Clocks changed

His lordship was not impressed with the morning regime following the clock change. 

This is his response to much jangling of the lead and me leaping about trying to raise enthusiasm for his morning walk……

Moving On

Twas a glorious morning in Lower Heyford, but the time had come to move on.

As the sun set I arrived to see this pruned tree at Allens Lock

It was quiet on our night mooring; even the trains whispered as the hours ticked buy.  The following day it was time for pastures new and we headed north.  Cruising under the glorious spring sunshine was lovely.

Favourite postcards II

An 18-month old terrier-like dog.

When I go to the ‘postcard section’ following an interesting exhibition I rarely find a card of something I actually enjoyed looking at. After making my around the amazing collection of Tudor objects excavated from the Mary Rose I was surprised to find this card in the shop. This was one of my favourite exhibits.

Ivy on trees

My friend has a keen eye for ivy and likes to stop it strangling the trees along the tow path.  When we were out for a walk he spotted this clump of trees covered in ivy. When I went past a few days later I noticed he had made a good go at freeing some of them up….


There is an interesting RHS article here Link that starts off  'Much maligned, ivy is often accused of strangling trees on which it grows. The reality is often less sinister but there may be times when its control is advisable. In the border, ivy’s dense growth can swamp other plants and control here is often needed.'

Read it for more information.  That ivy isn't bad was bought to my attention by Dominic and I will pass the information on to my friend.

London Eye

Saturday saw a trip to the London eye.

It was a lovely trip made perfect by a glass of wine in Gordon’s wine bar.

My foot and the car

A pious self inflated arrogantly corrupt women drove her car on to my foot this morning. Then sat there as if nothing had happened.

I managed to not fall off my motor cycle (I was just driving off when the incident happened) and politely and calmly attracted her attention (oh how lovely to be British). I asked her to reverse off my foot. Quite a reasonable request I felt but the women spontaneously combusted and started to lecture me. 

Now I like a good lecture as much as anyone.  I am particularly interested in self righteous lectures inspired by self defence when it isn’t necessary and it was with sadness I interrupted her to suggest she would have my attention better if she got off my foot. 

All credit to her because although she spontaneously combusted at the suggestion she did put her car into reverse and free my foot up.  I righted myself and she promptly tried to push me off the road.

She didn’t succeed.

Human’s are priceless.

Frosty Morning

Sheep Boots

I am not very impressed with my Samsung phone camera but Boots was so funny this morning as he looked at the Sheep across the water.

Favourite Post Cards I

I really like postcards and last night as I chose my current favourite one to write on I decided to start a favourite post cards series.

The Horn and I

A handsome horn with a tale.

The horn was on the back of the boat when Bottle and I took the boat in to Oxford some moons ago. As we approached the lock there was a bit of a hoo har of a song and dance and after much distraction and jolliness we got through the lock and continued our journey in to Oxford... except there was no horn.

The horn must have fallen off.

After the weekend, Bottle and Mrs Bottle took their boat down to the area we thought it *might* have fallen off and they spent some time hunting for it.

In the meantime my mum bought me a horn.

Mr and Mrs Bottle found the horn. I said they could keep it, but they too had bought a horn.

So, we had a grimey horn which Bottle took apart and cleaned up.

I now have a horn with a tale.

That is the tale of the horn with the tale.

Lovely memories, lots of fun, lots of laughter and good friendship. The horn says it all.

Moving

After a long winter of working hard on the boat it was time to pull the pins and start our travels.  It is so nice to have a grassy towpath to while away the afternoon.

Rest in Peace!

I shall take a moment to be quiet in the sun. I will sit and remember the years passed by and the times we met; such fun! Memories, oh sweet smiling laughing memories.  Honest times. There was laughter when laughter was due.  Support came so readily from you too; a card, a word all support when things got rough.

I will be sad that we didn’t see you in these last few months.

I will be sad to know that the ones you love are left. 

BUT

I will be glad you lived, that our paths crossed

I will be glad to have known you – to have had you and Trish as friends.

Rest in Peace my friend, rest in peace.  We will mourn, and I am sad you died but rest in peace my friend, REST IN PEACE!

Maffi sums it up here. Philip was a great friend to Maffi so if you see Maffi on his travels, be gentle with him.  This will hurt…

Boiling

Maffi and I have had great fun boiling things on the towpath before. This Saturday I did a but more boiling….I expect Maffi will have been diappointed to miss out on the fun:

No need to worry Maffi – it was a complete disaster!

Life on the water

The Oxford Times has an article on how things can get a little bit awkward on the water.  Our amazing Coalman Dusty is featured too.  You can read it here

The horn

After sorting out the rear hatch it was time to weld on the horn bracket.

More welding

Not that I am pleased with myself or anything....  The back hatch needed a bit of modification in order to make it secure.

welding

Fitting a new lock on the rear hatch requires a bit of welding.  My tutor was around to take photographs so here they are:

Evening on the Cherwell

Sunset over Enslow

BRAUNSTON

I managed to arrange a work meeting at the Admiral Nelson which was a bit of a treat. I left in good time in order to catch up with a few people I knew were in the area but my car had different ideas. It kerplunked within 3 miles and I had to take it to the garage. The garage fixed it in good time and eventually I was parked up in Braunston making my way to Maffi's for breakfast.  He was moored in front of Islonian and we were introduced.   Maffi was full of beans as Ronnie was going to do magic with his cratch cover and by all accounts she did!
Maffi and I dived into the various Chandlers and then as we screeched to a halt for me to get to my meeting on time we spotted my favourite CRT employee having lunch.  Fantastic.
Sadly there just wasn't time to head up to see the lovely Chris and Jenni. Chris is part of the Braunston Canal Society Volunteer group who received the CRT Recognition Award for the amazing work they have been doing.  You can read about it in Towpath talk (page 11)

This sight in Braunston Marina was a bit of a treat:

OL’ ONE EYE

The muddy waters hire boat has had a make-over

Gone

remember this?

well, it has now gone. The owners had help from their friends. They cut it in half on the spot to get rid of it.

Coal

This lump of coal was a bit of a surprise last night. I have put a normal piece to left of it for size comparison.