Well after having being thoroughly examined Alacrity passed her BSS examination……………..I didn’t think that she would fail but …..there could allways be something.

I had been wondering for a while why whenever I tried looking at Ten Bob Note’s website it returned a 404 page.

 I found this when I was reading the Canal World Forum.

Well, what an unexpected reaction. Many thanks to all of you for your kind comments re my web site.

Why did I take it down?? Well, probably the main reason was the amount of time it required to update and maintain it. My only form of internet access is my mobile phone and on occasions, the link can be worse than useless.

Also, I did feel that I was ‘under scrutiny’ in everything I did, I started to feel a bit ‘uncomfortable’ with it all in recent months.

I never ever expected the blog to become as popular is it became. As Cotswoldman thought, I started it initially so that friends and family could keep up with my adventures and whereabouts.

I have to say it will be a great loss to the canal blogging world as Ernies website was one of the best, It was the first that I would click on when I went online, the photographs were like being there with Ernie .

Blogging should be a pleasure and not a chore, so please Ernie still post but only when you want to, I won’t remove the link to your site just incase you change your mind

Its that time again, Waiting for me on the door mat when I got home was my licence renewal form from BW, always a welcome sight  Not.

Included was a notice telling me that I needed to renew my Boat Safety Certificate, minor panic ensued for a few moments while I located the last inspections paperwork. Since nothing has changed hopefully all I need to do is check that there are no obvious faults.

What I did notice was the warning that late payment now gets hit with a penalty of £150 OUCH !!!

Up at sparrow fart on Saturday with a quick stop for breakfast on the way. We were at Braunston for 9am. It was shaping up weather wise to be a great weekend.
I was a man on a mission. On our last visit we found that the water supply pipes from the Tank were weeping and as always the leak would be in an awkward place, beneath the cooker at the back of the kick space in the galley unit, it could  just be reached laying on ones back with one arm extended.
Well after removing the false floor in the cupboard and the wooden trim covering the pipes we cut away all the old pipework . That was the easy bit, Jo had to feed the pipes in and I had to try to get the pipe ends to align with the push fit connectors, not easy looking under the unit with one eye and trying to judge the distance  shouting at asking Jo kindly to push, pull and twist the B***** pipe.
After much cursing and one leak Job Done………Beer Time…….

Sunday.

Sunday dawned sunny and bright. I had a choice, start to fit the new Webasto heating boiler or have a couple of hours fishing, well it was no contest fishing it was. I was using wholemeal bread as bait (healthy ??) within twenty minutes I landed a five pound bream then a large roach not bad for me.

It was great to see NB Jubilee pass through the marina delivering coal.

and yes I did find time to fit the Webasto boiler I just now need time to plumb it in and remove the Alde !!! and remodel the wardrobe sounds like refit part two .

We have been thinking of new curtains for Alacrity for some time. Since we did the major refit last year new curtains have now become a necessity as the old ones are hanging by a wing and a prayer (my fault as I didn’t expect that washing  nineteen year old sun bleached curtains would cause them to fall apart D’oh ).
Last weekend Jo and I fitted new brass curtain rods, they would have been fitted sooner but Midland Chandlers were always out of stock of the four foot rods. The effect is fantastic far better than the plastic rails the boat builders fitted which were always sticking. Yes I know that the rails will need polishing but I have found the brass polish  sold by Waitrose easy to use and gives good results best of all it doesn’t smell of cat pee like Brasso.

I didn’t realise  how hard it is to choose the right patern and colours to complement the fixtures and fittings (i’m hopeless at it), Jo chose one and I chose another…….a domestic was looming…!!!!!!!

Enter a very helpful John Lewis lady and after asking a few questions she suggested the material in the picture. Bingo, it was the perfect choice we both loved it……The cost OUCH !!! but they will look great when they are hung.

British Waterways launched today a hotline for the public to report abandoned shopping trolleys found in canals and rivers.
There are over 3000 trolleys dumped each year and it costs £150,000 to recover them which according to Robin Evans equates to just 18 minutes of profit from the leading supermarkets.

BW conducted a survey of 1991 people, of those 86% believe that the supermarkets should pay for the removal of dumped trolleys.

Shopping trolleys are symbolic of the mindless pollution that takes place along our canals and rivers every year

Robin Evans
British Waterways

The Trolley Hotline can be contacted on on 01923 291120, or by visiting www.britishwaterways.co.uk/trolley.

Bones in her post Gas Struts Help  February 11th was bemoaning the loss of one of a pair of gas struts she was going to use to help hold up her new bed on the good ship bones.

I knew that somewhere in the depths of my garage I had an unused set of struts that I was going to use to hold the bonnet up on my offroad Land Rover  Discovery but had decided that there was no space to install them. So what better than to donate them to the Bones Bed Appeal they are a bit shorter than Bones’s original ones but hopefully they will do the job.
I should have known better than to post them off on Friday the 13th sent First Class Post they took a week to arrive.

Saturday dawned like a spring morning, the drive up to Braunston was a dream, all was well with the world, even Midland Chandlers had the brass curtain rails we had decided to fit…….all fourteen of them….They really look great now we only need to make the new curtains to go with them.
As there was no wind we moved over to the Loading Dock to fill with water and pick up a 13 kg cylinder of propane, what a shock at £21.40 Ouch!!
The sun continued to shine so I decided to do a spot of fishing not that I caught anything it was just so relaxing.

The neighbours were a bit rowdy, living it up until well after dark…………………….

We wish all Boaters a Happy New Year for 2009

Happy Boating