Category Archives: Cats

Panto Postcard 1, 2025

66 possibly 68 hours

Mick having been given the okay to drive again meant that instead of a seven hour train journey to Chippy we hired a car to get me and all my kit down to Oxfordshire for work. Tilly got really quite worried as I packed my bags, she stayed at arms length hoping that she’d not be bundled up into the cat caravan to move again so soon. She was safe though and was left with the magic food bowl for the night.

I’m staying at the Old Bake House again this year with Rachel and Geoff, I had one night here two years ago and remembered that you have to take care on the wooden steep staircase up to your room. However, this time I’m in the room that Jo (the old props maker) used to stay in which has a bath in the eves of the roof, I’ve had to ask her the best way to get in and out of it as on my first attempt I was worried I’d not be successful in extricating myself and end up being in the bath all week!

The drive down was okay, we dropped bits in at the theatre where the stage had been made ready for the get in and the stage floor was about to have it’s first coat of paint, then we headed for a curry. Two years ago we’d tried one restaurant which wasn’t that great, so we headed to Cafe Raj. We were the only people there, the occasional take away being collected, but they felt the need to put the music on to help create a bit of ambiance, which really wasn’t needed. The food was okay.

Then to the Blue Boar to meet up with Gemma (Production Manager), Chris (Production Carpenter) And Tom the sound designer, this year is Toms first visit to Chippy Theatre. Nice to have a chin wag and catch up with people before the morning.

**Louisa and Paul sorting out the print for the portals**

Monday, first thing was to put the model back together again. It’s been about three months since I last had to show the model so it took some thinking about. Meet and greet with the company and a cuppa, this was to be followed by the read through. I’d hoped to be able to attend this, but I was needed on stage sorting out the printed elements.

Somewhere between me giving the final approval for the print and it arriving at the theatre extra length had been added! Not ideal when things are meant to marry up on joins of existing flats! This was all quite a brain ache for us all. Model was shown to the actors and the costume designs shared too, then it was time to put my dungarees on and see if there was anything I could paint. Not much but I found things to occupy my afternoon.

Around 4pm the built parts of the set arrived in two vans. Jamie the builder had come for a nosy and to talk things through. Everything had a base coat of paint on it, which is fabulous, it saves me several days work and getting in the way. The auditorium very quickly filled up. Time for a drink with the actors then the tradition of fish and chips. Unfortunately the Blue Boar was packed, it was half term, you could only eat if you’d booked, so we all ended up at the burger van instead.

Tuesday, I opted to finish painting the largest pieces of scenery for the castle. This was achieved in the day along with a few other bits and bobs. The portals were hung and Gemma, Chris and Paul did their best to get things aligned with the print. They did as well as they could, I may have to go up a ladder and add a few extra lines if things annoy me and I have enough time to do so.

In the afternoon sliders were taken out into the garden, which then became a paintshop as I sprayed them with a darker blue towards the edges. These will get some gold lines too at a later date when things are more complete.

The traditional fish and chips had to happen today, so Gemma went to see if she could book us a table at the Blue Boar, they were booked up again! Thankfully though Checkers could accommodate us, the fish and chips not quite as good as I remembered them at the Blue Boar, but at least we’d managed to get some.

**Paul, Louisa, Toby, Gemma, Chris and me**

Wednesday, I moved onto working on some of the walls. Min the props maker officially started, although they’d been around for the last two days. I’m very used to Jo turning up with a car load of props already made or partly made on her first day, so I was a little surprised with just a lot of stuff that arrived that still needed to be worked on.

**Spiking the set, putting down marks on the stage**

Places to fly things were put in the rig, large trucks were made for bikes and early afternoon we worked through the show marking on stage where everything should go for each scene and trying to work out where it would all go when not on stage! A larger shoe horn will be required this year.

**Health and safety chat before we showed off the set**

Mid afternoon the Pippins (local children who form the chorus) joined the actors in the auditorium for a health and safety chat and then we ran through the set, showing everyone what each scene will look like. Well nearly as much of it still needs the painting to be finished. Stage Management were mob handed and the scene changes seemed to go really well, here’s hoping it stays that way when they are down to a team of two on a show. Gemma and Chris headed off back to Bristol and Bath at the end of the day now that everything was more or less on site.

**Props labelled, even the ones that didn’t need it**

Thursday. I’ve been trying to walk around the houses to keep up my brisk minutes on the way into work. Today I walked round almost to where my previous digs have been before in Chippy. It was nice to walk down Spring Street again, but I was disappointed that there were very few Halloween decorations outside a house by the theatre, they normally really go to town.

**Wall finished, just waiting for roses**

From now on rehearsals are on stage. I managed to get a second piece of wall finished, just one more to go, but that was buried behind a lot of stuff. Rehearsals require props, many appeared labelled to within an inch of their lives, crates and trays labelled with options, I could relay information to Min who has set themselves up with a workshop in the foyer. Props for a photo call needed to be prioritised. The attic storage was gone through, more items labelled.

Once the actors had finished for the day there were a couple of hours to be able to work on things on stage before finishing at 8:30 to grab something to eat and make it back to my digs, eat and be ready for Traitors by 9. I’m not so sure I’ll manage to get home in time next week though.

Friday I discovered that the Co-op sad gits section can have ribeye steaks in it! I opted for a wild mushroom risotto, which was very nice. I’ll be popping in on my way to work in future to see what I can get cheaply.

The choreographer and I set things out on a lab bench before rehearsals started. I had a go at making the giant rose to hang on the proscenium, but the yoga matt I’d bought turns out to be too thick and it’s turned into a Rugby player kind of rose, I need to rethink it. Props were requested and sent into rehearsals, not many the actuals yet.

**Anna, Louisa, Paul, Jack down the front and Toby who got rather hot in his costume**

It being Halloween, the theatre crew had opted to dress up. We had the Cat in the hat (Paul) and the Kitten in the hat (Jack his son), not sure who the others were meant to be, but that’s because I’ve not watched certain films. We did have a moment when the cat got stuck in a truck, but we managed to get him out again.

Instead of going out trick or treating I ended up spending what was left of the day hunting round the internet for fake food only stopping when I heard the clock downstairs chime midnight. Not what I’d planned on doing with my spare time, but someone had to do it.

**Yep the bucket fits! Amy the Choreographer**

Saturday morning was spent trying to find suitable ingredients for the slop scene. I managed to get lots of brisk minutes in walking from one end of town to the other to buy cocoa.

The actors were in for the morning. The set was wrapped up in plastic to help protect it should the slop in rehearsals get flung a bit too far. Buckets were tried out for size, overalls put on, then all slop was let loose! Quite a mess and quite a spectacular effect was achieved, I won’t tell you about it as I know some of you will be seeing the show, but it had us all in hysterics.

With the stage to ourselves for the rest of the afternoon, roses were flame proofed, I put first coats on the lab bench and table, things were tidied up for photos on Monday. Then I concentrated on getting the band surrounds to match the back cloth. This was all very simple on the model, a bit of paint followed by some water. Now it is all 25 times bigger I needed to use a sponge to try to match them. A good weeks work.

Sunday, a lie in, a bath now I know how to get out of it. A walk down to where I think the old station used to be. The Geraghty zoom included Goldie and the Gingerbreads, the Beckhams and avoiding trick or treaters. Unfortunately last night my laptop hinge gave up the ghost which means my camera doesn’t want to work, so I joined audibly instead.

Then at 12:30 my cousins Ian and Sally arrived to pick me up and drive out to Great Tew to the Falkland Arms, a lovely thatched pub with a lot of beer jugs hanging from the ceiling and an open fire, all very Cotwolds. We were joined by their two daughters Jenny and Sam. A very good Sunday lunch was enjoyed by all, Sam and I making the most of the gluten free extras we could have, all washed down with a couple of glasses of wine. A very lovely afternoon with the family. This is now the third year in a row we’ve managed to get together, we must try to get my brother along next time.

Meanwhile in Scarboreugh, Tilly is having to cuddle up to Mick every night and has spent sometime inspecting our neighbours washing and the inside of our tumble drier. The 50m cable Mick thought he had doesn’t seem to exist anymore, so more has been purchased. Weeds have been chopped up and the brown bin is full for collection. Annie our lodger has moved in, she was nearly joined by another actor at the beginning of the week, but that didn’t need to happen in the end.

Nearer to Chippy the South Oxford Canal opened up to boats on Monday. During the seven days the locks down to Banbury have been open 178 boats passed through the Claydon Flight. We’re very glad we’d not tried to get down to Banbury now, as much as it would have been nice to be home at the weekends we would now be stuck.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 hire car, 0.75 socks, 1 pair delivered, 1 awkward bath, 1 blue floor, 3mm not 15mm, 1 butch rose, 200 pretty roses, 300 foam roses, 4 rose bushes, 2 vans of set, 3 windows finished, 2 walls finished, 1 visit to the kebab van 1st fish and chips, 1 baby, 164 brisk minutes, 34.84 miles walked, 5 Leckenbys out for lunch.

Californian News. 24th October

5 Replies

Scarboreugh / Derby

Being out of the water means we can suspend our CRT licence. They only refund you for full unused months. Mick went on the website and filled out the form. Soon afterwards I got an email saying that we would be refunded two months of licence, £197.62, this was back on our credit card by the end of the day. Not having to pay a licence for a few months makes the marina fees for a boat you can’t go anywhere on that bit better.

**Tilly just out of shot at the Black and White cat Triad in next doors garden**

On the train the other day Mick had a look at the Carefree Cruising website and our old shareboat NB Winding Down. There was a share in WD going quite cheaply, 4 weeks for £400, should we get a yellow share, so we could still go cruising? A look further down the list of shares for sale, £1 for a 24th share in NB Kingfisher an older boat than WD. Hmmm?! However the running costs are quite high for an older boat and then we’d have a share to get rid of when Oleanna is all bright and shiny back on the water. It was appealing, but we’ll cope being on land for a while…. hopefully.

**What a stunning day for a beach walk**

Mick has remembered that somewhere he has a 50m long cable. Suitable hook up plug and socket have been purchased from 12volt planet for him to make up a long cable so that Oleanna can have power again. This will mean he can keep an eye on the batteries, temperature onboard etc. Plus when we visit we’ll be able to make a cuppa with the electric kettle.

On Thursday afternoon Mick climbed back onboard a train heading towards York, then swapped to one going to Derby. A night at the Premier Inn close to California was called for as he had a 10am appointment Friday morning with the Ophthalmologist at the Royal Derby Hospital. Whilst he had his gammon and chips, I tucked into a prawn risotto, suspect mine was far nicer, plus we got to sit in front of the Dragon for the evening.

**Everything crossed for a good outcome**

This appointment had been made pretty soon after Mick had left hospital. His GP had also requested an appointment for him here in Scarborough, so far he’s been told he’ll be given an appointment in the future, but the wait may be up to 34 weeks! Thankfully Derby was much sooner. Tilly and I sat, everything crossed, waiting for news. Mick symptoms which had first taken him to Burton Hospital back in September had been blank spots in his vision, and bits that were like looking through a kaleidoscope. This led to him having a scan and being diagnosed as having had a stroke. By the time he was discharged from hospital his symptoms had nearly all gone. Now they have.

Today he did a periphery vision test. On the stroke ward this had been done by nurses and doctors doing jazz hands at him. Today it was similar to those you have at the opticians, where you sit with your head in a box, you have a clicker for each time you see a dot of light. Mick got to do both eyes at once, first with his glasses on, then a second time without them. He was shown the results, this revealed where the frames of his glasses had been blocking out the dots. If you have four dots missing in one area then the DVLA won’t allow you to drive. The second read out showed that he’d only missed one dot on the whole test, everyone misses at least one. So this was very VERY good news.

**A bit of illustration for Separate Doors**

Speeding Through X-Ray. 28th August

Burton on Trent / Derby

There was a message from Mick when I woke. At 2:30am he’d had the news that he was being moved to a different part of A&E. Here he would have a bed rather than a reclining chair but more importantly he’d be moving away from Chatty Man who hadn’t stopped talking!

**There seems to be a thing about crocodiles around here**

I packed a bag with all the things I should have packed yesterday, neither of us had thought he’d be staying in the hospital for long. The X38 bus works on a loop, so I returned to the station and climbed aboard, the destination on the front of the bus was Burton but it would carry on back to Derby on a slightly different route. Blimey it doesn’t half whiz along the A38 back to the hospital! Now I just had to find firstly where A&E was then ‘C side’. It really doesn’t help when the staff refer to part of the hospital as side, rather than area which is on the signs. Logic had me walking into the right bit of the hospital in the end.

Mick was in the second bay, a wide bay all to himself! Peace and quiet too, well apart from when the hospital had woken up around him. Breakfast, blood pressure checks. He’d seen a doctor from the stroke unit, had similar tests as yesterday. Hopefully soon he’d be on his way up to the ward.

Phone was put on charge, there were things for us to talk about. It’s times like this you stop and think about things that have been on your mind but other things, everyday things get in the way, so they get filed away to the side. We’ve been meaning to sort out Power of Attorney for each other for the last few years, but never got round to it. There were other things to discuss as well.

Yummy! Lunchtime. Hot food or a sandwich?

Egg and Ham on white sliced for Mick, the side of the packet said ‘Just For You’! My chicken mayo sandwich brought from home looked a lot more appetising!

Still we waited, we’ve got waiting down to an art form now!

The number of messages we’ve received from friends sending healing wishes and love, offers of fish pie from Australia, offers of company, offers of help with the boat from our boating friends has been very humbling. Thank you all so much for your support. Social media has it’s problems, but in our nomadic life it is a great connection to our friends and family. If there is anything people can help with I will most certainly ask, for now we’re fine.

A phone call from Frank, little signal so I went outside to chat to him. Medical PA Duties for two clients now. Frank had had a procedure this morning, but was more interested in how Mick was doing.

As I walked back to Mick’s bay there was a porter and nurse, bags packed and he was about to be moved up to the Acute Stroke Unit. Blimey that porter must get plenty of brisk minutes walking in every day, I managed to keep up, many wouldn’t have! Along one corridor, a handbreak turn onto another. A short cut through xray, Micks bed swinging round corners, one poor chap in an electric wheelchair had to quickly get out of the way. Did this porter have blue flashing lights going? The only time we stopped was when we reached the lifts to climb to the forth floor.

Round a few more corridors to the ward. ‘Who’s this?’ ‘That way’ ‘In Here’. A tourniquet (collective noun?) of nurses and medical staff stood at the entrance to the room where Mick was to be. As his bed approached they swarmed round him, mobbing him. I was directed to a waiting area, I’d be called when they finished.

All wired up to his own BING! machine. He was now in the right place for tests, observations and crockery with his meals. We waited. I headed out to see if I could find small bottles of shower gel and shampoo. Nothing in the hospital, an Aldi across the road. Shampoo choices were amusing. I selected and returned. It didn’t seem like there would be much more happening today so I left him with the jolly staff, hoping to be able to give Tilly some shore leave when I got back to Oleanna.

**Tilly has her own fur super hero mask, unlike this cat**

Photos of hospital not-so healthy food were sent to me. He had CHIPS! I made do with chicken pasta. A shower was taken then he was rigged up to a super dooper heart monitor, results taken to a doctor. Three BING! machines in the room reduced to two which gradually worked them selves to be in unison. Time for him to try to catch some sleep and me to cast on the next pair of socks.

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 buses, 1 boat across the way, 1 hours shore leave, 2 bottles of toiletries, 1 ft of tubing, 40 minutes brisk walking, 1 super speedy porter, 5 handbrake turns, 1 near miss, 1 mob of nurses, 1 boyfriend with Kevin Keegan hair, BING!

Round To Fred’s. 13th June

Granary Wharf, Leeds

Should we move or should we stay? Was the question over our cuppa in bed this morning. At 9am Office Lock would be unlocked to enable passage up the locks out of Leeds. Above the lock is a water point, a top up would be welcome but not necessary. But if we stayed above the lock this evening we might have a quieter night than being by the bars and restaurants in the basin. We thought about it, we’d risk staying put.

At 9am a hire boat returning to base and another boat headed into Office Lock, later in the morning another boat would head up too, only one came down that had been moored above for the last few days.

Mick had heard from the roofer, he’d be at the house this afternoon to sort the random tile/flashing on the rear roof. Mick also wanted him to remove quite a lot of rubble that had ended up in the gutters at the front of the house so he decided to head over to make sure things happened this time. A risk we were aware, as the roofer still might not turn up on a sunny Friday when he could be playing golf!

With the drawing board back out I worked my way through the working drawings for panto. Amending where needed and redrawing the occasional pieces of scenery. It didn’t take that long.

Time to start thinking about colours. The best way to do this was by putting colours together, so I headed off to visit Fred Aldous the art shop. In the basement there were papers to choose from, paints, inks, canvases, all sorts an Aladdin’s cave, I like it here.

I’d originally thought of painting panto in chrome greens and golds, very Art Nouveau, but that would be far too tasteful. Pulling sheets of coloured card out from the racks and putting them together helped, I made quite a bold choice. I’d like to darken off around the edges, how much for a can of turquoise spray paint? £10 eek! It would be good stuff, but expensive for a very big can I’d only need a few wafts from. I’ll see if I can find a suitable colour elsewhere.

On my way back to the boat I called in at M&S to exchange my purchase from earlier in the week, I’ve now measured myself so hopefully this time the bras will fit. Another look at jeans, still none in the appropriate size!

Back at Oleanna Mick had returned. He’d arrived at the house 10 minutes after the roofer had left! We both checked the webcam, they’d done something at the back of the house for three minutes. Was that long enough? A new piece of lead had been added. Will this do the job? Mick adjusted the webcam so we can see what happens the next time it rains. The gutters had been cleared out, well most of them, one that affects next door they couldn’t reach, here’s hoping the window cleaner will be more successful when he next visits.

**The wonderful roof of Kirkgate Market**

Should we move off now? I still had plans to scan a job that wouldn’t take long, but needed doing. We opted to remain in Leeds for the night. Gradually the ambience around us got louder, but thankfully the bar we were closest to wasn’t too noisy. It being a Friday night we expected things to carry on past 11pm, but all music stopped before 11 and soon the masses of people drifted off leaving the basin to the swans, boats and the trains coming and going at the station.

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 boat staying put, 1 last trip to Scarborough? 3 minutes roof time, 2 hours by the coast, 1 new batch of guests on the hotel boat, 3 boats up, 1 down, 1 new one in the basin, 11 sheets of drawings updated, 7 scans, 2.35 miles, 26 brisk minutes, 1 bright turquoise, similar to that at the house, 4mm pink beads, A4 gold, 1 designer wondering if she has a manual airbrush in her kit? 200th toe cast on.

Residuals and Birthdays. 24th, 25th May

Lemonroyd Marina and Hackney

Another look through my sketches this morning before I sent a link. Time to forget about panto for day or two. Time to think about how we’d be getting back into the marina tomorrow after a night away. Still no-one had returned Micks phone messages, still no-one had replied to an email he’d sent yesterday, still tumbleweed!

I sent a message to Sarah from NB Honky Tonk, well actually right now they live on Dutch Barge Pheonix. Might they be about tomorrow at around 4pm to be able to let us into the marina? She offered us a spare key and came to meet us at the gate. A quick exchange of greetings and thanks before we were off along the towpath to Woodlesford Station.

From here we headed to Leeds, one stop, the dark red widebeam still moored just above Office Lock on the Leeds Liverpool Canal. Out through the barriers to pick up something for lunch, M&S didn’t do too well, but I found a nice chicken salad. Then onto a train bound for London, time to catch up on a bit of knitting as the countryside whizzed by.

London was busy! It usually is, flashing lights and being funneled out of the station, was something happening, or was this just to accommodate football fans heading to Wembley? A long wait for the No 30 then we could sit back and enjoy the ride towards Hackney. That was until the bus decided to change its destination! Oh well we’ll get the Overground one stop. Nope that was closed for the weekend! Back on the bus, finally reaching our destination.

Today, Saturday, is Jac’s birthday. Big hugs all round and Josh had made a surprise visit for the weekend. Cuppas and chats, followed by exchanging presents. Jac got a mattress topper and some olives from us, Mick got an oil filter wrench and a head band to wear in bed which has flat speakers, so he can keep up with the test matches abroad without having ear buds in.

Glad rags on, and face mask off for Jac, the next guests arrived bang on time. Jane and Kevin, who were over from Australia on a celebratory trip for a significant birthday of Janes earlier in the year. We last saw them in 2022, since then they have married, so there was even more to celebrate. Andrew and I grew up with Jane and her sister Emma, so there was lots to catch up on. Their celebratory trip funded by Inspector Morse, Jane was in an episode and her residual payments from one episode tend to be enough for a trip back to the UK and Europe every few years. A friend of Josh’s, Mia, bobbed in on a break from work to wish Jac a happy birthday. The pub where she works was very quiet this evening, so she managed to get the rest of the night off and came back to join us.

**Pip, Mick, Josh, Mia, Jac, Jane, Andrew and Kevin**

A very lovely evening, with very good company, a huge salmon, apple cake and homemade ice cream and maybe just a little bit too much wine!

Sunday morning there was only really enough time for a cuppa in bed with Ziggy and Finn and a brief chat with Andrew and Jac before we headed to catch our train, it was far too early for us to see Josh! Bus and tube, enough time to buy something to eat for brunch on the train then we were hurtling our way back northwards.

Tilly had looked after the boat well, but was understandably seriously bored!

Time to return the key to Sarah and Phil on Pheonix. We were invited inside for a cuppa, it’s always a bit of a shock going inside a wider boat, soooo much room! They bought Pheonix just over a year ago, Phil is tall and NB Honky Tonk was just a little bit too low when they decided to live onboard full time. NB Honky Tonk is moored on the Trent and Mersey currently and used to cruise further south when there is time.

**A rather good clock on the underground**

We’ve followed each other on Instagram for a few years and recently Sarah was added to the Ladies of Finesse group, so it was really nice to finally meet her and Phil. NB Honky Tonk was launched about a year after Oleanna, so we had quite a few things to chat about in common. Their evening meal was just about ready so we did our best not to disturb it too much and headed back to Oleanna to finalise a supermarket delivery and get something to eat ourselves.

**Kings Cross waiting for our platform**

Still no sign of anyone from Aquavista!

**Bridge over Lemonroyd Marina entrance**

0 locks, 0 miles, 4 trains, 3 buses, 1 tube, 7.32 miles, 51 brisk, 1 birthday party, 2 antipodean visitors, 1 surprise son, 1 lovely evening catching up, 2 much wine, 2 M&S lunches, 1 loaned key, 1 good old chat, 2 boats Tonks, 1 load washing, 2 loads drying, £10 added to our account, 0 Aquavista.

https://what3words.com/inherits.places.tropic

Houses In The Woods. 12th May

A day of work and opening and closing doors and hatches for Tilly to come and go. She wasn’t too bad and with the heat of the day she mostly stayed asleep either on top of the drawing board slot or the bed. I think I should feature in panto this year! What do you think?

First thing was to open as many windows as I could, get some cool air into the boat. I suceeded and ended up having to wear a jumper until lunchtime, but I’m sure it made for a cooler day at the office overall. This mooring isn’t as shaded as the one we tried earlier plus it has the disadvantage of sticky overhanging trees, so it’s a good job I’d not got round to giving Oleanna a good old wash down.

The morning was spent re-reading Act 1 of the script, then looking out for more references. The afternoon was the same for Act 2. All references were put on Pinterest a handy tool, but from past experience if you share your boards with someone you may not end up looking at the same picture as they get jumbled up. So much of the evening was spent thinning them down in number and downloading them into a folder to share with John.

I’ve a few ideas formulating. Last time I did some sketches before our first meeting, then had to redo quite a lot of the work after talking to John, so I’ve held back from that so far, hopefully tomorrows meeting will be a good one and then I can get sketching.

In house news, the roofers arrived, delivered some materials, then went off to finish another job! Later in the day Mick heard their van had broken down so they’d be back with us on Wednesday morning. Mick believes them.

Six boats have been past all day. The first I knew was coming as Oleanna started to move about a LOT. It could only have been Off Roader. I’m kind of glad we moved moorings as she would have just started to pick up speed where we were before, so the wash would have been much bigger.

Two boats pulled out from near our mooring. I strongly suspect one of them has a separating toilet and had off loaded their yellow water bottle very close to Oleanna’s side hatch this morning! I’m hoping the smell doesn’t return tomorrow.

After lunch I went to stretch my legs and walk up the other side of the cut to see what a garden area was all about. Carved Gruffalos, the donkey from Puss in Boots. Further along the path there were houses in amongst the trees. Add to that seed filled snow drifts, it was really quite magical. I managed a few brisk hobbles before I got back to the boat, but nowhere near my usual. My calf just needs to take it easy for a while.

0 locks, 0 miles, 6 boats, 1 big bugger, 327 pins, 300 copied,1 hour of PA conversations, 1 FRIEND, 4 hours shore leave, 1.46 miles, 14 minutes brisk, 1 pile of roofing stuff, 0 roofer, 1 pair of socks hand delivered, 1 cat trying to pose for panto.

The Big Ship Sails. 7th May

Spicers Auctioneers to Sykehouse Junction, New Junction Canal

**Was it a cat last night or the ghost of one?**

With the washing drawer now empty and socks and pants fully dried in the tumble drier we could move on. First to the water point to fill with clean water, empty the yellow and put our first food waste into the new bins. A bag of coal was also purchased from the marina.

As I sat waiting for the tank to fill I watched social media following the campaign boats now out on the River Thames. So many boats had moored at Limehouse Basin last night there were quite a few lockings required. Once outside the Houses of Parliament the boats winded and stemmed the tide waiting for 11am when all 27 boats sounded their horns. King Charles went past them on an Uber Boat, he was there to look at the new super sewer really. They then all headed back down stream to West India Dock where they all fitted into the one lock to get off the tidal waters.

**Boats all gathered in Limehouse Basin ready for the off**

We winded again and headed down to Viking Marina service mooring. Here we pulled alongside NB Felix that was having some work done by Alastair to it’s gear box. The diesel tank was topped up, not quite to the top, when it reached 100 litres the pump stopped automatically, 89p a litre. We were actually a day early tomorrow the price will go down to 82p with the next delivery. A bottle of gas was manhandled along the gunnels to the bow, we were all topped up and ready to go again.

Ahead in the docks were a couple of new boats. One looked a touch strange and a bit too tall! Amadeus Saffir is a modern boat, built last year, with a wind-assist system, basically it has sails to help reduce it’s fuel consumption further than it’s diesel-electric propulsion can. An interesting boat.

Time to head off. I hitched a ride to Rawcliffe where I jumped off behind Syntan to walk the remainder of the way to Sykehouse Junction and the New Junction Canal. Mick headed off at usual cruising speed along these deep wide waterways, far quicker than I could walk, so he soon vanished into the distance after passing Off Roader that was on it’s return trip from Leeds. As it approached the anglers all shouted to each other to grab their keep nets, otherwise their catch would be dragged away from them as the big boat passed.

The area where the bank has been mended seriously needs a good water to help the grass grow. A nice aspect for a mooring, just a shame the M18 was audible and the cooling towers of Drax were just out of view.

As I approached the houses by Beaver Bridge a security system sprung into action. A loud BEEP then the camera with two flashing white lights followed my every move along the towpath. I wonder whether it caught me pausing for a quite a while at the bridge.

Here a pair of (I think) juvenile Peacocks were just as interested in me as I was them. Where had they come from? We’ve passed a barge with a peacock on it’s roof before at Rawcliffe and there is a peacock farm in Holme on Spalding Moor, but surely that’s too far away for them to have escaped from. All the same they kept me captivated for quite a while.

A big fishing match was taking place at the reservoir, anglers crammed in next to each other. As I turned onto the New Junction Mick messaged me saying Tilly was coming to find me. Well I was obviously too scary and she ran away back to Oleanna despite me calling for her. Hey ho! She did go back out and enjoyed much of her four hours, in fact she needed quite a bit of encouragement to come home!

I’d planned to go through the panto script again today making lists, but emails came through from John (writer/director) with various notes about the show and then a long list of people who have applied to be props maker this year. Sadly the wonderful Jo can’t give enough time to the show anymore, I knew this was likely as we’d chatted last year, so I wasn’t surprised. So now I need to go through CVs to see who should be considered. There is one name I know in the pile, but would they be the best person for the job?

This evening I’ve tried out a new gluten free pasta recipe, I made up a lasagne which we haven’t had for ages. A third each instead of half proved to be ample portions, one third left over for a working girl when she’s on her own.

0 locks, 6.6 miles, 2 winds, 1 left, 25kg coal, 1 full water tank, 1 empty wee tank, 100 litres diesel, 1 gas bottle, 0 Alfie, 4.28 miles walked, 71 minutes briskly, 2 sails, 6 prop makers, 3 emails, 0 notes, 4 hours shore leave, no you can’t give this mooring yet another stamp of approval Tilly!

https://what3words.com/piano.hoping.efficient

Cat Burglar. 6th May

Spicers Auctioneers, Goole

At around 2am I was woken by a noise. The sort of noise that Tilly occasionally creates when she pears out of the bathroom porthole and moves the glass a little and it clinks against the frame. There was no Tilly curled up on the bed with me, maybe she was peeking out of the porthole. I went to see what was happening asking her to keep the noise down.

She was curled up on the sofa, nowhere near the porthole.

The lights at the auctioneers are really quite bright, I’d considered putting a bung in the bathroom porthole but hadn’t got round to it. I could see the shadow of a figure sat outside. I peeked round the glass just how Tilly does.

Sat staring straight at me was a smoky grey cat. I said hello, it didn’t reply. It leant forward and tried to open the window again, no luck. It peered over it’s shoulder then back at me. I closed the window expecting it to run away, but no it just sat there.

“Sorry Tilly’s not coming out to play tonight, she doesn’t like cats“, I said. It still didn’t reply. I closed the porthole and put the bung in, that should stop it from trying to break in again.

A walk after breakfast for some supplies. Down to Ocean Lock, across the top gates then into town. A stop off at Boyes to see if they had a caddy for our food waste, they did. Then on to Morrisons for the rest of of the shopping and some suitable liners for the caddy. Goole has the first food waste bin we’ve seen, (CRT is introducing better recycling across the network) so we need to start doing our bit, not that we didn’t before. Just need to find somewhere in the small galley to keep the caddy!

An email came from John Terry at Chippy regarding a scene in panto with a link to show what was meant. When reading the script yesterday I’d got a little confused at a scene in Act 2, things seemed to jump, then jump back. A previous version of the scene had somehow got mixed into the pdf I’d been sent. By lunchtime I had a tidied up version of the script 10 pages shorter. John had been in a rush to get a script to me before last weekend. Time to sit down and re-read the script this time highlighting bits as I went on the computer, I’ll print it out later.

Mick arrived back from Scarborough, the next stage of works completed at the house and an annual check up at the doctors all done. He was told he needed to be quiet as I still had more to read, this time it making a lot more sense, well as much as a Panto ever does!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 train, 1 new caddy, 1 rucksack not zipped up properly, 0 shopping lost, phew! 1 cat burglar, 1 sleeping guard cat, version 1.2 of panto read and noted, 2 ships, 4.12 miles walked, 65 minutes briskly.

Penning Them Up. 3rd April

Hazelford Lock to Kiln Pontoon, Newark

A lie in, Tilly wasn’t impressed by the morning view, ah but I remember what lies at the top of those huge steps! Once we were up and dressed shore leave was granted for two hours. On previous visits to Hazelford Lock Tilly has been a little reluctant to go up the big steps to see what laid above, but once she’d got up there she was kept busy. Today she charged up to the top, claimed some wooden railings for herself and was gone out of view for quite some time. Well I remember outsides just like you do, but from different heights. This one has a lot of friendly cover and could keep me going for days!

A shame that at 10am when Tilly came in we decided to go out, the VHF radio needed to be on higher ground for us to hear any activity from the Campaign Cruisers, they now seem to be known at Waterways Warriors! We walked up to be by the lock, the radio crackled after a while a few times. Then there was Alan from NB Aladin radioing someone.

Mick replied, saying that so far there was no sign of a Lock Keeper at Hazelford, but we were here with our key and ready to pen them all up. Alan replied and relayed the message to the following boats. They would be about 40 minutes, we were early.

**Radio in hand listening to channel 6**

Alan radioed again whilst passing Fiskerton, this is where we’d radio a Lockie from, hoping they’d have the lock ready for us. The flotilla had stretched out somewhat and he’d underestimated their cruising time. We decided to get the lock ready for them as using the boaters pedestal you can’t just lift the bottom paddles and it be done in a jiffy. No, you have to wait for that flippin flashing light to stop before lifting the paddles a couple more inches with another button press and it always seems to take forever for the level to be acknowledged before the gates will open. I checked above the lock before we started to empty it, no sign of anyone approaching the top side.

Then eventually NB Aladin appeared round the bend, he slowed on his approach, he’d touched the bottom whilst coming past Oleanna. The others followed with quite big gaps between them and pulled up to line up with the blue risers in the lock. The natural inclination is to stay as far back as possible in these big locks, but if we were to get everyone in one lock they would have to nudge up a bit.

Four abreast with quite a gap at the rear of the final three narrowboats, Mick managed to get Cruiser Amourouse tucked in at the back with plenty of space for us to close the gates behind them.

Our space on the flotilla now taken by NB Kallisto who will be with them until Nottingham. We penned them up and then wished them all a final farewell. Our plans take us back northwards this summer, so we’ve come on a bit of a detour to take part in getting things rolling on the cruise. We’ve really enjoyed our time with them, but now it’s time for us to turn round and head back the way we’ve come. Hopefully in the future our bows will cross with them all at some point, somewhere.

Above the lock a narrowboat appeared, it winded and then held it’s position. It looked very much like they would be joining the flotilla too. How great would it be if as the flotilla passes boaters join in for a mile or two to show their support for the campaign. Of course at the moment it’s easy to join them with big stretches of river and huge locks, it’ll be harder once they get on the canal in Nottingham as only two, not eight boats will fit the locks.

Back at Oleanna we decided to give Tilly some more shore leave and have lunch before departing. A phone call was made to Cromwell to check on tide times to Torksey over the next few days. We need a bit of time in Newark to restock then we can be on the move again. We booked in for our second tidal lock. Mick then called Torksey to see if we’d be able to get up the lock the day we arrive and when would be best for us to carry on to West Stockwith, the chap couldn’t help much about times, best to talk to the Lockie at West Stockwith.

Tilly came back for Dreamies and a toilet break only to find the back doors now firmly shut, time to head down stream. I was not impressed!

Back down stream, passing the power station (nowhere near as impressive at the one’s we’d passed on the tidal river, I wonder how long the cooling towers will stay? Past Leicester Trader, the Parish Church spire came into view.

Mick radioed ahead to see if Town Lock had a Lockie, he got an answer but it was from Cromwell, the Lockie in Town had left an hour ago so it was on self service. The Key of Power would get some use, here you can whack the paddles up to fill the lock should you so wish, all whilst the lady keeps on repeating herself and you burn your fingers on the buttons whilst opening and closing gates.

**Newark Castle a touch quieter than yesterday**

There was space at the end of the pontoon a few more boats having arrived since yesterday. First thing after apologising to Tilly again that there’d be no more shore leave today was to fill the water tank and water the strawberries.

Time to go for a walk. I headed back to above Town Lock crossed the bridge where the flood gates are, further into town, once round the market square. The wonderful building opposite the church, with the tiled shop front is up for sale. I’ve always wanted to know more about this house. It’s Grade 2 listed and has three bedrooms! Far bigger than I’d imagined with a walled garden too!! The mirror and furniture in the drawing room are well worth a look.

I then carried on down past the Palace Theatre and on to Newark Northgate station, a quick check for any yellow stickers in the M&S foodhall before crossing the river to do the same in Waitrose, but nothing jumped out as a bargain so I left with two bananas and a pint of milk.

1 lock, 8.5 miles, 8 in a lock, 3 hours shore leave, 1 happy cat, 1 disappointed cat, 1 lock booked, 1 full water tank, 4.15 miles refresher walk around Newark, 50 minutes briskly, walk3 jackets baked in the stove with chicken coleslaw for tea.

https://what3words.com/croutons.divisible.users

Storming The Castle. 2nd April

Cromwell Lock to Hazelford Lock

More of a lie in this morning, although I was awake to see the the colourful sunrise across the river, so glad we’d not ended up breasted up yesterday without the view.

09:30 was push off time for all boats. NB Rum a Gin led the way, Hazel had an appointment with a film crew at Nether Lock at 10:30, she’d already been on a local radio station. Radio checks done, the boats gradually moved off upstream.

News came through that the camera crew had gone to Town Lock so they were having to relocate. The lock was sat ready and waiting for us, photographers at the ready and several Lock Keepers. Would we all fit in the lock together? The Lockie preferred to pen up four of us at a time, he was still in training so wanted to avoid any safety issues that eight boats in a lock might incur.

Up we rose slowly, the camera crew had now arrived. Tug Ruffian sat close to the top of the lock waiting to escort the flotilla into Newark, but we’d have to wait for the other boats to be penned up. A cruiser was waiting around the corner held back by a red light, the Lockies knew they were there. So they got to descended between the flotillas lockings.

***You’re going to make horrid noises again aren’t you!***

Hazel was interviewed on the bank whilst we waited for the other boats to arrive and then the TV presenter climbed on board to travel in to Newark with them. We followed behind Tug Ruffian. People stood on the bridge over the entrance to King’s Marina where we’d over wintered ten years ago. Blasts of horns announced our arrival long before anyone could see us.

At Kiln Pontoon a familiar looking narrowboat ( recently bought in Goole) got ready to tag along with us to muster outside the castle. The plan last night had been to breast up to attempt to block the river. However today we were not as organised as we’d been yesterday.

No-one had mentioned this to Ruffian, so they pulled in and asked for a rope from us. NB Purple Emperor having pulled up in front against the wall. We were all in the wrong order to be able to breast up in length order as had been the plan. So we ended up with two lots of boats, 10 in all a few short of blocking the navigation.

It took a while for those unused to the current on a river to get tied up. Once bows were under control and the camera crew were on the bank, Hazel called the flotilla to Sound our horns! A wall of sound stormed around the foot of the castle as people watch on from the banks and bridge. Blimey it was noisy!

More interviews were done on the bank with people from the IWA and CRT explaining about the need for continued funding for Britains Waterways.

Now the flotilla split, some headed back to kiln pontoon, shopping required. Others headed to Town Lock, we managed to join them and rose up. Some pulled in on the wall of Newark Basin, NB That’s It carried on behind Tug Ruffian, Brian then cruised round into Newark Marina, I think they’d over shot where they’d planned to moor up for a quick dash up to York.

We followed Ruffian to their mooring, just behind Leicester Trader. Les helped us moor up along side, time for lunch. Our radio chirped back into life a bit after 2pm, boats were heading our way and wanting to breast up. This also took some doing, but eventually all were secure and ready to clamber off to have a look around the last Trent Barge still in her original form.

**Les with his boat, or is it a museum?**

Les Reid and Friends have endeavoured to restore the boat back to her original state. As there is no museum to put her in they’ve put the museum inside. Numerous photographs cover the walls, ropes with knots, a sea toilet, a cabin all sorts can be found in the hold. The museum is an archive dedicated to the River Trent. We watched a couple of films and had a good look around. Many many thanks to Les for opening her up for us today.

Time to move on. Farndon Marina had offered the flotilla moorings for the night. NB Kallisto, the new boat from Goole, pulled up on the CRT moorings and others breasted up on the marina pontoons. This is where we waved them goodbye, well for today and carried on upstream to Hazelford Lock for some shore leave for Tilly away from the crowds.

A short while on, our radio chirped up, it was Alan from NB Aladin asking if he could breast up to us as we were a similar length. This obviously wasn’t to be as we were already at least a mile upstream.

The sun shone, the birds tweeted as we rounded the bend with what feels like park land, the sheep grazing down to the waters edge, we spotted the first swan sat on a nest. It had been great fun being with everyone, but it was rather nice to be back on our own again.

By the time we reached Hazelford Lock and pulled in it was getting on for being too late for Tilly to have shore leave. So instead I made use of the time before dark and went for a walk.

First across a field joining a track leading back to a road. The blackthorn blossom was heavy on bushes. The road didn’t have a footpath, what to do? Was it a busy road? Should I alter my planned route? I decided the road wasn’t too busy and looked reasonably straight so continued as planned, swapping sides of the road to keep in view and stopping when traffic came towards me.

Then down a road towards Hazelford Residential Home where long term moorings stretch along the river bank towards the lock. Here I followed the Trent Pathway, ogling at Tortus, the boat I’d love to have when I grow up!

**Standing between a Trent Clapper Gate**

Through a couple of Trent clapper gates. These are designed to automatically close behind you, the way they are hinged and their shape encourages gravity to aid them to close. If you go through and let one side hit the post the other side will open up and close again, clapping shut behind you.

On the weir a heron stood on a bottom step. Still in amongst all the frothing water. No fish in sight, but one might come sooner or later. Back at Oleanna I rustled up a chicken curry old style, with bananas, sultanas, cashews and some yoghurt to help use up some of the roast chicken and dived into the shower.

Two busy days on the campaign cruise, now time to be quiet and on our own … until tomorrow morning.

2 locks,13.5 miles, 8 boats now 10 boats, 1 film crew, 2nd BBC local news, 1 loud arrival, 1 storm of sound, 1 Trent boat, 1 informative Les, 1 boat out on our own, 2 late for shore leave, 3.25 miles walked, 50 brisk minutes, 1 quiet evening.

https://what3words.com/niece.give.teaches

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna