Narrowboat Alacrity

I wonder if there will be a glass or two raised in the NB Caxton camp as today is the birthday of William Caxton the first english printer.

My cupboard doors have come on well and have had their first coat of varnish. it’s perfect weather for varnishing or so I thought, i’d forgotten to factor in the Thunderbugs

The itching on my neck should have warned me……………….I only turned away for a few moments and the little b*****s had started their own synchronised swimming team on my newly varnished doors………………..

I’ve allways hated them one even got into my flat screen monitor and wandered about like a disembodied apostrophe even highlighting it and hitting the delete key didn’t work.

Oh well back to the sandpaper and midnight varnishing………………………………………

I was watching this mornings 6am Breakfast programme on BBC1, in their review of the papers the Daily Mail reports on:

  “The new age of the canal: More passengers now than during the 18th century heyday”

Ray Massey writes that:

Now however, 200 years after their heyday, they are booming again. A report reveals today that the number of boats on Britain’s waterways is greater than at the height of the Industrial Revolution.And this time round leisure, not business, is driving the boom. In place of the old horse-drawn barge there is the refurbished narrow boat, cruiser or sailing dinghy.

 Shhhhhh dont tell everyone……………………………………………………………!!!!

Read Ray Massey’s full report in the Daily Mail here

Report from British Waterways Newsroom (Going With The Flow - 60 Years Of Public Service)

The Full Report from British Waterways http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/annualreport

Well I have just got back after a week working on Alacrity’s refit. I took everything I needed with me or so I thought but forgot my laptop so be prepared for an avalanche of posts.

It was going to be an early start but having to settle the cats and set up their feeders took a bit of time………Yes can we go now, I get the thumbs up from SWMBO ………. Easy journey up the M1 not too much traffic so arrived at Braunston with sanity intact.

Braunston Marina

mmmmmm  The feeling being here is like a comfort blanket I know is sounds corny but you can feel the calm descend…………. The autumn tints are in the hedgerows and trees and there is a definite chill in the wind…….yes rambling on again!!

Onboard at last at least there is no damp smell, open the curtains yuck lots of spiders descend they seem a bit miffed about being evicted from their winter homes, yes I know that they keep the flies down but I still don’t want them abseiling down into my tea or my ear when I’m asleep.

Water on, Electric on, Gas on I bring Alacrity to life, with some kindling and logs I light the stove and feel the heat almost immediately…………Kettle on!!…

Well there is no damage from leaving her so long apart from a large tin of Bitumen hull paint which seems to have rusted through in the front locker leaking a trail of thick sticky black gunge under the matting on the welldeck…..2 hours later a large quantity of white spirit and lots of rag we managed to remove it all!!!!………. nice smell though…………

Under orders from SWMBO I set up the TV aerial so she can watch ” Celebrity Come Dancing “…….and start to cook the evening meal to be fair she has borne the brunt of my griping about the tin of bitumen leaking. Well she did marry a “Grumpy old man”

Well that’s it another week over, and guess what I’m going boating this weekend……………….yes I know it might rain, but due to other problems I haven’t been to see the old girl for some months and she’s due for a lot of TLC.I’ve done the shopping so there should be no delay to getting off first thing tomorrow morning. I can’t wait the stress of the week and the drive up melts away when I step out of the car at the marina.

The smell of the water, the sounds, not to mention the ducks and swans soon calm me down.