Category Archives: Christmas

Cushions In The Closet, Have We Peaked Too Soon?

Has it really only been two weeks since I got back from Panto land? It feels like a lot longer, but then it also only feels like yesterday!

**Now where did we get up to last year?**

There has been the obligatory Morse watching whilst being pinned to the sofa by Tilly. Four episodes including, in my opinion, the best one, Masonic Mysteries where Morse is framed for the murder of a friend and no matter which way Morse turns there is another surprise for him.

**Tilly has kept a close eye on my yarn tension**

More socks have been knitted for Dementia UK. Not sure exactly how many pairs I’ve knitted this year but it’s somewhere over 30 and my fundraising page has just topped £1130! Thank you everyone who has donated and I hope those of you who have a pair of socks have cosy toes. At some point I’ll update the page I set up for my Sockathon, there’s quite a few pictures to upload.

**Cards of the Christmas and other varieties printed, scored and folded**

Boating photos from this year have been whittled down, a short list of about six presented for final vetting to Mick and Tilly for our Christmas card. Would the old printer upstairs upstairs be up to the job though? With a full set of new cartridges and a morning spent assisting the paper into the printer every couple of sheets the card factory got to work.

The first veg box since my return contained a lovely looking bright orange squash. What to do with it? I hunted round for a couple of recipes and decided to try two out, both requiring roasted squash. So the whole squash was roasted in one go and then divid up for the two dishes, Mushroom and Squash Lasagna and Squash Winter Herb and Crispy Butter Bean Pie. The latter involved three bulbs of garlic which were cooked before being added into the mix. Both will be made again, the pie for a special occasion as it takes a while to cook, but was very tasty. I’ll add links to the recipe pages.

One evening I was invited to a reading of a play that a local lady is hoping to produce. Earlier in the year I’d been approached to see if I could give some advice on it’s staging, but without a script this was impossible. It was nice to meet some new Scarborough faces, but the best bit was walking down to the top of St Nicholas Gardens and looking across the bay to the harbour where numerous boats had their Christmas lights up.

When we moved back to the house from Oleanna we brought all the dinette cushions with us. The covers desperately needing a wash or maybe even replacing. The seat cushions that we sit on the most have also lost most of their cushionness, so I measured them up and placed an order for replacements. The dinette makes into a bed, so any cushions apart from the one that isn’t normally out have been replaced with new firmer more suitable foam. We also had an odd cushion which we have never really understood why it existed, why hadn’t it been added onto one of the back cushions? This and the wedge shaped cushion that goes into the corner have now been made into one piece. Having just written this I don’t understand why it is wedge shaped and not just rectangular, I’ll have to look at it when the cushions go back on the boat, then remember for next time. At the moment I have a few samples of fabric but the final discission hasn’t been made. This will be a project for the new year.

**Look who popped up as a screensaver. On the Marsworth flight back in our yellow days.**

Why have the cushions gone in the wardrobe? Well a certain Second Mate/Thug has been enjoying clawing the old cushions, thankfully the one which has been affected the most is being replaced! I can’t help it if I have to find myself things to keep me occupied when the outside doesn’t move every day!!!

Mick has just about sorted out his planned upgrade to Oleanna’s batteries. Doubling Oleanna’s amp hours, but will there be enough room for him to be able to move them indoors? A visit in the next couple of weeks is on the cards to check on her and have a measure up.

**It’s handy having quite a stash of yarn in the house**

During November I’d joined a knitting challenge for Dementia UK, soon I was running out of things to knit! Mick just so happened to ask where his winter hat was. Ah that might just still be on the boat! Emergency hat knitting, this ended up being two hats one inside the other for extra warmth.

Then preparations for Christmas were started, the London Leckenbys were heading up to join us for a pre-christmas meal. Normally we don’t put decorations up for another couple of weeks, but because they were coming we had to get busy.

Last years boat Christmas tree has just about survived the year after a repot with some human made compost, so this has been brought in. But a bigger tree was really needed for the living room, where would we be able to get one from without a car? Nowhere that we found would deliver and the nearest veg/florist didn’t look like they’d be stocking any. One option left, a trip to Sainsburys with our trusty bike as sherpa.

Over several days Mick busied himself in the garden putting lights round bushes. I headed to the snicket to give the ivy a trim. Two wreaths were put together with lights and on the first day of December our decorations were up and illuminated!

Christmas baking. A batch of some rough puff pastry was made, a new recipe I wanted to try out. Then some Lebkuchen, these are my current favourite Christmas biscuits, especially when you poor the heated butter, treacle and maple syrup onto the spices, qworrr!

Christmas shopping this year has meant a walk down to the harbour, thankfully on a very nice sunny day before the snow arrived. I’d placed an order online and been told to ring the doorbell by the bow of a ship! I was taking ‘Buy it off a boat‘ to the next level. The doorbell was nowhere to be seen but thankfully a couple of people were stood on the bridge. My order arrived at a side door, the chap having to climb slightly up a harbour ladder to pass it to me safely, the tide was out at the time!

The coal man arrived along with snow and hail, Scarborough having a dusting of the white stuff just in time for the London Leckenbys arrival.

It has been at least ten years since the London Leckenby’s have visited us in Scarborough, us having lived on boats for much of the last ten years. This trip would also be their first by train, Andrew normally drives them up, but he’s still recovering from his stay in hospital. Quite a bit of work was needed to sort trains due to strikes and engineering work. Tickets were booked with only a couple of days to go. At Kings Cross they loitered for the platform to be announced, confirming the advanced knowledge we’d given them. Also knowing which carriage was likely not to be reserved helped, so they headed straight for it and thankfully got seats on what became a very very full train.

**Nearly as good as my Mums Yorkshire Pud**

Sausage rolls on arrival, sorry Frank forgot to take a photo! Then an afternoon lull, a walk to the beach not taken up as the pavements were really quite slippy. We caught up on their news and then got going with our Advent Saturday joint of roast beef with all the works. I’ve almost mastered gluten free Yorkshire Puddings so that my Mum wouldn’t know the difference. She’d certainly have been pleased that we had a slice each as a starter with gravy (not with the meat!) helped by the veg being a little reluctant to brown up.

Crackers were cracked, wine drunk, plenty of food eaten. Pudding, a warm Dorset Apple Cake accompanied by some Wensleydale Cheese, not quite ‘Apple Pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze’ but very nice and worth repeating.

A lovely time was had by all. It was really lovely having them back in Scarborough.

Sunday morning and it was time to check that their return trains would be running. Well Transpennine Express did what they seem to do best and cancelled their first train. Mick came up with a couple of options for them. Their return journey was going to be 5 hours rather than the 3 on the way up, due to engineering work. It was decided that they’d head to the station and catch an earlier train, either to York where they could loiter in the pub, or to Hull where they could catch their the train earlier on it’s journey than planned. This meant quite a quick breakfast and exchange of presents before a cab arrived to whisk them back to the station.

Almost 24 hours in Scarborough, we wished them a good journey and wished Josh good luck for his forthcoming interview for University. I’ve got my fingers crossed for him as I’d like to visit the very good chilled medication shop we visited last summer when on one of the Great Ouse tributaries. Their journey back changed again due to more cancellations, they had a good journey around the country arriving in London ten minutes earlier than originally planned.

Sunday evening Mick and I headed out for what has now become our annual Chinese meal. Crispy aromatic duck a necessity to mark 21 years of us being together. A lovely way to round off the weekend.

It feels like we’ve already had Christmas now. The big day isn’t for another three weeks!

Have we peaked too soon?

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 snow showers, 5x50kg bags of coal, 2 veg boxes, 1 squash, 2 celeriac, 1.8kg top rump, 15 Lebkuchen, 1 Lasagna, 1 pie, 20 sausage rolls, 2 trees, 4 stars, 100m of flotilla lights, 1 bored cat, £1132, 30 plus pairs, 4 Morses, 2 wreaths, 4 new cushions, 3 weeks early, 21 years.

You may notice a couple of changes to the blog. Firstly the blog roll, this had stopped rolling as bloggers posted their posts, so we’re trialing a new plug in, not quite as clear as the old version sadly. Secondly Mick has added code to the blog to hopefully change the default colour of the writing to black without me having to change every paragraph each time I write a post. This was done with assistance from Copilot. I hope it works!

It’s Him Again! 27th September

Staniland Marina

With Agnes’s arrival moving it gave Mick a dry window of opportunity to head off to do some shopping before the rain was due to arrive. The shopping list was just being put together when I noticed a bright blue boat had just come up Thorne Lock, NB That’s It on their last leg to get back to Strawberry Island in Doncaster.

They hovered for a while to give us an update on Les. She’d been kept in at the hospital, in a cast up to her hip. Apparently she’d misjudged her footing when stepping off the boat, not just a break but also a crush injury from the boat! As Jo said, stepping off a boat is something we all do every day and don’t really think about it. We’ll all be thinking about it from now on.

Time to say our farewells to Jo and Brian. It was nice to meet them earlier in the year, to share some locks, then to share the last leg of the Tidal Trent. I suspect our bows will cross again in the future.

A while later Clive came past walking Peg their dog. More news of Les, her ankle will need pinning, possibly more, so she’ll be kept in for a while. They are hoping they can stay with their son on land for some of Les’s recuperation. Plans were made for tomorrow to cruise up to Bramwith with Clive.

A 1:1 drawing had been requested by the set builders for some wiggly bits on panto. Two pieces of A4 paper were stuck together and wiggles drawn out. They’ll make a template from this, then use a router to cut them out.

**Apparently these were bought as a joke, tasty joke**

No sign of Agnes with her wind and rain in the early afternoon, she’d postponed her arrival now till late afternoon. Some extra memory for my laptop (thank you for the prompt from Dave Scouts) was wanting to be ordered to assist with my touching up of panto bits. But we needed an address to send it to. Fran in Sheffield was happy for us to use her address and hopefully it’ll mean we get to see her soon.

**Just how many toys does one cat need in a bedroom?!**

Yesterday I heard that my host in Chippy this year would now no longer have room for me, due to family circumstances her house would now be filled with Grandchildren. However she’d seen Suzanne my previous host and suggested I got in touch with her. Unfortunately Suzanne hasn’t managed to sell her house, fortunately for me it means I can stay with her again. Phew!

Late afternoon, Tilly was snoozing in the escape pod, I was pottering on the computer and Mick was being a domestic goddess with the hoover when I heard a boat go into reverse alongside Oleanna. I peeked out the window. Ah! It’s that man again!!

Paul the narrowboat mover, third or is it the fourth time this year? We’d heard that he might be doing a move along the Trent, but it depended on whether the boat would be ready to be picked up in time to catch us up, also on when Wigan reopens for another move. He reversed into the space behind us. Rapidly moored up, ran to chat with the boat he’d been travelling with then came for a chat.

They’d set off from Torksey this morning and had been expecting Agnes to slow them down, but she was only just starting to have an effect. This meant we could have quite a chat with him rather than just a quick Hello. His next destination is Huddersfield in a few days time.

Tilly did a bit of tree inspecting whilst we chatted. Paul having pulled up under an oak tree. I’m not too sure about this branch, but the rest should be fine tonight! At around 5pm it started to rain time to stop gassing and head inside.

As the evening progressed the wind picked up, the plastic curtain on the dry dock flapping and clapping away . A sheet of rain could be heard approaching and making it’s way along Oleanna’s roof. Agnes has arrived!

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 Photoshop, 60cm of wiggles, 1 pack of OHP sheets, 0 fringing purchased, 1 long blog written, 9 hours, 1 update, 1 Paul again, 1 dust free boat.

Muller Or Ski? 2nd September

Beeston to Sainsburys, Nottingham

A walk into Beeston this morning to post the design for one of my cloths to Promptside. I’ve been in contact with Peter regarding the scan of my artwork and it may be that layering up leaves hasn’t helped, a scanner focuses on one level. He suggested I send him some artwork and they will do a test print. If it turns out rubbish then I will have to re-do the model of the cloths and portals. But if anyone can get the print to work it will be them, fingers crossed.

I passed a mural on my way, depicting the Canary Girls of WW1 who worked at the National Shell Filling Factory in Chilwell. During the war it filled 19 million shells with high explosives. On the 1st of July 1918 eight tons of TNT exploded destroying a sustantial part of the factory and killing 134 people of whom only 32 could be identified, another 250 were injured. The following day the factory was up and running again.

On my way back I walked along Humber Road wondering why it was called thus as it’s quite a long way from the Humber Estuary. Then a rather nice looking building came into view. Now a dance and fitness studio it had the look of a posh garage.

Circular motifs were on the walls with men walking round in circles. Then I spotted a blue plaque. This is where Thomas Humber the engineer made bicycles, motorcycles and cars before moving to Coventry, his factory opening in 1880. In 1868 he had developed a safety bike where the pedals drove the rear wheel. He then produced his Spider Bicycle an early form of ordinary bicycle, Penny Farthing. By 1892 he was employing 1200 people at the Beeston works and when he branched out into motorcar production it rose to 1800.

Time to move on. We rolled up the covers and pushed off from our tight mooring.

Each time we come through Nottingham we feel that there are more and more moored boats. Today this was most certainly true. Little communities of cruisers have grown up along stretches of the canal. One chap was busy doing his washing, his twin tub powered from a genny. We wondered what a collection of cruisers would be called? Maybe a Muller or a Ski of Cruisers.

Castle Marina is still in the process of replacing it’s pontoons, but there seem to be more boats in residence than there were in January when we last came through. We pulled up just past the main entrance through to Sainsburys and managed to find suitable rings to tie to.

A restock shop was required and with the weather set to get warmer again we had another look for a barbeque. Only the disposable ones were available, but we did managed to pick up some kindling for when we next light the stove. The shopping trolley accompanied us back to Oleanna and everything was stowed away. By now it was quite late in the day so we decided to stay put for the night much to Tilly’s dismay as she is still grounded.

**This chap had a drum and cymbals on his extended bike**

0 locks, 3.2 miles, 1 cloth on it’s way, 4 miles walked, 0 shore leave, 2 boxes wine, 2 much christmas, 0 bbq, 1 fridge stocked up.

https://goo.gl/maps/wK5j8J9KruPDkwun8

Timeshare Mooring. 18th August

Union Wharf to between Bridges 8 and 9 Market Harborough Arm

Mick had checked his weather app and rain would be with us at midday. The rain begged to differ and arrived at around 9:30am. Oh well, there was that phone call to make to the printers. Scott was helpful whilst not being as helpful as I’d hoped. Basically the print I received was the best they could do. A higher resolution scan of my model would do better, but it seems that most printers no longer do scanning, the majority of clients handing over their work in digital format. Enlarging to 25 times is a specialist job. He’s hoping he can help, he went away with questions to ask, I went away with places to find who’d be able to scan to a much higher resolution.

A hunt round google gave me many places that scan documents and images 1200/2400 dpi. I think I’d need to scan my model to about 9600 dpi! I passed the information on to John to keep him in the loop, the jury is still out. The best solution to this would be for me to paint the portals, guaranteed to get the best result. Next would be the company we’ll be using to print the cloths, they would be £1500 more, now we know why. I’ll see if I can find somewhere on our route to scan the model, get another sample. Thank goodness we don’t need it next week!

One good thing about the emails this morning was that I found out that the set builders had been given the green light, something that it would have been nice to know!

With the rain getting less wet we set off with the brompton and headed down into town to do a big shop. A pause to look in at the hardware shop. Wilkos, several people buying Christmas trees, we don’t need any lights after our purchase for the flotilla last year. The market looked inviting, but nothing grabbed me. So into Sainsburys for a stock up to last us to Leicester.

After lunch we pushed off, winding in Union Wharf Basin hire boats about to set off. We immediately pulled back in to empty our yellow water tank, the hire boat overtaking us. However just round the bend they were being shown how to pull in, so we overtook them and carried on out of town, our aim to find Tilly a suitable mooring for a few hours before dingding time.

The back gardens are large and pretty. One yesterday was having the grass cut by a robot, we wonder does it have to cut the grass every other day so as to keep on top of it. Maybe we should get one for the house, then the garden would look after itself, well the grass would. Wonder what a robot would make of cat poo in the middle of a lawn though?

The towpath workers had packed up for the weekend. The bucket from a digger left so diesel theft would be hard.

A cormorant dived and fished, two mouthfuls of silver wriggling fish swallowed as we passed. A Kingfisher started to escort us along a wooded stretch, only to be bombed by a bird of prey. Diversionary tactics employed and it darted back past us to give the now following hireres a flash of electric blue.

They were now hot on our heals, we pulled over to let them pass. They’d hoped we’d work the swing bridge ahead. Instead we decided to pull in for the day, a gap between us and a sign warning of a boat cat roaming. The cat’s owner soon walked by, his cat was likely to venture as far as us, but tends not to go out until dark. Between the two cats we’d found a timeshare mooring, Tilly would be in (we hoped) long before dark.

Time to tidy things away. The unruly pile of stuff on the dinette was all put back where it belonged, under the seat of the dinette, in the office cupboard, the cat proof cupboard got a tidy and things slotted in there too. Drawing pens, watercolours and sketch book still accessible. The corner of the dinette reclaimed. What a lovely feeling.

0 locks, 2.9 miles, 1 wind, 1200 not enough, 2 boxes wine, 0 christmas trees, 4 bags on a bike, 1 wet morning, 1 robotic lawn mower, 1 speedy boat, 2 cats timeshare, 2 pizzas, 1 green light for the build, 1 booking made for North Lock.

https://goo.gl/maps/d3EeG1kU7UJjW5oN9

Hire Boat Rush Hour. 4th August

Bridge 100 to Broughton Road Bridge

More and more boats came past including the little green tug we’d encountered yesterday, maybe they’d been for water at Braunston last night. Eventually we found a gap in the traffic and pulled out continuing our journey towards Braunston.

**Not a bad view from bed this morning**

Below I busied myself cleaning Tilly’s pooh box and trying to encourage her back into the bedroom. If I was stood in the well deck she’d brave crossing the bedroom to peek out of the front window, but otherwise the bedroom was still a place to be very very wary of. There’s a monster in there I tell you!!!

The bangers spire came into view followed by Braunston Turn. Over the junction we could make out that there was a boat moored at Midland Chandlers, but when the water point came into view and that was free we made ready to moor up. Whilst I dealt with the water and rubbish Mick headed into the chandlers to see what they had in the way of switches. Sadly nothing that we could use. The Nebolink can wait a few more days until we find a switch more suitable.

Onwards now north. I brought the new panto script out the back and as we pootled along the North Oxford Canal I read it through. A pencil should I need to make notes for set things and a blue highlighter pen to underline props as I went. Only one set thing I noted, I need to rehang a door to open the other way. Lots of blue for props and quite a few new chuckles.

This pound is always busy. Today boats seemed to come in threes towards us, just where were they all coming from? We’re normally on a canal or river away from the crowds at this time of year, so it maybe feels that bit more busy to us. We pootled onwards past the nice moorings north of Braunston, these all seemed to be busy.

Barby Straight we only encountered a couple of boats, but the last one must have been really deep draughted as we ended up being on the bottom at quite a tilt. Inside I could hear drawers opening, items falling, Tilly balls all rolling to the port side. The MONSTER’s back!!!! Just when I thought she was getting over the printer!

Lots of work seems to have taken place near Hillmorton. New sheds with boats under cover being worked on. A little boat was out on the hard with the chalk marks of hull thickness, hopefully the results good for a prospective new owner.

We pulled into a space above the locks for lunch. During the morning reading the script I’d grown to like panto again, during lunch the emails started again and my top lip started to curl up. A quick response to one of them, the others could wait till we’d moored up for the day.

Time to drop down the three Hillmorton Locks. Time to find a gap in the passing boats! Maybe we shouldn’t have stopped for lunch, all of a sudden we were surrounded with boats wanting to descend the majority hire boats heading back to base. We trod water alongside a moored boat, the boat ahead got caught out by the flow coming from the weir. He decided to stay put on the off side and let us have the next available chamber on the towpath side.

So many crew at each lock. Some knew what they were doing, others didn’t and I winced at some of the practices. One boat insisted on lifting paddles halfway to empty the lock and then they were going to close the gates despite a boat heading uphill towards them.

Now we were meeting the next set of hirers coming out from the Rugby bases. It was noisy and chaotic to say the least. One boat had young crew sat in the well deck urging Grandad to open the gate ‘It must be ready now!’ as Dad chatted to me at the stern, narrowboating a favorite pass time for his family, costs him a fortune, grandad’s first time, want a boat of their own but wouldn’t know what to do if it broke down, couldn’t afford it anyway. I suggested they should look into a share boat, it works out cheaper than hiring every holiday. Eventually he moved the morse control and headed off to the next lock, his daughter having almost exploded in the welldeck at her Dad not getting a move on!

The last lock down to the Rugby pound seemed quieter, a volunteer helped with the bottom gates and as we left she indicated to the following boat which of the paired locks they should aim for. All could be peaceful again. Time for the final scene of panto.

There was space on the armco closest to Rugby Station. We pulled in, then quite quickly moved along a boats length as we’d disturbed a wasps nest. Tilly was given two hours shore leave, preferring to use the stern and hatch avoiding the bow and the bedroom!

Panto emails kept me busy for much of the remainder of the day. A new print company wanting to charge £200 for a sample?! I’m sure their printing is very good, but we’re possibly looking at two companies doing different elements that all have to look the same, I want reassurance that I won’t end up with a right mishmash of colours. The carpenters were updated with my thoughts, new drawings needed.

A joint of pork came out of the fridge and an hour later went in the oven. A Friday night roast would help warm the boat up for the evening. As I started to collate a props list together Mick prepared the vegetables. A very tasty meal indeed and Act 1 props all listed. I even ended up with Tilly sat on my knee the bedroom starting to loose it’s scareyness.

3 locks, 10.3 miles, 0 journey on Nebolink, 1 left, 0 switch, 1 monster in THAT bag! 4 balls, 1 temperature gauge, 1 miss timed lunch break, 1 clean pooh box, 6 hire boats all at once, 1 spliff and a can of larger, 2 hours, 1 wasps nest, 5m not 3m, 1 long list of things to do, Act1 props done, 1 heel turned.

https://goo.gl/maps/bCigvZeCpD4YvCay5

39 More Steps. 30th 31st July

Sovereign Wharf, Banbury

Waking in the back bedroom is a strange thing, the bed is quite bedoingee which we’re not used to and being aware of people moving around the house, but not sure where. We opted to get up for our morning cuppa and be sociable. Coco the woofer was happy to see us, they’d just come back from a walk in the park. Soon we were joined by Herbs two girls aged six and nine, we all chatted whilst they had their rice crispies and Olivia and Herb finished packing things up.

**I think we need someone to tame our garden**

The two girls said hello on the Geraghty zoom before being ushered to pack their bags and get ready to leave. Today they’d be going to Diagon Alley (The Shambles in York), their Dad Herb say’s he’s Harry Potter, but they don’t believe him. We waved goodbye and then set about sorting our breakfast.

I did another hour of pulling things up in the front garden, trimming bushes and hacking back ivy and rose bushes that had bolted for the sky. Mick tidied the dead bluebells making sure any seeds were scattered for next year, we like our bluebells.

**Capplemans the only chippy in Scarborough**

Bedding washing, ironing, cleaning, bed making, shower cleaning kept us busy right through the day until it was time for Mick to head off and pick up our order of fish and chips. Very crispy batter today, yummo! We made a mental list of jobs still to be done then blobbed in front of the TV before heading to bed early.

Sunday. Was that curtain pole like that before? Surely when we put the curtains back up after I’d decorated the back bedroom we’d have noticed the pole on a wonk? Maybe someone had tugged the curtains a touch too much and the screws holding the pole up had given up. Things happen. We’d rather know about them than not, then we can do something about it, if we’d not slept in that room then the next time the curtains were drawn they may have come down. Mick tried to fix them, but in the end we deemed it a longer job than we had time for so we removed the curtains for safety (there is a blackout blind), afterall a two year old would be sleeping in that room tonight!

**All clean and ready for Zoe and family**

Windows got a once over, the big shower a full clean, it still has an annoying leak! The postman delivered an important parcel. We packed away our things into the car. Oven, fridge cleaned, sandwiches made for the journey back.

One last thing to check, our Christmas tree that hadn’t been doing to well when we’d left it back in May. With all the rain and having been repotted with some of our home made compost it was green again and sprouting! Brilliant!!

A message was sent to Zoe our next lodger and we were off to join the queue of traffic trying to leave Scarborough. Would we make it back in time to drop the car back off before Enterprise closed? The back route over the Wolds was busy with farmers harvesting. Rain as we passed Goole, the M1 closed near London so tailbacks of traffic as people exited to avoid it. We played chicken and hoped that carrying on to the Crick turn off would work, thankfully it did.

The car was unpacked and returned well within the time frame, Mick picking up various bits and bobs on his walk back.

Tilly was very happy to see us, the pigeons and wagtails had kept her occupied, but we were far better than the birds. Look see they left me with only a few biscuits! There were the just in case biscuits left in her bowl, the magic food bowl licked clean.

Whilst at the house there had been post to open. I got a certificate from Dementia Uk for my fundraising. I also got a parcel of yummy yarn from one of the dyers who’d donated yarn to my Sockathon. This was from her monthly yarn club based on literature, Mars. I’d also bought myself a skein of her brightest multicoloured yarn. The later will soon be being knitted up into a pair of socks for me, it’s about time I had some new socks.

The other exciting post had to be signed for and fortunately it had arrived swiftly. Mick had decided to upgrade our Nebo logging and has purchased a Nebolink. This will automatically record our journeys once installed. More about this when he gets round to wiring it in.

After two days of cleaning, bed changing etc we deserved a glass of wine this evening, we sat down and watched the 1935 Hitchcock version of The 39 Steps on Youtube. This is the version that the play we’d seen on Saturday was based on. So much of it was the same, only slight alterations and the direction made the stage play so funny compared to the serious side of 1935.

0 locks, 0 miles,1 car back in time, 1 full house, 1 spotless house, 1 family to another,2 of each, £868.13, 220 grams yarn, 2 empty bowls, 16 biscuits left, 1 big cuddle from Tilly, 1 last wash load.

Checking It Twice. 31st January

King’s Marina

More packing, more trying to keep Tilly calm.

It’s amazing how much stuff you think you might need! I said the other day that we wouldn’t be taking as much back to the house as normal, well I think what we’ve left would equate to a small holdall! If it wasn’t for my work things the van would have been half empty.

Pictures of boats waiting to go through Maud’s Bridge during the hour window this morning appeared on the Trentlink facebook group. Eight boats in all, one that had been waiting at Keadby for almost two months! Later in the day there were more pictures from those who’d escaped and made it out onto the Tidal Trent.

Then late morning a C&RT notice came through.

Update on 31/01/2023:

The bridge has successfully been opened as planned this morning.

An emergency road closure has been secured, therefore the bridge will remain in a open position for navigation traffic whilst repairs are undertaken.

Oh blimey, if we’d known that we’d have carried on downstream, saving an extra long road journey for Tilly. Well at least it’s open and we can start to plan.

By lunchtime just about everything was packed into the van. The dishwasher was set going for the last time, fridge and freezer were emptied. We’d made a list and checked it more than twice.

Gas off

Water pump off

Shower head laid in shower tray

Stop cock from water tank off (to stop the water tank syphoning into the shower tray)

Fridge and freezer left open

Duvet in vacuum bag

Yellow water tank emptied

Mini solar panel connected to starter battery

Central heating set to 2C

Tilly.

***You’ve forgotten to pack these, I’ll get them out for you!***

Ideally Tilly would have visited her litter tray shortly before she was to be ~~packed~~ put in her caravan for the journey. She’d been showing signs of needing to use the facilities, but had turned her nose up at the litter box. Well it was stinky! So I cleaned it out and put a light layer of clean litter in it for her. One sniff and still no visit!

Everything was done, just Tilly now. Still no visit. We gave her until 3pm, still no visit! We both walked up to use the shore based facilities, still no visit. Time was up, time for the tussle into the caravan. I so wish it wasn’t a tussle. So do I!

Tilly was positioned between Mick and myself in the cab. How long would it be before we needed to stop? Five minutes and into the first layby on the A1. Another three stops were required. Tilly was saying lots, mumbling something about compensation from C&RT for her extended hell of a journey. Poor thing, if our original plan had happened then the journey would have been an hour shorter!

Thankfully there was a space on the street close to the house big enough for a van. Tilly was first out and closed into the utility room for a check over before she got free run of the house. Stop fussing! I need to check everything over!

It took a good half hour to ferry everything into the house, it’ll take longer to move things to where they should be.

On our journey I’d placed an order for fish and chips from Capplemans, very nice they were too. Tomorrow an online shop will arrive, then I’ll need to sus out how to get a veg box again as Tree Top Press are not delivering for the next couple of months and Mick doesn’t fancy the bike ride out to Suffield to collect one, they are on the top of a very big hill!

Christmas post was opened. I think I’ll allow myself to keep the cards on the mantle piece for a while, it’s after twelfth night after all!

Claire arrived back from a days work at the SJT. The Comedy of Errors (more or less) has been re-written by Elizabeth Godber and Nick Lane. It’s now an 80’s musical farce and I believe if Claire isn’t lying there may just be a giant lobster in it, well if you know anything of Nick Lane’s work, that really isn’t a surprise! It sounds like the actors have got their work cut out and that we’ll be hearing lots of 80’s songs over the next few weeks from Claires side of the house.

Attention turned to tide times on the River Trent. Now knowing that Maud’s Bridge will be open to boat traffic we can start to plan moving Oleanna further up the country. This may be sooner than we’d originally thought. We just need tide times, lock opening times and weather to coincide with windows of opportunity between my work.

Tilly will not be joining us for the few days, as that would be very unfair on her. But we do wonder if she’d prefer travelling by train?!

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 full van, 1 escape pod flattened, 1 seriously miffed cat, 4 comfort breaks, 5 puppy pads, 1 cat refusing to lie down, 1 bumpy road across the wolds, 2 of each, 2 glasses wine, 1 more ball of yarn, 1 lodger, 1 bridge now OPEN! 1 cat needing to settle down, 1 blog having a short break, which might be shorter than we imagined.

PS. The email situation seems to have resolved itself. On Wednesday we were informed that the blog was being unresponsive and possibly not loading for some people. Mick was just starting to look into it when we received a second message saying Oleanna was back on line. We suspect that this may have corrected whatever had gone wrong with the emails. Thank you for your comments and glad everyone seems to be back.

Newark Memories. 28th January

King’s Marina

After breakfast it was Mick’s turn to catch trains and head for Yorkshire, leaving Tilly and myself onboard. Since we heard the news a week or so ago that Maud’s Bridge could be closed for a couple of months we’d made plans. Take a mooring here at King’s Marina, move back to the house for it’s winter maintenance when we’re less likely to have lodgers. The move having to happen around my work.

I walked up towards the station with Mick then headed to Boyes to pick up a knitting needle gauge. My collection of needles is normally well ordered, but having so many circular needles which have very very small writing on them and some being left out of their packs I didn’t know which was which.

**The Corn Exchange, when will it have a new life?**

I then had a walk around town. We wintered here on Lillyanne seven years ago and grew quite fond of the place. An enforced marina stay for medical reasons had us moored in King’s for a few months, we spent Bonfore night, Christmas and New Year here. Both of us having operations.

Since then we have passed through Newark using the fast route from north to south on the River Trent. Being here in the summer hasn’t felt right, coats hats and scarves should be worn in Newark. Then on our last visit we were preoccupied helping our friend David get the help he needed to get well. So on todays walk I had the intention of returning Newark to a place in my memory of Maltings, Brewers, Nicholsons, John Carr, the market, auction houses, Emily Blagg, Polish War graves, the castle, the civil war, all the things we discovered and enjoyed about the town.

I think I succeeded.

Returning to the boat I stopped off at Waitrose (closer to the marina by a few paces than Aldi) to see what might have been yellow stickered. I came away with a gluten free Calzone and some green veg which I stir fried with lemon juice and garlic. A very nice meal.

With my knitting needle gauge I worked out which needles I would need to use my birthday present of Riverknits yarn. A showtime cowl, all the yarn with names associated with pantomimes. I settled down in front of the tv and then realised I still had more to do before I could start. Yarn always looks so lovely wound round in skeins, just a shame before you start to use it it needs winding into a ball! With a calm cat on my knee that I really didn’t want to disturb I managed to make a ball of the first yarn I would require. The rest will be wound in turn as needed.

It’s nice having knitting on the go again. Maybe I should do another sockathon this year. Still plenty of sock yarn to use up, maybe I could get some donated too. I’ve been putting some thought into which charity I would raise money for, there are a couple that are possible. Some more thought needed and which month to do it in?

0 locks, 0 miles, 2 trains for Mick, 0 sprinkles for Tilly, 3 yellow stickers, 1 calzone, 6 yarns, 1 ball wound, 144 stitches cast on, 4 rounds.

2022 Back To Exploring

Time for the annual round, a long post so sit back, put your feet up and enjoy.

The New Year kicked off with winter maintenance in the house. Having two hallways proved time consuming refreshing the woodwork and patching up the worst of the wallpaper. But this was broken up with weekly walks to see the sea. I resumed work on the development showing of #unit21 for Dark Horse and a Christmas present of a cheese making kit proved very tasty in creating my first ever Yorkshire Curd Cheese Cake from scratch. I plan on having a second go at this soon!

In February work progressed in Huddersfield towards opening night, the floor painted, final costume fittings and then the set and lighting added. All while Mick serviced our life jackets and Tilly grew more and more bored of life in the house.

Once the show was opened we had a trip down to London to catch up with the London Leckenbys for a belated Christmas, on our way back we visited Oleanna. When ever we could we visited Blue Water Marina to do jobs and have a pack up lunch. The stove was reblacked, walls washed down and cupboards sorted through.

Then at the end of February, Mick and I left Tilly in charge of the house, we packed enough clothes and food for a couple of days boating and headed to Thorne to move Oleanna through Thorne Lock before a winter stoppage began. Blimey it was chilly out there, but wonderful to be back afloat and moving Oleanna to Goole. Now we were all set to move back onboard and have a few weeks of pootling about in Yorkshire.

Back at the house we made it ready for the first of this years lodgers. Our boat Christmas tree was retired into the back garden where we hoped it would thrive, this of course was before we knew a drought was on it’s way! Tilly said goodbye to the dragon that lives up the chimney, left Seville and Valencia to look after the house before having to endure the car trip back to boat life.

After a few days sorting ourselves, including having one of Joan’s gluten free Chinese takeaways, we unplugged Oleanna and backed out from our mooring at Goole Marina (Boat House). We spent the next three weeks bobbing about between Pollington Lock, Doncaster and Goole. Maintenance jobs were ticked off the list.

Alistair did engine and weedhatch jobs, Frank joined us a couple of times to do carpentry jobs, our galley drawers no longer have a life of their own, the covers had a good scrub and a spray of Wet and Forget to help them keep clean.

In March I’d set myself a charity challenge, to knit as many pairs of socks in the month as I could. Nine pairs knitted for people in return for sponsorship, I also got a very generous donation of yarn from Lisa on NB Summer Wind.

Our plans had had to change as Thorne Lock still hadn’t closed, but was about to! Plans to visit York and West Yorkshire were abandoned, we’d bought ourselves a Gold Licence for the year so wanted to make the most of it. So on March 24th with all the jobs done we turned our backs on Goole and set off into the sunset to see where 2022 would take us, all three of us grinning from ear to ear.

We made our way to Keadby ready for our booked passage on the tidal River Trent, the fast route south. A phone call from a boating friend in need of support meant we’d be doing our best to make use of the spring tide to reach Cromwell in one go despite the weather forecast. We spent a couple of days doing what we could to help in Newark before we needed to be on the move again.

On upstream to The Trent and Mersey keeping up our cruising hours and Tilly hoping we’d stop with enough time for her to explore each day before cat curfew.

Up to Fradley then onto the Coventry Canal, we played leapfrog with NB Free Spirit for a couple of days.

Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, up the Curdworth Flight then a turn left onto a section of the Grand Union we’d not been on before at Star City. Up Garrison Locks, Typhoo Basin and then the Ashted Locks where we now have the measure of that Tunnel! A mooring space at the top of Farmers Bridge had our name on it. This was handy for a road trip to swap lodgers and for visits to the dentist. It also meant we were in shot when a group came to jump the top lock!

Fast forward to 6:15

Our route out of Bumingham saw us through Edgbaston Tunnel, down Lapworth followed by Hatton. A pause was needed for Tilly’s annual visit to a new vet, the one here the closest to the canal we’ve visited so far, also handy for The Cape of Good Hope!

At Napton we joined the Oxford Canal and headed for Braunston, pausing to stock up on goodies from the butcher. On the Grand Union we made our way up over the hill and started our descent down The Long Buckby flight back towards tidal waters.

On the 1st of May we turned left at Gayton Junction onto the Northampton Arm dropping down the flight to the River Nene. We’d only been this way once before and that was when we’d just bought Lillian (NB Lillyanne) back in 2014. We bought ourselves a second Abloy key, showed our Gold Licence to the chap at Northampton Marina and started our journey down stream, time to explore.

A decision was made to head down to Peterborough taking note of places we’d want to visit on our return journey. We worked our way through the guillotine locks, many button operated and others with the wheel of cardiovascular overload.

Tilly loved many of the moorings apart from those in Peterborough where crowds surrounded the boat and meant returning from shore leave was impossible for several hours.

In two weeks we reached the end of the river at the Dog in a Doublet Lock. Here the river becomes tidal, we’d save that trip for another time and turned back upstream to head for the Middle Level.

Here we wanted to explore all the drainage channels, but decided we’d do that on our return too. So we took the direct route and crossed the low lying waters in three days arriving at Salters Lode on Mick’s birthday. The levels out on the tidal stretch of the Great Ouse needing to be just right to get through the lock, turn and head upstream to Denver Sluice.

A lovely GOBA mooring was found on the River Wissey and eventually the sun came out for a birthday barbeque, we’d made it to the Great Ouse.

The remainder of May was spent exploring the River Wissey, Ely and The Little Ouse. Brandon Lock sits at the most easterly point on the connected navigable network for boats Oleanna’s size. Sadly a build up of silt stopped us from getting her bow into the lock, but we did get her as far east as was possible, ticking off the fourth point of the compass.

There was a trip to Hull Truck to meet old friends at a gala evening followed by a meet up with Micks family back in the Fens. At the end of the month we got to know Neil the seal at Ten Mile Bank moorings as he basked in the sun and took sunset dips in the river.

The Jubilee was seen in at Denver, we lit our guiding lights as a Lancaster Bomber flew overhead heading to see the Queen. The Relief Channel gave us a good mooring to be able to have a trip away to celebrate Dawn and Lee’s 50th Birthdays in Scarborough, we went as Wallace and Gromit and won an Oscar!

Another visit to Ely to see the Cathedral, Farmers market and meet up with Heather from NB Bleasdale, the first of many this summer. The River Lark was explored, the end of navigation reached with a handy mooring outside a pub.

We headed for the Cam, our paths crossing for the first time with Ken and Sue from NB Cleddau. Then onwards in to Cambridge where we visited colleges, ate chilled medication and had a day trip to Duxford so that Mick could sit in the pilots seat of a Trident 2, a seat his Dad had sat in on many a flight.

Oleanna squeezed along each of the three Lodes, Wicken, Burwell and Reach. Wicken Lode a magical place and a day visit to Anglesey Abbey with it’s wonderful gardens.

Then we headed onto the Old West a river with a very different feel than the Ely Ouse. A pause was needed when we reached Earith for us to have a tour of Heathers new to her boat GT. Once off the tidal water we were on a different Great Ouse again. Here St Ives, St Neots and Hemingford gave us sunsets, D shaped locks, huge meadows and wonderful towns and villages to explore.

As the temperatures started to rise I needed to do some work. Cruising happened in the mornings, my Panto script and sketches were done in the shade of what trees we could find. White sheets were bought and we hoped for a mooring with shade for the really hot days that were to come. Tilly took to lying on the floor and we took to wearing wet t-shirts to help us to keep cool. Thankfully the hot blast only lasted a couple of days then the temperature dropped and we could continue to head upstream.

July 21st we reached the navigable limit of the River Great Ouse, having to reverse some distance to be able to turn round and return to Bedford for the River Festival.

Here we met up with Ken and Sue, Jennie and Chris from NB Tentatrice and Heather again. Plenty of things to see, do and hear. The boat parades, raft races, vintage cars, all sorts kept us busy for the two days.

Now at the end of July we alternated the days between cruising and my work. More beautiful days cruising and more wonderful sunsets, one day off to visit Cambridge for some more chilled medication and to see the Hockney exhibition.

August saw more hot days. Trips to London to celebrate birthdays, panto meetings, catch up with best friends and travellers over from Australia.

On the 15th August we crossed back from Denver Sluice to the Middle Level having really enjoyed our three months on the Great Ouse. Now water levels were a worry along with having enough time to reach Oxford for me to go to work in October. We made the decision to come back and explore the Middle Level another year, maybe we’ll cross The Wash to get there!

By the end of August our progress up stream on the River Nene slowed to a halt. First one lock broke then another two ahead of us. We’d recently been accepted to join the Reflections Flotilla on the Thames to mark the Queens Jubilee in a few weeks time, now that time was ticking away.

When we did get moving again we had to make up our cruising hours. With the news of the passing of the Queen we didn’t know if the flotilla would still be going ahead, we carried on at pace waiting for news. Back up the River Nene, turning onto the Grand Union, working our way southwards. The news came through that the flotilla would go ahead, but now in remembrance of the Queen.

With a couple of days to spare we squeezed into the Eco-Moorings by Islington Tunnel. Two days of catching up with family and more friends over from Australia before we joined boats heading along the Regents Canal towards Limehouse Basin. An afternoon of activity saw numerous narrowboats festooned with white lights.

On the 24th of September the Thames barrier was closed and we all headed out of Limehouse Lock up stream to Chelsea where we clung onto buoys until the early evening when the flotilla started to muster.

Getting on for 150 boats all displaying white lights got into formation and headed down stream. Crowds stood on the illuminated bridges and Tower Bridge opened up in a royal salute as we passed underneath. What a truly amazing day.

Now we had to head towards Banbury, back round the Regents Canal as a leak in the engine bay needed testing on the calm waters of the canal rather than the tideway. By the time we reached Brentford we were confident with Oleanna’s engine again. On the Thames Tilly got a birthday present of a night on a Cliveden Island. Sadly we got an unexpected present on our arrival in Oxford, a second red line on a covid test! Panto painting couldn’t be put off so we made our way gradually up the Oxford Canal keeping our distance from people at locks and taking maximum doses of paracetamol.

A week of painting in Banbury before I moved to Chipping Norton to stack up the hours over the next four weeks getting the 50th anniversary panto ready. Rendez Vousing with Oleanna at weekends in Banbury and Coventry kept me sane. Mick had to single hand across the summit of the Oxford Canal to avoid the first of the winter stoppages.

All three of us were back onboard by mid November, covid free and vaccinated. We took things slowly now, time to rest up, meet friends, gather family and pootle towards Christmas. Our 20th Anniversary was celebrated with a Chinese takeaway at Alvecote Marina, a planned stop which ended up being extended due to plummeting temperatures. The canal froze, there’d be no moving the outside for Tilly!

Temperatures lifted dramatically and the ice just about vanished in a couple of days, we could now be on our way to Christmas. Alrewas was a good place to spend the festive days, a very good butchers and a village with lots of character and humour.

Bookings in the New Year had been made for passage on the tidal River Trent for us to reach Yorkshire, but this would not be. The Trent had risen before Christmas, Cranfleet Flood Gates were shut ahead of us, so no New Year at Hazelford Lock. Instead our alternator played up and we sought out a mooring to hook up to and see in 2023.

This year we’d been wanting to explore again. This year we cruised miles of new water, made new friends, got too hot, got iced in, got stuck, got to be in the first illuminated flotilla on the Thames for 300 years. What a great year it has been.

So our vital statistics for 2022 according to Canalplan are

Total distance is 1249 miles, 6½ furlong and 555 locks . There were 88 moveable bridges of which 29 are usually left open; 156 small aqueducts or underbridges and 18 tunnels, a total of 7 miles 2 ¼ furlongs underground and 8 major aqueducts.

This was made up of 227 miles, 1 1/2 furlongs of narrow canals; 363 miles, 2 furlongs of broad canals; 85 miles, 5 furlongs of commercial waterways; 269 miles, 1 furlong of small rivers; 234 miles, 7 1/4 furlongs of large rivers; 69 miles, 6 furlongs of tidal rivers; 176 narrow locks; 232 broad locks; 54 large locks; 2 locks on major waterways.

731.7 engine hours

1156.1 litres diesel, 5 (although we’ve got 1 empty now) gas bottles (used for central heating as well as cooking), 28.5 litres oil, 3 oil filters, 1 fuel filter, 2 air filters, 1 water pump, 2 new belts, 690kg coal, 1 overnight guest twice, 6 packs Dreamies (not enough!), 56 friends, a record breaking 41 Mrs Tilly stamps of approval (4 in one day!), 15 pairs socks, 2 shows designed, 9 lodgers, 2 lots gluten free puff pastry, 9 supermarket deliveries, 30 boxes of wine delivered, 2 lost unicorns.

Thank you all for joining us on our journey. Wonder where we’ll get to in 2023?

Stamping Mud. 10th January

Shardlow

**1.52m down 11cm, but not a good forecast**

Another early morning, well for Mick returning the van and sending off the costume returns. Frustrating that despite the returns going back to the same company, they had to go in three different packages, one to Poland via UPS the other two by Evri. Because of the two different couriers it meant Mick having to visit two different Premier stores in the torrential rain before returning the van.

On his arrival back to the boat he put on his chefs hat and cooked us a breakfast. As he cooked, a stream of water appeared from the window above the cooker. There was so much water coming down the glass outside, the water had filled up the frame and was finding it’s way inside. This year I haven’t got round to taking the windows out and giving the frames a good clean out. The drain holes on this window were almost certainly blocked. So as Mick fried and poached our breakfast I donned my coat and provided myself with some pointy thin sticks.

**Co-op bacon not as good as Alrewas bacon**

The drain holes were totally blocked. Prodding from above and then below saw rivers of muddyness drain down the cabin side. I managed to do enough of a job to keep the water draining away and not entering the boat. A better more comprehensive clean out is required before too long, but that will require a warmish dry day as each window will need to come out of it’s frame.

Having now got soggy legs and Mick having had the early start we both deserved breakfast, it was very yummy.

Tilly really wanted to be out, but the rain was putting her off. But in the end her need was far greater than staying dry and she sprang off somewhere on the towpath. She soon returned much relieved and came for some Dreamies. The next few hours as I worked my way through the last few items to order for #unit21 she came and went as often as any cat could. The day gradually drying up, but the towpath remaining very wet and extreamly muddy. My list of jobs bore the brunt of Tilly’s muddy stamps.

Time to sit down and do figures. Time to finish off last years accounts, add up my design fees and money from lodgers. Downloading bank statements takes some time, then reconciling them. Things are a little more complicated this year as my self employed year doesn’t run the same as the tax year for our lodgers. Maybe I should move my accounting year and maybe I am too diligent with the figures. It all takes time and concentration (well only a couple of afternoons worth), which isn’t helped with Tilly coming and going, demanding Dreamies every five minutes! Mick was understanding and watched some old episodes of All Creatures Great and Small with the subtitles on, after all he needs the figures from the lodgers for his return too.

Still some more to do tomorrow, then the tax return filling in, only to be told I don’t owe any tax just some National Insurance contributions, which I already know.

Dinner this evening was jacket potatoes with the remainder of the chicken from our Friday night roast and some homemade coleslaw. One day we will finish the red cabbage bought for Christmas!

0 locks, 0 miles,1 van returned, 3 parcels, 3 refunds, 20 rolls of tape, 1kg green confetti, 2nd payment, 4 hours of numbers, 4 muddy stamping paws! 1 overdue catch up.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna