up to temperature, glad I’d worn extra layers. We had our pack up in front of the hatch with a cuppa each. We’ve known more picturesque views, but just being back on board was good.

Once the engine was off again, Mick rigged up his Christmas present a solar power battery maintainer. This will help to keep our starter battery topped up during the stationary winter months. Normally charged when the engine is running the battery can now get a bit of trickle charge when stationary for any amount of time. The solar panel has been left in the pram cover so as not to get blown away, this will mean it is less efficient, but more so than if it was at the bottom of the marina.

After a couple of hours everything was switched off again, taps left open to save coming back to burst pipes. We said our goodbyes to Oleanna and the marina and headed back to Scarborough in time to watch Paddington with Tilly, she especially liked the pigeons!

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 days hire paid for, 7 days with a car, 4 more positives, 1 Christmas, 1 birthday, 3 stockings full, 12 pairs socks, 2 pairs slippers, 1 pair sandals, 1 pan, 1 carving board, 5 blades, 1 knife, 1 whisk, 1 fish, 1 mouse, 1 pack Dreamies, 1 birthday cake, 30 roast potatoes, 0 left, 40 plus sprouts, 5 left, 12 pigs in blankets, 0 left, just what am I going to make the bubble and squeak out of tonight?!

He’s Been!

The man in red has been very generous this year. Hope he has been to you too.

Happy Christmas and a Jolly New Year to everyone.

Near Miss And Sprouts Galore. 4th to 24th December

I’ve successfully been managing to avoid doing any house decorating over the last few weeks, well there’s just been so much to do!

Preparations for Christmas have been eating up a lot of time. Frank came round to sample this years biscuit recipe, a new one, gluten free Lebkuchen. This seemed to be a bit sturdier than my old recipe and would withhold being posted through letter boxes better and still be very tasty. Frank awarded them five stars, so I stocked up on ingredients to make a big batch to go out with local Christmas cards.

The image for our Christmas card had to be chosen. This takes quite a bit of time as I whiz through all the photos I’ve taken during the year, making a short list which then gradually gets whittled away, the final choice made between Mick and myself. From a shortlist of about ten we both very quickly agreed on which image it had to be. Oleanna approaching Tower Bridge. I don’t really know why I’d bothered auditioning photos this year as this was always going to be the image.

In Chipping Norton decisions were made to try to keep the show and the cast safe from any further cases of Covid. Sadly this meant the Pippins, three teams of local kids being cut from the show. They couldn’t be cut from some scenes as they played knights, so for these scenes they were replaced by puppets. The understudies went on for a few days after a full week of no shows and now the original company are performing two shows a day. Here’s hoping this can continue to the end of the run.

Christmas decorations went up around the house. Stars in the windows, a homemade wreath on the front door and our £4 Christmas Tree from Newark Market in 2015 came indoors to be decorated. I’m not sure it will ever fit in the boat for Christmas again, but it will return to the cratch when we move back onboard so that it gets looked after for another year.

One thing that didn’t happen last Christmas was my annual haircut. I was glad when I managed to get hold of Giselle who used to cut my hair in Scarborough, she understands me and my hate of products and blow drying. The last couple of times my hair has been cut it has taken around about half an hour from washing to me walking out of the shop in Banbury feeling like I want to wash my hair immediately. My visit to Giselle took 1hour 45 minutes for a wash and cut. We did have six or seven years to catch up on and a major debate on politics was had along with having my hair cut.

My day trip to Huddersfield for #unit21 costume fittings coincided with the reintroduction of mandatory masks on public transport. The trains now run from Scarborough through to Manchester again and thankfully they weren’t too busy, I had chosen trains outside rush hour on purpose. It was good to see all the ensemble of actors again. A few people were a bit confused about everyone having to wear masks again, but we all abided by the rules. All costumes were fitted only a few alterations needed which I packed up to bring home with me.

We’ve been having some glorious sunrises

The show is scheduled for February. I’ll need a few days accommodation, but with the current Covid situation I’m hesitating to book a hotel as with nine actors who are all vulnerable the show may get postponed again. Mick had another look at C&RT winter stoppages to see if we could move Oleanna to Huddersfield. Maintenance works mostly open up over Christmas and New Year which means that it would be possible to move her. The trip is around 26 hours, so five days cruise at this time of year. Sadly not a suitable trip for Tilly so we’d need to break the journey with visits back to the house. But as nobody has been answering the phone at Aspley Basin we don’t know if there would be space for us there. A nice idea to be able to be at home whilst working, but I think we’ve decided Oleanna would be better off where she is now and I’ll just have to fork out for a hotel if the need arises.

We’ve been for a few walks. On one we got distracted by a laundry airer and I found a new international supermarket, one that stocks all sorts of flours so I may not need to go to Doncaster to replenish my stocks in future.

On another walk we stayed high along the south bay and through the old town. We had a nosy around Castle Crescent, a few houses with only pedestrian access but with fantastic views over the south bay. Maybe if we won the lottery!

Then we dipped under the Castle walls and headed down to Marine Drive to the north bay to say hello to Freddie who has weathered the recent storms well. Then back to the house via Peasholm Park and the cemetery.

Tilly woke us the other night scurrying around the bedroom. This wasn’t normal behaviour so I suspected she’d found a friend. She had and had brought it to meet us. Luckily for us and the mouse it managed to hide in a bag on the floor which made for an easy extrication. Not sure where Tilly had found it but it does appear to have had a little munch on a bag of Sorghum flour before hand!

With five star approval for my biscuits, I made a big batch to deliver to friends around Scarborough. They were all iced and left to fully dry before being packaged up the following morning. The sun was out, just the prefect day for wishing friends a Merry Christmas. I did a lateral flow test in the morning just in case, all fine. Then whilst having a bite to eat before setting off my phone pinged! At some point when I was on my trip to Huddersfield a few days earlier I had been a close contact of someone who had now tested positive for Covid!

Thankfully as I’ve had my booster it said I didn’t have to self isolate, but I was offered a PCR test which was taken within two hours of being pinged. The biscuit delivery would have to wait for the result which arrived the following morning. Negative! Phew!!

We’d originally planned on heading over to the Lake District on Boxing Day to join the London Leckenbys for a night, then visit an aunt of Micks. Covid put paid to visiting care homes a week or so ago. We’ve also decided to stay close to home and not head across country, it just didn’t feel right. Hopefully we’ll be able to meet up with Andrew Jac and Josh in the not too distant future when Omicron has passed through the country. Well it’s always good to spread Christmas out and it’ll give me chance to have another go at the pudding I’d been planning which hadn’t been too successful the first time. We may be being over cautious, but after my near miss and several friends coming down with it, we’d rather be that way.

We picked up our festive veg box and duck from Tree Top Press a couple of days ago. The red cabbage has already been braised, cider stock made for the gravy, bread sauce and stuffing made today. Tomorrow I’ll bake my birthday cake as I’ve chosen one that should be served warm, the bananas have been ripening for a week or so. It’s a bit of extra fuss on Christmas Day but hopefully it will be worth it.

Frank will be joining us again this year, a couple of days ago he delivered some booze including some bubbly and today he arrived with enough sprouts for the whole street! He miss timed his arrival and had to wait for the Christmas Eve sausage rolls to be made and baked, but his patience paid off. A new puff pastry recipe came up trumps, they got a Frank 9/10, ‘Well they can’t be perfect!’ Cheeky sod!

Our stockings have been found and are already in front of the fire. Here’s hoping we’ve been good enough for them to be filled overnight. We’ll see in the morning.

Back To Life On Land. 20th November to 3rd December

Well it’s been two weeks now since I returned to Scarborough. From rushing around on panto for five weeks calm has now been restored.

The day after I got back we both had our Covid boosters. Mine was at the Rugby Club where I joined another 1399 people being jabbed from my doctors surgery. Mick headed to a nearby church to get his and was offered a flu vaccine at the same time, so he had one in each arm. Five days later I got my flu jab at Boots. Mick ached a bit and we both had sore arms for a while, but nothing to complain about really.

Normally after opening Chippy panto we have a few days relaxing in Oxford before heading northwards dodging stoppages. The first year we got to see quite a bit of a festival of light around the city and two years ago we watched the Thames rise and rush past moored boats on East Street, we were glad to have been on the canal!

This year being in Scarborough didn’t stop us from what now has become a bit of a tradition, sitting on the sofa recuperating and watching a few episodes of Morse. I think two years ago we started the box set at the very beginning, the first episode and first murder having taken place opposite our mooring in Jericho. We decided to carry on where we left off, this years first episode being ‘The Last Bus to Woodstock’ Quite apt as I’d avoided that situation the other week when returning from visiting the London Leckenbys. There had been an old lady on my bus, but I doubt she was as nosy as the one in Morse.

Then ‘The Last Enemy’. This started with a narrowboat pootling along in the sunshine, quite badly steered, which ended up in the off side vegetation. Immediately our brains started to whirr, where was this? Short pontoons on the off side, slight bends, a building in the background. Hang on, the body was found just about opposite to where we’d moored at Thrupp a few months ago! Thankfully the inaccuracies of the canal system quickly struck (as they do in Morse) with talk of divers searching at the next lock. This would either be Shipton Weir Lock which is upstream or Roundham Lock which is quite a long way for body parts to have drifted to. It was nice to see Thrupp back in the 80’s, I wonder if any of the boats on the moorings are still the same? The Boat Inn certainly has changed a touch.

Our first Sunday walk in Scarborough had us waving to Jaye and Duncan on the way down to the South Bay to have a look at the sea. Not the longest of walks, but good to see that Scarborough was still there and have a few cobwebs blown away.

Banbury Guardian

Rapunzel Panto, Chipping Norton Review

Reviews of the panto have been coming in. So far everyone seems to love having panto back on stage. Chippy is a favourite with many, I even get a mention or two! Sadly a week after I left a Pippin tested positive, the companies PCR tests all came back negative so the show could go on after a days cancellation.

Oxford Mail

But at the beginning of this week one of the main cast had two lines show on their lateral flow test, everyone was sent back to Banbury for another PCR. Unfortunately a second positive was found in the company. The shows have been cancelled this week and so long as no-one else gets two lines the understudies will go on next week, I bet they are busy in their living rooms rehearsing. JJ who plays the Dame seems to be catering for those affected and leaving tuperware food parcels on door steps, I so hope they all stay well.

I have a shadow where ever I go, Tilly occasionally goes out to explore, but more of her time is spent moaning and complaining. I ask her every day when we’ll be back on the boat and moving the outsides again, so far She hasn’t given me a reasonable answer!

Thank you for the messages from people regarding the weather last weekend, I believe Scarborough was on the news. It was very windy and we had snow in town, plenty more up on the moors and wolds. Footage of wave dodgers filled social media as always.

Our street ended up being closed to traffic as there was a tree happily rocking away in the storm on Saturday. The council came to check it over, but it was too windy to do anything about it. They returned on Sunday to start to chop it down and on Monday afternoon it was ‘Timber!’ So much boaters gold!

Mornings have been spent doing a bit of work for #unit21 which will be here before I know it. Plenty of costume shopping and rearranging the build budget. The green light for the build was pressed this week so it’s all systems go, well for my friend Graham. I’ll do a days costume fitting before Christmas and then that should be it for me for a while.

We’ve had deliveries, smokeless coal, 2 veg boxes (so far) and the milk lady is back delivering three times a week. Our Christmas food order is in, just needs a final tweak. Now present deliveries are starting to arrive.

I keep making a mental list of which jobs need doing in the house this winter. One corner of the kitchen needs attention from where the leaking roof has left it’s mark. We’re not convinced all is sorted in that corner yet, the guttering hasn’t been clipped down fully so waved around in the storm and some roofing felt now encourages drips down onto the window sill below! We’re waiting for the roofer to call us back! The cosmetic side of the repair will wait a while longer.

That experiment turned out to be a bit messy!

I decided to give my knees another week off before getting on with some decorating. Sanding all the woodwork in the hallways is going to take some doing before I can give it a fresh coat of paint and some of the wallpaper needs replacing. One pair of curtains also need lining , if this is all I manage to get done this winter it will be fine as right now we don’t have the money to do more major decorating jobs. A plumber has been to check the two boilers over, the old one needs some work which hadn’t been picked up during gas safety checks when the house was rented out. So money is better spent there this year.

A couple of days ago Mick caught a train down to Thorne to visit Oleanna. A final oil change before winter hadn’t happened, so he was wanting to get it done sooner rather than later. He was prompted to visit as Sarah at the marina had called saying that there was a kitchen window open. Had we left this open on our brief visit? Or had someone else opened it?!

Train timings meant he had time to pick up some oil from Boyes in Goole on his way. Sure enough the window was open, thankfully the weather last weekend must have been blowing from the port side so had avoided coming in. It certainly looks like it was us who left it open. Unfortunately in amongst the new filters onboard there wasn’t the one needed for the oil. So other than running the engine for an hour and closing the window Mick had had a bit of a wasted journey.

I’ve been trying to go for walks everyday to keep my knees working. Walking in the footsteps of the local yeti and seeing the sea is a good thing. My left knee seems to be behaving other than feeling a bit stiff. Hopefully this will pass and I’ll do my best not to kneel when I start decorating.

After being back for ten days I dropped Frank a message and sure enough he was round for a cuppa the following day. There were slight complaints about the lack of biscuits on offer! If he times his visit well this week he’ll be able to try out the sample batch for this years Christmas biscuits. It was very good to see him and hopefully Mick has planted a seed or two about some carpentry jobs we’d like him to do on Oleanna this winter.

We now have two bookings for our house next year from the SJT, which is great. If anyone fancies a few days relaxing by the sea in Scarborough we can highly recommend our friends house, Friths. Fleur and Ruth have worked their socks off over the last year making their house cosy, quirky and very welcoming, it has just recently opened for bookings.

https://www.google.com/maps/@53.6947164,-0.8866677,3a,75y,358.73h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5dqbUb963nwFN0Mkkf4qOQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Mike from Alchemy has spotted Oleanna on Google Street view, when she was out for blacking earlier this year at Goole Boathouse. That means that both our boats have appeared at one time or another. A shame we weren’t in shot this time, we were certainly around as the stern doors are open.

The latest news on the towpath grapevine regarding the breach on the Leeds Liverpool Canal is that it will reopen hopefully March next year. The latest C&RT notice says they are installing more secure dams either side of the breach. Designs for the repair are well developed and structural works are in the detailed design stage so that materials can be ordered ready for the new year. We’re not as yet sure which way we’ll be heading when we set off, but having the Leeds Liverpool as an option would be good. In the meantime we need to decide on whether we should be buying a Gold Licence for the coming year. These run from January to December, we’d trade in our standard licence for the few months remaining on it and then we’d be able to spend more time on EA waters during the year. We just have to decided where we’ll be going.

Candlelit Chinese take away to celebrate our 19th year together

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 failed oil change, 1 closed window, 2 weeks of resting, 9 costumes bought, 1 budget rejigged, 2 veg boxes, 1 emergency rug, 2 tax returns submitted, grade 3, 1 box of filters, 4 jabs, 1 bored cat, 1 street view, 3 Morse’s, 1 new variant, 1st waterways painting, 2 go Gold or not? 1 Pip glad to be cooking again, 19 years with my fella.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna