Me and my Narrowboat, 'Cosmos'

...and a nice new (old) home...

2012-01-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

Heritage Marina in Kent Green, Scholar Green. Tomorrow I'm hoping to introduce Cosmos to a brand new concept, mains electricity!

View from a saloon window

Cosmos under Mow Cop at Heritage Narrowboats

Nice new ropes for the new year.

2012-01-26T10:42:00.001-08:00

Hundreds of butterflies filmed by the boat this morning :)

2011-10-15T09:54:00.001-07:00

Another night on the boat, another great sunset!

2011-07-14T05:46:00.001-07:00

Another lovely "from the boat" view :)

2011-07-07T13:37:00.000-07:00

(A rather late) breakfast time in Audlem.

Spring is in the air (and has been for some time).

2011-04-16T03:55:00.000-07:00

The first chicks are around (no photos yet) and while Easter for many is when they start their first serious boating of the year for me it's when I often give Cosmos a major spring sorting out, sprucing up. This year should be the biggest ever as I'm intending to give her a major bit of an overhaul, inside and out. Meanwhile, the surroundings, as usual, are gorgeous :)

P.S. The frayed rope is from where birds have been coming down and pulling pieces of rope out for nesting material - double :) :)

I'm Back! 2010 - No Posts!

2011-01-28T12:58:00.000-08:00

I won't let it happen in 2011! I'm starting off with a music video. This is a load of photo's I took to one of my songs, "Back In The Real World". Recognise any of the canal-based settings?...

You can keep up to date with my musical goings on on My Music Blog

You spin me right 'round baby....

2009-08-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

Well after years of boating with nothing stuck round my prop so seriously as to make me have to stop and weed it out from the hatch, I get 2 incidents within a couple of weeks....the last one was my fault - my back rope went into the prop...DOH!

....and earlier in the month I became closely acquainted with this keepnet...or what had been a keepnet.

Random hacking with a sharp knife did the trick eventually, though the metal parts took some time!

Video Of My New Band's Very First Public Performance at The Middlewich Boat and Folk Fest 2009

2009-07-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

And this song's called "HumanKind"...

My band playing at the Boat & Folk Festival!

2009-07-06T07:09:00.000-07:00

Middlewich 2009, in the acoustic tent, watch waht is also this bands first ever gig playing "HumanKind" here

Middlewich Boat and Folk Festival

2009-06-10T01:31:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting this blog mainly because of the increase in the amount of time my musical career is now consuming. Well I can combine my boating and musical life this month because of my appearance at one of boating and music's foremost summer events...

The Middlewich Boat and Boat Festival is in the top Ten music festivals in Britain (The Guardian) and is possibly the most family-friendly one as it has many other things going on besides the music including craft stalls, historic boats, boat horses, face-painting, floating gardens and so much more….see http://midfest.org.uk/mfab to give you some idea or you can see some piccies I took at last years event here.

I’ve been going to the festival as a punter on and off for many years and am really chuffed to bits to be playing for the first time this year. The schedule is as follows…

Midddlewich Boat & Folk Festival Appearances

Friday 19th June 8PM - Acoustic Tent, Main Field
Saturday 20 June 1 PM – Kings Lock, Lewin Street
Saturday 20 June 6 PM - Acoustic Tent, Main Field

My music website is here.

In addition;
Emma Burgess and Simon Taylor from the band may be playing with me at some or all of these shows…..stay tuned.
I may also put in an appearance in the open sessions at the White Horse on Sunday the 21st.

Be folk’n there!

J xxx

Feeling Drained ?

2009-04-02T02:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this is by accident or design....but it's interesting to look at;

and yet more snow!

2009-02-06T05:32:00.001-08:00

What a great winter we're having!

S N O W !

2009-01-07T05:43:00.001-08:00

...and no it's not cold in winter.

Christmas Walk

2008-12-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas usually means some walks in the familiar territory of my home village of Tarvin in Cheshire. The so-called “Roman Bridges” are an essential part of this, though in spite of being a long way from the boat, I am still strangely drawn towards the canal, this time the Shropshire Union in Waverton.

Frosty The Snowman...

2008-12-26T13:35:00.000-08:00

The effects of a frozen mist being gently blown across the canal.

2008-12-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

It's been a while and as you can see by the foliage this is a shot from a few months ago but it's the gorgeous steam boat Emily Anne

New Bike

2008-09-24T03:51:00.000-07:00

A boat without a bike is like a spaceship without a landing pod.

My old bike is somewhere in the bottom of the canal near Wheelock if anyone fancies their chances with a grappling hook!

Rain is good for the 'Garden'...

2008-09-09T01:52:00.000-07:00

Very Much Alive....

2008-08-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Still here....and I have boatie pics to upload eventually. In the meantime check out some of my newish and not-so-newish songs here.

At risk of generalising.......(oh dear)...I'm assuming the average boat-blog reader might be a little middle-of the-road in their outlook so go for "Pleasure Machine" which is kind of Doorsy or bluesy and/or "Jewel" which is a kind of love song to the Earth.

(If not...try "Taught" which is kind of about the rape of the planet, among other things....and not so cheerful).

The start of the Macc canal...

2008-07-08T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Macclesfield officially used to start at the stop lock, Scholar Green (from the footbridge)...

...and looking the other way (Cosmos getting a drink)...

Ramsdell Hall from the boat...

Finally on my way to my favourite canal - The Macclesfield!

2008-07-04T03:49:00.000-07:00

This is somewhere on the way out of Rode Heath me thinks....

....and yes I've been playing with the negative facility on my camera/phone again. The gardens of Ramsdell Hall on the canal at Kent Green.

Alive

2008-06-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

There - I finally managed to get a Pearl Jam headline in. It was very, very strong tasting actually. I've started using more of it (in small pieces) in pasta and things because it flavours the rest of the dish so well.

I needn't have worried, acording to this article (which includes a recipie and method for chicken of the woods omlette) "This is an unmistakable mushroom and you will not confuse it with any poisonous species."

Sorry donkeys.

The last Post? Chicken Of The Woods

2008-06-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Method...

First, sniff out and stalk your chicken Then, see if it looks how you remember it should.... mmmmmmm, maybe... Next, carry a bit back to your boat Then....I don't know fry it or something.
Then, await tasting to see if it really is Chicken Of The Woods or alternatively, hallucinations, symptoms and death's sweet kiss. Should be interesting either way.

If I've got it wrong, thanks for reading my blog (really though - get a life), leave everything to the donkey sanctuary and compost what's left of me.

Cheers.

(A few pics from the) The Middlewich Folk & Boat Festival

2008-06-23T05:58:00.000-07:00

Be careful how you say that after a few plastic-pinted "glasses"...

A family day out!

The floating gardens of Bollington

So long and thanks for all the folk.

Local Tele at the Middlewich Boat N' Folk Fest

2008-06-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Nigel Jay's epic travels reach Middlewich (includes films). I'll post some pics from middlewich soon.

Middlewich Bound...

2008-06-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Horse-Drawn and about to unhitch, Saturn on the way to the Middlewich Folk and Boat Festival pictured on the Shroppie between Audlem and Nantwich. I intend to take Cosmos to the event which I might even be playing at somewhere. I think the horse must be Bonny.

Part of the event is a floating garden festival. The official link didn't work when I tried it so here's what GB had to say about it.

I'm hoping to get some sort of compost so I can grow some more plants (maybe some edible ones!). Without a car things like compost buying can be a bit of a problem, although I know a garden centre in Sutton, near Macclesfield which is right by the canal.

OOOOOhhhh I miss the lovely Macc canal. Not been there for 9 months or more and will head slowly, inexorably and happily in that direction after Middlewich I think.

Ghostly, Big Cheshire Skys

2008-06-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

Just after I took the (negative) picture below, I was honoured to be in the presence of an enormous Barn Owl who silently apparitioned across my field of view, hovered, flew again, hovered looking down onto the ground and then flew over my shoulder. Five minutes later I watched dozens of fat pipistrelle bats dancing and hunting, sometimes playfully flicking each-other's wings. I was happy to be bait for the mosquitoes (I don't mind them that much anyway - many don't suck blood but live on nectar and other things and the ones which do are females who cannot become fertile until they have taken on mammalian blood) ...under a canal bridge because the bats were coming right to me....one doing a hand brake turn millimeters in front of my eyes while another tried to race the first one to the insect. As this was all going on, large carp were gulping under the bridge and two toads crawled out of the undergrowth towards the water.........E C S T A S Y !

Gorgeous Boat...

2008-06-02T07:41:00.000-07:00

Nice Surprise...

2008-06-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

Bumped into ex-blogger and fellow Green Nutter Carrie the other day...

Oh go on then here's my answers...

2008-05-27T15:24:00.000-07:00

(If you don't know what I'm on about click here)

1. The Macclesfield
2. Haven't got one
3. The lead singer from Bat For Lashes
4. Wild by Jay Griffiths
5. Evening
6. Grumpy People who moan about things which aren't really important
7. Now
8. I haven't completely, though I did have to jump in once
9. Formula One World Champion (!)
10...have to go for longer walks
11. ..either very conformist or very non-conformist, not many in the middle
12. Getting exceedingly drunk with friends
13...more wildlife friendly design, I'm forever rescuing chicks from sluices and things
14. Nothing, I'm sure he, if it is a he, has enough on his plate
15. Windows
16. Cassette
17. Never done rivers yet - don't know
18. In rehab
19. Winning the 2003 Crewe Clarion Wheelers Hillclimb Championship
20. You will get the idea if you see the 3rd answer

You're never far from a good walk on the canal network...

2008-05-27T14:04:00.000-07:00

Just Don't Bother with a Certain Narrowboat Website

2008-05-23T06:25:00.000-07:00

My first point of call on the web in the Narrowboat World is Andy Denny of Granny Buttons for interesting, entertaining, informed stories and considered opinions which are always open for debate and comment from his readers, not to mention his superb photography.

Not like certain other self-important, poorly considered, carping load of old toss you might find elsewhere. The site I'm referring, but no longer directly linking to got on a few people's nerves here, here perhaps most appropriately here.

Crewe and Nantwich again...

2008-05-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

My colleagues in Crewe complain that they’ve been getting over 30 political leaflets a week through their letterboxes, mainly from the big 3 parties all desperate to make as much impact on the by-election result as possible.

Most people I know are completely sick of the circus in town. You can’t move for politicians, famous and not-so-famous. (I'm not so sure about "safe Labour seat" in that article though!)

Up (Duck) on the Roof

2008-05-20T06:17:00.000-07:00

The pitter-patter of webbed feet....

Back on Stage

2008-05-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

After several million years in the wilderness I'm finally making a low-key return to the music scene at an open mike night as part of the Crewe Rock & Indie Music festival. This will be at the Borough Arms, Earle St, Crewe on May the 25th form 8.30.

Myself and Jason Louth from our band Oceans will be performing some acoustic versions of our songs. This will help to dust off the cobwebs and nerves before booking some gigs proper. More details of my musical plans here.

Be there or be dodecahedral (preferably both).

Grumpy Old Men

2008-05-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

I hope to Christ The Grumpy Old Men of the narrowboat world i.e. Narrowboat World don't pass my boat. I'm S T I L L not displaying my waterways licence in spite of paying for it. I'd better get onto the phone again. Granny Buttons has already fallen victim to them for an alleged overstay offence.

Chill out.

Who Would've Thought...Crewe & Nantwich are the centre of the Universe

2008-05-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

I work in Crewe for 10 months of the year and sometimes moor in Nantwich (for as long as 6 months at times on "winter moorings") and for reasons you are probably aware the place has suddenly become the centre of the Universe.

It's quite a funny constituency in the sense that the two towns, Crewe and Nantwich are worlds (and just 4 miles) apart, Crewe seeming very run down, poor and with many social problems that go with poverty. When I lived in Crewe I had plenty of things stolen, other things vandalised and my garden shed burned to the ground. I was also beaten up a few times. The West End of the town has apparently got the highest under-age pregnancy rates in the whole of Europe. However at least it's alive and has a thriving music scene for instance (largely next to the lap-dancing emporium) and I've had many a good night out there (that's in Crewe generally by the way, before you jump to conclusions!) when I've felt brave enough.

Nantwich on the other hand is a wealthy, Immaculate old town with a rural feel of full of wealthy, immaculate old people with a rural feel and shops most of which I can't even afford to look through the window of, selling Agas and Champaign. On the other hand Nantwich has a frenzied night life attracting thousands of glamourpusses from all corners of Cheshire. Anyway the Tories are going hell for leather wherever you look.

If you're interested The Crewe Blog keeps a close eye on local events.

Three views from the bow...

2008-05-12T01:29:00.001-07:00

A boater's view at the bottom, a misty morning view and a duck's-eye view. By the way, as always, the misty view gives no-where near the true impression of how the mist actually looks to the human eye. In reality it was awesome, partly through it's billowing, rolling movements but also because a lot of it seems invisible to my camera phone. Maybe mist-capture is a job for a real photographer...

I'm Only Happy When It Rains baa baa baaaaa

2008-05-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

Like Bones, I love the rain - and I'm ecstatic in a mega thunderstorm like we had last Sunday! Yeeeaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!

Luckily I'd just tied up for water and avoided a complete soaking (which i guess would've taken about 10 seconds but would still have been better than missing this)

Bank Holiday Traffic Chaos...

2008-05-06T02:15:00.000-07:00

All those boats on the left are queuing up for the lock....though it's all a bit more sedate than the motorways.

More Chimney Envy

2008-05-02T08:10:00.000-07:00

Last September I posted here about the steam boat Emily Anne (though I didn't know what it was at the time). Well the boat has it's own blog now.

Water Music (2)

2008-04-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

I have mentioned The Jolly Tar (now with their own website) in a previous post

Well I'm back in the area again and on Friday I saw the fab Funk School play there. If you are as bored as I am of the usual pub-rock offerings, this band is overflowing with funky grooviness and fun(k) and I defy anyone to go to one of their gigs and not have a fantastic time.

It's that time of the year again....

2008-04-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

Yummmm....sitting out on the front, hatches open.

Bliss.

Note the ducklings :)

...and the other locals are friendly around here too.

Bye Bye Gwyneth

2008-04-18T06:45:00.000-07:00

I'm very sorry to hear about the death of Gwyneth Dunwoody.

She came to do a talk at my main place of work recently starting off by saying something like

"People think I'm an antagonistic old car-hating bat, and they're right apart from the 'old' ".

I was really impressed by her honesty, fiestyness and the way she fielded questions which paid short shrift to those ideas based more on daily-mail type propoganda than reality. She was funny, intelligent and brilliant.....and a pain in the arse to New Labour which can't be all bad!

Snow Hey Ho - Happy Christmas!

2008-04-07T08:28:00.001-07:00

It's amazing what some people will throw away

2008-04-07T08:20:00.001-07:00

and then the wall came down....

2008-03-19T04:55:00.001-07:00

One of my regular haunts is the lovely Macc canal. I'm glad I wasn't walking here when this happened! .....and just a spit from the last collapse!

I've Got Wood (oooh err mrs)

2008-03-17T09:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks to some friendly neighbourhood hedge-tree choppers!

Save Yourselves...

2008-03-10T05:37:00.000-07:00

The Earth Speaks.

You Gotta Love 'em..

2008-03-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

Rang up BW the other day because having a licence which ran out in January in the boat windows doesn't look good, and it's probably only a matter of time before the more officious boaties try to "dob me in it".

On the phone a nice lady confirmed that my licence had been processed (back in December) but not yet sent out. Oh and that the first of my nine direct debits to them might - yes MIGHT go out in April. For someone like me who earns odd amounts every month that's really useful!

Looks Interesting...

2008-03-06T04:33:00.000-08:00

http://realengland.blogspot.com/

Party Time...

2008-02-27T03:50:00.000-08:00

Evidently there's been a bit of a party which some of my favourite boaty-bloggy types attended.

Maffi said that... "Most were nothing like I had imagined. Those who I had thought as short were tall, those who came across as well waisted were thin and vice versa".

Well just for the record so you're not too shocked if you ever meet me I'm short and well wasted (and that's not a spelling mistake this time!).

3rd Aniversary! (and did the earth move for you baby?)

2008-02-27T03:09:00.000-08:00

Of living aboard Cosmos (well on the 25th it was). I wrote about the shinanigans of Cosmos's arrival from a Sheffield hillside to Macclesfield Marina here last year.

One thing I didn't mention was the first thing that woke me up the next morning was a brave boater pushing through the blizzard and thick ice - something that made a monumental cacophony that sounded akin to what you might imagine the end of the world might sound like!....and almost makes up for missing the Earthquake :(

This first morning aboard also seemed like a wintry mirror-image of my first-ever morning aboard the only previous boat I have lived on (but that's another story). On that occasion (in May) a heron was fishing in the tiny gap between the boat and the pontoon. A lovely way to begin a boating life.

I think being cushioned in the water is not conducive to feeling earthquakes though as that's the 2nd one I've missed which has been experienced by most of my earth-bound neighbours in the last 6 or 7 years or so of life afloat.

Back on the T & M

2008-02-19T08:08:00.001-08:00

Boatyard at Malkins bank. Nice weather init?

Except my butane is frozen by the morning!

This Evening...

2008-02-11T13:38:00.000-08:00

Cacophony of geese overhead ducks frollocking and another starry starry night about to commence. Bliss.

The Cheshire Set

2008-02-06T03:40:00.000-08:00

I may look as if I've joined the Cheshire Set today (well - from the knees down anyway) as for the first time in my life I've gone to work in my wellies (thanks Jase & Emm for the welly donation!).

200 mtrs of quagmire along the towpath now mean that even my usual walking boots can't cope with the new water levels.....then it's a pit stop in the office for some drys.

Pebble-Dashed by the Dredgers...

2008-01-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

Though they are friendly enough blokes and they offered to clean it off! They work all hours so I let them off.

The canal's a bit deeper now anyway!

2008-01-29T04:24:00.000-08:00

But some clouds have silver linings.

OMG

2008-01-28T04:45:00.000-08:00

This is absolutely fucking terrible and I'm sorry to say I've heard of similar stories before.

No Virgins in Sandbach

2008-01-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

My band are rehearsing here at the moment and I regularly moor in the area (including Wheelock of course) but as a Virgin Mobile customer it seems to be the only place on my usual circuits where I hardly ever get a signal.

Quote of the Day...

2008-01-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

S'pose I ought to post a boat related blog at some point soon. Well seeing how I've managed to drain all my battery power (again) I might write about that soon if it doesn't bore me too much.

Meanwhile here's favourite quote (a chapter title from "Pip Pip" by Jay Griffiths)....

Life's too shor

2008-01-22T08:40:00.001-08:00

...and no I'm not getting any at the moment

;)

Storm in a Pooper-Scooper

2008-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

I had hoped to avoid ever writing about dog poo as I'd prefer not to think about it, let alone encourage others to, but as Carrie suggests it's an English obsession so perhaps there's a certain national inevitability about it. There certainly appears to be more in letter's pages of some (e.g. local) newspapers about canine crap than say (off the top of my head)....the economic exploitation of the third world (sorry I think "LEDC's" is the PC term now) by the West or the mass imprisonment of people with learning difficulties in the UK.

Anyroadup Carrie was right in predicting that in writing about it she "...would bring the deepest British revulsion bubbling to the surface". I do agree with Bones and Maffi that treading in the stuff is disgusting and extremely annoying, as is seeing trees festooned with plastic bags full of the stuff which seems to be a common sight now (in a sort of alternative-universe anti-Christmas tree effect).

Other things in life annoy me like people in shops who give you your coinage-change wrapped in a note so that you have to put your wallet between your teeth and grip your shopping bag between your knees while you sort it out, or people who walk three abreast very slowly so that you have to walk in the road or people who never use their indicators so you wait like a gormless prick by the side of the road when they weren't coming past anyway or people who say "so therefore" or "PIN number" or "when you get to my age you'll realise I'm right" or listening to people who take great delight in "getting even" on call-centre workers because their little life has been disrupted by some poor fucker on the minimum wage who has had the misfortune to find themselves in a job where they have no choice but to ring them up or people who routinely boat past you at full tilt knocking everything off your shelves and then complain about "bloody hire-boaters" or people who wrap up in thousands of pounds worth of equipment to do a 5 mile "ramble" or people who tell you "I couldn't possibly live on less than.. (insert obscene amount of money) a year" or people who................well I think you get the idea by now.

However overall I'd have to side more with Carrie's comments as compared with GLOBAL HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE these things somehow pale into insignificance!

There - sorry folks - had to get that off my chest.

Rich - It was a Privilege to Know Him.

2008-01-16T03:20:00.001-08:00

I am very, very sad to say that Rich (I don't think I ever asked about his surname) - Boat Painter with Heritage Narrowboats at Kent Green and Sherbourne Wharf in Birmingham, canal-man, musicologist, wit, writer of amusing ditties, lover of life and hater of all things pretentious and false has died.

Everybody is unique and a "one off" but Rich had really a very different outlook from anyone else I've ever met. Here's a little bit of what I know about him.

He was uneducated in the conventional sense having run away from school at 14 to live and work on boats (a canal-man through and through) but he could contribute to a conversation on any subject, his natural intelligence, love of learning (mainly from books and radio 4 from what I could tell) and knowledge of history and the (unofficial) lores and ettiquettes of the boating world made spending time with him fascinating and entertaining.

Rich had a deep love of nature and all animals (with the amusing exception of Canada Geese which he detested with equal passion!). His almost psychic relationship with Holly (pub-dog of The Rising Sun with the last tenants) was a pleasure to observe. He called her "Holly-Pop". He was a native of Birmingham but his recent years in Kent Green, with it's pastoral countryside and almost back-in-time magical feeling had made it a second home. His affinity with the land, nature and people enabled him to fit-in as a local with the born-&-breds of the area. In fact Rich mixed happily with anyone of any age or background, penniless or wealthy as long as they meant well and were true to themselves.

One thing we shared was a passion for music and Rich was always ready to swap recordings. For some reason which I find unfathomable (and irritating), most people seem to stop listening to new music when they are 25 or something but Rich was certainly, as always, unconventional in this respect, citing The Chemical Brothers among his favourite artists for instance along with those who adorned his extensive collection including a great deal of prog rock and psychedelia. A favourite band was the little-known Klangstorm and when I last saw him he was just getting into a very intense, Japanese genre of rock.

One thing that made many great nights out with him in The Sun or The Globe was his exceptionally sharp wit and sense of humour. If someone was getting slightly too big for their boots in the way they were talking about themselves he would often listen very quietly and then bring them down with a devastating and hilarious put-down that was somehow also delivered with the utmost affection. He was not averse to writing short poems and songs about local people and events to be unfolded and performed in a local hostelry in the evenings.

Rich had a very keen sense of right and wrong, was very forgiving of peoples mistakes and issues but had no time for pretentiousness or immorality. He once apparently, rather than walk into a busy road due to a car blocking the pavement, - marched straight over the top of the car as if it wasn't there. He eschewed conventional ideas of work having no truck with modern health and safety obsessions and working to his own clock rather than industry's - sometimes starting back to work on a boat at midnight or at 4 in the morning if that's when nature woke him up.

Rich was full of colourful and highly amusing stories about his friends, boats and boating, and his life in and around Birmingham. Ozzy Osbourne still owes him a fiver apparently and he once told me about a makeshift boat repair he made to one he was moving around the country which, as far as he knew, was still held together with a piece of chewing gum stamped into the floor.

I could go on (and on) and no doubt many of his other friends could talk about aspects of him which I know little about. Least to say he was a person who made life that bit much brighter, more meaningful and pleasurable. When I found myself in the Kent Green area I would always ask Phil or Tray at the Rising Sun "where's Rich at the moment ?" and there would always be a sinking feeling of disappointment if he was over in Brum. He will be greatly missed by many people around the canals and beyond.

Not to be Sneezed at...

2008-01-14T04:45:00.000-08:00

A friend told me the other night that a sneeze gives you a sort of mild orgasm! I wonder if this is why you go " ahh, ahhh, ahhhh...." as it were, before the "...chooo"!

Boots for My Commute

2008-01-14T04:38:00.000-08:00

I often walk a fair way along the towpath each morning before getting a bus or train to work but the towpath I've been on lately has now become so waterlogged it's even beyond the means of my walking boots to get along the route without getting wet feet, so thought I'd better move the boat quick before I would have to swim to work.

This involved reversing along to a winding hole in the night.....and of course, as is the way of these things, the boat did what it never normally does - stalled. But I got it's all part of the fun!

Party Season

2008-01-14T04:36:00.000-08:00

Me and my friend Sam back at new year.

Stear From The Rear

2008-01-08T04:46:00.000-08:00

Sarah from Warrior has done a review of the year here.

This is my rather less comprehensive review...

During National Boat Fire-Safety Week I nearly destroyed my boat in a very fierce grill-fire that soon almost went out of control.
...and on no-bullying day I was undermined by a colleague.

Lets just say I'm looking forward to Valentine's day!

Happy New Year! x

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

2007-12-25T07:09:00.000-08:00

Or, in the true spirit of this time of year...I clambered out of my bed on The Winter Solstice to take the photo on the right (10.30am apx) to compare one I took on the shortest night after the Summer Solstice (at 10.30pm apx). That's the moon in the left-hand pic by the way...

Death Bed...

2007-12-25T07:03:00.000-08:00

Something must be catching over the Internet as I've followed Andy Denny off Granny Buttons and Bones into illness & couldn't even eat or sleep for a couple of days. It's great to be coming out of it though!

Tree Gargoyle

2007-12-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

This thing gave me the heebies the other night.

Democracy is Dead

2007-12-19T03:40:00.000-08:00

Great now we have yet another managerial, vapid, over-achieving, under-cerebral suit to choose from from our 3 main political parties.
What's the point?
I think it was Polly Toynbee who recently described our political system as a "Murdochracy".

Why I'm a "Retired" Environmentalist...

2007-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

I used to think that if only people knew about global warming, tropical deforestation and the resultant mass extinctions people would 'do the right thing' and stop fucking up the planet. In those days it was all about 'raising awareness'. Oh how naive I was...

Paul Kingsnorth writes...

"...it is impossible to stop climate change - not because the science says we can't or the technology is not available but simply because the political will - both from our 'leaders' and from us, as members of rich, contented nations - is simply not there. I've taken a bit of stick for this from environmentalists who want me to keep parroting the agreed green line on the climate ... - but everything I've seen since I first said it has only confirmed me in my view".

He explains why in his excellent blog here

Gadzooks - Another Green Boatie!

2007-12-14T06:57:00.000-08:00

Thanks to CarrieBlackbird for alerting us to this
They both put me well in the deep-green shade.

This Morning (2)

2007-12-14T04:54:00.000-08:00

Warm inside - cold outside

This Morning...

2007-12-13T03:33:00.000-08:00

Another lovely morning.

Every morning is on the canals.

Canal Folkies

2007-12-11T04:40:00.000-08:00

I'm glad to report that many people living on the canal are a quirky and eccentric bunch(both very likable qualities in my book).

The other day my then next door neighbor Maurice invited me aboard his boat, told me a little bit about his life (very intriguing), his penchant for doing embroidery (especially heraldic) and restoring antiques. He also prefers candle-light to electric light like me. The centrepiece of his boat interior was a lovely ornate french stove reminiscent of Warrior's.

After a while he opened up what appeared to be a slim hinged table which turned out to be an organ built in the 1800s. He had bought it for just £25 and restored it beautifully (though not rubbed-out all it's lovely signs of age and history) and played me a sea shanty - honour indeed!...and highly appropriate in the stormy, rocky weather

A New Love...

2007-12-10T07:05:00.001-08:00

When I'm with my new love we are spiritually, emotionally and physically at one. She's also slim but has curves in all the right places.
She's pictured here!

(Yes I know I'm sad).

Can you imagine living without your car?

2007-12-03T06:54:00.000-08:00

....Well perhaps you should! Global environmental destruction is the elephant in all our rooms.

I was a major petrol-head before I gave up mine and it was long before I started living on a boat and cruising in such a way as to make car-ownership a hindrance rather than a help. The folks who live and work on The Narrow Shop have been car-free before for a while and are about to sell their current car.

Since they've gone back to driving they have found one of the main problems of car-ownership - that of it being all to easy to use it for every journey - even "unnecessary", short ones....

" ...nearly two years later we are still driving around almost everywhere. Using the car for journeys that we could easily bike ride to. But not any more!. When we lived without a car before we were much fitter, saw a lot more things down wonderful country lanes that we would have missed in a car, and were a lot better off money wise too."

I'm glad they are finding it a liberating experience and looking forward to it. Read the whole article on their new blog here.

If you're really keen I wrote about living in an auto-hegemony here!

The Bear-Faced Cheek!

2007-11-30T04:21:00.001-08:00

In light of recent events Granny Buttons has renamed his on-board Rosie and Jim "Aisha and the Prophet Mohammed"!

My teddy bear is called "God" and I've never had any problem from the Christians so far...

A Night on the Tiles/Tables/Chairs

2007-11-29T03:49:00.000-08:00

I don't know how we didn't all get barred from the Earl in Crewe but last night but the night included Lyndsey "I can pick anyone up and walk around the pub with them" dropping me on my head into a variety of pub furniture which then scattered around in a clatter.

I'm only little anyway but "a lot heavier than (I) look" apparently. I turned her legs to jelly, an effect I don't usually have on women.
Unfortunately.

Anyway thanks for the bruises er...memories.

More Signs (of the times)...

2007-11-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Mrs P

2007-11-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

Murray at http://www.sillysigns.blogspot.com/ posted this picture of an appropriately named porta-loo carrying boat!
I hope he doesn't mind me nicking this picture as I've linked to his site and sent him as silly sign of my own!

Night Dredging...

2007-11-26T14:27:00.000-08:00

...deserves a quiet night...

Anti-Christmassy Quote of the Week...

2007-11-26T07:17:00.000-08:00

Jeanette Winterson in (I think) The Sunday Times (I was in a cafe and just wrote the quote down)...

"Capitalism may have delivered all the goods, but unfortunately for us, it just goes on delivering the goods. Half of us are suffocated with stuff, and the other half is living on a dollar a day".
Maybe the whole article will soon re-appear on her website.

Meanwhile Blackbird Singing has been enjoying 'buy nothing day'.
Learn more about Buy Nothing Day here - though it's too late now for another year!

Every Boater's Worst Nightmare...

2007-11-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Granny Buttons and 'John' who commented on a post on Grannie's site for this.

The universe (Cosmos?) is expanding into a lonely nothingness, all beauty fades, we're accelerating towards social and ecological catastrophe, we're all gonna die and all boats end up sunk (or reconditioned).

Oh I'm such a pessimist! Every time I get home I half expect it to be sunk (but so far I've been rewarded with a lovely warm glow of knowing I'm not homeless - yet).

...I was the same when I lived 'on the bank' - ever since reading a ladybird book as a child about fire, I've half expected my home to be burned to a cinder when I got home. Narrowboats and fire - don't even go there. It's probably no more common than in a house but the difference is that the boating community is a small one and we all know about it when it happens. It cost me the best part of two grand to get my boat to comply to the boat safety certificate but that didn't include having to spend a couple of quid on a smoke detector (I do have one in spite of this)! Madness.

Bad Hair Sunday

2007-11-19T05:04:00.000-08:00

In the olden days (whenever that was) people used to wear their ‘Sunday best’. I hope it’s not just me but I see Sunday as my only opportunity to be as scruffy as I like, no ‘work’ of the paid variety to do and socialising is off a less glamorous and intense variety.

That's secularisation for you.

My Facebook

2007-11-17T04:33:00.000-08:00

I have a myspace site so that I can put some mp3 tunes on it when I get round to it (though the band I'm now in are quite keen on garage band as a site once we get going). But I also have a facebook profile (you have to log in and join to see anything).

I much prefer facebook to the other networking sites I've tried and more people I know seem to be getting on to it. They also have loads of groups and things you can join for people with similar interests including 'The Narrowboat - It Rocks' who use this inspiring image!

The Editor

2007-11-16T06:41:00.000-08:00

I've edited out 'thinking of' on my profile between the words 'I'm' and '...re-starting my musical "career" '.
Much excitement indeed and although there are/will be other sites to deal with this. There will be news here eventually, as appropriate.

Blackbird Singing...

2007-11-15T03:42:00.000-08:00

You might have noticed a lot of my headings are music related (and I sometimes do this without realising until later) but this one refers to another boat blogger.

Blackbird Singing was a really nice find because of the things we have in common, and this boater is a fellow 'deep greenie' troublemaker type such as myself by the look of things. Also on my blog-role are some fellow loonie liberal lefties and one or two in similar professions, as well as being boaters (you know who you are!).

All I need to find now is a boat-blogger who is a (would-be) rock god and a binge drinker and I've got the full set!

Ca(r)nal Knowledge

2007-11-14T06:52:00.000-08:00

Mort is on the Top Boating Sites warpath as you can read on her blog. It's a ratings war out here!

Frosty Morning

2007-11-12T06:33:00.000-08:00

...and toasty inside the boat because I banked the fire up last night

Already Festive in Cheshire

2007-11-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

Drunken photo of

lights blowing in the wind.

Prop Probs...(non)

2007-11-09T04:47:00.000-08:00

Am I the only boater never to have had anything tangled around my prop? I've had it feel funny sometimes, stuck it in reverse and whatever it's been has gone away but I've never had to physically untangle anything.

Luck me I guess!

Something on the Roof.....?

2007-11-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

I get used to the occasional crow or two padding around on the roof of Cosmos, especially when I'm moored near a monumental rookery as I am at the moment.

But the last couple of nights something more timid has been up there....I've listened hard in case it's been a local youngster up to no-particular-use but there's been no rocking motion or anything else too devious-sounding. The evening before last after work I heard an awful sound that can only be something being attacked and killed by something else from a wooded section opposite the boat. It didn't sound too duck-like to me so I think it may have been a pheasant (killed by a fox? mink?) of which there are many around here. Last night I also saw several pheasants on the towpath side of the waterway so I'm wondering if they feel safer on 'my' side - even on the boat roof.

S'pose I'll have to get up one night with a torch and have a look!

p.s. I was once sitting on the front deck and watched as a crow came down in front of me with a 'stolen' egg in it's beak, looked around to see if any other egg-eaters were watching and carefully bury it under some grass clippings.

What!?!

2007-11-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

I've been looking at that sitemeter thingy again and found that someone from Indianapolis came across this website by googling ' "Noel Edmunds" "Cosmos" '.

The mind boggles!

I did mention him once.

Boatie Bargains

2007-11-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

I like going around charity shops where you can pic up some real bargains without adding much in the way of slave labour or greenhouse gasses. I bought these framed boat-themed prints for just 50p each!

Where are you? Who are you?

2007-11-03T05:17:00.001-07:00

Yes YOU! You who are reading this...

I've just fitted this sitemeter thingy on the right somewhere and I'm already addicted to it. I can see exactly where visitors to this website come from, what network they are on, which site they were referred to from, which country nee city they are surfing the web from. It's mega.

I'm trying to work out if there's a way of seeing their search criteria (maybe this is a service you need to pay for as it would obviously be important information to someone running a commercial site).

Anyroadup if you want to know who's reading this junk apart from you see here

Anybody Want This?

2007-11-01T04:16:00.000-07:00

KHS Tandemania Alite

High quality machine. Light, responsive but very rugged and versatile. Suitable for on & off-road.Ready to tour the Pyrenees (or take on a picnic) .
Specs
Frame - Oversized aluminium with integral drum-brake bracket (drum brake not fitted).
Wheels – 26” Rhyno Lite wheels with Sun rims
Transmission - Shimano Sugino
Brakes - Shimano Deore V
Brake Levers - Dia Compe
Captain (the one at the front)– Drop bars with end shifters. Double-sided clip-less pedals. KHS saddle.
Stoker (the one at the back)– Straight bars and standard pedals. KHS saddle on Post Modern suspension seat-post.
Accessories Included – Fitted Luggage rack and 4 bottle cages.
Bracket for drum brake is integral to the frame (for seriously speedy downhill stopping).
Cork bar-tape, blue (not fitted on this photo).

Cost £1250 about 3 years ago. Plus upgrades on bars/pedals/shifters. Good condition.

£750 ono Call/Txt 07906225002 or email jtarplee@hotmail.com Cheshire/Staffordshire