Today I had to make sure I got some time with Tilly on the boat, on our own. Mick headed off up the locks to check for eggs, that egg box of ours has done quite a few trips now. Tilly and I had to put our heads together and quickly, what on earth were we going to do for Mick’s birthday presents?!
Things to unwrap
Technical glitches, places being closed Mondays and Tuesdays, things costing far more than originally thought (he is worth it) and a pandemic haven’t been helping! There was nothing for him to open with his cuppa in bed! That had to be sorted. Within half an hour there were a couple of cards and six presents for him to open in the morning. Tune in tomorrow to see what he got!
Whilst I’ve been working on my illustrations for the last couple of days we’ve been listening to I Dig Canals podcasts from Alarum Theatre Company. These have come about from an aural history project about the women who helped save the inland waterways from closure and destruction after the second world war. At the moment there are eleven episodes of varying lengths. There may be more planned but as we’ve not got to the last one yet I don’t know.
They are a good listen, full of stories on the Waterway Recovery Group and people trying to get their boats over a blue mini submerged in the cut and mothers listening for the splash as their kids got on and off the boats. The waterways back then were not how they are today and the boats they cruised in had few mod cons. Well worth a listen.
Another thing to listen out for next week is a new radio play. Alan Ayckbourn should have been starting rehearsals for his latest play Truth Will Out this week, but the summer season at the SJT in Scarborough has been cancelled for obvious reasons. So instead Alan has written a radio play Anno Dominowhich will be premiered from noon on the 25th May for a month, found on the Stephen Joseph Theatre’s website. You can listen for free or make a donation to help the theatre to reopen in the future. This marks the return to acting for Alan, he last performed in 1964. The play has been recorded at home with Heather, his wife and himself playing all the parts. We’ll certainly be listening in.
Stokehall bridge
A birthday card needed popping in the post so I took the long route to the post box. Along the canal to Stokehall Bridge there were plenty of people on the towpath, walkers, fishermen (who all spread out just a touch too much) and a family who gathered themselves up into the hedge for anyone to pass.
Distinct paths
The fields from the bridge are tuffy green now, the crop whatever it will be getting ready to reach for the sky.
Going pink before it fades
The oak trees are now in full leaf, lush bright green. On the other hand the hawthorn blossom is passing it’s best, now turning pink and some has even started to fade into brown. Some of the cow parsley was getting on for shoulder height today.
The oak footpath
Once at the A51 I walked along towards the post box. For the last couple of months you’ve just had to glance both ways before crossing, but today I had to wait several minutes before there was a big enough gap in the traffic. Another sign of the world getting busier was the aroma around the post box. It is situated on a layby/ bus stop, plenty of lorry drivers stop here for a pit stop, most of them relieving themselves too. Blimey it stank!
Shady
This evening I made use of another aubergine from our veg box and cooked us another moussaka. This time I only had pork mince and new potatoes. It was looking very good as it went in the oven, so I made use of the days hot water for a shower. Sadly the gas bottle ran out at some point, long before the top even started to brown. So we had an extended wait for our evening meal. It was tasty, but not as good as the one I made a couple of weeks ago.
Moving uphill
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 lemon, 8 podcasts, 3 more to go, 6 improvised presents, 2 cards, 1 walk, 1 wee mail box, 1 arrived 1 to follow, 1 empty gas bottle, 1 sock to change into a hat, 1 house nearly cleared.
Tilly obliged in coming home this morning so we could have a walk up the locks together. We don’t like leaving her out with no-one home, just in case!
Moving things around in the compound
We’d been able to hear and see things going on at the top of the flight, a digger/crane in the compound that had been used whilst the bottom lock was being rebuilt. At the locks there was activity too. A couple of chaps seemed to be moving earth around, tidying up the edges of the towpath with a digger . Mick made sure they were aware of the leak at the lock. We suspect the brief for the lock may not have actually included repointing behind the gates, just rebuilding the chamber wall and making it wide enough for boat passage. We feel we’ve mentioned our concerns to enough people now, as I’m sure others have too.
Cleaning up the edges
The red van still has eggs for sale, but no duck eggs sadly. We looped back round onto the towpath, crossed over the lock and did a circuit round the reservoir. The work men at the bottom lock were raking finer stones around the lock, finishing off what has been left for a couple of months. Wonder if any of it will need to be dug up to sort the leak out?
Raking in finer material
An afternoon of painting again. The garden fence went on forever! Will I actually get them finished this week?
Nearly at the point of finer detail
Mick attracted my attention at one moment, ‘It’s them!’.
The Wheelie Shoppers were on the towpath, not the field, walking towards the junction. They didn’t dip down into the field but carried on. I grabbed my camera and followed at a distance.
It’s them!
Of course Tilly had to come and help, in fact her meowing arrival at my ankles may well help me in laying down the ground for my back story. The two of them, minus wheelie shopper, walked up the hump to the bridge. Each gave a glance over their shoulder towards me. My sight line was obstructed for a few moments during which time they vanished! But where to!?
I’m up here you numpty!
I walked up the mound, as if to cross the bridge whilst Tilly continued straight along on the level. Tilly confirmed that they weren’t hiding below, in fact she got quite upset about the whole thing and started shouting very loudly mimicking a duckling who gets stuck on the wrong side of a passing narrowboat from it’s mum. Panic had set in, so my attention had to turn to her, calling her up to the higher level to see where I was. This all helping very much with my back story, should I ever need one.
Where did they go?
The Wheelie Shoppers hadn’t actually vanished into thin air, I had a very good idea where they had gone. Opposite the end of the bridge there is a narrow path that leads through the sideways trees, I’d spotted this months ago. Straight ahead is what looks like a small branch blocking the way. They had either lifted this to pass, or the pathway takes a 90 degree turn which isn’t visible from the towpath. As I glanced through the sideways trees I could see them quietly moving away from the canal.
In There!
This morning whilst looking down to the boats below the reservoir, I got thinking. With the normal mooring rules coming back in next week, boats will start moving off. We are on a 48hr mooring, so will need to move on Monday whether we want to or not. Each boat will go in a different direction, at different speeds, with different aims and different destinations in mind. We’ve spent a couple of months in each others company, yet not been able to get to know each other, keeping our distance.
Visitors this morning
Some we just nod our heads, others we deliver veg boxes to, others we have little chats when we come across each other on the towpath or when passing. Social distancing will not be lifted for quite some time yet, so sadly we can’t get together to celebrate being able to move again, or celebrate the lifting of lockdown when it comes. We will all just drift off in our own directions after sharing the last two months together apart. I hope that our bows will cross again in the near future when we can take the opportunity to stop, stand closer have a drink and conversation together. These boats will always be our Lockdown Buddies.
So fluffy, no wonder Mum and Dad are so proud
0 locks, 0 miles, 1ce more round the reservoir, 2 to tidy, 1 to watch, 1 full lock, 1 leak leaking badly, 2 speeding boats, 8 feathery fluff balls, 14 fences, 0.5 fee, 0 shopper, 2 rucksacks, 2 secret pathways, 1 button webcam required, 1 back up story well and truly laid.
For the last couple of nights I’ve preferred to sleep on my bed on the sofa. She is comfortable, mostly, but I thought I’d try a change. It also means I don’t get moved around quite so much during the night.
Then this morning I thought I’d try another change. Instead of warming one set of toes I decided to warm knees instead, Tom’s knees. She wasn’t too happy about this and said I’d become Tom’s cat. Because of all the changes I totally forgot about my morning game of pen and headed straight for the back door instead. She was even less happy about this.
Tom’s girl
Maybe I should reconsider. Tom gives good chin rubs, but his head nudges aren’t as good. He also tends to just push me off the bed in the middle of the night where as She slides the duvet around with me on it when She wants to turn over. I’ll think it over.
Birdie by the locks
Today she went for the usual walk trying to avoid other people going round the reservoir, so she went in the same direction only to find that the family turned round and came back! I’d have run through their legs in this situation, but She says that wouldn’t be 2 meters away and more to the point She’s too old to be running around on all fours! I don’t see a problem with it myself.
The weir into the reservoir all clear now
The reservoir had lots of fishermen round it. All with their masses of equipment. One chap stood in the middle of the path as I approached, but moved out the way for me. His mate down the bank said to just push him out of the way! I didn’t have a long enough stick to keep the social distance, he’d moved enough out of the way anyway.
Oleanna, a visiting boat and then the flag bubble to the right
Back on board I made myself some hummus as I’d run out. With no tahini on board I tried zuzzing some sesame seeds with my stick blender to make some before adding chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, a touch of cumin and some sumac. This will keep me going for a while even with putting half of it in the freezer for the next time I run out, although I think it will need thinning a touch with some more oil.
Sadly they don’t make pizzas I can eat
I also set about browning some pork that we’d bought back in November in Oxford. To this I added a parsnip, carrots still left from a couple of weeks ago, the turnip from this weeks box and several tomatoes. A little glug of wine a stock cube some sage and seasoning, then left it to bubble away at the lowest setting in the top oven. This cooked over several hours and smelt exceedingly yummy.
Hummus
Mick gave the chimney a sweep, removed the baffle plate inside the stove and cleaned it out. I made sure he stayed well away from my illustrations when he came past with sooty hands. Sadly the stove wasn’t lit until the evening, so the pork stew stayed in the oven to gently cook.
Filthy boy!
Skies were painted in and a few backgrounds for fireworks and blowy days. There is still a lot of work to do on my illustrations. I need to get a few more hours done in a day, but I am limited as my right hand isn’t too keen on holding thin brushes for too long.
Yummerty yum yum
The pork stew was very tasty, we had it with some salad and rice. There is enough left over for a couple more meals. Trying to keep up with the veg boxes keeps me on my toes, so I think we’ll have to freeze the remains of the stew, just so that we can get the greens, aubergine and broccoli eaten before the next box arrives!
All the washing done, the water tank almost empty it was time to head ‘home’. But first it was Geraghty Zoom time. There was plenty of gurning from Wiltshire this morning. Good to see everyone.
Bunbury in view
All the boats apart from NB Islonian had moved off before us this morning. Several more we’ve not seen before came past too, people starting to move to touch further. Down to the winding hole. The reeds here look like they need their roots doing, a very clear line between the bright green new growth and the sandy dry old from last year.
Roots coming through
At the water point we joined another boat to fill up. Most moored boats by the services having a visit from their owners for the first time since lockdown was impossed. People rubbed back paintwork and others checked their engine bays. Covers removed and boats pushed off for a little jaunt up the canal and back to give them a run. For the next week people can visit their boats for the day, but not stay overnight.
As the water echoed around our almost empty tank I walked up to the garage for a newspaper and few other bits and bobs. Eggs were needed as I need to bake a cake soon and I didn’t want to risk the egg farm having sold all theirs to the local garden centre.
It’s been a few weeks since I came to the garage, here basic supplies and of course fuel can be purchased along with a Saturday newspaper. A perspex screen has been added at the counter, the chap serving wore gloves and struggled to get my basket through the opening. Bread, butter, eggs, a paper and a 3kg bag of porridge oats were scanned, a handy top up shop. However I did forget to get one thing, I’ll just have to be creative next week!
Damselfly
Back on the towpath I took my time to walk back to the water point. I’d spotted what I’d thought was a Damselfly and wanted to check it was. Three sat on the towpath warming themselves. The first I’ve seen this year, maybe they’d just hatched out and were finding their wings before zooming over the water. They obliged by sitting still to have a photo taken.
Back at Oleanna the tank was just about full on my return. Another boat had turned up for a top up, the water was certainly busier than we’ve seen it for a long time. We pushed off and made our way back towards Barbridge. I’d considered walking back but when we came across a group of fluffy cygnets I was glad I hadn’t, Dad was standing guard on the towpath and I suspect he wouldn’t have let me pass.
Mum with her fluffy grey offspring
Our first cygnets and damselflies today.
Fishermen are back in numbers. One chap had totally taken over the grass at the junction with a tent and several rods out across the water. At least he’d found a patch where people could avoid having to walk right past him, quite self contained and out of the way.
Fishermans tent at Barbridge Junction
A shiny freshly painted boat sat on it’s mooring as we approached the reservoir. The owners had just arrived for the day so we got chance to chat as we passed. The boat had been at Overwater for a repaint when the country closed down. They spent their time tidying their mooring, but last Thursday they jumped at the chance to get her back home. A fine looking boat.
That’s a good yellow
Oleanna smiled back at us as we rounded the final bend by the reservoir, we were approaching ‘home’.
The junction
All the neighbours waved and said hello, Helen from the Scrabble boat said she was going to get a bungee to tie us down. Our little community happy where we are for now.
Look at that sky
There was one space left on the 48hr mooring, our space. We slotted back in, back at ‘home’. It looked like someone had spent sometime in our spot as a can of Redbull lay on it’s side and five cigarette butts were strewn around. These were picked up and put in a bin for disposal later, the litter bug humans are returning.
Rubbish!
Tilly was straight out, happy to be back. No coming and going time and time again, just content to do her thing.
I settled down to have a long chat with the London Leckenbys catching up on the weeks news. Mick popped his head out of the hatch and pointed to the gap in the hedge, the Wheelie Shoppers!! I watched the lady walk past and loitered at an angle to check they were heading to the path they have worn through the barbed wire fence.
Wheelie Shoppers? Where?
A couple walked by, obviously having picked up some eggs from the farm. No duck eggs still, but the van was still there, so that is a relief. I glanced back into the field just to see the lady disappearing round the end of the pond.
Thursday on a Saturday
Tilly now so happy to be here needed some encouragement to come home. So the mad cat lady walked up and down and headed into the field. No sign of the white tipped tailed one, but I did walk round the corner to near where the Wheelie Shoppers go. I see this as laying the ground for venturing along the path in a few days time, under the pretence that I’m looking for my cat.
0 locks, 4 miles, 1 wind, 2 straights, 1 full water tank, 1 new pooh bucket, 1 paper, 6 eggs, 1 loaf bread, 3kg porridge, 3 damselflies, 7 cygnets, 2 proud parents, 1 busy canal, 7 fishermen, 5 fag butts, 1 spot for us, 0 wheelie shopper today, 1 Thursday photo taken on a Saturday.
We’d only intended on staying here for one night and then planned on heading back to our ‘home’ mooring. But the washing drawer had more in it than we’d originally thought, plus it was time to do the bed linen and towels too
An overloaded whirligig
So Mick kept an eye on the washing machine, filling it emptying it, running the engine when needed, hanging items out on the whirligig and the airer inside. A right washer woman he was.
Tilly was originally given four hours of shore leave, which she seemed a touch reticent to make the most of. But after ignoring the open back door for a while she started to do the back door side hatch circuit, then eventually moved onto staying out for a while.
Pesky woofer!
The woofer from the next boat wasn’t helping matters. Running up and down the towpath as if it owned it! I eventually ducked through the cow parsley and headed into the field below. So so green down here. She said I smelt of green when I got home. It’s a good smell, green.
Meanwhile I got my illustrations out. Most of the morning was spent finishing painting in the stripes on a cardigan. Who decided that character should have a stripy cardie!? Especially when it’s the main character who appears in just about all the illustrations! Getting on for ten colours, it took forever!
I know someone who’d love that cardie
Then in the afternoon it was time to start on the backgrounds. I checked which seasons should be in each illustration and then started at spring. Tree foliage, sideways trees and grass were all painted in. After all the green I then treated myself to a touch of autumnal russet. Tomorrow I’ll move onto the sky and fencing, hopefully then all the base colours will be layed in and I can move onto the finer details.
Ships log
For some reason drawing lines in our ships log is a job for me, some would call it a pink job (but I’m not keen on the colour!). Our log has been going since we moved onto Lillian full time nearly six years ago and the note book bought from Morrisons is still doing well. In the book we note where we are at the start of a days cruise, engine hours, when the toilet gets emptied. There is also a record of how much diesel, gas and coal we buy and the cost. Years ago I drew on the side of the pages to make drawing the lines very easy, hoping they would become a blue job (a much better colour, but not as good as red), but I still get handed the pen when the last page runs out!
Empty
Now with lines
Quotes have come in for clearing and cleaning the house in Scarborough. The tenants bond will cover some of this expense, but then she was a month and a half in arrears so the bond doesn’t really exist. In a text message she sent to our agents she suggested when she could she’d pay for the house to be cleared. A nice thought but one we know won’t happen.
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 loads washing, 1 almost empty water tank, 9 hours shore leave instead of 4, 15 illustrations nearly based in, 1 avenue, 1 cable tie hinge, 1 green cat, 2 quotes, 1 thumbs up.
Waking early this morning I peeked out of the curtains, then had to open up the hatch. At 5 am it was dawn, the birds were in full voice, steam rising off the canal all around us and the sky to the east glowed orange with silhouettes of cow parsley gently waving. The view over Scarborough’s South Bay yesterday was special, this view was magical.
Wow
I did go back to bed and had a few more hours sleep before we had our cuppa in bed. Then it was up and time to move, it was Thursday after all. Oleanna was nudged up closer to the bridge passing the locals who now know us. We found our mooring spike holes easily and just tapped them in to moor up, then settled down to have breakfast.
Steam rising under the moon
We must have been early on the route today as shortly after 10am the chap from Clem’s pulled up in his car. Three boxes for us today, Sandra had ordered two, us one. Today we got chance for a quick chat with him.
The greengrocer boat
The veg box scheme started up in October with friends who couldn’t make the market on a Saturday morning. By Christmas the demand had grown beyond friends. So by the time the pandemic arrived they were already set up. The chap we’ve seen the last three weeks had stopped working for them a while back but because demand was growing he was offered a part time job. The part time job is now 40 hours a week. At the height of demand they were selling around 400 boxes a week, he’d be delivering over £1000 of fresh fruit and veg a day. Demand isn’t quite as it was, he’s looking forward to having Sundays off again.
Our vegetable bounty this week
Whilst we are still in the area we’ll keep using them, although next week I might just ask for no potatoes and see what we get instead! Obviously when we start to be able to move again we’ll stop getting them, but should we return to Nantwich in the future and the boxes still be available I’ll get in touch with them.
Mick headed off to Crewe in the car to return it to Enterprise. Our petrol for the trip to Scarborough had only been £26 thanks to fuel being so cheap. We can’t remember when you could last buy a litre of petrol for under £1!
Rules on the canals are starting to be lifted, our cruising is still limited but fishing and canoeing amongst other sports is allowed again. One chap turned up with his rods, chair, brolly etc and plonked himself a few meters behind us, certainly not the 15 he’s meant to leave. We didn’t say anything as we were intending to move, backwards through where he was fishing.
Fishing has resummed
Mick politely mentioned what we’d be doing. The fisherman said he normally avoids canals but thought as today was the first day for fishing he’d give it a try. As he’d totally taken over the towpath with no thought for anyone else we just did what we’d have done if he wasn’t there.
More crops starting to grow
Back to the winding hole where we turned. A beep beep to let Sandra know we were nearly there and her two boxes were laid out on the bow locker for her to pick up. We had a long chat about our day out yesterday and covid-19 testing for boaters.
Who is this?
As we were on the move already we carried on toward Calverley the water tank needing filling and a big pile of washing was requiring our attention. At Barbridge there are scarecrows at just about every house. One chap stood at the helm of a narrowboat, Spiderman climbed a wall and what looked like Chewbacca held a large microphone. Apparently the village got together to make them. Hopefully they will stay for a few days longer so that we can have a walk around the village to see them properly.
He wasn’t very talkative
The C&RT bins and their enclosure at the junction have been removed leaving only the metal uprights with hazard tape around them. The canal bridge to reach them isn’t safe for the bin wagon anymore, so maybe the bins are going for good?
No bins anymore
At Calveley we ate our lunch as the tank filled, disposed of rubbish and then moved on through the bridge to pull onto the moorings and set the washing machine to work.
Mooring here for the night means that Tilly could be reminded that the outside will move once again. C&RT have amended their guidance more. Limited movements until the 23rd May. Then if you are on a visitor mooring you need to move, but if moored on a 14 day stretch you won’t need to move until the 6th June. Just about every boater we’ve talked to today is wanting to stay put, not confident of moving distances until the number of cases has dropped a lot more. We all know the set up where we are and feel safe. I think if we have to start moving we’ll still be in this pound for sometime until confidence grows. C&RT are hoping to have the waterways back up and running by the 1st June. But we’ll see.
A different outside
One thing is certain, I need to get my illustrations finished and get our gunnels looking good before we loose a low hard edged towpath mooring.
0 locks, 4.2 miles, 3 veg boxes, 2 leeks cut down to fit in the fridge, 1 car returned, 9 fishermen at least, 1 clock ticking on moorings, 1 full water tank, 1 lead to follow up, 1 happy towpath cat, 1 load of washing, 1 extra good fried rice tonight.
On Tuesday we moved Oleanna to the Lockdown Pickup mooring, well almost, we stopped a few boat lengths away from the busy road to moor for the night. Then mid afternoon Mick cycled into Crewe where he picked up a hire car. Enterprise did a socially distanced hand over and they have cleaning regulations that they follow. So on Wednesday morning the alarm went off and we were setting off in the car at 9am for a day out.
Oleanna left in good paws
Back on the 16th of April I wrote about what a crap day we’d had, but not mentioned why. Well a few days before hand we’d heard from our lovely next door neighbour in Scarborough that our tenant looked like she was subletting as there were new faces around the house. Another neighbour from across the road thought she’d seen lights on in the rooms at the top of the house, this is where we store our possessions and it is kept locked up. She’d also been making note of a car driving up the road several times a day and transactions taking place. This was all hearsay, but if Andy thought it was worth calling us then he believed it, we suggested that the lady across the way should call the police if she suspected drugs were involved.
Satnav set for Scarborough
Then we heard more over the Easter weekend. Three people had been sat on the roof of our bay window drinking from the early morning. Someone on the street called the police who arrived mob handed. Then a few hours later the police returned even more mob handed I believe with sirens etc. They were at the house for quite a while.
Messages were left for the agents who look after the house. They tried calling our tenant, but got no response.
Then on the 16th we heard more. I could say ‘the shit hit the fan’ but a more accurate description would be ‘the TV hit the bench and then the bay window’. Although we have conflicting reports as to whether it was a TV, Computer Monitor or a Hifi. But what we do know is that an item had been thrown out from a window, bouncing off our garden bench and smashing into the bay window. this is why the police were called out the second time.
We tried calling the police but due to data protection they couldn’t give us any information, we would have to ask our tenants! As if they’d tell us anything.
Instantly we were both of the same opinion, we’d heard enough. Our hand had been forced, we instructed the agents to give our tenant notice as soon as possible. Who knew what was happening in our house. Who knew what was happening to our possessions, mostly things of great sentimental value.
Easy going on the M62 today
Our agents advised us that normally we would have to give two months notice, but due to the pandemic this would be three months. Then they doubted that they would leave. We’d have to get a court order which post pandemic would take sometime and then it would likely take until bailiffs arrived on the doorstep to actually get rid of them. We felt sick.
Over the last few weeks our agents in Scarborough have done their best to contact our tenant and somehow she decided to make a move before her next months rent was due. Last Thursday we heard that there was a van and cars clearing things from the house. Then there was peace and quiet and four wide open windows.
Barbie left behind
The following day, VE day, the street had a party to celebrate. We suspect our end of the road were celebrating more than the 75th anniversary. Andy managed to push closed the windows for us, but we still had to wait to hear that the house was empty. This came through on Saturday, a big relief. We set about arranging an essential visit to the house.
The agents took photos on Monday. The tenant had said she’d not had time to finish clearing the house and would pay for it’s clearance when she could afford to. The window had been mended and she signed the bond over to us straight away as she was already in arrears.
Life left behind
With the announcement from Mr Johnson on Sunday, which by Monday had more clarity, we knew we could go on a day trip to somewhere, the seaside even, just so long as we didn’t stay overnight. I have to say we would not have been doing this trip if the circumstances had been different, but for our own mental health we had to go.
The M62 was the quietest it’s ever been, mostly lorries and we didn’t get held up going past Leeds, a straight 70 mph apart from through road works. Just under three hours later we called in at the agents to pick up keys and for a chat. Scarborough was busy, just like normal.
Pink cupboard
Everyone stood at a distance. Their impression of our tenant had been good when she first moved in, smartly presented, five kids. But lockdown has affected people in different ways. Yes we’ve all found it hard, but some more than others. She’d also got a new fella in her life, which we suspect was the main catalyst.
The house looked like they had been given half an hour to leave. Things left where they’d been dropped. A guitar, half an eaten pot of chocolate ice cream, the residue from a hamster or rabbits cage. Coats, shoes, pants, socks, food, a freezer full. Bikes, barbecues. Toys, cupboards full of the kids possessions. A mattress on the floor that had been slept in and just left. I’m so glad we’d seen the photos before hand so that we could detach ourselves.
ooo, tasty
Shoes galore
Mick headed straight up the stairs to the attic door which showed no forced entry, but cracks in the paintwork suggested the lock had been removed. We already knew from one of the photographs that someone had been upstairs upstairs, I would never have left my gramophone open and certainly wouldn’t have had a go at playing a 45 on it!
Give away sign
We checked round the piles of our possessions. Things had certainly been looked through. As far as we could tell everything was still there, we’ll know more when we come to empty the attic. What a huge relief!
Stuff stuff and more stuff
Our furniture needed sorting from everything else, which we did leaving labels on ordered piles. All food items that could go off were bagged and added to the already filled wheelie bins. The rest will be cleared by someone else.
Rabbits or guinea pigs
We’d taken with us a picnic, under Mr Johnson’s guidance and sat out on the front garden wall to eat it in the sunshine, the blue bells that border our lawn still evident just not in quite the number we used to have. The house was starting to feel like ours again.
The local boss eyes cat
Time to acquaint and reacquaint ourselves with the neighbours. First up was Shoes, an ever so friendly cat who seems to like ham. He wouldn’t tell us if his brother Yoda (or Shithead) was still around, we kind of hope not.
Give me some!!!
Andy was out in his garden with the kids so we got to have a good chin wag with him. Then we went and knocked on the other neighbours door to introduce ourselves. Damian guessed who we were and came for a chat too. He was the one who’d called the police the second time, a lovely chap who knows old work colleagues of mine.
Who is this on our table?
Another new neighbour had to be shooed out the front door, a ginger white pawed cat. Nobody knows it’s name. Then I disturbed Alan lazing in the sun on a table in our back yard. He apologised for having a Patsy look as I’d just woken him up.
Just Alan, one of next doors cats
Most of the locks are now changed and that will be finished tomorrow. We arrived feeling detached from the house but left feeling like it was still ours.
Scarbados in the sunshine
A drive up onto Southcliff to see the sea, castle and lighthouse was needed, otherwise we couldn’t say we’d been to the seaside for the day. I miss that view. Then we called in at Frank’s house to wish him a distanced Happy Birthday, he was out, but we had a chat on the phone instead. It took him quite a while before he asked how come we were in Scarborough. Word passed on quickly as we got a message from Duncan (see you get another mention!) asking about our visit.
Open for take aways
The trip back was just as easy and we decided to head into Nantwich to get a takeaway curry before heading back to Tilly and the boat. All was in order, she’d looked after Oleanna very well for the day. It was nice to be back home.
0 locks, 4 locks changed, 0 miles, 322.8 miles by road, 1 day trip, 1 hire car, 1 bottle of disinfectant, 1 bag of keys, 1 serious mess of a house, 1 family evaporated, 1 chip pan of oil spread across the kitchen, 1 broken wardrobe, 2 boaters possessions still there (we think), 1 new window, 2 much stuff, 2 lovely neighbours, 1 calm quiet street again, 1 house to be cleared, 1 house to be cleaned, 1 house to ? 2 many decisions, 2 poppadoms, 2 currys, 1 side dish, 4 glasses of well earned wine, 2 relieved boaters.
It’s never good when they take my collar off! She thought I’d not noticed her getting something off the top of the bathroom cupboard this morning. She thought I wouldn’t mind having my collar off for a day or two. She thought that as I wouldn’t be allowed out in the outside today that she could be incredibly horrible to me. So She was!
B*stards!!
I now have a very annoying wet neck which will last for a couple of days. Without my collar on I am not allowed shore leave. No matter how I sit my neck bothers me, being all wet and evaporatingish. Errr yuck! B**stards!!!
This evening we have finally managed to use up all but one of the potatoes that we’d over ordered a few weeks ago.
We have had potato wedges, a second lot of them tonight.
Mash, on top of a fish pie.
Hash browns. A new firm favourite.
Some new potatoes snuck in there too, just steamed.
Chicken hash. A staple these days.
Moussaka. A new one added into the repertoire (forgot to take a photo).
Potato salad.
And last but not least Dauphinoise potatoes, a decadent treat.
Not quite sure what to do with the last one. Now we’ll have to start on the new potatoes from last weeks veg box and this weeks box will soon be with us. Oh well more potato food.
Green shoots today
The title of todays post is a quote from a Jimmie Chinn one act play called InteriorDesigns which I designed for a drama festival may years ago, before college. This line stood out and has stayed with me.
More colours added today
0 locks, 0.67 miles, 1 empty veg box,1 collarless cat, 3 months free of fleas, 1 mardy cat, 1 field turning green, 130 photos, 45 on a gramophone! 7 white 2 red in the cellar, 1 potato left, 7 more colours, 1 day off tomorrow.
With this weeks veg box order made it was time to check on the egg situation. At the bottom lock we crossed over the gates to see if we could see where the water might be leaking. It was soon very obvious. The recess where the gates sit when open look like they weren’t touched during the rebuild of the lock chamber. Certainly there was no repointing done to them. At the top end of the lock you can see where the work stopped and the old structure has been left. So hope the current water ingress isn’t doing damage. We carried on up the flight where two C&RT chaps were busy clearing vegetation from the weir that leads into the reservoir.
Bottom end of the lock
Top end where old meets new
This morning mixed messages had come from C&RT regarding boat movements. What they said left a lot that could be interpreted. ‘The Trust is lifting any remaining restrictions on boat owners visiting their boats though the Trust advises against travelling long distances unless it is essential to do so.’ However they also said ‘In the meantime, mooring exemptions are extended by a further two weeks until 23 May.‘
Green shoots in the fields
We took from this that there are no changes as yet to us as CC’ers. I feel that their ambiguity was due to pressure to make a statement ASAP. Yet the Prime Minister hadn’t been clear in what he had said last night, did even he know what he was saying? Schools that are meant to be reopening for the younger kids in a few weeks didn’t even know it until Mr Johnson opened his mouth last night! So today we have watched those on social media debating the statement and what it means to them. We will be continuing as we are until we hear otherwise from C&RT.
Floating high
Eagle eyed
No duck eggs again, oh well. We did a circuit round the reservoir letting the wind blow the cobwebs and our breath away before returning to Oleanna.
Base colours going in
This afternoon I got my watercolours and brushes out and started to block in colours on my illustrations. These are needed by the end of the month and if the lockdown eases we will want to start moving again, not sure where. As yet I have only managed to tick one thing of the boat jobs list and the list hasn’t even been written yet! I wonder if that is an achievement in itself.
More colours
Late afternoon we heard the familiar chug chug as NB Halsall pulled up alongside. Our first top up of diesel for about a month and a bag of coal in case the temperature stays chilly. A Gammon joint was popped in the oven to bake away for a couple of hours.
Still looking after us
All of a sudden outside our little feathered friend started to sing it’s heart out again. Well just enough and long enough to be heard and caught on Mick’s phone. The bird song app didn’t recognise it, possibly due to the breeze, or distance away from the microphone. But Mick managed to down load it this time. So all you twitchers out there please, what is the real name of the PPe bird?
PPe Bird
0 locks, 0 miles, 9.5 miles, 0 eggs, 1 circuit, 1 update left for interpretation, 15 illustrations blocked in, 59 litres, 1 bag coal, 2 many contradictions, 1 Ppe bird.
Brrrrr!!!!! That is all I need to say about the weather really. Glad we had the barbecue yesterday. Today we lit a different fire, the stove at about 10 am. Tilly popped her head outside on a few occasions but was severally unimpressed with the blowyness out there. It blows right up my bum! You wouldn’t like it either if you didn’t wear trousers! So instead she stayed inside for much of the day taking pole position on the sofa.
You can’t move me! Look how cute I am.
Today we have been surrounded by Swallows, or are they Swifts? They move far too quickly to see what shape their tails are. On one occasion they took to swooping down to discourage Tilly. It succeeded! They all look like they are having a great time.
We ventured up the locks to see if there might be any ducks eggs. Sadly the van looked quite empty and there were no eggs for us today. At least it gave us a reason to venture out on a chilly day. The farmer walked down his drive so we asked if he had any duck eggs. ‘I’ll get a couple of trays’ he said. Brilliant.
Not many today
We waited for him to return but that is when we worked out that he must be slightly deaf as he only had hens eggs and we’d restocked with those yesterday. Our hopes raised only to be dashed again. We’ll keep trying.
Fancy ducks
I wrote a few weeks ago about how the bottom lock at Hurleston seemed to have sprung a leek after it’s rebuilding. Back then we’d noticed that the towpath gets very wet when the lock is full, if left empty overnight the towpath dries up. I sent a message to C&RT with photos and they said a local engineer would have a look and that the site had not as yet been signed off.
10th April
17th April with an empty lock overnight
The flight is used at least once a day with boats heading in to Nantwich for shopping and services. So as we walk up and down the flight we see it in all states of fullness and emptyness. It turns out that the towpath only gets wet when the level of water in the lock is between full and two foot down.
Yesterday a C&RT employee was at the top of the locks clearing debris from the lock mouth and checking things over. We stopped for a chat with him across the lock. He said that C&RT are fully aware that something isn’t quite right at the bottom lock and that water is actually showing in three places that it shouldn’t be. But with the pandemic there was little they could currently do as the contractors were not working. We were relieved to hear that they know about it after the huge amount it has cost to rebuild the lock.
Just a few more minutes
The rest of the day wasn’t conducive to doing much. Tilly hogged the stove, Mick listened to the 2005 second test match between England and Australia and I unpicked one side of the button band on my treat cardigan. It had all ended up being a touch too tight, so another twenty rows were added and it sits a lot better. Mental note for next time, lay things out on a table not your lap in front of the TV! It works better this way.
There are the ends to weave in, the pockets to sew up along with the under arms. Then I need to find the buttons and it will be finished. I have enough yarn left over to make something else. I toyed with a hat for a while, but today’s chilly wind spurred me on to making matching socks. They will have the same pattern that is on my cardigan sleeve and pocket.
Nearly there
This evening we watched the Prime Minister informing us of the road map to get out of lock down. All very vague. Boaters social media started buzzing with everyone interpreting what had been said in the direction they were wanting to hear. C&RT have said that they will be giving continuous cruisers advanced warning of the lifting of restrictions, so we wait to hear from them. I suspect they are just as confused as the nation is.
0 locks, 0 miles, 0.75 of the egg walk, 10 degrees, 14 down from yesterday, 1 disgruntled cat, 2 one cosy cat, 1 cardigan nearly finished, 1st matching sock, 2 pies, 1 with not quite enough filling! 2 boaters not fretting, 2 boaters doing some homework.
