Category Archives: Scenic Art

2021 An Adventurous Year

Time for the annual round up. Put the kettle on or pour yourself a glass of something stonger, put your feet up, this is a long post.

As midnight turned from 2020 to 2021 we saw the old year out and new one in at the house in Scarborough, a quiet affair with just the three of us.

January and February brought ups and downs with them. Oleanna rose and fell with the water level at Viking Marina due to the breach at New Bridge whilst the country locked down. Despite the restrictions on travelling we made use of having a hire car for a few days at the beginning of the year to keep an eye on Oleanna.

Jobs around the house continued, our bedroom was redecorated and reclaimed from troublesome tenants. Tilly and I ventured out into the nearby park for the occasional walk, dependant on the number of woofers and the weather of course.

We walked, we ate, we drank, did our best to stay well and I started on the design for Chipping Norton’s panto in my reclaimed work room.

The spare living room was used as a workshop doing some work for Animated Objects, scrimming giant sci-fi guns and then painting model buildings all for The Odyssey. Beetroot burgers were made and pancakes consumed.

Then March came along and some easing of restrictions. Colour came back in nature with the daffodils popping up and my panto model started to get coloured in. A design for some origami paper arrived ready to be folded up to be part of 1000 ships display that would happen a couple of months later along the Yorkshire coast.

With new freedoms we had a couple of trips to Goole to check on Oleanna. First one was to swing her round and finally put fire extinguishers on walls all ready for her Boat Safety Inspection which she passed with flying colours and a comment that we seemed to like CO and smoke detectors, well I’d rather have too many than not enough!

The cofferdam at the breach site was completed and an access ramp created. My posts about the breach put us in touch with several people in Goole and at the beginning of April The Goole Escape Facebook group was formed. Due to the breach and lack of water in Goole Docks no leisure boats were allowed to use Ocean Lock out onto the Tidal Ouse. A joint calm voice was needed to try to find a way out for those boats wanting to leave, including us.

Of course March was also when Mick and I got our first vaccinations. Who’d have thought having a jab would put a smile on peoples faces! Not that you could really see them behind all the masks. A bathroom got a make over and we discovered parts of Scarborough we’d never been to before.

April was a very busy month. With lodgers on the horizon house jobs needed finishing. The roof needed attention along with a wall in my work room, both jobs were for the professionals. Pictures went up on walls, finally. The bathroom needed finishing with Frank fitting us a new bath surround.

Mid month out attention moved back to Oleanna. Way back when, we’d booked her in at Goole Boathouse to be blacked. We had a night on board before moving her from one marina to the other to come out of the water. She was jet washed down and the chaps began applying layers of 2 pack to her hull. We visited most days with jobs to do ourselves. Mick busied himself inside whilst I ground back rusty bits on the gunnels, repainted them and the tunnel bands. Inside the oak floor had a good clean and then was treated to two coats of oil. The weather had been perfect for it and she went back in the water a week after she’d come out, enough time for the 2 pack to cure. She looked smart again, well the cabin sides still needed a good wash!

Whilst in Goole we met up with David, Karl, Wendy and Martin, four members of The Goole Escape group. David had managed to negotiate with ABP passage for leisure boats through Ocean Lock at Goole Docks, this was limited to specific times of the tide. So escape was now possible but everything would have to come together to make a sensible plan. We wouldn’t be ready for a few weeks and hoped that there wouldn’t be a mass exodus before we could join people.

As I carried on trying to finish my panto model Mick made good use of his time doing a VHF radio course, we’d need to be able to use the radio to meet the criteria for going through Goole Docks and out onto the Tidal Ouse. Tilly visited the vet and got a years worth of flea and wormer treatments, we were all set to move back on board.

The first of May was that day. We’d hoped that Tilly would remember the boat after seven months on shore, within about two seconds of being back it was obvious she knew where she was. News that Goole caisson gates were now open and cruising up towards the breach site was possible we headed off to give Oleanna a good run and so that Tilly could venture back onto dry land. It was very good to be back on the move again. On our second such trip Tilly remembered how to swim!

Whilst in Goole Mick took his Short Range VHF Radio exam and passed. I carried on painting my panto model. We both had our second vaccinations. Heather Bleasdale came to visit joining us for an outdoor lunch. We got to know the Goole Escape Committee and discussed plans. We watched work going on at the breach site. Mick had a birthday and Joan’s Home Kitchen provided us with a celebratory meal a couple of days before we hoped to escape.

On 21st May an escape committee meeting was had early on, the weather looked hopeful for the tide in the afternoon, we were booked in at Ocean Lock. Our escape was to be via Selby, the Lock keeper was called there and our plan confirmed. At lunchtime we moved up to fill the diesel tank and await the other escapees, Sea Maiden and Lullabelle. Given the go ahead by the docks to proceed we were soon passing through to Ocean Lock where there was plenty of space for the three of us. At around 14:30 the large lock gates opened to reveal our way out of Goole onto the Tidal Ouse.

We headed upstream following Sea Maiden being pushed along with the tide. Would we make it to Selby before the tide turned. Each boat arrived individually and was locked up into Selby Basin. We’d made it, now all we had to do was escape Selby as the swing bridge out of the basin there was broken.

We waited. Tides, times, weather and the amount of fresh coming down stream all had to fit together. Bridget and Storm came to visit. We twiddled our thumbs. The Environment Agency came and closed the flood barrier. We twiddled our thumbs. Daily escape committee meetings were held. By the 27th everything was looking to fit together apart from one thing, Keadby Lock would not be manned at a suitable time for us to get off the river. Sea Maiden and Lullabelle decided to stay put in Selby. Heather Bleasdale was joining us for the trip but Oleanna would be out on the river on her own heading to Trent Falls.

What a day that was! David’s advice was spot on. Leaving Selby just before 10am Oleanna zoomed downstream with the out going tide. We followed our charts keeping to the channel. At the Apex light Mick swung Oleanna round to head upstream onto the Trent our progress slowing instantly.

We then crawled our way to find where we should wait for the tide to turn. Two hours of very little, drifting on our anchor. We’d picked the day well, it was wonderful out there.

When Oleanna started to move round a touch more we managed to pull the anchor up and found our way back into the main channel to head upstream with the incoming tide. One plan had been to moor up in Gainsborough, but we decided to carry on and arrived at Torksey just as the last light was fading at just gone 22:00, 64 miles in a day, I doubt we’ll ever beat that.

Over the next few days we made our way up the Trent, dug out our windlasses to work locks in Nottingham. Once we rose up Derwent Mouth Lock onto the Trent and Mersey we had completed our escape. The going would now be much slower along shallow canals and plenty more moored boats to slow down past.

Now we should make our booked mooring at Rembrandt Gardens, every day would be a boating day unless the weather was either too hot or far too wet to cruise. Along the Trent and Mersey, pausing to stock up in Alrewas. At Fradley we turned onto the Coventry Canal to head southwards. We gave a tow to NB Burghley Girl to the bottom of Atherstone.

At Hawkesbury Junction we did the 180 degree turn onto the North Oxford Canal, through Rugby and up Hillmorton. NB Kamili with Andy and Irene passed as we arrived in Braunston where we paused for another butchers, then up the flight and through the tunnel.

Straight on along the Grand Union. On route we stopped for a drink with Lizzie at Bugbrooke. Paused for a hot day under some trees near Milton Keynes. Had a diversion along the Wendover Arm for a night. Picked up extra crew, my old college friend Jen, for a day through Hemel Hempstead. Came across our first sightings of HS2 cutting it’s way across the landscape.

At Bulls Bridge we turned left onto the Paddington Arm. On our trip into London we came across our friends Pete and Clare on NB Billy, it turned out we’d be neighbours at Rembrandt Gardens for a few days. We arrived on time and the next day headed across London by bus to Hackney to see the London Leckenbys for the first time since Christmas 2019.

Plenty more family to catch up with. Kath came for lunch, we had a trip to Eastbourne to see Marion and John, a lovely lunch with Christine and Paul. So good to see everyone again and not just on a computer screen every Saturday.

Andrew’s 60th Birthday was celebrated, nothing fancy just good to be able to be together for it, we’d achieved our second goal of the year.

We heard there was a space at St Pancras Cruising Club for a long boat like Oleanna, so we took advantage of a more secure mooring close to Kings Cross whilst we had a visit back to Scarborough. Checking on the house, lodgers changing over and seeing the latest Ayckbourn play with Bridget and Storm, it all made for a good weekend away. I then headed off to Huddersfield for a couple of days work with Dark Horse, fitting costumes for a photo shoot.

There was to be a Tideway cruise from St Pancras Cruising Club and with one space left we jumped at the opportunity. Ten boats made their way to Limehouse, we breasted up with NB Misty Blue, Graham turned out to be another Goole Escapee. Three lock-fulls of boats headed out onto the Tideway on the morning of 10th July, special permission had been sought to go under Hammersmith Bridge which was closed to all forms of traffic at the time.

Tilly thought we were mad taking her onto such rough water, I was a little perplexed too! Very glad that I was the official photographer, clinging on as we did more than bob up and down! Tower Bridge, The National Theatre, Christine, Adam, The Houses of Parliament, Battersea Power Station. So many sights, what an experience!

The further west we got the calmer the water got. We were glad when Hammersmith Bridge was passed as there had always been a chance that it might close to boat traffic at anytime due to safety reasons. We turned off at Brentford along with several other boats and continued up to Hanwell where we had a very sociable evening at The Fox with everyone. Thank you Simon for mentioning the cruise to us.

Sadly our washing machine hadn’t liked the lumpy water so for the next month we cruised meeting up with engineers on route hoping it could be mended. Back through London, pausing at St Pancras again. Then down to the Herford Union to cut across to the Lee and Stort. We had another mooring booked on the Lee awaiting our arrival, alongside NB Billy.

Then up the Lee and onto the River Stort. We’d only ventured so far up the Stort during our first winter on Lillian, this time we headed all the way to Bishop Stortford. Our return journey was held up slightly due to the river going into flood overnight so we had to wait for it to lower to get under the bridge at Roydon.

Back through London we made use of the new Eco-moorings near Islington Tunnel, a handy stop off with electricity. Here we met up with Nick an old friend from York and Adam called in for a catch up after working the breakfast shift at Radio 2.

At the end of July we pushed on and left London behind us, returning to Bulls Bridge.

We headed up to Uxbridge for cheap diesel and finally got our washing machine mended. We turned around and headed back to the Hanwell flight, stowed the garden back in the shower and headed out onto the Thames again where we turned right towards Oxford.

With a weeks license we couldn’t dawdle, although a broken lock gate at Boveney Lock did hold us up overnight so our license would be extended. A space was spotted below Cliveden so we treated ourselves to a night moored in the grounds of the big house. We paused for a socially distanced chat with Sue on No Problem XL, good to see her looking so well. Henley Regatta was almost ready as we passed through and our favourite mooring above Days Lock did not disappoint. All too soon we turned up Sheepwash Channel and ascended Isis Lock back onto the Oxford Canal.

Whilst in Oxford I managed an actual face to face meeting with Dash the Director for Chippy Panto. He seemed happy! Then we made our way up to Thrupp where we’d booked ourselves in at the cruising club for a few days whilst the London Leckenbys came to visit and we had a trip back to Scarborough and we got to see the show at Esk Valley for the first time since we’ve been living afloat.

I had a day trip to Chippy where I did a final model meeting over zoom from a dressing room, but also had chance to measure things up. Then we were off up the Oxford Canal, mooring in our favourite spots, it was a touch busier than it normally is in the winter.

A pause to visit Village Meats in Braunston and we spotted our old share boat NB Winding Down so we stopped to say hello. On up the flight sharing with a boat full of actors, then left up to Crick for the first time in ages.

A prearranged boaters meeting at Houdini’s Field worked brilliantly, NB Panda and NB Kamili convened and we all enjoyed each others company over a fantastic barbeque outside so everyone could feel safe and Tilly could roam about. Oleanna was treated to a very good wash and brush up before we were on our way again. We now needed to get her north before I started on Panto.

News came through that the breach on the Aire and Calder had been mended and nine months after the canal had sprung a leek it was mended and open again. Boats could now move through the area, mooring however is still restricted.

Following the Grand Union we headed down the Stockton Flight to Leamington Spa. Tilly and I had a few hot days on our own moored at Radford Smelly then we were on our way again. An obligatory burger at The Cape of Good Hope the night before we teamed up with NB Mad Hatter to ascend the Hatton flight. One day my old college friend Emma will not have an excuse to helping us up the flight, this time we met for a cuppa and a catch up the following day.

On up Knowle to Catherine de Barnes, then Camp Hill Locks, the Ashted flight and Tunnel (!) followed by Farmers Bridge into Birmingham. The city centre is still full of building and tram works but with the sun out it looked stunning. We also caught up with Paul Balmer from Waterway Routes before carrying on with our journey.

A night at Hawne Basin filled the diesel tank up. A night at Dudley Port Basin got the cupboards filled. A pause at Urban Moorings meant we could donate our deposits and the next day we descended from the Birmingham plateau down the Wolverhampton 21.

Along the Staffordshire and Worcester we managed to have a mid stream catch up with Barbara from NB Bessie Surtees. At Great Haywood I managed a catch up with Kay from NB Pea Green as she set up to trade for the day and Mick filled Oleanna’s water tank.

Heading north on the Trent and Mersey we pulled in for lunch and a surprise hello to Barry and Sandra from NB AreandAre whom we’d got to know last year in the first lockdown. In the afternoon we were joined by Bill and Lisa for a trip through Harecastle Tunnel. Now we swung off the Trent and Mersey and onto the Macclesfield with it’s wonderful bridges.

It would have been nice to take our time but we had a rendez vous to make. The end mooring at Marple was free and from here we headed into Manchester by train to join the London Leckenbys for a meal of big red fish. The following day my old school friend Morag joined us for a night on board with some serious catching up to be done.

Our next deadline loomed, Standedge Tunnel. We dropped down the Marple flight, crossed the aqueduct and turned right at Dukinfield Junction onto the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. We knew we were in for some hard work to climb our way over the Pennines, last time we’d enlisted crew to help as I was one handed. This time we’d be going solo. Apart from the very first lock it wasn’t too troublesome. The work is rewarded with stunning views.

Standedge Tunnel did not disappoint. Because of social distancing Mick got ride ride up front in the cratch leaving the helm to a C&RT volunteer. Bumps and scrapes made Oleanna wince along with us, but we all got through in one piece with no damage. Tilly wasn’t too happy about the trip, but at least I can now boast to the local cats in Scarboreugh that I’ve been through the longest deepest highest tunnel on the canal network whilst they just lazed around on their shed roofs!

On our way down the other side Oleanna had a belt that went taking out quite a few wires in the engine bay. RCR were sent for, the engineer suggested we’d need to remove a pulley on the alternator to be able to remove trapped wires, this could not happen where we were. We could move but the batteries would not charge. The only way to top up our electric was with the solar panels. Emergency power conservation went into operation, blogs were hand written, the freezer turned off and we gradually ate our way through our defrosting supplies. Every day Mick managed to pull more wire from the alternator and soon there was no need for an engineer again, just a new belt needed fitting.

We made our way down to Huddersfield and arrived the day before I had a production meeting at Dark Horse. After walking to my meeting I handed over the model and we stocked up on supplies before heading off east along the Huddersfield Broad Canal.

The Board locks are just that, but they are short. On Lillian we’d nearly got stuck here, but Oleanna was built a foot shorter so we knew we were fine, we still had to take great care in descending the locks diagonally. This continued on to the Calder and Hebble, taking our time and using our Hebble spike. The rebuilding work done at the Figure of Three locks, after flooding washed huge parts of the structure away, are only noticeable due to the new stonework.

Bigger locks were welcome, using the key of power once past Wakefield. The sun shone wonderfully for my last full days boating this year as we made our way to Castleford. Here we hired a car to get me down to Chipping Norton to start work on Panto whilst Mick and Tilly stayed on board with the plan to move Oleanna to a winter mooring in Thorne.

Whilst I painted the set working all the hours I could, Mick and Tilly gradually made their way eastwards. They passed through the breach site and headed to Goole to top up on diesel. On their way back towards the New Junction Canal the engine started to over heat, a problem that had happened a couple of years ago on the Thames.

The following day he winded and slowly made his way to Rawcliffe Bridge for easier access for RCR. Little could be done there and then, so Mick and Alastair (engineer) arranged to meet at Viking Marina in Goole. Oleanna managed the two and a half miles in three stages. After her cooling system had been flushed through the problem hadn’t gone away. The water pump was removed and was obviously the problem. A week later with a new pump Mick moved back out onto the cut and joined Lullabelle (a fellow Goole Escapee).

Taking a long weekend off panto, I headed up to join Mick and Tilly to help move them back to Scarborough. Wendy and Martin kept an eye on Oleanna for us whilst we settled Tilly back into the house, I knew where I was! Pah!!

Several days later with the weather on his side, Mick returned as early as he could, pushed off and single handed Oleanna back along the Aire and Calder to Sykehouse Junction where he turned onto the New Junction Canal. With swing and lift bridges to work he was glad of the assistance of a volunteer at Sykehouse Lock. Then the sharp turn at Bramwith onto the Sheffield and South Yorkshire Navigations. A few more bridges and two more locks before he arrived at Blue Water Marina, Oleanna’s winter mooring.

On our way back from Chippy a week or so later we called in to check on her. A boat in winter isn’t too friendly without the stove lit. We’ll have visits every now and then to check on her and do the odd job. The weeks are already flying by before we move back on board.

For a year that we’d decided would purely be about seeing our family and friends we ended up having quite an adventurous time. Trent Falls, the Tideway through London and Standedge Tunnel made it quite a year.

So our vital statistics for the year 2021 according to canal plan are

Total distance was 932 miles, ½ furlong and 627 locks . There were 42 moveable bridges of which 16 are usually left open; 169 small aqueducts or underbridges and 30 tunnels – a total of 19 miles 3 ¼ furlongs underground and 3 major aqueducts.

This was made up of 277 miles, 1 ¾ furlongs of narrow canals; 270 miles, 4 furlongs of broad canals; 89 miles, 4 ¼ furlongs of commercial waterways; 59 miles, 7 ¼ furlongs of small rivers; 121 miles, 5 furlongs of large rivers; 105 miles, 2 ¼ furlongs of tidal rivers; 8 miles of seaways; 263 narrow locks; 302 broad locks; 61 large locks; 1 lock on major waterways.

Sadly with Oleanna’s log book where it should be, onboard, I’m not able to offer up the engine hours, litres of diesel, gas bottle or bags of coal. Maybe I’ll update this once we are back on board.

This year we’ve done more miles than last, not bad considering we were on land for so much of it. We’ve done far more tidal miles than ever before and for the first time we’ve been on a Seaway! If someone can tell me what the difference is between Tidal waters and Seaways please do. Maybe it was around Trent Falls, or was it downstream of Tower Bridge?

As last year I hope the pandemic doesn’t throw a spanner in the works for us or anyone else. We need the theatrical world to still function with an income for me designing shows and lodgers paying to stay in our house.

I want to say ‘Keep well friends’, but I feel I need to add, ‘Get well soon friends’, as so many have tested positive recently. Thank you for following us and hope to see you soon x

Panto Postcard 6, 2021

46.75 hours

Sunday. What a lovely day off spent with family. Finn the feline version of a silver back was first to say good morning to me, I was honoured as he rarely makes his way upstairs. Then Ziggy made sure I had enough feline attention by sitting on me and demanding I leave the crochet blanket alone to give her plenty of chin rubs.

The day was spent chatting with Andrew and Jac followed by an early lunch. A joint of lamb with plenty of vegetables and masses of cauliflower cheese. All was very very yummy and just what was needed to refuel me for the journey back to Chippy. I even got to take a generous doggy bag back with me!

Google had been good on the way to Hackney with it’s timings, I aimed for an earlier bus than suggested, just missing it. Then with the volume of people at Paddington it was slow going getting up into the station, I was there a minute before my train departed, but there was no mention of which platform, so I missed it! A change of route however got me back to Oxford in time for a bus back to Chippy before they became hourly.

Monday. Jo returned with a mass of giant prop veg. Those turnips nearly looked good enough to eat and her leeks made from yoga mats were a triumph! We were joined by Tim for a second day helping to work the way through the remainder of the prop makes.

The local BBC reporters came to film us getting ready to open the show. A few interviews were recorded and then Ash and Gav got to wheel the cannons across stage at speed, which of course was the bit that was used.

The dress rehearsal from Saturday was finished off, followed by a full dress with another set of Pippins. This then left the evening to do work. I decamped into the bar and spent several hours sewing velcro onto ribbons, sadly the bar wasn’t open!

Tuesday. More fairy lights went up in the auditorium and we were joined by the ushers for the final dress rehearsal when photos were taken. There were still notes to work on and the show was running a touch too long for days with two school shows. Whilst cuts were discussed long into the evening glittering happened in the auditorium, adding that bit of eco sparkle to the show.

Wednesday. I spent all morning in the land of latex glue. The auditorium needed a good leafing. I got into my stride with three plastic bags where leaves could be glued and left to dry as I stuck the driest onto the balcony fronts. The morning soon disappeared and it was time to clear everything away as we had two previews.

The first preview was filled with a school and a group of about 30 adults. Sadly after a couple of songs a fault developed with the sound so the show had to be stopped as nobody could hear the music. People ran round to find the fault and ended up replacing a faulty cable which seemed to do the trick. But by the time we were ready to start again there was a very long line of kids waiting for the toilet! The delay of around twenty minutes meant that the schools bus would arrive before the end of the show, so it was decided to get to the song sheet and then say farewell to the kids, the adults then more than made up for the lack of bums on seats whilst the show finished.

The second preview went much better, even the cannons did their best to impress and soak! The old Producer Will was in to watch, which was lovely as he put together the team and contracted us all before he left to go freelance.

During the show I realised what was missing from one of my sets. The interior of the tower had been bothering me, it was because it didn’t have any panto shadows. So the set was put on stage ready for some attention first thing in the morning.

Thursday, I was just about first in. Shadows painted before the cast arrived to work through the cuts that would be put in today. I had a few more notes to do before having a really good tidy up. Paints were labelled and stored back in the shed. The model was removed from the model box of the theatre, I keep a few bits as mementos but the rest has served its purpose so just ends up in the bin. All my possessions were collected together and piled up in the shower, the only place left in the building with space!

Just a few more leaves were added and the very last one recorded for posterity. I used a few leaves and added strawberries for my first night cards, the remaining ones were all packed up and put in the attic for someone to find in years to come. Out of the 3588 leaves I’d cut for the show I think I had about 900 left and if I’d had one more day I’d have used them all up.

At bang on 4pm I got a message, Mick had arrived in Chippy! A hire car had been picked up this morning in Scarborough. The car was loaded and the shower made available to the cast again.

The evenings performance was a socially distanced one, only 65 in the audience, but they all seemed to enjoy it. Maybe it was because there were lots of the team in as it was our last evening. Mick enjoyed the show and I was especially pleased that the Pippin team on tonight included my favourite, she tends to steal the show when she’s on stage.

After the show I joined the rest of the team in the stalls for notes. This actually was more of a goodbye to many of us who’d be leaving tomorrow. Tiredness and emotion took over a touch for me. After spending almost 18 months talking about the show and the design having been worked on for a year, there it was on the stage in front of an audience. We were all back doing what we love and sharing it with an audience. I’d avoided going to the pub for four weeks and kept my distance, worn my mask for eleven hours a day (sometimes more) but now hugs could not be refused.

Time to eat. Only one thing I could eat, and that was fish and chips at the Blue Boar.

Chipping Norton is where Bagpuss resides of course

Friday. No time to sleep in, there was more to pack in the car and time to say goodbye to Suzanne. Thank you once again for my Chippy Panto home.

Then we were on our way heading northwards. We paused to pick up some breakfast at Leicester Forest East Services. Last time we’d stopped here was when we moved NB Winding Down from Elton Moss, on that occasion we’d had three weeks of boat life and were deafened by the chairs in the dining area being scraped on the floor. Sandwiches would do us today.

We turned off the M18 at junction 6 and wove our way through Thorne to reach Blue Water Marina. There sat Oleanna tucked in with her new friends, a few with familiar names about the place.

It’s been strange not being able to go home to the boat whilst working on panto this year, my life having developed a north south divide! So it was good to see her in her winter home. Time to collect a few things I would want before it was time to say Toodle Pip to her for the time being.

The rest of our journey back to the house was filled with autumnal scenes up over the Wolds. Drax the only power station in the area still with it’s full compliment of cooling towers was busy working hard.

Sat in the bay window on our return was Tilly. I got a bit of a telling off to start off with but she soon remembered that I give better head nudges than Mick. Well first you’d gone and left me, then Tom did too! He’d even left me with the magic food bowl which had only popped once! I’d got bored of waiting for it to pop again. I was soon pinned down to the sofa by Tilly, Mick gave me a glass of wine and I caught up on Bake Off again.

Three weeks ago on the day we moved Tilly back to Scarborough, we were contacted by the SJT regarding a lodger for 6 weeks next spring, hopefully our first of several. So this year we know when we’ll be back on Oleanna, well hopefully if the plague doesn’t get out of control!

This does now mean that unless there is something boaty to write about, the blog will be going into hibernation again, hopefully not for as long as last winter as we’ll be back on board before C&RT’s winter maintenance is finished. In the meantime we’re working on a few new things to be included on the blog.

Now where’s that stoppage list gone?

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 missed train, 1 huge leg of lamb, 2 feline cuddles, 4 last days, 2667 leaves stuck, 21 leaf cards, 6 ribbons, 1 last night visit to the pub, 1 Oleanna visit, 1 ikea bag of stuff, 1 shouting cat, 1 warm lap, 1 designer pinned to the sofa, 1 panto opened, 1 Pip taking it easy for a while.

Panto Postcard 5, 2021

72 hours

Sunday, a day of rest all round. After spending nine hours leaning over painting the floor I needed to check I could still walk. After a bit of a lie in and breakfast I headed out for a walk to get some food. I walked up to Marks and Spencers Food Hall buying a pie and some stir fry vegetables, along with some other bits and bobs to keep me going.

This coming week I would more than likely be trying to paint things with the lights going on and off so I popped into Mountain Warehouse to buy myself a head torch. In past years I’ve ended up borrowing someone’s, but that wouldn’t be possible with covid around. I had quite a choice, narrowed it down to two, then one.

Much of the rest of the day was spent lying on my bed with my feet up. A couple of colours were added to my crochet blanket and two episodes of Great British Bake Off were caught up on. Once I’d watched Dr Who it was very much time to go to bed.

Monday. Ed the sound designer joined us, checking the system and making sure the actors on stage would be able to hear Barney the Musical Director as well as him being able to hear them. Will the Lighting Designer focused lights leaving me with just my head torch behind the backdrop.

Most of the scenery would pass by now, still finishing touches needed, but most of that could now happen in breaks when the lights were on. So I turned to smaller things, the bunch of parsley. The Designer arrived and had changed her mind how this should look! She doesn’t always get in the way, but today she insisted that I start again!

The other major thing that required painting was a portrait of Gothel the witch. I’d been hoping to catch Amy in costume at some stage before now, but had missed her on Saturday. Luckily she had taken some dressing room selfies of herself so I was able to use one of those. I’d been wanting to do a version of the Mona Lisa, it took a while to get her arms not looking stumpy.

Back in Scarborough the roofer returned. The old gutters were replaced and the mass of down pipes moved to nearer the ridge of the roof, hopefully meaning that the water will spread across the roof and not just be a torrent down the corner of the house. The bill for the work turned out to be more than the chap had said, we thought his quote had included scaffolding, but now that was an extra £300!

Tuesday. Sound check day, I wondered if Gavin could actually count past two. Barney was moved onto stage. Trying to give him enough space for all his kit, keyboard, headphones, peddles, squeeze box, microphones, cameras, monitors as well as be able to change the scenery in front of him all took time.

Gemma returned and set about adding the fairy lights to the portals, I’d hoped someone would take this on. Due to a lot of previous layers on the portals we wouldn’t be able to push the lights through from the back, this is by far the neatest way. Instead they were cable clipped onto the front, it was quite fortunate that I wanted to cover the surface with thousands of leaves. Once the lights were up Gemma started sticking the greenery up.

Out in the garden Jo was busy with the big cannons. She’d had a brain wave overnight and done some research, I could assist with my boaters knowledge of amp hours and batteries. I got on with the final pieces of scenery, the cucumber sandwich slidders, all the time gradually adding more paint to Gothels portrait.

Wednesday. Mick caught trains down to Thorne, not as easy to get to as Goole was. On Saturday he’d not been able to meet up with any of the marina staff and by the time he arrived it was getting too late to winterise Oleanna. So he introduced himself to Sarah, received the marina rules and handed over some money. The mooring here is a touch more expensive than it was last winter in Goole, but it does include an amount of electricity in the price.

Mick emptied the damp traps, refilled them with new crystals and positioned them around the boat. The water was turned off, the system drained and the shower head laid in the shower. Cupboards were opened up to help with air circulation and the Alde boiler was set to come on when the temperature drops to 3C, a few degrees lower than last winter.

Time for the technical rehearsals to start in Chippy. The sweet chest had been tracked down, it had been sold off at the last Panto sale by mistake! The new owner will have it replaced with a chest that isn’t so important to panto.

Last night lighting states and sound levels had been programmed into the boards for the first part of the show, today we’d add the actors, costumes, scenery and props. Teching can be a slow process especially when there is SO much going on. Visual gags and luminous lettuce kept us all amused.

Thursday, more technical rehearsals. These days I spend watching, taking notes, helping solve any problems. But I’d also decided that baby Rapunzel needed to have a crocheted blanket! Yes we could have gone out and bought one, but it would have been hard to find a good one to match the show. Instead Jo supplied me with some green yarn with gold flecks and I borrowed a lamp so that I could see to crochet in row G whilst I wasn’t needed. In breaks more leaves were added to the portals and Gavin’s feet! He seemed to have a homing instinct to them whilst the latex glue was drying.

Friday. The Cotswold Thunderbolt was erected on stage and we had chance to add the rigging. A chap called Tim joined us to help Jo work on props whilst we continued with the technical. We worked our way through Act 2 until the actors ran out of hours. Then it was time to dry tech the ending of the show.

Wide ribbons had been made up by Valerie a local volunteer, Jo had fibre glassed the giant strawberry which was flown out. With big clamps to temporarily hold ribbons to the balcony fronts we tried out the ribbons and raised the strawberry. This all worked. We then dry teched the end sequence (without actors), it all slotted together as planned! High fives all round.

Saturday. Today we should have been doing the first of three dress rehearsals. Each team of Pippins get to have a dress, but we still hadn’t teched the end of the show with everyone, the five minutes was likely to take about two hours! So in the morning we did a dress rehearsal of Act 1. Imogen my work experience joined us and did her best to cut leaves to decorate the pram whilst sitting in the dark. We then positioned ourselves in the balcony to release the ribbons several times as we finished the technical.

Then followed a busy afternoon, trying to tick jobs off the list, painty jobs that could dry before actors returned in costume. I’d set myself an alarm and at 5:30pm it went off, time to wash brushes, get changed and head to the correct bus stop and leave Chippy for a night away.

This time I was heading to Hackney to see the London Leckenbys. Google suggested a route, S3 bus to Oxford, grab something to eat at the station, a train into Paddington, Bakerloo line then Central line followed by the 388 bus to Hackney Wick. A busy journey but not as alarming as the one to Doncaster had been two weeks ago. Unfortunately I got off the bus a little bit early so arrived about five minutes after I should have, but still before 9:30. Cheese and wine on my arrival with a guided tour of their new improved house, before sinking into bed in what used to be Josh’s room.

0 miles, 0 locks, 5 trains, 2 buses, 2 tubes, 7 tech sessions, 0.5 dress, 6 lateral flow tests, 1 head torch bought, 1 head torch misplaced after 3 hours! 1 boat winterised, 1 portrait, 1 pram, 1 MD squeezed in, 1 backing flat squeezes out, 1 asm, 1 blanket to make, 1 more long week to go.

Panto Postcard 4, 2021

Apologies, as this will be a short postcard this week, so I’ll stick to last Saturday as that was a very busy day both here and up North.

Mick was up seriously early and on a train at 5 something silly o’clock, he was heading to Goole to try to make the most of what hours of daylight there were. I on the other hand had a little bit of a lie in, well it was going to be a long day for me. Between the two of us we spanned 23 hours.

At Chippy Theatre it was time for us to be joined by Will Burgher the Lighting Designer who came in to watch a run of the show. The Pippins were also in and the three teams took it in turns to do scenes. Minimum scene changes happened so it was a little bit hard for me to make notes on what I still needed to work on, but it was good to see the show from start to finish.

I think it was Thursday that I’d received a message from Ann Marie and Dave from NB Legend, they had pulled up in front of Oleanna. We’d hoped our paths would cross earlier this year around Trent Lock, but we were just a bit too quick in passing on our way down to London. Legend has been down the Trent visiting all the off shoots, Boston, up the Chesterfield and when they came off the river at Keadby they had headed on up to Sheffield. We actually thought our paths might have crossed at Bramwith Junction a week or so ago, but due to Oleanna being poorly that hadn’t happened. Instead the boats met in Goole and they helped to keep an eye on Oleanna from the bow whilst Wendy and Martin kept an eye on the stern.

Mick arrived in Goole at 8am and cycled the mile to Oleanna, there was time for a cuppa and a catch up with Ann Marie and Dave before he needed to be on his way.

By 9:30 the pram hood had been dropped and Oleanna was winded to face west. Mick waved goodbye to Goole, NB Legend and WB Lullabelle most probably for the last time this year and headed out through the caisson.

He motored on along the long straight passing the breach site and on to Sykehouse Junction where we turned left onto the New Junction Canal. This had been planned to happen three weeks earlier and Bridget and Storm had kindly offered to come and operate the bridges for Mick, but today he was going to single hand them.

Now when I operate lift or swing bridges I keep a tally of how many vehicles I hold up. Admittedly I’m not single handing, trying to work the bridges as quickly as possible to hold up as few vehicles as possible, but I was a touch disappointed when Mick told me he held up ‘a few, not many, but a few’! That’s no good for the numbers!

Approaching Sykehouse Lock, is that a green light?

He worked his way along through the first lift bridge. As he approached the second bridge Kirk Lane Road Swing Bridge he thought he could see a green light at Sykehouse Lock. But at distances the lights can be a touch confusing and once he got that bit closer it was most definitely amber, self operation. I’d passed on my knowledge of this lock to him as there is a swing bridge over the centre of it and to be able to operate the panels at either end you need to insert your Key of Power into the panel by the swing bridge and open the bridge to the canal before either of the gate panels will work. However as he approached the amber light turned to green, there is an enthusiastic volunteer who can quite often be found at this lock and today it was Mick’s lucky day. The lock was set and waiting for him, he didn’t have to step off the boat once. Thank you.

By 1pm Oleanna had passed through the last of the six moveable bridges. Ahead lay the Don Doors, two guillotine gates that can be dropped when the River Don goes into flood stopping the river from backing up along the canal from the aqueduct. Earlier in the week I’d seen the River Ouse in flood so there was a possibility that the Don was high, but thankfully not high enough for the doors to be closed.

In Chippy by now we’d finished the run. The show was running at a half hour too long, some trimming would be needed, there is nothing worse than an over long panto, yet Rapunzel hadn’t felt too long. Dash headed home to work out what could be cut over the weekend.

Reaching Bramwith Junction Mick battled a touch with the wind to turn the sharp left to Bramwith Lock. Sadly no help on hand here so the ladders were used to get on the boat once she had descended. By 2:30 he’d passed through Bramwith Swing Bridge and was on his way to Thorne.

This left Thorne Lock with it’s swing bridge to do, all operated by the Key of Power, well apart from the road barriers that are manually swung into position. Then it was the renowned Princess Royal Swing Footbridge.

Mick moored up and went to operate the bridge, he followed the instructions to the T, but the very particular barriers on the far side got the better of him! Two barriers pull out and lock into position, you then cross back over the bridge and pull out the barriers on the control panel side. This means that unless you are as skinny as a heron you cannot get back across the bridge to wiggle the far side barriers to encourage them to locate properly. Fortunately a local came along and knew what to do. The bridge opened, Mick brought Oleanna through and another local closed the bridge and returned the key to Mick, handy as the bridge landing on that side has deteriorated so much it would have been just about impossible to get off Oleanna safely and tie up.

Not much further on they had reached their destination shortly before it got dark. Mick turned Oleanna into Blue Water Marina, her winter home this year. We’d hoped to be able to return to Viking Marina in Goole, but Laird had no room for us, our mooring from last winter now occupied by a go faster cruiser. Mick secured Oleanna to the short pontoon that we’d been allocated, closed her up and headed to the station. Today’s mission was accomplished, winterisation will happen on another visit.

Back on stage the technicians spent the afternoon adding more lights, they were meant to be focusing the lights on stage and then moving to the front of house bars handing over the stage to me to paint. I got myself ready with pots of paint, brushes on sticks and the model to follow. We were all in a position for me to start painting a little later than originally planned, they carried on working in the auditorium until I’d painted too much of the stage for Will to be able to play Hopscotch anymore.

The stage flooring was recently resurfaced which should have made for a nice floor, but somehow the boards were laid rough side up, this made the painting of washes quite a bit harder than it should have been. When Ash left at 11pm I thought it might take me another four hours to finish painting the floor and get two coats of glaze on it, but time just evaporated.

Once the washes were complete I stopped for something to eat, then thankfully enough of it was dry for me to add green hedges, the heating in the auditorium having been put onto it’s highest setting to aid the drying. Next came white and purple for a touch of floweriness. Gavin hunted round for several fans to help with the drying and by 3am I was applying the first coat of glaze. This should have had two hours before the second coat was applied, but by the time I’d finished getting into all the nooks and crannies it felt dry enough to walk on. The second coat went on in 18 minutes, the roller sleeve was left in a bucket of water to be cleaned out properly on Monday and I was out of the door just before 4:30am.

A long day for both of us.

3 locks, 17.6 miles, 9 bridges, ? held up, 3 lefts, 1 lockie, 2 helpful locals, 1 winter mooring reached, 2 weeks late, 1 run, 30 minutes too long, 1 hour late starting, 9 hours of floor painting, 2 coats glaze, 4:30am, 1 pooped Pip.

Panto Postcard 2. 2021

70.75 hours

Sunday. What a lovely day. Time for a cuppa in bed for me. I didn’t really plan on doing that much as I’d had a busy week and knew that the following week would be even busier! Not having my breakfast chef on hand I put together a treat breakfast. Two toasted muffins with cheese and ham. Very tasty, but not a patch on one of Mick’s breakfasts. I then spent most of the morning trying to catch up with The Great British Bake Off, played on the laptop whilst crocheting and most importantly keeping my legs up.

During the last week my knees have taken a battering, an old war wound on my left knee used to be sorted with a good rub. But sadly now the effect only lasts a few minutes. So keeping my feet up was a very important job today, also having the opportunity to do some crochet was good. My blanket is now of a size that Tilly and it cannot live comfortably on my knee at the same time.

In the evening I joined Gemma (Production Manager), Chris (Production Carpenter), Ade and Lou (Set Builders) for a drink and some food at the Blue Boar where we could get a table. It was good to see the team again, have a drink and of course have fish and chips (gluten free version available).

Meanwhile in Yorkshire, Mick had been up early to move Oleanna for her rendezvous in the morning in Goole. Thank goodness it wasn’t further! His first hop before Oleanna was over heating got him about half way from Rawcliffe Bridge. Time to let the engine cool down before the next hop just to inside Goole caisson.

Then the final hop was into Viking Marina, to the boat lift. Oleanna wouldn’t need to come out of the water, but this was a space that was available. Our mooring from last winter now has a boy racer cruiser tied up to it, but we could still claim to be neighbours with Lisa and Al’s boat. The trip of 2.5 miles had taken Mick and Oleanna 6.5 hours.

Monday. A very busy day for me at Chippy, read through and fit up all rolled into one along with meeting a sixth form work placement student (Imogen) who’d be joining me several times this week. I collected all my model pieces together and using blue tack put it back together as best I could in the time I had before being asked questions by the builders, showing my face at the meet and greet. Blimey that was odd, everyone being masked, trying to talk to each other and be heard, whilst at least 20 other people were trying to do the same thing!

I did the model showing, followed by Helen showing the costume designs, then it was the read through, so much better read by the actors than read in my head. Plenty of ‘Chill out Hilda!’

Ade and Lou concentrated on building a platform for Rapunzel to get to her tower, whilst Gemma and Chris busied themselves rigging portals and cloths. I managed to get quite a few things drawn out so that they could all be jigsawed out to the correct shape. Jo (Prop maker) arrived with many goodies in her van, including the giant strawberry.

In Goole Mick and Alastair were being busy. First the antifreeze in the cooling system was drained off. Then pipes and the gear box oil cooler were removed. Lots of rusty crud was blocking these. A pressure washer was then fitted to the system and the whole thing was given a good wash through.

The system was put back together filled with water the engine started up. After about ten, fifteen minutes it became clear that the crud was not the only problem as Oleanna’s temperature started to rise again. Alastair decided that a pressure test would be needed to check if the head gasket had gone! This could only be done when the engine was cool, so it was decided to do that the following morning as it was already late in the afternoon.

Tuesday. More drawing up for me today and with the help of Imogen lots of furniture had a base colour applied, Imogen could well be a useful find. Ade and Lou headed home leaving a box of their fresh pressed apple juice for us all to enjoy. Chris and Gemma carried on rigging pieces of scenery with the help from Ash and Gav the two in house technicians.

By the end of the day I’d managed to get some paint on more pieces of scenery and solutions for the cinema screen to be able to fly in and out had been found. One tower has a hinged door in it the other has a section that can be removed with care, hopefully this won’t need to happen too many times. A good day in Chippy.

Heading back to Viking before she over heats

However in Goole investigations continued. Alistair set about doing a pressure test at 8am. This had to be done first thing as the boat lift was needed today. Thankfully Oleanna passed the test and so the head gasket is good, phew! He was sent over to the visitor moorings whilst the lift was being used. Mick headed off to do some shopping and once the mooring was free again he moved back over for more investigations.

The water pump was removed and then taken to bits. Ah Ha! This was the problem, Mick had thought it might be. For those unfamiliar with what the inside of a pump should look like, there should be 6 fins that pump the water through the cooling system, Oleanna’s for some reason only had 1.5, the rest having disappeared into the rusty crud.

A phone call was made to RCR as the job could now be passed back onto our breakdown cover. A new water pump was placed on order, but no-one was sure when it would arrive. Oleanna certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere, she was hooked up so Mick and Tilly could have power again. The marina sadly isn’t a suitable place for Tilly to explore so cabin fever was soon to set it.

Wednesday. Covid policy at Chippy Theatre is to do two lateral flow tests a week which have to be photographed and sent in to Annette the Company Stage Manager. There is also a thermometer by the pass door into back stage. Tuesday morning I’d offered up my forehead at which point the unit flashed red, displaying a large L. I tried again, the same thing happened. I removed myself from the building whilst the thermometer instructions were checked. As I thought, my temperature was too low, thankfully that meant I was allowed to enter the building and get on with work. The same happened again today, six times before my icy heart warmed up enough!

This was a delivery to the pub next door, honest!

The theatre has arranged for the theatre bar to be open on an evening for the company to drink in, hopefully reducing the chance of someone picking up Covid by mixing with the general public in a pub. I’d already decided that a bottle of wine back at my digs was preferable to going to the pub, plus I’m unlikely to be doing that anyway as I’ll be at work till late most evenings anyway.

The backdrop was flown out, red bands added to the portals, they still need to go gold, some of them were trimmed to fit better. As I’d designed the tower last January/February I knew getting in and out of it might be quite a tight fit, so I was the one who had to try it for size first. Thankfully I fitted meaning Rapunzel would have quite a bit of spare room as she is half my size.

I spotted a problem with part of the set. A tent that needed to be on wheels. A discussion was had about it. One side saying if they’d have known it was to be a truck (on wheels) then it would have been built completely differently. The other side said it had always been a truck and that the drawings most probably said as much. In fact the drawings had sketches explaining what would happen to the tent truck. A carpenter would be found to amend the tent.

Mick busied himself on Oleanna. There was the green wire to solve from the alternator belt incident. He also took apart our original domestic water pump and gave it a good clean as suggested by Alastair. This worked a treat, so it was put back to work. The new faulty one was also taken to bits and the switch was found to be faulty. Mick managed to mend this whilst Tilly climbed on the ‘Feed me’ shelf at regular intervals throughout the day. Well I had to occupy myself with something if there was no shore leave! Tom got himself a gate key and blatantly chatted to Toms outside, coming and going at will, leaving me to snooze in front of the stove!

Thursday. Test day for me and another day of being cold hearted!

Today the actors moved into the theatre to rehearse. I moved into the auditorium and spent the day painting the groundrow, which I thought I’d based on a David Hockney painting of the Yorkshire Wolds. However on visiting the Co-op it appears I’ve been influenced by the mural there!

Dash (Director) had quite a few questions and found it quite novel that they could be answered by me within minutes, it’s not often a Designer is in the rehearsal room all day every day. It’s nice for me to hear where ideas are coming from rather than just getting the request on an email at the end of the day.

In Goole Mick waited for the new water pump to arrive. We’d been hoping to have Oleanna back along the New Junction Canal by now, maybe at Bramwith Junction. Extra crew, Bridget and Storm had been enlisted to work the lift bridges for Mick, but by now they had been stood down several times. The pump would be coming from Beta and should be delivered by midday on Friday.

Fusedale alongside the new dry dock at Viking Marina

Fusedale turned up for refuelling at Viking Marina, Laird was expecting it to require 850 to 1000 litres!

Friday. Chris returned for the day, a few hours of his work saved the technicians several days worth and I know things will work now including the tent truck, Hooray! Scenes were rehearsed, a lot of long hair climbing in and out of windows. How to support your long hair and a witch at the same time became a bit of a theme for the day.

Then in the late afternoon the Pippins joined the actors. The Pippins are local school kids, in three teams who add to the chorus of panto. Two hours with lots of singing and dancing on stage whilst I hid behind the backdrop working away.

By the end of the day the town flats were complete apart from some purple blooms.

Around 11am a delivery arrived in Goole, a water pump! You can now see what damage the old one had very clearly. Alastair fitted the pump, the system was filled with antifreeze mix and the engine started up. Everything seemed fine.

A working gauge to show the water pump working!

The new green wire also did it’s job, the temperature gauge showed a constant 80, this hadn’t shown a reading since the belt incident. Hooray! on two counts. By 2:30pm everything was deemed good to go, only thing was it was far too windy to move Oleanna. Mick would most probably have got her as far as Lisa’s boat and ended up being blown alongside and pinned there. Laird from the marina was fine with Mick staying for another night.

Saturday, a slightly later start for me today, just as well as the covid policy at the theatre has changed. Every morning before going into the theatre we all now have to do a lateral flow test. This is so that during rehearsals the actors can all be unmasked, but whilst moving around the theatre masks are to be worn. As I spend my life going from here to there and back again, I wear my mask pretty much all the time. I won’t be changing this even if everyone is testing daily, even though the back of my ears are red roar! I so feel for those who’ve been wearing masks all day every day for the last 18 months.

Time to draw up the tents and when the acting company had left for the day the scaffolding tower was erected so that I could reach Rapunzels tower to touch up the paintwork and finish bits that couldn’t be done before. The technicians dug out old equipment to see if it worked from under the stage and then Gav did a very good job of being ballast at the bottom of a ladder for me whilst I painted a coat of gold on the arches. At 6:15 an alarm went off on my phone, time to wash up, pack up, get changed and run away for the weekend!

In the afternoon Mick returned the key fob for the gates to Laird, thanked him and then moved Oleanna out from the marina. The doors were opened up and Tilly was set free to explore once more.

0 locks, 3.1miles ish, 1 new water pump, 2 mended domestic waters pumps, 1 big flush through, 1 pressure test passed, 0 blown head gasket, 34 litres antifreeze mix, 3 lateral flows, 1 theatre with doors open, 19 cast, 3 carpenters, 5 long days, 1 normal day, 2 soups, 1 brolly, 3.5 meters of hair, 1 new leaking roof, 1 tent on wheels, 4 panto masks,12 hours a day, 1 weekend off, WOOHOOO!

Panto Postcard 1. 2021

59.5 hours

Monday morning I was in the theatre early. Time to hunt out my paint orders and old paint I would be needing this week. The dressing room that we normally use for a props office (until the Dame takes it over) was piled high with Panto Post. I found most of my things tucked under a pram in the wings of the stage.

I then met up with the new Producer Suzette who gave me a lift out of town to Alfred Groves and Sons in Milton-in-Wychwood where I would be working this week. A while later Gemma arrived with the advance pieces of set for me to paint. These are the pieces that will be needed early on in the fit up or will end up being high up.

We collected more things from the theatre, like a table chair and ladder. All pieces of scenery were laid out and by the end of the day everything had a prime coat of paint on them. Taxis were booked for the rest of the week to get me back and forth.

Meanwhile up in Yorkshire. Mick did a few things whilst still having use of the car, he’d hoped to be able to buy a new part for the kitchen tap which is dripping again, but one will have to be ordered on line. Once he’d returned the car he and Tilly made ready for the off. Because Bulholme Lock was still being operated by a Lockie he wanted to take advantage of not having to single hand it. He was beaten to it by the gravel barge Farndale, heading back to Hull sitting high in the water. With big beasts of boats now using the waterway it’s wise to find secure moorings as mooring spikes are unlikely to withstand the movement.

Mick descended the lock and headed downstream towards Ferrybridge. More buildings have been demolished around the power station and the old coal wharf is gradually being dismantled. I’m kind of glad I wasn’t there to see it, although jealous at the same time.

Tuesday. My taxi arrived and whisked me out to Groves, the driver I would see several more times this week. Despite it being unseasonably warm I had paint that wasn’t drying! So I spent the day drawing everything out. To aid this I hunted around some skips in the yard outside, nearby carpentry workshops supplied me with offcuts I could use as a yard stick. Fixing a pencil to the end means you can draw from a distance and supposedly get better curves. The only sticks I could find had been oak, a touch heavier than I’m used to, along with the lack of practice my curves were not so good, but that could be sorted with paint.

A short day today as I had a ticket to see The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at the theatre. Blackeyed Theatre are touring the production for which I have several connections. It was adapted and directed by Nick Lane, the Company Stage Manager Jay and one of the actors Zack are all people I have worked with, they are part of my Hull Truck family. It was great to see the show, but better to see Jay and Zack. We headed to the pub where they were staying for a couple of drinks after the show. I of course took a kettle with me, now I could have hot drinks at the paint shop.

Back in Yorkshire. Mick had moored overnight in Knottingley allowing Tilly to have a bit of shore leave. The river level had risen and the flood lock was closed behind him. Good job he’d come through the day before as it’s a very long lock to single hand in.

Next stop was just below Whitley Lock. He’d arrived as someone else had below, the lock got a touch confused so even though it was almost in his favour it was emptied to bring the other boat up which seemed to sort the problem out. The crew from the other boat helped Mick down. He then pulled up on the visitor moorings and let Tilly out.

Wednesday. At last I had dry paint! I could start to add more. I spent a lot of the day either bending over or on my knees laying in and blending the yellow stonework on Rapunzels tower, both inside and out. It took forever and my knees were not my friend by the end of the day. I did treat myself by starting to add some colour to the Cotswold Thunderbolt pieces. Being able to stand up to do this was a joy, I needed to move the other pieces up off the floor and also get some heat as it was starting to get chilly. The weather had been fooling me and I’d not even thought about heating until then.

It was raining at Whitley. Mick decided that he would leave when they moved up to Tilly, so she got busy outside. Just as well he’d managed to tie up to rings as Farndale came past with a full load of gravel. One of our fender hooks broke and sadly a rope fender dropped into the deep Yorkshire water.

Half an hour later Fusedale the other gravel barge came past fully laden. I suspect Mick knew they were on their way as he’ll have had the VHF radio on. The gravel barges don’t have to drop crew off with the key of power, there are Lock Keepers on duty for them.

Around about midday Mick and Tilly pushed off although they didn’t go very far, just to Heck Bridge as it started to rain. A strange noise from the domestic water pump made him investigate, it had sprung a small leak. He called Laird at Viking Marine to see if they had a 24 volt one in stock and he did. So later in the afternoon they pushed off again mooring above Pollington Lock.

Thursday. A chilly start, I was glad I’d taken my thermals with me to work today. I thought I’d be getting a work placement to help me for a couple of days this week and had planned on standing all the set pieces up with their assistance, but because of all the paperwork and regulations they won’t join me until next week.

Cafes, carpenters, bakeries, chilled medication, all sorts at Groves

The big gas heater above my head sadly doesn’t work, so I put in a request back to the theatre for assistance moving things and some heat. The flats are not that heavy and maybe I could have done them on my own, but one wrong twist and I’d be out of action, so not worth it. John the Artistic Director arrived to help move things about, so much easier with two and now my knees could take a break. Another two colours were added to Rapunzel’s tower and I started to base in one of the houses for the town square.

Mick single handed down Pollington Lock. There is still no mooring along this stretch of water following the breach last December.

Lengths of the piling holding the bank up slipped when the water level was low and parts of the bank have followed the piling splitting away from the bank.

Buoys mark the areas to give a wide berth of up to the New Junction Canal and around the bend where Drax Power Station comes into view (the only power station in the area still with all it’s cooling towers).

Then the right hand bend and past the breach site.

New piling over the big culvert and concrete now have a big rubber strip along the top edge. Two small manholes sit where there were ones before the breach.

A new wooden fence is in place and grass seed is just starting to take hold around the area.

All the big machines, pipes, generators have long since gone.

Past New Bridge 21 you can moor again and further on the almost ruin of a house is in the process of getting a new roof. It’ll be watertight before they remove the bricks and breeze blocks in the windows. Mick carried on past Rawcliffe and through Goole caisson. Both diesel points in Goole had boats moored on them so he winded and returned to moor at the far end. He walked back to Viking Marina to get a water pump. Laird had quite a few and was selling them at a discount price, without a guarantee as several of them had proved to be faulty. If they didn’t work at all he’d either replace it or give you your money back. Mick bought two in case and soon found one didn’t work. Maybe they were a batch lot that dropped off the back of Del Boy’s cruiser!

Not a bad view when I looked up from my work

Friday. A heater was meant to have been left for me to pick up at the theatre this morning, but was annoyingly absent. John would sort it later in the morning. I based in more of the town flat and then started to add extra bits to the ship.

John visited me twice, once with a heater that didn’t work, then with one that did, Hooray!

I then spent the remainder of the day lining in the tower pieces. By the end of the day I had finished several pieces of set, a few just need a few finishing touches which would be better done when they are upright.

I requested to the taxi driver to take me to Sainsburys, I’ve been to most supermarkets this week, so that I could get something in stock for tomorrow. But Sainsburys seriously let me down with very few things I could eat without buying a mass of veg, I tried the Co-Op too and gave up, rewarding myself for a good days work with a chicken doner and chips. These I find are best eaten on a bench, they taste better in the open air! The aroma attracted some company from a local beggar who just missed me putting the box in the bin. Even a very big head nudge didn’t work.

Mick returned the none working water pump, got another, but doesn’t hold out much hope. He stocked up with food spotting that Exol Pride seems to have a new mooring near the coal tipper. We wonder if this is because it was all getting a touch too busy with the gravel barges also using the same moorings. He topped up with diesel at Goole Boat House and headed back out of Goole to just before New Bridge. Tilly prefers it out there. The unfortunate thing is that just as he was about to pull in he noticed that the engine temperature was rising, it kept on rising. Mick moored up.

The skin tank wasn’t hot, there was little hot water, but the engine was most certainly hot. Was this a recurrence of what happened on the Thames two years ago? Or had the water pump on the engine gone? A phone call to RCR in the morning when he might be able to get a touch closer to a road.

Finished, Rapunzel’s window when it’s cut out

Saturday. Somehow my taxi this morning had been cancelled, I got it sorted and got out to Groves for a bit after 10. I managed to join the Geraghty zoom for a short time whilst I opened up tins of paint. Lovely to see everyone even if briefly.

Time today was precious as it was my last day here and the set pieces would be collected tomorrow. I ended up finishing several other pieces but by the end of the day I had no idea if the roofs for the towers were right or not as I had to leave then drying. Paint was all packed away, my possessions collected together and hopefully I left the place in a reasonable state as I ~~ran~~ hobbled to catch my taxi. My left knee is very much looking forward to doing next to nothing tomorrow.

I could do no more, before my taxi turns up

Mick decided to move to Rawcliffe this morning where there are bollards to moor to and an easier place for an engineer to get to the boat. Oleanna managed to hobble the distance but was getting very hot and bothered as she arrived.

A nice local engineer came out, listened to Oleanna’s woes and history. He doesn’t think it is the pump on the engine, but thinks the system is gunked up again as it did on the Thames. He feels that the system needs a good flush through with a power hose. He thinks that maybe the level of anti-freeze wasn’t correct in Oleanna’s early days and that a flushing out means that we can start from scratch again. We’ll see, Oleanna now has an appointment with a jet wash on Monday, if she can get there!

3 locks, 27.65miles, 1 straight on, 4 winds, 3 water pumps, 1 too hot engine, 11 taxis, 1/3 of the set, 3 heaters, 1 working, 1 lovely space to work in, 3 supermarkets visited, 0 digs cat, 1 scrounging cat, 1 friendly landlady, 2 ex truckers, 1 show, 31 pots of paint, 1 fat knee!

How Much Stuff?! 16th October

Castleford

After the Geraghty zoom this morning Mick headed off to pick up a hire car. He’d shopped around to find the cheapest option. Enterprise just pipped Thrifty to the post as Thrifty have a maximum mileage after which you are charged quite a bit per mile.

Butter, light muscovado sugar and golden syrup

Whilst Mick was out Tilly got to come and go as she liked whilst I first wrote a long list and then started collecting items together. Next week I start work on this years Chippy Panto. On the two previous times we have been on the South Oxford Canal, an easy weekly commute for me to get back to the boat for weekends. This time being a lot further north, I will only be getting one trip back to see Mick and Tilly, plus I’ll be there for five weeks. So my packing needed to be more comprehensive than in the past.

Living on a boat means things are beavered away all over the place. The steps at the stern had to be removed to access the lower cupboard where I keep my Scenic paint brush bag. Then the winter bag of clothes needed to come out from under the bed. This has normally already happened to get our warmer clothing out of storage, but so far this year we’ve not felt the need for thermals. But I strongly suspect I’ll be needing my long johns before too long.

As everything was gathered together and packed into bags I was staring to run out of places to put everything. The bed became piled high. The sewing machine came out from under the dinette seats and sat on top of them in the corner. It really is amazing just how much stuff can be tucked away.

Stew bubbling away, jackets in the stove

A pork stew was put on the stove to have with jacket potatoes later in the day. I carried on packing. The Bourbon tin came out, still full with drawing tools from two years ago. The big pencils got a good sharpen whilst I watched boats arriving to be penned down the broken lock. Mick had a walk up to chat the lock keeper as he was hoping to be able to get the car a touch closer to the boat to load all my stuff. The road to the lock has a barrier and if it’s not open you have to reverse for quite a distance before you can turn round. The lockie suggested returning to the flood lock where you can get a car right by the north bank. We’d leave moving until tomorrow.

A batch of apple crumble flapjack was made and once cool it was cut up and shared between two tuperwares. One to stay on Oleanna, the other added to yet another bag to head to Chippy.

When it came time to go to bed everything was lifted off the bed and put on the floor under the flap of our cross bed, at least now it wasn’t in the way anymore.

The generator has been chuntering away again tonight, still going as we turned the light off at gone midnight!

0 locks, 0 miles, 1 car for 2 days, 0 space nearby, 3 sharp pencils, 9 hours, 2 ikea bags, 1 large hold all (obviously it didn’t hold everything), 1 paint brush rucksack, 1 rucksack, 1 food bag, 2 crochet blanket to finish, 1 food bag, 1 sewing machine, 1 pooped cat, 1 designer all packed up, 1am!

Tilly Tunnel Practice. 18th September

Coombeswood Canal Trust to Dudley Port Basin

Last night we joined the first event of the Waterways Alive! Festival which is taking place this weekend at Batchworth Lock. Since the formation of the Waterway Arts Collective this has been the first opportunity to put together an event. Events are happening live and some available on line and last night we joined a large zoom gathering to hear about how a Mikron show gets put together. Hosted by Kate Saffin, there was Marianne McNamara (Artistic Director of Mikron) and Poppy Hollman the writer of A Dog’s Tale one of their shows this summer. A very interesting hour hearing how the company works and what their plans are for next year. Sadly this year we didn’t manage to get to see either of their shows, here’s hoping we manage to be in a suitable place next year.

Tilly was given an hour and a half whilst we had breakfast and then just as we joined the Geraghty zoom she came in, cabin crew went straight to the doors and closed them, just to make sure we’d be ready for departure when we’d finished chatting to the family. Topics covered today Chorley Cakes (made with shortcrust pastry, an Eccles cake is made with flaky puff pastry) and whether to have butter on them or not, The Medway and it was nice to see Sean home between tennis tournaments in the States.

A rather pleasant mooring for the night, thank you

Last few chores were done before leaving the close proximity of a water tap and recycling bins. The shop was closed today so we couldn’t leave a donation, instead we did one on line later in the day. Thank you to the trust for a very pleasant stay.

One chore that hadn’t been done, checking the weedhatch. There was almost guaranteed to be something around the prop, we’d pull in where we’d had lunch, except there were fishermen there. We’d pull in at the tunnel waiting mooring, perfect. Mick pulled quite a bit of plastic off the prop and by the time he’d finished we thought we could hear a boat in the tunnel.

This gave us time to pose for a selfie in front of Oleanna to send to Mick’s Aunty Gill. Thankfully the sun was out, the birds were cheeping, hard to imagine the amount of heavy industry, noise and soot that would have hung in the air below Stewart and Lloyds.

The Trust workboat soon appeared from the tunnel a large chunk of charred tree trunk on the bow. A few years ago a boat got stuck in the tunnel due to a log getting wedged alongside it. We wonder if the work boat goes through the tunnel once maybe twice a day to check it’s clear. Just a shame the tunnel was now full of a cloud of diesel fumes.

With diesel and water tanks both full, we now sit lower in the water, progress was slower through the tunnel. Back out the other side we had a few more moments were there was no telling Oleanna which way to go as we headed to the offside bank! Two boats headed towards us, no such problems for them.

Netherton Tunnel was empty except for a fisherman and a couple of pedestrians who were around a third of the way through. I slid open the hatch a touch to check on Tilly below. A couple of years ago she started to shout at the stern doors, not happy with the imposed darkness that a tunnel brought. Yesterday there had been two tunnels, today the same two again. How was she faring? Very well it seemed, sitting at the dinette, keeping a beady eye on me peeking down through the hatch. Yes yes I’m fine! Tunnels are nothing to worry about. I shouted because I was in need of shore based facilities that just so happened to coincide with the outside turning the lights out! I’m an experienced boat cat you know! I can cope with tunnels!!! Just as well as there’s a big one planned soon.

We popped back out into the sunlight 34 minutes later and headed back to the New Main Line. Here it was right, then another right onto the Gower Branch towards Brades Locks. About ten days ago NB Briar Rose had done the same trip, only when they reached the staircase lock there was a problem, the top chamber being completely empty.

One of the paddles between the two chambers was leaking so much that the top chamber would never fill. They ended up having to reverse all the way back to the new main line to find an alternate route. News had come through to us that the problem had been sorted and our ascent was fine.

A quick check for oncoming boats on the Wolverhampton Level before Oleanna pulled out turning right, would we ever turn left again! After about a mile we did, turning into Dudley Port Basin. So far the water on the Wolverhampton level had been quite clear, some duck weed and quite a lot of lily pads floating about. Here in the basin it seemed that the lilies had taken over, would we have problems. We chose where to moor, there are rings all the way round the basin, the stern would have quite a clear line towards the side.

It still took a bit of doing, churning up quite a lot of stinky blackness from the bottom. Hopefully the smell will dissipate quickly! With a mooring in sight of the road we could finish off our Sainsburys order for delivery in the morning.

This evening I succeeded in finishing cutting the scalloped edges of the 3588 leaves for panto whilst watching Great Canal Journeys. I now have an Ikea blue bag full of them, hope there is enough! But one disappointment for the evening was not getting to see any of the Marple flight and only one lock of the Ashton flight into Manchester on GCJ. But with a very mature novice crew on board we suspect Sheila and Giles are being saved all the hard work and the recounting of John Thaw’s early life in Manchester was far more interesting.

3 locks, 2 a staircase, 7.57 miles, 2 tunnels, 8 mysterons, 1 cool cat, 3 moving boats, 4 rights, 1 left, 1 screaming baby, 1 barking woofer, 1 big order made, 3588 leaves, 1 bag of panto ready, 1 goldfish, 1 coconut, 1 mardy cat.

https://goo.gl/maps/ZspZLYprf4aMLuaMA

The Pie Diet Advantage. 11th September

Black Boy Bridge 69 to Kixley Lane Bridge 72

Topics of conversation this morning on the Geraghty zoom, breakfast parties, the B&B at Wigrams Turn and living with someone who isn’t there. We have a sound engineer in the family who is currently busy at the New York Open working for Eurosport.

We decided to nudge on uphill a bit today. At bridge 70 we passed the Kings Arms a slightly more expensive pub for food than that of The Black Boy. Here bridge 70 has been half painted cream. With the effort to reach the centre line I’m surprised they didn’t finish the job.

After about a mile we could see Knowle Locks rising up the hill ahead of us. We’ve been down them before once but never gone up and it would be a first time for Oleanna on the flight.

The locks are positioned so that if there is any wind anywhere in the UK it will also be here, ready to push your boat off course. Jackie from NB Mad Hatter had suggested the other day that it was safer to open both gates making it safer to move from lock to lock. The walk round the wide pounds between locks makes it just that bit far to walk back and forth to open and close gates or set ahead if there are only two of you, so I was relieved to see blue t-shirts about the flight.

Two volunteers walked up to the bottom lock, one lady left to wind a paddle, the other walked uphill. I opened the bottom gate, Mick entered and sat by the off side wall. The lady was about to lift the opposite paddle. Mick suggested it would be better to lift the same side paddle, to which she replied ‘Oh you only need to do one paddle on these’. Did she know that Knowle Locks are counter intuitive? Or did she not know that opening the paddle on the same side as your boat normally makes for a smoother passage up a lock? It was the latter! I managed to open my paddle quicker bringing Oleanna back to the side she’d started off at.

The next lock was being set for us and a gate opened ready for Mick to transit across the pound. After closing the gate I walked up to the top paddles for the lock and started to wind the same side paddle. It was a little bit stiff, but no more than any at Hatton or Stockton. The volunteer asked if I wanted him to do it, well, thank you, but no thank you. I love doing locks, especially if they are a bit of a challenge at times, with it being Oleanna’s first time through Knowle I wanted to work the locks even more and would have felt deprived if the volunteers had just taken over. He understood and left me to it, having a chat instead.

Above the lady waited and waited before emptying the third lock. In fact she waited for the lock gate to be open on our lock. I walked round the wide pound and could see she was really struggling with the paddle. I offered to wind the paddle, my long reach windlass and diet giving me more of a pie advantage to lift the stiff paddle. It rose, the lock emptied and the volunteers moved on up to the next in the flight.

I opened the bottom gate then very quickly realised that the wind was now a factor and rushed round to the other side to open the other gate as Oleanna was being blown right across and might even miss the entrance to the lock all together. We managed to rectify the situation.

Fourth lock and both gates were waiting open for us, phew! The number of volunteers on the flight was at least six and we were only their third boat of the day. Another volunteer headed to the top lock and started to empty it as Mick crossed the pound between the third and fourth locks. Water started to pour over the by washes, so much for saving water!

At the top lock we now had three volunteers, two at the bottom gates and one at a top paddle. Mick pointed in my direction requesting that the same side paddle be wound first, the chap on the other side stopped and waited before Mick gave him a nod when the lock was about half full, Oleanna sat comfortably to one side of the lock and rose.

By the top lock was a blue gazebo, the Knowle Society had joined with C&RT to have a stand at the locks today as it is the first day of Heritage Open Days. This runs for ten days each year in September. It’s well worth checking the website for possible places to visit. Three years ago we visited numerous places in Leamington Spa and Warwick that you don’t normally get chance to see and the year before in Preston we got to walk round the Egyptian balcony in the Harris Museum.

We pootled on a short distance to near Kixley Lane Bridge, this would do us for the day. Once Tilly had had her initial explore and we’d had lunch we walked into Knowle for a touch of shopping.

The first building you come across is a very jolly house. Yellow walls, red front door, green window frames and the garage door is bright blue around the corner. It could nearly be a house painted by @lucyknit, but then again it’s a little bit tame for her.

A village cricket match was on going, the nearest thing Mick would be getting to test cricket this weekend! We called in at Tescos for a few things and then found our way to Knowle Parish Church. Here today you could climb the tower (part of Heritage Open Days), but only until 3pm and it was 3pm. We had a look around inside.

The original church was consecrated 1403 and was saved during the reformation by the villagers pleading that crossing the River Blyth to reach the church in Hampton was often impossible due to flooding. Through the centuries extensions were built, an organ loft, south aisle and the tower increased in height.

The first bells (three) were hung in 1687, these were recast for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubliee and by 1931 the church had eight bells.

In the soldiers chapel there is a fine stained glass window but the walls caught my eye more. Here stencilled artwork covers the walls in an almost William Morris style. Stained glass windows from various eras cast coloured light throughout the building. My favourite by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, a Pre Raphaelite window depicting George and the Dragon.

5 locks, 1.56 miles only, 7 vlockies, 1 paddle, 0 pies, 0 life jacket, 2 gates, 139 for 8, 3pm, 1 Saturday newspaper, 1 sound engineer in NY, 2031 leaves finished, 1557 to go.

https://goo.gl/maps/UQwCsqzexpdW2gV47

Cutting The Tea Cosy. 7th September

Radford Smelly

An hour of shore leave was permitted whilst I had breakfast this morning and wrote out a shopping list. Tilly came home bang on time, it was my time to head out before it got too hot!

A new route into town was called for. I walked along the canal until it ran alongside Radford Road when I dropped down onto it and walked in the shade for a while. At the junction of Willes Road there is a handy Sainsburys Local, it didn’t have the right sort of yoghurt though. I then followed Willes Road over the River Leam, today is the right sort of day to see Leamington shining in the sunshine with bright blue skies.

I found scissors and took a chance at a pair meant for crafting, rather than dress making, hopefully they will stay sharp enough for long enough. A hunt for black tissue paper came up trumps in the end, but a plant spray bottle with a pressure pump was nowhere to be found. I want one of these so the pram and cratch covers can have another spray of Wet and Forget before it’s too late, it’ll also mean I don’t get trigger finger! Think I need a garden centre.

As a child I wanted a dress the colour of that sky

Bobbing in and out of air conditioning had been worth the walk as it was now getting really quite hot. I chose to walk back through Jephson Gardens mostly in the shade then followed a path through Welches Meadow where there was no shade. Thankfully back at the boat it was still cool inside.

Mick gave me a whatsapp video tour of the house, before going upstairs upstairs to rummage through my scenic art bags so that I could select any good brushes for painting panto. I really wanted my foot wide roller cage to make basing in and glazing scenery so much quicker, hopefully it will fit the pole Chippy bought for me last time as Mick wasn’t too keen to bring mine back on the train with him. Once my brushes had all been auditioned it was time to re-read panto.

The final draft of the script had landed in my inbox, a few cuts and additions to the props list were needed. I suspect Jo’s Aunt has already knitted the tea cosy for the Dame to wear! This has been cut and replaced with a washing line full of underwear pulled out from beneath the Dames petticoats. Oh well, we’ll just have to take turns in wearing the tea cosy ourselves!

During the afternoon the temperature most probably rose to 29C and chilled medication was called for. As soon as I got a Solero out of the freezer it started to melt, it soon disappeared before I re-read Act 2. Tilly spent quite a bit of time inside this afternoon, but as the temperature dropped in the evening I allowed her to have an extra hour before her dingding. This could have been a mistake, but thankfully she came running before the mad cat woman had to show herself.

The new scissors were tried out and at the moment they are doing very well, a good length of blade and sharpness. Watching the news and Silent Witness got me through at least 600 leaves. Only another 2988 to go!

0 locks, 0 miles, 5 mile walk, 29C, 1 virtual tour of the house, 1 roller cage, 1 long handle, 6 brushes, 1 tray, 3 sets of linen, 1 helpful neighbour, 1 free chilled medication, 2 acts, 3 cuts, 4 additions, 1 sunset, 600 leaves, 0 new blisters, result!

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna