Still on holiday.

I am sure you are all on the edge of your seats awaiting the update from the scintillating travels of the Great Holiday day whatever.  Somerton Deep is as picturesque and exciting as ever.

I am enjoying my holiday so much I am bursting.  Today I boated up to Banbury. It was a veritable success. I didn't meet any boats on the over grown bits, so I have spent very little time removing oxford foliage from my hair.  I saw Nev's old boat Waterlily, and then I arrived in Banbury.  

On mooring up I had some tea, relaxed and then spent 4 hours putting down my new floor - heaven knows why it took so long, especially as I ran out of wood.  When I say new, I of course mean from pallet wood salvaged from the skip (yes yes, all permissions obtained before hand). 

I am so tired everything is looking a bit blurred. 

I haven't done any organ practice for days. My toccata is going to be VERY rusty unless I find somewhere tomorrow - so that's the mission...before the invasion of the young people.

long awaited photographs: Barton Abbey

Here they are....

Holidays Day 1..2... whatever

Time to dust the old blogger scape down and get blogging about my holidays.  HOLIDAYS! A REAL HOLIDAY! I LOVE holidays and I am loving this holiday. Once I recovered from carrying too much shopping down the towpath in one go (first world problems for which I am very thank fun) I was off.

I pulled the pins, bribed my friend heavily to get them to open the lift bridge for me, and there I was sailing off in to the distance. Tiller, blue skies, long thin water.

I was so chirpy by the time I moored up I thought I would pass out with delight. I sat in my chair staring out at Somerton meadows listening to bird song and watching cows frolic. Good heavens.... cows can frolic.

The whole relaxation in a chair thing lasted forever, for me - 20minutes if I recall - it was bliss  but then I did some jobs with the plumbing.A new kitchen tap to be precise.

Somerton Meadow is exquisit for such jobs.

I had a frightfully decadent lie in (not long enough according to the four legged companion) and tomorrow I will move on. Today however, I went on a trip with a friend!. We went to have a look at Barton Abbey Gardens. We stumbled upon the place a few months ago when I  wanted to visited the churchyard - it was such surprise visit. Despite living nearby this gem of a place had gone under my radar. The gardens were open as part of the RGS and were well worth a visit.  It was a beautiful setting, and I rather liked the greenhouse mechanisms.

Pictures will follow, but I am on a wind up 02 internet which has a different role in life that which I thought it had.

Tomorrow the dog and I head northwards.  When I get there I have some flooring to do.

Happy Birthday Maffi!

New Chimney

There is nothing like a new chimney to shake of the cobwebs of the old blog. 

It is that time of year again and the chimney maker and I headed up to Alrewas yesterday to see the old mucker to give him his shiny red pride and joy. 

Maffi's long romance with red is embezzled in my memory (and several layers of paint ago on the boat when he was left unattended near my boat once) so I was pleased to see his big smile when he saw it.

We left him staring at it.

In other news I have painted my chimney.

Shipton Chimney comes tumbling down

Not doing the beans.

Once again the annual trek to do the broad beans has involved staring at the mass and rejoicing. They are not ripe.  We even came a week later to show willing, but still they are not ripe.    Unfortunately I got my weekends confused, so not only are the beans not ripe, but I am missing one of my favourite boating events of the year - Braunston!  One of our team is gallivanting around London, but the other has made it and is busying around post-script hand in for her course.  It is great to catch up and hear about life in the city.

without beans to menace I had a go at trimming the hedges -

The strawberry crop is HUGE so we are busy working our way through pans and pans of strawberries. When my hands stop vibrating I will freeze some and make sorbet (that's when I work out how long it will keep) with the others.  Until then they can sit in my fizz 

Pottering about in the van

This weekend see's me on the shake down whatsit of 'The Van'.  I won't be the first (or last) person to be inspired by a play, let alone Alan Bennett, but when I saw 'The Lady in the Van' I was inspired.  That, combined with taking tea in Graham's van and the great Hymer introduction, I was hooked. Some say 'Lady' has a long way to go, but there is no doubt I have the van nailed.  It's a white panel van called Patch.  We are going to go everywhere together (expect when I am going everywhere together with two, or no, wheels). Boots has taken to dining in the front cabin while I admire the view and google for strong wall magnets. I was going to build cupboards, but I think I will just magnet everything to the wall.
So, here we have the view.....

Or not...I can't work out how to do it....such is the fresh air!

Castle Mill Stream, Oxford

I have been hearing flitterings here and there about the boats mooring along the castle mill stream.  The Oxford Times wrote about it about a year ago here.  It has caused quite a stir and seems to have got quite a few people ranting for various reasons.

Whatever the politics are…. this morning I was there and I love it!

do like the eclectic mixture of boats and the way people are finding a way to float. 
As I haven’t heard very much positive about it I expect I will be shot for liking it, but there we are. I do!

What a long time ago!

I was busy trying to find a picture of my boat at Shepperton Weir for an article I am writing and have failed miserably. Instead I have found pictures of me and a bunch of Canalworld Forum people in a pub.
I was rather pleased with this balancing act.

New door nobs

Anyone who has been on my boat will know that getting into the cupboards and drawers requires some patience.  I don't see it myself - but finally I have got around to installing my new door handles.

I am constantly losing and finding keys.  So it seemed apt that some of my redundant collection should be put to good use.   I also have three lovely little spoons and I have used them on some of the handles too.

M6 eye nuts with 3cm M6 bolts.  Keyrings from somewhere in the new forest, and a scattered collection of keys from decades of losing and finding and forgetting.

World Down Syndrome Day

I have a nephew with Down's Syndrome. This piece of writing says it all.  Read it.  world-down-syndrome-day

When I retire I will steal hats

I have been pottering about in radio silence for over a month now.  I am rather enjoying my current mooring spot which has no internet and somewhat sparse phone signal.  In the tree nearby there sits an owl.  Under the tree with an owl in it sits a boat. In the boat there are two people.  The tree seems to have a mind of it's own, as does the owl and so, of course, do the people.  I have been wondering about this menagerie and every now and again a story forms in my mind about the tree, the boat and the people - but I never quite know what the owl is doing and the owl never features in these stories I make up; there is a void, an absence where the owl should be.  I wondered what the owl is doing, and why it never seems to be in my stories.
It turns out the owl is doing its own stuff and doesn't need my stories.
 Read about it here

Edit - the link is about an aggressive owl that is steeling the hats from passers by.  Here it is copied and pasted from this link
http://time.com/3698709/owl-joggers-attack-oregon/

Some believe the owl is collecting the hats to make a nest

At least four people have been attacked by an owl over the past
month in Salem,Oregon, prompting officials to issue warnings to
early morning joggers and park visitors.  One jogger said the owl
whacked him so hard he thought he was having a stroke.

According to Reuters, signs near Bush’s Pasture Park now warn
people to avoid jogging before dawn or to consider putting on a
hard hat. Members of a bird conservancy group believe a barred
owl is responsible, a species notorious for crowding out the
smaller, endangered spotted owl. The owl could be

more aggressive because of nesting season – it is believed to be
collecting hats for its nest.

No one has been seriously hurt in any of the incidents, but the
city’s parks superintendentsaid officials have never heard of a case
like it before.

Waterpump Fixed

I have a friend who is a whizz with a grinder so I popped over with my 'issues'.  The pulley was ground down with the grinder along with the bit between the nuts and the pump casting.  It was all done in a moment and then, within a blinking of an eye, the water pump was installed and the engine was running. 

The pulley no longer catches on the nuts and I expect this pump to last longer than the others (I have receipts from the previous owner and their water pump excitement!)

The water pump - update

I took the water pump off and had a good look at it.  

After a bit of a fiasco (access, nuts, metric and imperial issues between the pumps) I then noticed that the pulley was worn....

a closer look still and the pulley rubs on the nuts of the pump (the nuts are worn). The new water pump is about 3mm thicker which would create a few problems.  

Here is the old and new pump and the pulley.

Still on the dining room table rather than in situ working away.  Tomorrow the grinder will get wielded at the pulley and possibly on the pump (not the important parts like the mating surfaces!).  Hopefully all will go to plan and I will have everything back together in no time (no laughing at the back please).

When I picked up the new pump I was told it was quite rare.  With this is mind, once this debacle is over I will be looking to refurbish the old one.... and all help is welcome!

I am now in the pub drinking gin. All spelling and grammar mistakes are my very own.

Oops - water pump again!

The water pump is throwing stuff around the place again. I thought this one would last longer, but it must be about 6 years since I turned up at a boat yard with it in my hand. It had broken so I took it off and took it along to a boat yard to get a replacement. I took Maffi with me.  Once the proprietor had been persuaded to talk to me about it rather than Maffi (who had come along for the ride but as the only man of the duo was clearly the one who knew all about it) was suitably rude telling me the pump had come off a different engine and that I was effectively too stupid to know my own engine.  He even took me around the back to show me a similar version of my engine. He was wrong (mine is blue, not green)...but I listened to his little patronising speech as I am sure it made him feel better.

 His patronising tone and attempt at humiliation went over my head at the time, but he was quite convinced that the pump I wanted was in the box in his hand even though an amateur at the well known game 'snap' would know the difference.  Fortunately someone else working there seemed unfazed at a women holding an engine part in her hand and sorted it out.

I think I will do a spot of internet shopping for this little number this time.

Happy Birthday Maffi!

I hope you are having the most splendiferously wonderfully fabulous birthday!

XXXX

The other place in a different boat

In a moment of inspiration we found ourselves in Cambridge and discovered a member of our party had never been. There is only one way to see Cambridge and that is by punt.

Time constraints were tight as we had promised to cook father luncheon. So we called James and Amy on Willow and asked whether they were close so they could join us.  I left a message on the answer phone.

Maffi refused to go punting so I flung him over my shoulder and in no time I was punting the chaps down the backs.

James and Amy joined us for the return trip.

Several years ago I was fortunate enough to have an invite to join James and Amy (on their previous boat Lucky Duck) on a maiden voyage up the backs (here) and this was the first time since that I had been back.  Wonderful.

Banbury Canal Day

CRT had a picture of the bicycles pulled out of the canal – I quite liked the look of some of them, but they weren’t for sale.

One of the highlights, for me, is always the stationary engines that can be found on the lead up to Tooley’s Boat yard.

For some reason I had forgottent hat Herbie were going to be there so I was delighted to spot them with their fantastic bunting.

They had this sign in the window too….

with attention to details with Boots

and Molly (and I LOVE Maffi’s beard!)

With Herbie coming south and the Moomins (Melaleuca) coming North we arranged to meet up on Bones.  The chef instantly panicked but Kath saved the day by carrying the flag for roasted vegetables (and they were A.M.A.Z.I.N.G) my apple crumble and leg of lamb went down a treat too – fortunately the Moomins have a large dining table so we were able to decamp there and eat our roast in style rather than struggle from our laps. The great preparation for visitors (I lit fire and swept floor) went to waste but it was worth it because we had a wonderful evening together.  Maffi, hearing of the great meat, stopped too – so it was quite an evening. 

Wonderful!

Mucking about on a Sunday afternoon

Photo by Jan Dytor.