Category Archives: Family

Birthday Boy. 28th June

Rembrandt Gardens

Back in February our decision to head to London was so that we could meet with family, it was also so that we could be around for my brother Andrew’s birthday, his 60th birthday. Hence the mission to reach our booked mooring.

Mick was sent off this morning to find the last part of our present. I’d decided to get him a present for every decade of his life and I was missing one, some Kendal Mint Cake was needed. Whilst I tried to finish off bits of work Mick hunted through outdoor type shops and managed to find a minty assortment. The presents were now complete.

With a rucksack full of goodies and a bag filled with birthday cake we headed off to catch the bus. When we reached the bus stop I suddenly realised that I was missing the very important envelope with the icing recipe on it so that I could finish off the cake when we got to Hackney. Mick headed back to Oleanna to collect it whilst 4 number 18 buses came and went. Oh well, we’d get there in the end.

The icing went on the cake as soon as we arrived, it has to be simmered then poured over the cake to set and carrying it across London on a bus might have been a very messy thing to do.

Presents time. So what did I get my brother?

A box of matches, stems from a present from Paddington Bear when I was about six. The Kendal Mint Cake assortment. A Bottle of T, Timothy Taylors Landlord. A Bottle of Punt e Mes Vermouth. A pair of hand knitted socks, made by myself. Then a bowl, but not just any bowl.

Last Friday on our way over to Hackney we’d had to call into an old friends. Ben Davies was a couple of years above me at school. He is a cellist, cello tutor and ceramicist. Last year during lockdown he and his neighbour built themselves semi-detached studios in their gardens, wonderful light rooms. Ben has enough space to have a quartet play alongside his two kilns, a small office space and display area.

Since having his studio, and having the lack of concerts to play in he has increased the amount of time he spends making his pots. Using different colours of clay, he uses layers and hand builds, fires then sands back, then fires them again creating wonderful touchy feely pots with an organic feel and look to them. Several months ago I’d decided that if I could afford it I’d buy one for Andrew. The selection process took a while, sifting through photographs, then the decision was made, a small bowl made in porcelain in white, black and blue.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the actual bowl, it’s a little bit like one of the ones above. It really is a lovely object and especially nice that Andrew knows Ben.

We had a lovely meal of roast pork, dauphinoise potatoes and various salads, plenty of wine and conversation.

The cake come out and with candles lit, plus a rocket, we all sang Happy Birthday to Andrew.

A quiet birthday for him, but so lovely that we’d made it to London and were able to be part of his day.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 buses, 2 tubes, 6 presents, 1 bowl, 1 brother, 60!!! How did that happen!?

Kath. 27th June

Rembrandt Gardens

Living under trees for days on end isn’t good for solar, it also isn’t so good for our batteries. This morning we woke to no power, none what-so-ever! The battery bank had turned itself off to protect itself, only one thing for it turn the engine on. Fortunately it was 8am, but we did feel bad about it being a Sunday morning and having new neighbours very close to our stern.

Despite the engine running we had a lazy morning reading the Saturday paper in bed, that was until we heard the unmissable sound of a coal boat engine popping it’s way into Little Venice. NB Emu had just turned out from the Regents Canal, paused, and then reversed back down under Westbourne Terrace Bridge. Mick gave them a call to see if we could have a top up of diesel when they returned.

Our neighbours also were after a top up, which gave us the opportunity to apologise about having to run the engine early on a Sunday morning. Mick asked the chaps on Emu about their supply of Calor gas, they stopped getting it direct from Calor a while ago and since then they haven’t had any problems. Brian from NB Alton on the Macclesfield Canal is having serious trouble getting hold of stock or anyone to talk to about the matter, he’s pulling his hair out about the situation.

After breakfast we gave Oleanna a good tidy up, my work things had been packed away yesterday, now she needed a wipe down and a sweep through before our lunch guest arrived.

Picnic lunch had indoors due to grey skys

Mick has lots of sisters, four in fact. Today we had a visit from Kath, whom I used to work with at the Stephen Joseph Theatre. Over the last 18 months we’ve seen quite a lot of each other on zoom, but not in the flesh. So it was lovely to see her again and spend several hours just chatting and being in each others company.

Having been on the boat for the last two days I decided to have a walk around the block once Kath had left us. I headed along the path under Harrow Road Bridge. The permanent moorings here have created a barrel garden stretching alongside their boats. The half barrels are filled with lots of lovely flowers, very pretty and creating a bit of a buffer zone to their boats.

I walked down into Paddington Basin. NB Billy on the outside pontoon, another boat just tying up, but still several spaces available. There is a big screen that will show Wimbledon and a cinema screen that over looks the winding hole. I wonder what films have been shown here, would it be best to sit on the roof of your boat or better to hire Goboat to watch the main feature?

Liz West‘s installation under the Westway

I worked my way round the end of the basin, waved to Billy, then carried on to walk back down under the Westway and Harrow Road. This was mainly so I could get a photo of Oleanna across the way on our Rembrandt Garden mooring.

My circular route was completed by crossing Westbourne Terrace Bridge and then Warwick Avenue Bridge bringing me back to Rembrandt Gardens. Not a long walk but enough to stretch me legs. It was now time to get baking as I had an important birthday cake to make.

0 locks, 0 miles, 0 power, 8am engine, power restored, 1 cat unimpressed with the outside, 84 litres, 90p, 1st sister,1 pate, 1 salami, 1 ham, 3 cheeses, 1 absent Shropshire blue, 1 lovely afternoon, 1 queen of sheba.

Leckenbys. 25th June

Rembrandt Gardens

A mini cooked breakfast to start the day

Last night we did our first lateral flow tests, we’ve had the kits since we left the house but never felt the need to do one as we’ve not really been mixing with people. Thankfully they both came out negative. Just because you’ve had both jabs doesn’t mean you can’t get Covid or give it to someone, so even though the tests are not guaranteed to be correct they offer some form of reassurance. Whilst we are in London we’ll be doing them regularly.

Over the next few days we will be doing a lot of catching up with family. Today we saw the London Leckenby’s for the first time since December 2019. They are not fans of zoom so we’ve only seen them virtually once in the last 18 months. So today was quite emotional but lovely.

We had a tour of their house which is currently undergoing some major building work, so much so only Finn and Ziggy are residing on the ground floor of the house currently. The only way to see the top floor, well what there is of it was either by standing on a ladder and peering upwards or by climbing out of the window onto scaffolding to walk in where the roof will be returned later in the summer.

In temporary accommodation down the road we all enjoyed each others company again. Josh has obviously grown, he’ll be 15 in a couple of months time and is currently sitting end of year exams.