NOVEMBER SECOND HALF
Friday 14th a massive rain front sat over middle England all day and dumped a reported 4" of rain but amazingly no massive floods resulted in this part of the country. I was concerned as to how the boat would fare and resolved to visit the boat by bus on the Saturday which I did.

Suffice to say I was up at 6am and dressed for the road by 7 and on the only bus option at that time the No.1 to Baker's lane where I transferred painlessly to the x4 and settled in for the long haul to Northhampton arriving there at 10.30 and catching the 96 which on Saturday's departs Drapery at +40 and got off it at Houlton at 11.50 to then catch a passing D1 which left me on the boat at 12.10. 

It was not as bad as I had feared and I pumped out the bilge in less than 10 minutes meanwhile making a mug of coffee, rearranging the deckchairs putting a note in the log and leaving the boat at 12.49 to WALK back to Houlton for the 13.10 96 which arrived at 16 and then beetled to Northampton bu not in time for me to catch the 15.33 X4.

The X4 route was haywire and suffice to say that it was 16.03 before I caught one and 1840 when it got me to LIDLs Baker's Lane with 12minutes to wait for a No.1  But I did get to the FLAT at 19.15 exactly 12hrs after I had walked out. 

I got to bed about 10pm and slept well all night waking at 6.30 to listen to the farming and later programmes on steam radio til 9oc.  On land I revert effortlessly to my alter ego.  Sundays have always tended to be observed and nowadays R4 which used to be the Home Service has wall-to-wall religious-themed programmes is very easy on the ear. 

Later I half-dressed, surfed FB and made tea.  Later still I dressed fully and went to Iceland and Co-op to stock up. Just as I was gong out I was met in the corridor by Rosemary who proferred a brand new freezer which I accepted with grace because I believe it will fit in the existing fridge hole in the kitchen and become part of the furniture. On Sunday evening I rewired the fridge hole and fitted the freezer but I didn't plug it in because it is not needed.

We are now promised a very cold period for the next week or two so I will be able to see if the boat can cope with the cold. It should give the solars a chance to fill the Sterling. 

NOVEMBER FIRST HALF

The blog is getting ragged but hanging in there and now is on a monthly schedule or at least that is the intention. This is being keyed in at 12.52 on Thursday 13th Nov in the common room with the curtains drawn and the sun shining outside. 

The daily weather on board had been getting progressively worse since I left Braunston on 9th with winds and overnight rains filling the bilges so the chore of deleafing and emptying water and crud was essential and was done. The almost total lack of proper sunlight meant I could not usefully develop the onboard electrics so I decided to bale out and see what was happening at the flat. 

I had prebooked a cheap train ticket Nuneaton to Peterborough a week ago and knew I could connect from Rugby to Nuneaton via an 84 bus which I did and thus arrived 'home' on Wed12thNov/16.20 to settle in and prepare for my Thursday laundry slot.  During the evening I was delighted to have long conversations with Steve and Rosie and Thomas the mariner til very late.  I eventually got to bed at midnight and slept through til "8oc" waking a bit confused  before realising my clocks were still on New Time ... 

The extra hour allowed me to get the washing on early and visit Willowtree who said they would give me a phone appointment for Thursday morning.  I kept the phone on and stayed in but got no call by 2oc so I took a trip to town to pay my sub for u3a.

The whole month of October appears to have gone by in a flash.  The chains were undone at Radford bottom lock and one morning I asked myself do I need to be here, here being the towpath with my linear garden and the answer being No! I proceeded forthwith to The Fusiliers and thence to Radford where I cleaned out the boat's debris, launched myself through the lock and just kept going.  Halfway up I rested overnight and completed the remainder of the climb with a lock-keeper the following day opening gates ahead and closing them behind to tie up at The Boat Inn and overnight.

It takes 45minutes cruise from The Boat Inn to the bottom of Calcutt Three Locks so I decided to make that my next stop over having been advised that the gates would be  unlocked at 10am.  I had established on arrival the that the gate was not actually locked.  At 8.30am a northbound boater told me the top gate was also unlocked so we agreed to swap places and so at about 9.30am I found myself well under way and later exited Napton Junction onto the Oxford where I pulled in for breakfast before moving on in foul weatrher and with fould wetaher gear on.  But the weather was closing in on that very tedious bit of canal after three months without a drop of rain and the wind was rising as I cruised along.  Eventually I asked myself whether I needed to be fighting wind and rain and pulled over to stay overnight in sight of Flecknoe Hill.

The following morning I was away with first light and pinned to the bank by B93 about 9oc and met a boater who would be pulling away from B90 'within the hour' which he did and I retrieved my happy spot to put down roots for the interim. 

The navigation was still officially closed and would be til at earliest 10thOctober so I was able to work on the boats electrics and talk to Paul Redshaw about the exhaust problem that was worrying me and make a provisional date to talk with him for Dec1.  However C&RT send a move note which I got on Friday 7th and with my work finished at Braunston anyway I decided to up sticks over that w/e and proceed to Three Bridges where I arrived on Saturday after a pleasant overnight just north of Bridge 85 where I have dallied before more than once. 

The daily weather was now getting progressively worse with heavy overnight rains filling the bilges so the chore of deleafing and empting water and crud was essential and was done. The almost total lack of proper sunlight meant I could not usefully develop the onboard electrics so I decided to bale out and see what was happening at the flat. I had prebooked a cheap train ticket Nuneaton to Peterborough and knew I could connect from Rugby to Nuneaton via an 84 bus which I did and thus arrived 'home' on Wed12thNov/16.20 to settle in and prepare for my Thursday laundry slot.  During the evening I was delighted to have long conversations with Steve and Rosie and Thomas the mariner til very late.  I eventually went to bed at midinight and slept throug til "8oc" waking a bit confused at the time before realising my clocks were still on New Time ... 

I have been so busy over the past weeks trying to sort out the onboard electrics so I can be assured of voltage for my USBs and power banks ,,, the batteries are weak and settle at 12.3 overnight. This in itself is not a huge problem from the lighting perspective but it is and always has been an issue for assuring line voltage will STAY above 12.5V when a load is applied. 

After four months of unbroken sunshine where the solars constantly assured voltage from as early as 6oc in the morning to 8 or 9oc at night, I was not paying enough attention to the real situation.  Already in early October the sun window is 9am to 6pm and this can be seen by just reading the voltage.  Even with extreme economy it will be 12.3v when I get up ie that there is insufficient control of charging. It looks like the vartas are damaged beyond repair by overcharging as they should hold 12.6 according to advice received. 



October began with Atlantic storm Amy dumping large amounts of rain and brought blustery conditions but no disruption as the centre stayed off shore to the west of the island of Ireland. There was noticeable leaf fall but not enough to bare the trees.  Leaf mugging is a bit of an issue as I found driving up to KateBoats on Monday6 in calm and sunny conditions.  Because the canals are still shut I have a ticket out of Nuneaton for Tue7th to catch u3a in Fletton on Tuesday evening and possibly do laundry Thu/Fri. and come back to the boat at the weekend. Or not?  NOTE: I did make the u3a and an application is in the post. 

Saturday 11th October. 
I have committed to getting 200W of LiFePO4 and hiding it 'under the floorboards' and the whole package will cost £755.  There is no other option as the Vartas are not able to provide the line voltage needed when needed.  The order went in while I was at the flat and delivery is imminent after the w/e. So, back on board I have disconnected Wavy ready to turn Pentargon to be at KateBoats on Monday morning 

Monday 1st September
Off-grid Living on England's Canals without Mains and Without a Shower and Survival At All Costs Or No Cost At All continuously tests the ingenuity and that is the idea.  I can pull a dinner together from just about anything but I will always try to have ingredients for a wholesome meal in the galley at as little cost as possible.  I'll not compromise on quality though and when I stand at the reduced shelf in Tesco's I have a mental shopping list which I do not deviate from.  My diet is as varied as you could imagine with carbs. protein and fibre trace elements, nutrients and as much variation as I can muster. 

Saturday 6th September
During the earlier part of the day I had had a few slices of sourdough bread bought and paid for at Warwick Saturday market.   This evening I am dining compliments of Tesco on a bag of stir-fry vegetables down from £1.80 to 126p with a two-pack of lardons (255p down from £4.25).  I actually divided both packs in half and made up an earlier dinner costing £2 and it was so scrumptious I decided to add an onion and HP sauce to the second half and had a later dinner which was weighed in at about £2.25 including the gas

Now at 7pm I am replete, at my computer and forming the social comment which you all expect from reading my wordpress blog on another Channel. 

Monday 8th September
I tend to hit Tesco, if that is how to put it, at 3oc.  At 3oc the yummy mummies are lined up at the school collecting their sprogs but have yet to descend on the store. 3oc is a time when I frequently notice 'single' men staring into the cheap shelves, in confuse mode, trying to choose food within their budget.  Invariably they stock up on UPF and stuff with a very small price tag no matter what it is.  I suspect they are unemployed and maybe un-housed. I don't judge. 

Wed.10th September 
The month is advancing. The canals are still short of water. The gates at the bottom of Hatton and the bottom of Stockton are chained.  I have learned how to make a podcast and indeed have over a dozen submitted to YouTube and they are out there.  But only bots are looking at them. It's ok though that is what has to be done to have the bots let go of the strings and unchain my gates.  So far I have used content from my WordPress musings for read pieces. But I am trying to develop a line in Tall Tales From Towers which entirely aviation related 

Sunday 21st September
The switch from light to dark. The year's pivot. All is well and the last ten days was usefully spent first by visiting the flat, sorting out the next step in my marathon with Willow Tree.
Boat maintenance is just beginning. I need leads for my multimeter and a way of getting oil out of the sump and it is WIP.  I have almost totally sorted my WordPress persona and how to manipulate media.  YouTube is WIP I have had my first snot-run of the season in fact today is its 6th day and it is very mild. 

Saturday27th September 
Almost another week logged and I am up river nearer Morrisons just to get a different view of things. The weather has been getting slowly but progressively colder during the past week but a high sitting over England is conveniently keeping the wind calm and the cloud light. Radiation heat loss is a thing but the loss is minimal and means that the gauges are staying above the critical threshold where I will have to introduce the Hampshire. I am sleeping extremely well under the duvet with supplementary towels and waking after dawn.  Today I had my service wash in at 8.30 and out at 12.30 fitting a run to the market and further searching for unrefined cane sugar into the intervening space. 

Monday 29th September
The month ended with my taking a couple of marathon bus/train journeys to find a factory outlet in Droitwich Spa. On 30th I chose to go northabout Coventry Solihull and kinda lost it as I could not find a way to get west to pick up bus lines to Droitwich eventually finding my way to Bromwich via rugely . If I had to do the trip again I thing Coventry BIRMINGHAM would be more sensible. 

Tuesday 30th September
The previous day I had tried it by Stratford Evesham Worcester Droitwich and met Chris Lawlor at a bus stop who not only gave me a guided tour of the town on a 20 bus landing me at the station to get a train home VIA BIRMINGHAM but I found Chris had a terrific sense of humour and owns her own hotel in the town I was born in and it is not the protestant one either 

work in progress









c

​​Not all who sail hither go thither
Nor all those who wander are lost
Boats that are minded don't dither
Their bilges are safe from the frost 

Because I choose no fixed abode
Don't think that I cannot abide
To lay my head down and my load
I'm a gypsy come in from the tide 

I moor or move on as I please
With a lock or a weir on my beam
And I shall roam inlanded seas 
Til I fetch up on Fiddlers Green 
© SW MMXXv

All my Augusts
I don't remember my earliest Augusts but photo albums for 1944 show me at three months old dressed in handmade swaddling clothes, while three years later my new baby bro born Jul11 is wearing the same outfit in our brand new dispensary home. In 1953 my baby sister May1 was three months old ... I look back on last August in my blog and discover I was eating blackberries and cream as indeed I am today ...

What's not to like about towpath blackberries?  

• Hand Picked!
• From the Vine! 
• Sun Ripened!
• Guaranteed British
• Locally produced!
• One of Five a Day 

The tub I used last August for the blackberries held 330mls of single cream and cost me £1.40.  It tasted synthetic this is UK which still can't produce wholesome food for the proletariat  

UK has not yet defined, legally or otherwise, what cream should taste like but they have defined fat content in milk and in cream.  They still produce great big blubbertubbies stuffing theirselves with UPF shite lorried in by Brakes, Bookers, Bestfood. LongLiving 

I favour Graham's Gold Top or Trewithen Barista and the cream off the top tastes like the cream  in Ireland.  Graham's and Barista come from cows fed on grasses and herbs native to their farms and counties.  Cereals are specifically excluded from their diets as it would cause them to fart and belch excessively and affect the quality of their milk. The cows are Holstein-Friesian cross which are interbred on the farm to "preserve genetic purity"

Single Cream Tests my Credibles
Somebody skims the cream off full milk and sells the cream for £7.20 a litre.  By UK legal definition, single cream has to be less than 20% fat which to my jaded palate means it has to be over 80% water.  

The price of skimmed MILK averages £1.40 in supermarkets ... There is a huge scam which begins the moment milk leaves the farm.  If farmers were scoring I'd cheer but they aren't.  Farmers get 40p a litre at the gate for their milk and they are not allowed to skim off the cream in the dairy to sell it separately.  That is for the supermarkets. 

"Double" Cream is legislated
to be 40% minimum fat but some better class ones hit 50%. When I take the glob of cream off the top of my Jersey milk  it not only tastes like cream but it feels like cream nom nom.  UK has legislated for milk also. The bind moggles at the idea of low fat butter with less fat than double cream 

2nd August being a Saturday
I'm lappin it up. I've just been to Cruitch and Oww-ey and I've done it without even leaving the boat.  Effin cartographers and ordnance survey were out mapping the island of Ireland in 1837 anglicising all the town names with the avowed intention of confusing the natives long term.  The worm has turned. Laois and Offally are no longer Kings and Queens. 

Actually I did leave the boat; I sauntered uptown for an X18 to Coventry where I transferred to an 85 to Rugby where I called by Revel's Bakery for a small sourdough (and a sausage roll) before catching a passing 63 via Southam which landed me back on the boat at 12oc

During that enormous tour of Warwickshire my trusty samsung was wired in to the wanderings of a newbestfriend currently trudging a small island where if you walked west the way you'd fetch up in Nova Scotia.  As indeed did a few of its illustrious ancestors of old. My newbestfriend went better. She brought a copy of National Gegraphic to Baffin

May 16th 1976 Tim Severin left Brandon Cove in Kerry in a boat made of leather.  On 26th May Tim and crew rounded Cruit on their way to Iceland via Lough Foyle and the Faroes to demonstrate that Saint Brendan could have picked up or dropped off monks at Cruit in 500AD.  St. Brendan's Day is my birthday so there is a link to Cruit apart from my sister (born May 12th) being named Brenda because I being the oldest carried my grandad's names.  I know you haven't a clue what I am talking about but this is not for you. This is for my newbestfriend.  I'm an island man and so bees she.  

This being Sunday 3rd August 
Sunday is my day of rest&reflection and catching up with my reading.  It is also the day I do a bit of housekeeping and tidying up and odd jobs. On land you might find me hoovering out dark corners or ironing light linens. On board I may be removing cobwebs in the storeroom or counting bottles in the bilges or doing some light DIY. 

I've surfed Seamus Heaney and Liam Neeson to the BL and back and tried to catch up with Brien Friel's Dancing at Lughnasa.  The sun has gone over the yardarm.  I've had a spartan lunch and earlier coffee and I've moved the boat 200meters to the eastern side of B40. 

I was awake at 6oc and am at ease as always on a Sunday.  I heard the bells earlier calling the faithful to service but demurred as I was well snug and I did pay respects at Coventry Cathedral recently.  Now in after of the noon the sun is shining a bit so I may have an upcharge of batteries and be able to read and write tonight.  Voltage is all that matters on board off grid and you can check HERE for how important ,,,

Dé Céadaoin 7 Lúnasa
I have been trying to make sense of Wordepress for the past week and now have a link to it at the bottom of some of my website pages.  It is almost if not more weird than weebly but I shall plow on. This morning I posted an empty can entitled and already my e-mail inbox is filling with messages from other Wordpress users real and imagined who "LIKE" it.  WEIRD is an acronym didja know? White Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic. 

Where is the month going
Sunday 17th August I have been very busy. The gas bottle covers are made and fitted. The aft modesty board is ordered and the plan is ready art work and all for one side panel. The boat is as far east as it is going being down fornenst the canal wall of Clapham Tce Jnr School and just far away from the railway bridge to damp out the sound of the trains. It is also on the eastern limit of drunks junkies and other wildlife.  I have become actively involved in the Coventry Historic Group and am adopting the city as my own.  Need something to do in the community as I may be here for some time.  The lack of rainfall and the empty reservoirs is prompting CART to close the whole system from 26th August by putting in stop planks to preserve parts where lots of boats are congregated just to ensure they can be kept afloat.  They also intend to chain the bottom locks at Radford Semele to the east and  Hatton to the west.  I saw this coming weeks ago and had already decided to dally here 

Who Knows Where the Time Goes
Sunday 24th August and during the week I listened (over and over) to Sandy Denny singing Who Knows Where the Time Goes and was reminded again as to what the world lost when she died in 1978 when I was 34 and she was 31.  I was reminded by being reminded of The University of the 3rd Age which argues that one should pay more attention to the third third of ones life and use it to teach and to learn and mentor and absorb so that the evening of ones life will have mostly sunny days and balmy evenings.  But when I was 34 I did not know that my last third was still fifty years away whereas Sandy's died with her having started at 21.  Now that I am 81 going 100 I must be nicely into the third age.  So I resolve to be my age act my age and join U3A end of September

MEANWHILE
This will my last para for August 2025.  It has been a great Summer with a wonderful stop over in Warwick.  I feel like a resident.  Heck I am a resident.  I've been here now for almost ten weeks and with the canal system closed I may be still here in January.  I have a new and very different blog running now on WordPress  Why not drop in and say hello and find out how or why I am what I eat

2011-06-06 Steina eg Steini 
Faxafloi Bay the Hungry Hundred 

The sun is playing with the shadows 
On a distant Iceland mountain. 
The blue sky and the evening snow
Mix cocktails on a far horizon 

A fishing boat bobs red and white 
On Flaxaflói in baby whitecaps 
Tomorrow's dinner going to work 
To provide for the Hungry Hundred 

The trawler kicks the waves aside
Reflecting sunset on redwhite beam 
Sun licks snow from distant peaks 
Shadows deepen sides of mountains
footed in a calming sea 

Whitecaps now have lost their anger 
Calming breeze on deep blue main 
Steina and Steini stones are watching  
Basaltic rocks in a setting sun

This poem first saw daylight in 2011
when Diane (who was born here in 1953)
and I stopped off at ... Keflavik ... for lunch
... in Reykjanes ... with views of Faxafloi,
the boats and the mountains.

Bungee to the Antipathies 

If there were a hole going straight down through the centre of the earth and coming out on the exact opposite side of the great circle, And if someone jumped into the hole would they come out the other side, having passed through hell, would they be singed, roasted, incinerated or none of the above.  Maybe I'll ask Hannah Fry

2008-08-27 

Try as I might and I don't, I will never get Ireland out of my system.  I'm staying at Rathfarnham for a fortnight while others take a break.  

I have no serious work to do so I get a chance to listen to the radio, get out by bus and tram and train.  I get to talk to people whenever I feel like it and watch life rolling by.  There is chat to be had anywhere and the chat exchanges news and views. 

 In England, I am considered eccentric because I start conversations.  How refreshing to meet someone like Martina with a normal gift of the gab.  

Here, in Ireland, I am considered totally normal and it works both ways.  Conversation is an ideal means of bonding and the Irish are naturals.  I listen to three small boys on the top of a 16A going into town.  They observe everything, comment on everything.   Nothing is sacrosanct, not even how to rob sweets from a shop we're passing   Intriguing to note that, just like 50odd years ago,  a fishing rod features high on the list of desirable tools.  On the radio, everybody has something to say and everything is worth hearing.   The most interesting observation, though, is that all the talking is done by the Irish.  I have no idea who has cornered the market in listening.   I do not hear the hum of foreign tongues in Bewleys.  It seems to be that Ireland and the Irish have cornered the market in talking to each other and in story-telling and stand-up comedy.  

Did you hear the one about ...

2025 ... Bewleys is gone 
What reason might I possibly have now
for walking Grafton Street?

CHRISTMAS EVE SHOREHAM 2007

The Climb to Mill Hill 
It says on the sign going in
at the exit to Shoreham 
"No exit to A27".   
And the road is closed at night
by a gate.  
The uninviting sign fails to say
that the exit is actually an entrance.  
So you Stridalong anyway and you see the planes.  

Martina: a Strida is a type of fold up bicycle I used to use

And then you almost exit to the A27 but you see the footpath sign 
so you Stridalong the Adur and climb up to the A27 anyway.   
And you follow the footpath on the side of the main road 
until you are able to climb the escarpment, Stridanall.  
And you climb and climb and climb and climb 
til you reach the top and the road, by the overhead bridge.  
A turn to the north and much huffing and puffing 
takes you to Mill Hill Reservoir.  
Here the radio-controlled gliders 
fly off the wind up the hill 
and the wind on 24thDec2007 
would skin a duck. 

It can take a long time to become an overnight success.  
It takes even longer to become successful.  
The road to success is paved with the hardest of paving bricks and many of them.  
But when I look carefully, I note a simple pattern.  
Each brick is hard; much harder by far
than any of the bricks 
that pave the way
of lesser mortals. 

There is a unique colour pattern to my own road, 
which repeats with variations
along the multi-coloured brick road 
travelled by the one who,
while walking it, would reach for the stars. 
The light grey is the early morning brick;
the green is the seven-day-week paver. 
The orange is for every hour god sends, 
the white is for perfection. Not too many they soil easily. 
The blue brick is possibly the most important of all. 
It signposts the way and mark when it is time to pause.