Category Archives: Arts and Crafts

Illuminating Oxford. 16th November

Jericho Wharf

Living on a boat means that I couldn’t put off unpacking the four bags I’d returned from Chippy with for long. Any spare space on the boat had been taken up by them last night, so after a slow start to the day I started to unpack. Returning things to where they’d come from meant taking out the back steps and dismantling the dinette to return my sewing machine, steel toe cap boots and paint brush bag back to the depths they normally live in. Mick had managed to empty the washing drawer earlier in the week, but I filled in again! My dungarees, that had been gradually getting duller have now had a brightening up with primary colours, hope it clings on in the washing machine.

An afternoon of watching Lego Masters and knitting was followed with a walk into the city. My landlady in Chippy had mentioned that she would be singing this evening at the Ashmolean Museum, this was to be a small part of a light festival. Looking it up I discovered that the light festival was right across the city, lantern parades, street markets, food markets, installations and performances. A quick look through the website and we decided to head to Broad Street where there would be a market and several other things going on as it got dark.

Broad Street was cut off to traffic and filled with a market, both foody things and craft bits and bobs. Chippy panto seems to have set a trend with various camel themed items for sale throughout the market.

What we’d actually come here for was to watch the Heliosphere. Up ahead a large white balloon sat tethered to a heavy truck. A lady climbed inside a harness and strapped herself in. The lights were turned on in the balloon as it was unclipped and allowed to rise from the ground taking with it the lady. In a spangley catsuit, similar to that of Queenie the Genie (Chippy Panto) the lady rose up above the crowds suspended below the balloon. Two chaps also with harnesses had guide ropes, as they moved close to each other the balloon went higher, further apart the lower it came above the crowd. The lady span round, twisting and turning in her harness floating along the street, pausing to touch hands with the crowd before rising high up between the University buildings all the time a follow spot doing it’s job (making it hard to get good photos of her) and the balloon changing colour.

Further along is the Shimmer Tree by Dan Fox. A 6m high sculpture with twelve branches which suspend a cymbal on each. Lights shine up to the cymbals and sounds are created. The cymbals act as directional speakers and resonate as the lights chase round. From a distance this didn’t seem like much, but stood below it was quite mesmerising.

We decided to hunt out the other installations around the city. Down by the Castle people took turns to sit in an ice throne lit from below.

A food market, only a few stalls, is hoping to grow in time and become a regular thing. Round the corner, after following oddly positioned signs we got to the Voice Park.

Last Sunday I’d come across people who looked like they were poor imitators of the Ghost Busters. Apparatus on their backs with empty water containers, surely to collect any stray ghosts. But no, they were collecting voices from people. Here pods not unsimilar to growing Chrysalids are joined by pipes and cables. Speakers with lights embeded inside their red pods. If you make a suitable noise next to them they respond by playing human sounds back. I got one to work by saying hello, but Mick struggled as his voice was too low for it to react. One for the kids.

We then set out to find projections on museums. These were further afield, north out of the centre. The Radcliffe Humanities Building had a large projection to do with Diseases of modern life. This was amusing in it’s animation of Victorian illustrations.

Weaving our way further east we reached the Natural History Museum where vast projections created by Luxmuralis covered the front of the building. There are to be more of these over the weekend, moving around the city and projecting onto other buildings. Torchlit tours of museums were also being held, but we were a touch pooped by now so we’ll return in day light. So we wove our way through the streets back in the direction of the canal for a quiet evening in front of the stove with some nice food.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 poached eggs, 2 slices toast, mushrooms, 4 bags unpacked, 1 homeless bag, 0.5 glove knitted, 1 large balloon, 12 cymbals, 5 uninspired cubes, 2 SILENT signs, 1 noisy man, 3 illuminated buildings, 4 soggy bums, 1 bench a touch too close to the boat, 1 tree, 1 cat, 1 squirrel, 1 ft away, 1 unfair advantage.

Apples, Flowers And Bells. 15th September

Leamington Spa

The Heritage Open days are keeping us busy. Today we got the train over to Warwick as there were a few things there that appealed to us. Handy hint, if you want to do this journey without your boat go by train, not by bus. My train fare was £1.80 return compared to £5.50 on the bus, only downside is that the bus takes you closer to the town centre than the train, but not by miles.

We’d selected three places to visit, Hill Close Gardens, The Court House and St Mary’s Church. Starting off at the furthest we found our way to the Gardens. Just by the race course hidden away (there are brown signs to it) we came in through the visitors centre. We expected to only be there for an hour tops, but found ourselves weaving through the gardens for two.

Robin Hill Close Gardens are rare survivors of Victorian gardens once used by townsfolk who lived above their businesses, to escape the busy town. Back yards were full of wash houses, workshops and privies, no room for flowers or grass. So these businessmen rented a plot of land on the outskirts of town. In 1845 Hill Close pasture land was divided up into plots that Warwick people could rent. In these Detached Gardens they planted apple trees, grew fruit and veg, kept pigs and chickens and built small summer houses from which to enjoy their gardens. At a later date people could buy their gardens and by the early 20th Century parts were sold off for housing, but what remains today has been saved and restored by volunteers.

By the 1990’s most of the gardens had been sold off, but 16 remained, 2 still tended, the other 14 in very bad shape. By 1993 the council had bought much of the land and planning permission had been granted for 30 new houses to be built, the locals were stirred into action researching the site, one of only four left in the country. By 1994 local activists had managed to get four of the summer houses Grade 2 listed so the development was halted. The gardens themselves became Grade 2* listed shortly afterwards. By 2000 the council had helped to set up a trust to manage and restore the gardens for all to enjoy.

Heritage Lottery Funding in the mid 2000s enabled major restoration and by 2008 the gardens were opened up to the public frequently.

Each garden has a short history about its owners and has been laid out how it once would have been.

60 varieties of apples grow here, some ruby red, some huge, some abundant on their trees, all producing many windfalls.

Grape vines, figs, pears, beans (how are yours Frank?), courgettes, all sorts.

We were also taken aback by the amount of colour still in the flower beds, oranges, reds and purples shouting out at us.

The summer houses, small with their fireplaces, look out over lawned areas all hedged in for privacy from one another. These are very smart posh allotments lovingly cared for and so worth a visit.

We left by the town entrance hidden away behind a modern development and made our way into town. Hungry we decided that we’d have lunch before looking at The Court House. The Market Place Pantry had a free table so we enjoyed toasted cheese and ham sandwiches of full gluten and non gluten varieties followed by a slice of cake each, all very tasty.

By now we’d missed the start of the tour, but went to have a look at The Court House ourselves. The tour was just finishing and they must have been given access to other areas that we couldn’t get to see. The ballroom upstairs was open but that was pretty much it, we’d seen the display downstairs last time we were in Warwick. So we walked up the road to get in line for the tour of the Bell Ringing Chamber at St Mary’s.

The church is being filled with poppies at the moment. A huge community project to mark the end of WW1 is underway. Panels everywhere are already covered in knitted, crocheted, paper, felt and tissue paper poppies. The main columns have been covered in black fabric and poppies are starting to be applied to them too. By November the whole church will be a riot of red. Intermixed with all the poppies there is the occasional white and purple ones. The white are for conscientious objectors. The purple for animals. The other day I came across a poppy I’d made for my friends in Scarborough that must have got away from the others, so if we end up coming this way I’ll drop it off to be added to the thousands.

Shortly before 4pm we were allowed up the circular stone staircase to the bell ringing chamber. St Mary’s bell chamber is built at the West end, added on, as the ground wasn’t thought to be stable enough to carry it over the main church. We were joined by about twenty others along with four of the bell ringers. There are ten bells, the oldest dating back to 1701, the current clock from 1901. The clock in recent years has been electrified saving a twice weekly job of winding it up, but this has meant that the quarter hour chimes are just slightly out at the moment due to this summers hot weather.

A model of how the bells work with their wheels was demonstrated to us and then a bell was rung. Large boards around the room celebrate the peals that have been rung for certain occasions and under a box (used to stand on) there is written a note to mark Queen Victoria’s death. Much history has been marked by the ringing of the bells.

After we’d had everything explained to us we then took our time to climb the next 40 or so steps to see the bells. I’m not too keen on heights and Mick normally does such things on his own, but I felt today the official photographer should be on hand. The floor a metal grid was a touch unnerving for me, but once the ringers started to explain about the bells and point out the hammers etc I felt a lot better. Our visit here was timed so as not to coincide with any bells ringing! Then we all made our way up another 50 or so steps to the top of the tower.

From here we could see for miles. The race course, the castle stood out very easily. Leamington Town Hall and church too. We tried to spot the Hatton flight of locks, we knew where it should be but it was being shy amongst the many trees. We’ve only done the flight in spring or autumn and wondered if you still get a good view of the church at this time of year.

I still don’t understand how people can stand leaning against the bars looking over the edge of such buildings, I can not get closer than two foot away. But I did my best and took photos at arms length.

Back down the stairs, much easier to descend backwards, there was chance for people to ring the bells. Mick held back, but I could tell he really wanted a go and in the end he succumbed, not having to jump into the air as much as the younger members of our party.

A very good day had by all. Except me!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains, 16 gardens, 60 varieties of apples, 2 hours around the gardens, 2 toasties, 2 pots of tea, 2 slices of cake, 1 tour missed, 10 bells, 1701, 1901, 150 steps, 1 big boy bell ringer, 4 fantastic views, 1 rat to watch all day!

Which One Says Snake Most?. 14th September

Leamington Spa

With the cooler temperatures my Etsy shop seems to have caught peoples eyes. One pair of hand warmers went off in the post from Crick. I have a large order for a friend in Australia. Then a pair of socks.

This morning just as I was about to head up to Wool Warehouse another order popped into my inbox! Another pair of socks, good job I’d not left earlier to buy wool!

My main reason for visiting the warehouse was to audition yarns for a character in panto. Fazil is a snake, so obviously he will be a puppet, made from a very long sock. Yes I could go out and buy a sock, but I can make him more colourful if I knit him instead. So I’d made a short list of yarns I wanted to look at and Gemma had said that the lady in the shop would happily pull out yarns for me to see.

A fifteen minute walk from the boat in the middle of an industrial estate is the warehouse. The shop is small and displays of single balls of yarn are laid out to tempt you. The biggest crochet hook (it must have been 2 inches) I’ve ever seen hung amongst all the hooks and pins on the wall. I was fortunate as I was the only customer and had to press the big red button for attention.

A lady arrived and took my list, noted stock numbers and went off to hut out all the balls I was wanting to look at. I was soon joined by another lady, also wanting to peruse a few colours for some gloves. My bucket of wool was brought for me to look at whilst the lady carried on serving. Someone else arrived and we all exchanged knitting and crochet ideas and thoughts about our favourite yarns, whether we were toe up or top down sock knitters and the joys of magic loop knitting. As one of the ladies said, knitting has changed a lot since we were kids, I suspect due to the generation below giving yarn and patterns a whole new life.

My shortlisted selection of yarns was quite good. Straight away I could discount most as they simply weren’t ‘panto’ enough. I was down to two and asked the opinion of the lady next to me, she agreed with my gut instinct. Here’s hoping it knits up how I think it will!

When I returned to the boat I decided that it would be wise to put a note on my Etsy shop. With the orders I have at the moment and 3 Fazils, my needles and hands are going to be full right up to when rehearsals start in Chipping Norton. So I am not taking any more orders until after the show is open, no point in being knitted out before I have to start painting Egypt!

This weekend is Heritage Weekend, when places not normally open to the public open their doors and you can have a nosy around. Last year we got to look around the Egyptian balconies of Preston Art Gallery. This year we have made a short list of things we want to see and do in Leamington Spa and Warwick. We’ve already done a few of them, even though it’s not the weekend yet. But I’ll tell you about them in another post.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 walk south of the canal, 3 orders, 3 snakes, 1 audition, 6 to choose from, 1 successful ball, 600 grams of yarn, 1st pair complete for Australia, 1 so bored cat, 2 heritage tours done, 4 more to do, 1 obsession with that cat.

Ryans Red Cabbage 3rd, 4th, 5th September

Crick Marina to The Moorings to Welton Hythe Marina

Monday morning Mick was up early, getting a lift from Lizzie he headed into Rugby to pick up a hire van, yes he’d booked a van because it was cheaper and he actually got a van! He popped back to the boat for breakfast before setting off on a day trip to Scarborough leaving Tilly and myself behind.

First I had parcels to pick up from the post office. They have plants and some veg for sale depending on what is ready in a locals veg patch. The runner beans can not be missed, so I picked up a bag and headed to pay for them. As soon as the lady saw me she popped behind the Post Office counter and returned with two parcels. Sadly as I hadn’t intended buying anything I had no cash on me and they don’t accept cards. I was about to return the beans when the lady said I should just take them. Blimey, what a service! They have received various parcels for us over the last month with smiles on their faces and now I was being given free runner beans.

Back at the boat I set about finishing off the custom order for my Etsy shop. A pair of wrist warmers which I wanted to get into the post before we left Crick. The ends were sewn in and then they were laid out on our bed to block them. This helps to even out the stitches and makes things look that bit crisper.

Then it was time to pay attention to work emails. I spent the day to-ing and fro-ing, phone calls and third versions of boats all with the hope that they would save us some money and still do all that the Director wanted. It was a very busy day.

Just as I was about finish Tilly ran into the boat in a very frantic way. Low and spooked, making noises as if she had a fur ball. I tried to get near her to see what was the matter. This was different than when she got high on ants, maybe she’d been stung. I managed to get us both in the bathroom and tried to have a look, but she wasn’t having anything to do with me. Over the next hour she gradually calmed down. When Mick returned I asked him to have a look at her in case he could see if she had a swollen face in anyway. Of course by now she’d calmed down, had a head rub and wanted some food! She’d had me worried and I was about to call the vet in Hillmorton an hour earlier!

Tuesday morning was another early start for Mick to return the van. Tilly strangely didn’t pester this morning to go out, something had happened the evening before that left her cautious about this outside. Work emails started early with a quote from a Scenic Artist. This was quite a shock, how much do they get paid nowadays?! Was I very out of touch. It turns out that everyone was shocked at her quote not just me, maybe she didn’t want the job, she could have just said!

We needed a bit of shopping to keep us going before either getting a delivery or arriving at bigger shops. So we decided to head into the marina, top up with gas and diesel before mooring nearer the bridge to the village. The mooring in front of The Moorings was free. It is an odd mooring, you would think that it was for the water point, but there are no signs to suggest as such. When ever we’ve been in Crick of late there has been a boat moored there. Possibly having work done on them by Neil Stuttle or waiting to go on brokerage with ABNB. It is also a perfect place to get a supermarket delivery. We pulled in and checked the internet, it was slow but we had some signal.

Usually we get deliveries from Sainsburys, but this time we were going to try out Ocado. I’m wanting to try a few weeks totally gluten free and see what effect this has on a persistent complaint I’ve had for ages. One week of gluten free cereal recently and I felt an improvement, so it’s worth a try. Most supermarkets have a selection of gluten free products, but I’d looked at Ocado the other day and wow what a choice. Instead of four choices of pasta they had forty two. They offer free delivery for your first year and a discount on your first shop with them. So I reserved a slot for Wednesday. One thing however that they don’t have much of a selection of is boxes of wine. The prices were higher than Sainsburys so we checked on deliveries from them. A slot for £1 had our name on it.

We spent the afternoon comparing prices between Ocado and Sainsburys. It was quite an interesting exercise. Wine, fresh veg and fruit are cheaper at Sainsburys, but chilled goods, spices and some cleaning products were cheaper with Ocado. So we ended up with two orders. The wrist warmers were parcelled up and taken to the Post Office, chance to pay for the beans from the day before and give the post service some money. On the way back we picked a good quantity of Blackberries, we’ll be having crumble soon!

Phone signal was none existent outside The Moorings, so I ended up walking back up to where we’d been moored earlier in the day to have work conversations. I’ll be glad when someone can call me without having to send an email first, then wait for me to walk up the towpath for ten minutes. Well it was our decision to be in Crick!

Today our deliveries arrived as planned. Bang on 11am the Sainsburys Green Pepper van backed up towards us. Their pickers must have had a bit of a laugh, I got six huge bramley apples and one very small red onion. With everything stowed away I wondered where we would put the next order! Ryan in his Red Cabbage van arrived half an hour early he was going to back up and wait for our slot, but that didn’t bother us. Everything was off loaded and onboard swiftly.

Differences between the two deliveries. Sainsburys you can opt to have no plastic bags, Ocado you can hand them back to be recycled and get them refunded. Sainsburys you can choose to have substitutes if something isn’t available, Ocado they give you a substitute, if you don’t like it you can hand it back with both of them. I suspect we’ll end up using both in future.

Once the water tank was topped up and all our rubbish was disposed it was time for us to say farewell to Crick. We may be back before Christmas but we haven’t quite sussed our movements around the stoppages yet. In the tunnel we met three boats coming the other way, the last one in the last 25 meters. Lunchtime, so we pulled over where we’d been moored last week before carrying on to Watford.

We’d expected there to be no queue to go down as no boats passed us, we might have to wait for boats coming up. However as we approached there were two boats facing downhill and one uphill just above the lock. I walked up to check in and was told we’d timed it perfectly, the lock had been closed for a couple of hours for a work boat to clean the gates and they were just starting to let boats down again. One boat was already heading down soon to be followed by NB Perch a 70fter, then a hire boat, then us. I was first told to put the kettle on, then the lady Lockie changed her mind, there wouldn’t be time for a cuppa so I should pour a glass of wine instead.

The hire boat took their time, possibly the first downhill lock they had done. The Lockies looked after them, but making sure there were two sets of gates between them and NB Perch. Perch being so long they wanted to keep an empty chamber above them to save the chap at the helm from getting a soaking through the gates. We followed on behind taking our time, no point rushing. A boat came up and pulled in at the holding point below the bottom of the staircase, this is when it all started to get a bit complicated.

The Lockies set the next single lock for us and as I approached they suggested I should go and set the lock below for us once the hire boat had finished going down. So I walked down and waited for them to finish, my windlass at the ready. The C&RT work boat that had been used to clean the gates was in the pound in between along with another boat waiting to go up. The bottom lock gates were left open, a boat was coming up. Sensible use of water, well except the pound above was full and instead of Lockies waiting for the bottom lock to start filling before they let Oleanna down they emptied our lock, the water all heading down the bywash. Mick brought Oleanna out and replaced the waiting boat as he waited for the bottom lock to be full again. The crew from the work boat decided to untie, were they coming down first? Luckily not. Some do-si-doing went on to get Oleanna and the uphill boat past each other as the lock above was being emptied. Then it was plain sailing down the final lock, our last narrow one for a month when we hope to be on the South Oxford.

We pootled along and pulled in opposite Welton Hythe Marina. NB Alchemy looking very clean on her temporary mooring. I was at last allowed out! They’d said I wouldn’t like the outside where we were yesterday, but they never gave me the chance to decide for myself. This outside was familiar so I went for a wander a bit further a field. When she came calling for me it was quite a walk to get back to Oleanna, she wanted to go via the towpath, but I knew the way back was alongside the biggest pooh tray ever! I made sure I made full use of the shore based facilities and covered up after myself before heading inside for my Dingding.

7 locks, 4 of which a staircase for the 18th time, 4.72 miles, 2 parcels, 6 balls yarn, 2 bow thruster fuses, 3 rights, 1 reverse, 1 left, 1 mooring at The Moorings, 1 noisy night with traffic, 2 deliveries, 1 green pepper, 1 red cabbage, 2 substitutes, 3rd versions of boats, 1 show almost in budget, 1st order posted, 2nd order on the needles, 3rd order received, 1 full tank diesel, 2 bottles gas, 1 full water tank, 6 boxes wine, 1 full fridge, 10 GF fish fingers, 1 empty pooh bucket, 1 clean pooh box, 1 empty wee tank, 0 rubbish, 1 container blackberries, 1 cat half a mile away, 1 giant huge pooh tray, 1 Mrs Tilly stamp of approval.

https://goo.gl/maps/UccV9Szi9kA2

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna

Category Archives: Arts and Crafts

Illuminating Oxford. 16th November

Apples, Flowers And Bells. 15th September

Which One Says Snake Most?. 14th September

Ryans Red Cabbage 3rd, 4th, 5th September