Back online again

Moored Nr Devizes, K & A Canal

Just a quickie to say that at last I am back online again and testing my blog and software for formatting.. My computer is still in for repair, seems it is extremely poorly.. but at least I have one that I can use for now..

Be back blogging very shortly..

Hooray, some winter wonderland pics for you on the K&A Canal ..

Lucy simply loved it.. she leapt off this morning and couldn’t wait to roll and roll and roll.  By the way, her progress report after her horrendous accident back in May 2006 is good, she is now trotting 100% on all four legs and at canter at last…. she is now using all 4 legs about 50% of the time.  She has put on weight, and is heavier than she has ever been in her life.  I like her heavier, she is such a fussy eater, but I got some shapes and bonios for her and put them on top of her food.. she loves them and knows that if she eats all her ‘din dins’ up, then I will refurbish her bowl with more food with shapes and bonios on top!!

Heh, there are ways and means of making her eat!.. The biggest problem with Lucy is that she simply doesn’t have time to eat, so much more in life to enjoy than that!

We took a break from No Problem Mk2 today because we had to go down to Devizes Wharf to pick up a much needed Tesco delivery, plus put some water aboard.  The loos got emptied at the same time.  It was a pleasant enough trip down this morning…

Very winter wonderland like, but Oh Boy… the weather got worse, and it started to rain and blow quite hard.  There were no spaces available at all on the wharf or anywhere near for that matter.. there is a lot of ‘overstaying’ in this area at the moment, so I shoved the bows of No Problem Mk1 into the Wharf and left the stern out in the canal nestled against a huge dutch barge.. That was OK, was a wide place in the canal right there.

Tesco had an excuse, white stuff, same as everyone today.. , and just in the nick of time the van appeared.. pity, another couple of minutes and I would have got my delivery charge refunded!!

But it was pouring with rain and blowing hard.. Tis not often it is so horrid though.. but it does make life difficult when it’s like that.. everything seems to get soaking wet inside the boat.. dog running up and down, wet bags…

But right now it is so cosy aboard.. everything has dried out, and all I need to do in the morning is give the floor a quick brush and wipe over and it will be back to normal again..  All part of living on a narrowboat for sure..

We have lights and somewhere to sleep at Devizes..

Moored Devizes, K&A Canal

It’s turned a bit cold at the moment.. glad there is no wind though.  This morning the canal around us was frozen, I was wondering if we were going to get any ice at all this winter to kill of all the germs.  In fact while walking Lucy the other day, there were a load of midges in my path, I couldn’t believe it, and there are rose buds out too in the lovely gardens that border the towpath near where we are moored.

Wendie tells me that my mother’s camelia, which is now over 50 years old, has already produced 5 beautiful flowers.. the first of them was in January!

But we have been aboard NP Mk2 today.  The solid fuel stove is doing it’s job well, although we had the eberspasher on too today.  It is a long narrowboat of some 67 feet in total length, and even a small stove in the saloon cannot warm the very back.. and that is where we were today.

The bunk room is all but finished.. just the varnishing to do back there over the next few days.. so the final design was chosen.. and talking of chosen, Kiera, the eldest of my 4 grandchildren has ‘bagged’ the top bunk already from the photos she has seen.  Isn’t ‘bagged’ a lovely word…

This is what we have done with a photo sequence..

The whole thing up for the night..

Taking it down for the day.. the side high bits just screw off

 

The main support bearer slides out…

The top bunk board lays on top of the bottom one…

The top and bottom cushions will form the seat and backrest for day use.  The whole thing takes about 1 minute to put together or stash away under the bottom bunk along with the bedding.

We are both very pleased with that.. it looks simple, but took us quite a while to decide which was the best way of doing it for us.  We had to remember that this bunk arrangement will only be used about 5% of the total year.. but it has to be easy when we want it too.  It will come down each morning the family is aboard so grandchildren will be able to enjoy this room during the day.. a bench seat at the back of the boat with a table will give them an opportunity to relax just inside and in view while the adults are out on deck while cruising.

Meanwhile……

Chas.. NB Moore2Life fits the inverter and connects everything up to the consumer unit above.. then it is the testing bit..

Everyone had to be there with fingers crossed.. but Chas was confident nobody would get any shocks!.. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,………..

BINGO, let there be light!!

Clever lad isn’t he?

Vic's lying about again.. bunking off!!

Moored Devizes, K&A Canal

Well just look at this again!..

Even Molly the dog seems to be saying “Hey!”

“Just testing” says he

The basics are done at the back of NP Mk2, and just how the daytime arrangement will pan out will be decided tomorrow.  We have a couple of ideas, either to sit the bunks one on top of the other for daytime use or to use the top one as the back of a bench seat ..

As seen here.. as yet, of course, no mattresses in place.. but what a fine area it will be.. I am almost tempted to put a very small boatman’s stove at the back cabin so that a kettle can be boiled, and a cuppa enjoyed in the errrrrr seating area! .. ho hum better not let Vic see this blogged idea..

We have been doing some bits and bobs over the weekend.. I have finished the first coat of varnish in the saloon, and Vic has completed putting new panels in the galley where we have had to pull much apart to fit in new electrics..

This morning was rather a rude awakening.. I was still asleep when a phone call came in to say our inverter had arrived at the Marina.. 8am!!  I actually ordered it on 28th Dec! I told the very alert delivery driver that I was asleep all of 10 seconds ago.. he sniggered! , and he seemed to enjoy my “errrrrrs” and “ummmms” while I tried to come to my senses and decide what to do.. We are not at the Marina now, but over the otherside of the canal!

“Can you just leave it somewhere” I said hopefully.. maybe he really, really wanted a signature for it, maybe he had a lot to do today.. Well it was the latter and after I had been awake about 2 minutes, I was in full thinking mode and asked him to leave it quay side.. Wasn’t long before we popped over the other side to pick it up..

Meanwhile….

Chas of NB Moore2Life is doing a grand job with all the wires… and look what Mr Sterling delivered this morning sitting looking at him … next jobbie Chas?

Thistle, the aftermath of the fire at Honey Street ..

I am not sure whether these images will cause upset from those that get upset at pictures they don’t like.  Les of NB Valerie blogged about a dead muntjac deer seen in the canal, with a pic. I mean it happens, this is what our lives are about, what we see, what is around us, what we blog about, what happens around us is real.. but he withdrew the pic because of readers comments.

Well here are my pics of something that happened recently near me.. and I did blog briefly about it last week.. but in the eerie mist of this morning..

Thistle, the narrowboat that was ablaze at Honey Street in January as reported by the Gazette and Herald, Wiltshire’s local rag, has now been salvaged, and is at Devizes.  The shell of a 60ft narrowboat, not 45ft as reported.. such the intensity of the fire that the metal was badly distorted especially towards the front.  There was nobody aboard at the time, and it’s a good job too, the inside was totally devastated…

It’s scarey really to think what can happen so fast.. this did upset us all, but it also caused us to check on our fire extinguishers and talk about what ifs, and to make sure we just think about what more precautions we could take to stop this happening to us.  Well it has been 11 months now since we stopped smoking, .. (wow! ), so a discarded ciggy won’t happen on No Problem, but a report into this fire by the fire service did throw up an interesting fact… Don’t keep non-safety matches aboard, because of vibrations!!..

In fact they listed one or two items in their report worth checking out….

Every year, more than 300 small boats are involved in a fire which in turn result in a number of deaths and injuries. By taking some simple precautions, you can ensure you don't become another statistic.

• Fit a smoke alarm.
• Ensure furnishings and foam insulation are fire retardant.
• Wiring looms should be run through a conduit to avoid chafing.
• Battery boxes should be contained and vented.
• Only store safety matches - vibration could set off non-safety matches.
• Have at least one fire extinguisher which should be located near the cabin exit.

Thistle is now out of the water ready to be inspected by salvage experts and insurance assessors and the like, but I doubt she will be able to be re-built unfortunately.

Happy Birthday to you.. tra la la

Happy Birthday Wendie.. Have a great day, and a great evening, will be thinking of you..

xxx

Feed the ducks your gooey porridge!

Moored Devizes, K&A Canal

Well I am glad the site feed seems to be behaving again..

It’s been nice away from the boatyard and on the towpath again.  Lucy has certainly enjoyed it, spending most of this spring like day lying on the towpath and greeting people as they walked by with a lazy wag of the tail.. greeting K9s with a frown and a “This is my patch keep off” stare about her.

I was tired this morning, and while Vic went aboard Mk2 to do a bit more, I relaxed a while and enjoyed watching the ducks close by as they wandered up and down paired up and marking their territory.  There is a bank opposite, I wondered if I could get some bite-sized shredded wheat to land on the bank so that I might see a mud slide show the likes of which Mo of Balmaha has seen with ducks and moorhens.. we don’t have porridge on our narrowboat..

He is having a bit of a problem, you see, the moorhens are not getting their fair share of titbits because the ducks are too greedy..

“The moorhens kept missing out at feeding time because the ducks flew straight to the rear doors as soon as anyone showed a face and so they were first in line every time.

Trying to make it fair I threw clods of cold porridge across the canal towards the moorhens and managed to get a dollop stuck on the muddy bank above the water line. Leaping up at the porridge kept moorhens and ducks busy for hours. They even tried sliding down the wet muddy bank from above, grabbing the gooey mess as they fell into the canal.”

“Gooey mess?”  Surely not.. well not if Vanessa had made it!

My daydreams faded and I finished my coffee.. Joined Vic again for a few hours before taking Lucy for a stroll along the footpaths.  The days are certainly getting longer now.. it was gone 5.30pm before the light faded tonight. 

I phoned a particular boat company on the Staff and Worcs Canal today to see how much a complete paint job would be on NP Mk2.. £5,500 plus VAT… errrrrrrrrrm looks like we will swap screwdrivers and hammers for paint brushes in the summer months!!

RSS - News Reader Test

I am sorry for the problems with the RSS Feed.  I have changed a couple of settings in the hope that something might happen.

Would some of you use the comments to let me know if it is working now or not on this post

Thanks

Big Narrowboat is No Problem Mk2...

Moored Devizes, K&A

We needed to vacate our temporary mooring in Devizes Marina.. they have a new arrival which is more needy of the mooring we have had over the last few weeks. I don’t know what they are going to do with it, but the narrowboat that was burnt out at Honey Street a few weeks ago is due.. well in fact it arrived just on dark, and in the moonlight a sorrowful sight it was, so maybe now Andrew will get his ‘on the spot’ news report of what happened.. As long as it is the same narrowboat of course.

“I don't suppose we'll hear more from the paper on this story - small earthquake, nobody dead - but it would be good to have a blogger expanding on the story.”

I say the same narrowboat.. even in the dark it looked a good 60–70ft, but the news report said 45ft.. I shall attempt to be nosey tomorrow!

Anyway, we decided to move No Problem Mk1 also, well Ann and Chas did for us taking her alongside Moore2Life so that we and the dogs could enjoy some quieter quality of life on the otherside of the canal away from the noisy boatyard and the constant banging and thumping of the building site of the new pub construction next to it.  So gently does it as I reverse Mk 2 out of the Marina entrance, Lucy checking that I don’t hit the bank on the far side..

Annie took this pic .. blimey big narrowboat innit? Only just got it round using a boat pole too.  I guess there will be plenty of times I will be using that in the future.  It is amazing the difference between 55ft and 67ft!  I do hope Mk1 wasn’t too unhappy at seeing Mk2 emerge!

Well…… at the beginning of the day today..

And at the end….

Lazy git!!.. All done, and a well deserved rest for Vic!  The table is actually in the ‘sleeping’ position, his excuse was that it had to be tested!   I say all done, now it is down to me to do the finishing.. the rubbing down and varnishing, but I need him out the way for that, for sure I don’t want any dust flying around.. I think I will bannish him to the far end of NP, to the bunkroom me thinks!

Meanwhile….

Here is Chas (NB Moore2Life) redrawing the complete wiring diagram.  This will go into the stats folder for this narrowboat.  It is very important when updating a narrowboat that the stats are also updated for future reference.  The old stats will also be kept as ‘history’ in case it is ever needed in the future, but all changes will be documented. 

Not only that, but when we have finished, firstly we will need to have a new valuation and a surveyor will have to come in to check what we have done, followed by a new Boat Safety Certificate to ensure that all our alterations are in accordance with that and completed correctly.  Then it is a matter of contacting the Insurance Company.

I have already contacted the Insurance Company to tell them we are updating though.. they seem happy, but one is never sure..

Significant progress today, very pleasing.