Chip Butty, Rugby, Beer and Cider Festival and trying to get Diane drunk

Saturday 14th March 2015

One of the great joys about writing this blog, at least for me, is that I do describe events and occurrences in a slightly different tone to the way that others might see them.
Nothing that I write is incorrect, but the use of certain words can create different mental images which convey a slightly different message - usually in a cheeky way; so the feedback that I get from Diane is usually that what I have said didn't happen - I gently point out what was said, happened, went on.
It's very much like answering a question in an off-centre way.

Also, she doesn't get to read it until I post it - so no censorship.

This then means that she can never be sure what I have written about and how I have phrased it - it can drive her a bit crazy wondering what I might have said - one of life's little joys without anything lasting.

Today we undertook the cruise from Stoke down to Stone - a trip which we usually split into two parts with an overnight in Barlaston.

The outside of the revamped Plume of Feathers (with Neil Morrissey)

Another sign that spring has arrived - the first we have seen this year

This time we wanted to meet up with the gang before they headed off to watch the 6-nations at a local brewery (ticket-only affair).

Heading off before 7:30, we were through the Stoke locks before 8:30 and enjoying the lovely early morning start.

It felt good to have a decent depth of water below the base plate and the engine certainly was grateful - as much as we love the Macclesfield and Peak Forest canals, there was a bit too much close-to-the-bottom stuff.
We literally purred along with the engine just lovely and quiet, and in no time at all (well actually it was a 4 hour trip) and we were moored up opposite Roger Fuller's yard.
Howard was doing his usual Saturday ride down to Stone and reached us just as we finished the last of the locks - well done Howard, to hide behind the trees until we had finished.
He came aboard for a cuppa and cake and a chat before heading back.

By this time it was time to walk up to The Royal Exchnge and see the gang.

There also seemed to be another "Diane-plan" afoot with all of this - seems that the pub does a Saturday lunch-time menu with chip butties amongst the offered fayre and Diane was keen on that. Gotta love a masterplan.

Anyway there they all were and we just blended back into the mould of the seats and the pub.
After this we knew that they were heading to Lymestone Brewery for a Beer/Cider Festival and a large screen for the rugby - they insisted on dragging Diane along and she went without any protest - wearing her Welsh top with pride and the knowledge that Roly was there with his; Dot, of course, was supporting the Irish.
 

Looks like they were all up for it.

Welsh pride on display

Diane, Richard and Sharon

There's that wife of mine with a slight look of inebriation in her eyes

As for me, I was off for a peaceful afternoon of work and a little peek at the game.

A tap on the boat about 4pm from Phil (nb Valentine) taking Freddy for a walk and we had a bit of a chat for a while before he continued on his way home - we will probably catch upon Tuesday night.

I am never worried about Diane when she is out with friends and she does enjoy her sport and now coupled with a cider or two, she would be fine.

Around 5:30 she appeared in the window and a few minutes after that she was inside warming up and there was not very much slurring of her words but she had sampled enough that she wouldn't want or need any more - no problems.

As she normally does with these things where she go off without me, she will give me a full recitation of the events and happenings - one of these seems to be that Roly offered to get her a refill of her glass with a new drink to sample; there was some type of mix up and instead of cider it was an ale at 7.5% - she noticed it was different straight away but carried on drinking it, in fact she quite enjoyed it as well.
After that she jokingly was blaming Roly for trying to get her drunk - something that we both know would never be the case but there is always some fun to be had under those circumstances.

So with a Welsh victory over the Irish; a good afternoon of work completed; and slightly merry wife there was no reason to be downbeat at all and every reason to be happy with everything.

On top of all that Burnley delivered a shock win over Manchester City - a very good Saturday

8 miles, 10 locks
YTD: 121 Miles, 48 Locks, 2 Tunnels, 2 Lift Bridges, 6 Swing Bridges

Totals: 3015 Miles, 2169 Locks, 100 Tunnels, 36 Lift Bridges, 157 Swing Bridges

It's a century, but now for the Red Room.

Friday 13th March 2015

What do we have in common with the English cricket team?

answer: Nothing

Unlike the crew that have just been eliminated from the cricket ODI World Cup, we have managed to bring up a century - 100 tunnels - not all different, but 100 passages through tunnels on the system.

Our travels for the day took us through the Harecastle Tunnel for the 12th time.

We set out later than usual with rain still falling, but with a plan - Diane thought that an afternoon at the movies might be nice.
Also we had had a piece of good news for a change - I will explain all at the end of this blog entry.

So down from Poole Aqueduct to Hardings Wood Junction and turned right towards the tunnel; we didn't even have a chance to moor up properly when the tunnel keeper emerged and waved us in.

A brief safety explanation, the horn had been tested along with the light and I was already wearing the life jacket; he also passed over a bag for us to deliver to the other end - we are official carriers for CaRT.

Cheaper and better by the dozen, this passage passed without incident - as had most of the previous 11 trips.

At the other end we duly handed over the bag and emerged into a much more pleasant day - a bit brighter and a lot drier - it had stopped raining as forecasted on the weather app.

We cruised down to moor outside the Toby Carvery - now a favourite mooring spot since CaRT have moved on the continuous stayers - well done to CaRT for allowing genuine cruisers a chance to moor in these prime spots.

We were having dinner with Janet and Howard later on, but first Diane wanted to go to the movies.
Having read the three-part trilogy a couple of years ago, she now wanted to see how it looked up on the screen, so off we both went to see Fifty Shades of Grey.

It would be fair to say that the books are unlikely to win any literary awards and in keeping with that, this film is unlikely to win any film awards.

But the problem that I now have is the redecorating of the bedroom - a distinctive red hue has been suggested by "she who must be obeyed" and there will need to be another cupboard allocated for the extras.
Oh the things we have to do to keep them satisfied.

Before all of that there was dinner to be had and most importantly to see Janet and Howard again.

our Happy Friday selfie whilst we had a drink before Janet and
Howard won the battle with traffic

There was numerous remarks and silly giggling when we spoke of the film we had just seen, but we tried to steer away from that and concentrate on what we were all doing this year.

We had planned on doing The Wash with Howard (me thinks Janet would be waving him goodbye at Boston and then sneak around to welcome him at the other end), but the situation for us has changed that.

Just what has happened....

Last Tuesday I received an email from a colleague who looks after allocation of customers to inform me that all of mine were to be reassigned to other chemists by decree from the boss. Knowing him (the boss) as I do, it reeked of how he would go about wanting to be rid of my services.

Without jumping to any conclusions just yet, I did send enquiries out to find out exactly what was going on, but because of the time difference there were no answers yet.

Discussing this with Diane, we thought that this coupled with the uncertainty of the application to extend my stay in the UK, did not bode well for us being here after this year.

That being a higher possibility than previously, we made the decision to that we would most want to see the London canals.
So we have started our journey south.

All of this was going on in a shroud of uncertainty and felt that apart from the information that I had put in the blog, there was nothing of much certainty and signs of just not being sure, so we didn't want to unnecessarily say much.

On Friday, I received another email from the same colleague advising that the vast majority of the customers that had been reassigned on Tuesday would be reallocated back to me.
It seems that my boss wasn't fully aware of just how much I actually do in his company - he seems to think that I am over here on holiday at his expense and swanning around doing bugger all - but none of anything is certain for a long period of time.

Anyway it has left a bad taste in my mouth and when things get to the stage that they are, it is natural to start thinking of what can be done to change it all.

In addition to all of this, I have been advised that my current visa - an ancestry visa - which, whilst it states that I can work in the UK, actually means that I have to be seeking employment - even though I have a job.

So if anyone can offer me some employment whilst I continue to live on the boat I would be most grateful.
In the meantime I will now start seeking to put some poor Polish or Romanian immigrant, in this country legally, out of a job. You got to love beauracracy.           

7 miles, 1 tunnel
YTD: 113 Miles, 38 Locks, 2 Tunnels, 2 Lift Bridges, 6 Swing Bridges
Totals: 3007 Miles, 2159 Locks, 100 Tunnels, 36 Lift Bridges, 157 Swing Bridges

Sharing!

Wednesday 7th January 2015

Rain on and off during the day was the weather side of things; the trading boat Que Sera Sera came by and winded and then reversed back through the bridge hole and opened for business just away from the pub.

Howard dropped by, as promised, and we had a little drive into the country, all of the way up to Leek to pick up some diesel - up to 100 litres each and the price was down to 54.9 p/l - well worth the journey, although the drive was lovely in itself - running alongside the Caldon Canal for most of it.

Howard only had time to drop me off before going but we will catch up later in the year.

Whilst we were out Diane decided to make the short walk up to see Que Sera Sera and apparently returned with 2 oatcakes (cheese and bacon) -  I say apparently because by the time that I had returned from the diesel trip, there was no evidence left - just a guilty smile.

Right then, I could do with a spot of morning smoko, so Diane put the kettle on and I also paid then a visit, returning with 2 oatcakes myself - 1 for me and 1 to share (how kind am I?)
And they were very nice too!

We had a message arrive from Richard (nb Pendle Warter) enquiring about mooring spots where we were - replied that we were on our own and asked where he was - eventually found out he was nearing Stoke, so we wandered down the towpath, windlasses in hand and caught up with him approaching Lock 37.

So we locked him through the remaining 4 locks and wandered back to the boat whilst he reversed to the Etruria services and then greeted him as he moored behind us.

Later on as we chatted over a pint, I found out he will be going through Harecastle with us on Friday.
In fact we chatted for over 2 1/2 hours over just a few pints - Diane was feeling a bit tired and had stayed on board.

The weather seems to be such that when we stay inside it is wet; when we venture outside it is dry - that can certainly continue.


No travel

Something , sometimes nothing, always happening

Monday 5th January to Tuesday 6th January 2015

I have probably said this before and no doubt I will at some stage in the future say it again, but we do find a great deal to like about mooring in and visiting Stoke.

Maybe it is because we both have an affinity with the type of area encompassed by the six towns; maybe because we have an affinity with the people who live and work here - good, honest and hard working; maybe it is just because we can get the things that we prefer - whatever it is Stoke does hold some affection with us and we will continue to stay here in the future - whenever we are back.

For the present time we will have another 2 days here before we leave.

So what else have we been up to after our theatre outing - Well not a lot.

Sometimes the more mundane things in life are all that happen, which was typical of the day for Monday; and then sometimes we have another really great night which is what can be said of Monday night.

Monday (day time) really consisted of getting some work done and then crossing out things on Diane'sshopping list as we walked up into the town.

Monday (evening) - well, that was different. Howard had invited us for dinner and was as punctual as ever - coming down to pick us up and drive us to his house. We were very pleased to see that Janet was much better than the last time we were in Stoke.
Not knowing all of the areas well enough, we can say that their house has been transformed into a charming and delightful home - well suited for 2 people or more.

We had a wonderful night with both of them - as we really do enjoy their company and love to tease Howard but also respect him very much.
The meal was simply superb from the starter, through the chicken curry main to the frangipane tart and cheese platter.

Being the perfect host, Howard made sure that he was in a fit state to drive us back, even if the rest of us probably wouldn't be allowed to drive.

Tuesday started in a bit of a dismal way with cloudy skies and showers, but nothing more than what had been predicted - damn those weather forecasters - can't they decide on having the rain only overnight. We had planned on moving to water-up and then move up to Festival Park, and had to do so in the rain - fortunately it wasn't too heavy.

Two boats were moored outside the carvery, in such a way that it meant another boat would not fit in - so we moored on the other side of the bridge hole and then ventured forth for the supermarket shopping - and also a bit of a wander around Halford's.

Upon our return to the boat, we were greeted with Roly's presence and sparkling smile - what a great surprise; Bev was with him also so it was double pleasure - they had been to sort out about their boat being painted and decided to drop in to see us, so we headed into the pub for a tea (or coffee).
Being a fasting day for us we had to resist the smells of the carvery and luckily for us so did Bev and Roly.
Great things happen when you least expect it and it was a very lovely greeting.
After we waved them goodbye, we didn't make it back to the boat, but we did make it back for a late roast lunch - but only a small one - Diane only returned the once for more potatoes, whilst I did not move from my seat - alright she brought me back some as well.

The rest of the day was devoted to filling diesel tanks from our supplies in cans; we also meet up with a chap, whose face was familiar but without a name that I could remember - we met at Fradley Jcn when he greeted me with "Hello Ray, how are you?" - I have just looked back through the blog and found out - Paul from nb Just the Job on 8th April last year.
After that we simply lazed out in front of the stove and rested.

That was about it - but it is never quiet and never ever boring.

1 mile
YTD: 11 Miles, 12 Locks
Totals: 2905 Miles, 2133 Locks, 98 Tunnels, 34 Lift Bridges, 151 Swing Bridges

Hot and sweaty over a new bed

Saturday 20th December to Tuesday 23rd December 2014

Well we were up bright and early - just after 6am to get ready for the Harecastle.

In still dark conditions at 7:30 we headed off for the last half mile and last lock.

Lights were on and torches abounded - there just seemed to be enough illumination to make out the lock entrance and I could see the difference in lighting between the inside of the lock and the faint light of the sky - well I could see it until Diane in her desire to help, shone her torch toward me to help light the bridge hole and then I couldn't see anything.
"Shine it into the lock" I shouted and that helped.

We made it to the Harecastle moorings just after 7:45 - tunnelkeeper was already on duty; gave us the talk; strongly advising to wear a life preserver (which Diane insisted I do - yes dear!); moved the CRT craft out of the tunnel entrance and we were first through (the only boat at the northern portal) - the boat at the southern end apparently had not shown any sign of life.

The passage was uneventful - after 9 previous passages through here, we are used to it - but always careful.
Diane decided to do a bit of cleaning inside and indicated she would check occassionally to make sure I was still around.
Once out we moored up for water and after that it was straight to Westport for the day.
Howard (nb Compass Rose) popped by (we had texted him to see how he was) - so we chatted over a cuppa for a while and plans were made for lunch on Monday.
The remainder of the day was spent inside working and reading - pretty boring we can be a lot of the time.
Sunday now became a fasting day, but we cruised down to what many call "China Gardens" but we just know it as the Toby Carvery - we were hoping to find a mooring just before the bridge but instead we opted for right outside the carvery - not a boat insight - never seen it empty before.

Look - empty moorings outside the carvery - whoever heard of that!

Our slightly revised schedule determined that we needed to do a bit of shopping today - just little things, but meant a walk up into town.


Amongst the items on the ubiquitous list - price on a new mattress (just a price!). On the way into town we stopped at one shop - tested and priced - and later discussed it a bit - our existing memory foam one was a bit depressed in the centre and was in need of replacement; so we bit the bullet and bought one - the store wanted to charge ₤75 for delivery or we got 10% off if we took it ourselves.

Most people shopping like this have cars and taking such an item is relatively simple - not for us, we had to carry lug the thing back to the boat - well over half a mile - closer to a complete mile.
Diane's words seemed to be something like "no problems - you can carry it" - it started out OK but we were both needed to finish the task.
We did appreciate the offer of help from the fellow in the blue van when we were 50 metres from the boat.
Back on board and sweating profusely; we had both dressed for the cold conditions; not for an audition for World's Strongest Person; we practically stripped off inside just to cool down.
No strength left in our bodies at all.
After recovering we needed to take it a bit easy so rather than just sitting down and relaxing on the boat, we headed off to sit down and relax and watch the third installment of The Hobbit - showing at the nearby Odeon - and we didn't fall asleep once - and enjoyed it as well.

Monday was a chance to sleep in - still bloody recovering - work to be done - more shopping to be done - groceries this time.
Lunch with Howard - unfortunately Janet was very unwell - had a great time as we always do with Howard - he is fun to sit down with and chat away.
Lunch was good as well - just at the carvery.
 

Our good friend Howard

After saying our goodbyes we cruised the boat down to just short of the first lock in the Stoke flight and moored up for the night.
We had earlier unwrapped the new mattress so that we could "road" test it before leaving.
Road tested it was - hard and springy!

Our aim for Tuesday was to make it down to the Wedgwood/Barleston moorings.

For the past week really, the weather has been quite mild - not warm but definitely not cold - just nice weather - except for the damn wind.
Today it dropped a lot but still gave a little movement to the boat if you were moving slowly.
Made it through the five Stoke locks in quick time - every lock against us - then the enjoyable cruise down to Trentham Lock - also against us - by this stage we had decided on the Wedgwood moorings - someone wanted to visit the Factory Shop.
At this time of the year with few boats moving the last thing you expect at a lock is a boat coming along - no sooner had we closed the bottom gates and Diane got on - we were no more than 50 metres from the lock, than nb Harnser with Brian and Diana on board appears around the corner - a wave and greetings - at least it was set for them.

We were damned unlucky lucky, the Visitor centre (including the shop) was closing after today until April next year. The whole site has become a buidling site - new manufacturing expansion; moving the shop and cafe, and a small housing estate to the eastern side - that is, it is a small area of land, not small houses.

Entrance - to the building site

Scaffolding around the existing manufacturing building

part of the new housing estate - already occupied

across the road, the next phase of housing

So if you didn't get there, you won't be getting there until next April.


Almost forgot to include this and if I hadn't I might be turned into a newt or something worse.

To my very dear Mother-in-Law, Dorothy (affectionately known as Millie) we wish you a very happy ??th birthday - we saw you in October and had a great time - will call you tomorrow -love from both of us

10 Miles, 7 Locks, 1 Tunnel

Totals: 2889 Miles, 2112 Locks, 98 Tunnels, 34 Lift Bridges, 151 Swing Bridges