Bookshelves for No Problem and a new windlass too!

Moored Banbury, Oxford Canal

Well I was out on the town today having a good look around for some bits and bobs for No Problem.  Lucy got a new bed too.. well her old bed was a good 6 years old, and beings we had a new bed, we thought we would treat her to one too! And she loves it!

I arrived back to find that Vic has been hard at work making and fitting the new bookshelves and radiator shelves, hooray, soon I will have somewhere to put all the books that are in the cupboards at the moment which will then give me the room to put all our clothes away in the cupboards.. hey soon no more living out of carrier bags!

I also got a nice fluffy bathroom mat/towel.  I am fed up with stepping out of the shower onto the hard floor.. heh not the next time I won’t..

Oh and I bought a BBQ from Wilkinsons too.. I buy the same one each year and throw it away at the end of the season.  It is a cracking BBQ, it doesn’t burn the food because it has different levels that you can put the grills at.. all for a cost of £3.  I really don’t know how they can do it for that price.. for sure the screws would cost more if you bought them at the hardware store..

And while I was browsing around Banbury, Alex from Cropredy paid a visit with one of his ratchet windlasses.. an updated model no less as a present!  Awwww Alex fancy missing you.. but I am looking forward to seeing you again when we make our way through your part of the country in a week or sos time.

Alex makes ratchet windlasses.. you can’t get them in the shops, only from him, all hand made.  He started making them because the Cropredy flight of locks is dreadfully hard.. well to wind up the paddles is, but not with an ‘Alex Ratchet’ it isn’t.. magic it is, working just like a ratchet on the paddle gear, easy peasy working through that flight we found.  I will take a pic of it later for you to see.

Loads of boats past today, according to Vic, “And every single one them passed faster than you pass boats” says he.. I am wondering if I am going too slowly these days.  The trouble is there are just soooooooo many boats moored along the canals that I think people are getting fed up with having to slow down so much.. for sure, I used to work out my day by saying I travel 3 lock miles an hour.. adding together the locks and miles.. normally it takes as long to do a lock on average as it does to do a mile.. now with all the moored boats I suppose my cruising time is something like 2 and quarter to two and half lock miles an hour..