another new beginning

On 28th December, amid freezing fog and icy towpaths, I moved Don't Panic from Barton Marina to Fradley Junction. Not to the mooring I actually bid and paid for, but to a mooring a little way up, tying to chains rather than mooring rings. That makes it interesting in a lock flight, since the water level is constantly changing and so I could come back to find the boat hung up on the wall if I tie her too tight. But having the ropes loose means that every time I move about on the boat, she rocks and thumps against the side. It is also dark on board because the wall is quite high which makes getting off and on interesting! However I am at least here and not in the marina any more and Fradley is lovely - even in freezing fog.

I managed to speak to the senior moorings manager, who has visited the site. It was like pulling teeth, but eventually he did admit that the description of the mooring site 'contained inaccuracies'. He refused to admit that it was actually a different mooring they had been advertising, and when I pointed out that the boat on that mooring had an expired mooring permit, he said he wouldn't know anything about that! Strange, considering he is the 'senior moorings manager'. I won't bore you with our tediously drawn out conversation, but the result of it was that I will be provided with temporary free parking while I am on the chain mooring. If I don't feel safe there, I am allowed to go onto the visitors moorings opposite, on a temporary basis. Then he has agreed to look for a more suitable mooring in the New Year. I was happy with that, until he said that if they find another mooring, I will have to pay the guide price for it, rather than the amount I won the bid with, which is likely to be more money. I pointed out that it would effectively mean I would be paying for British Waterways' mistake. Still, one argument at a time. I will wait to see what, if anything, they offer me and then negotiate the price. They are amazing though. He wouldn't budge an inch to start with - even trying to make out that they couldn't give me free parking as they weren't in control of the car park. When I pointed out it was a BW car park, he said 'Oh, well I mean it's not my department'.

So I am off the umbilical cord of the Marina. It's quite scary really. If I run out of diesal, I won't have any power (because I wouldn't be able to charge the batteries) In normal weather that's not really an issue, but we have had frozen canals here recently and if I can't move her, then I would be without water as well as power. It also crossed my mind that if I slipped and injured myself - or worse - nobody would know and it could be days before anybody noticed! So I need to keep reminding myself not to panic and to remember one of my favourite sayings - 'Don't let your fear stand in the way of your dreams'.

Having calmed my fears somewhat, I commuted to work for the first time today and my car broke down!! That hadn't been a worry of mine until it happened. Fortunately I had reached Barton when it happened, but I had a horrible picture of Bonny and I having to walk the two hours home in the dark and pouring rain. But helpful people helped me at Barton and it turned out that all the water on the road had temporarily drowned my engine. At least I hope that's it - I'll find out in a couple of hours when I return home.

Despite the difficulties and anxieties, I am still sure this is the right next move for me. It is refreshing in a way to worry about such basic requirements as warmth, power and water. It puts other anxieties into perspective and in a strange way it makes me feel more alive!

So, at the dawn of another new year, I face another new start. I hope for all my readers that 2010 will be a great year of challenges overcome and hopes realised. Happy New Year!

Happy Christmas

A happy Christmas to all my readers! It's lovely to have people interested enough to read my ramblings and even get in touch with me about them. This icy picture was actually taken last year when I was trying to escape from Crick, but it could just as easily have been taken today as we are all iced in here. I'm hoping to move my boat on the 28th to my 'sort of' new mooring, so I'm rather hoping for a thaw!

Talking of mooring matters, the saga drags on. The initial person I have been talking to in British Waterways has gone off for Christmas now and so has passed me on to the 'senior moorings manager'. This is apparently the man who published the details of the mooring in the first place and is where the buck stops. Sandie told me that he was inspecting the site last Friday morning to see if my complaint has any merit. Naively, I thought he might actually be in touch with me to explain what's going on, but no. All I have received so far are 'I'm out of the office' messages. I suspect I will hear nothing now through the Christmas period. This is not helping my temper! I have bent over backwards to be reasonable, but there is nothing more annoying than being ignored! I have sent another email saying that I will wait it out until 4th January when the world goes back to work, but if I haven't heard anything by then, I shall be contacting Trading Standards and / or a solicitor. Happy days!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and if, I like me, you are travelling anywhere, you arrive safely. Bonny and I are going to the New Forest to spend Christmas with family. I only have 3 days off, so we have to travel down on Christmas Eve and back on Boxing Day - Oh Joy!

mooring saga update

Well, I have discovered that British Waterways are not an organisation to be trusted!
After my last blog entry, they got back to me the same day to say that it was my mistake - the mooring I thought I had bid for wasn't actually in the location I thought it was! She told me where the mooring actually was and agreed to meet me there on the 8th (the day I officially start my mooring agreement) to show me.

I went there the day before for a look and wondered how on earth they thought they were going to get away with it. The mooring is totally different from the details given on the auction site. There are no mooring rings (only a rather dodgy looking chain) to tie to. There is no car access at all, let alone an access road and free car parking as advertised. Instead of being by grass at the top of a lock, it is on concrete at the bottom of another lock. The picture and map on the website don't even show this part of the site, let alone this specific mooring! I also noticed that the boat moored on the spot I did bid and pay for is showing a 3 year mooring permit that is due to expire this month!

So I met up with the mooring officer today. I let her show me the 'new' mooring and then I produced a print out of the details given in the auction, including the photo of the mooring and the map. I pointed out all the differences between the two moorings and the 'coincidence' that the permit on boat moored in the correct mooring was about to run out. I was quite proud of myself - I was calm, friendly, polite but firm - as opposed to spitting mad and emotional which I could easily have been! I suggested to her that they had advertised the mooring thinking the current boat was going to vacate and when it didn't, rather than informing me and not taking my money, they thought they would just stick me somewhere else! She wouldn't confirm this but just said that she was new to the post and that her predecessor told her that the details given were 'just a general guide' and that they were meant to refer to the second mooring. We then walked to that one and she couldn't conceal her shock at the differences. She even said that she was a boater and she wouldn't be at all happy to tie up at the chain. She conceded that this mooring was indeed very different in detail to the paperwork, as well as conceding that it was her name on the documents and not her predecessor's.

I then said that I was prepared to accept this mooring on a temporary basis on condition that she would provide in writing an acknowledgement that it was temporary and giving the approximate date that I would be able to move on to the mooring I paid for. In the meantime, since there was no parking at this mooring, I would expect a permit to park for free in the pay and display car park under their control. She said she thought that was reasonable but had to go back and talk to her manager. I said that, if this was not sorted out satisfactorily, I would have no choice but to go to Trading Standards and possibly a solicitor. I said that if BW had taken my money for something they knew wasn't available, it could constitute fraud and that the police might even be interested. I also said that I would write to the various waterway publications with the story, which wouldn't help BW's auctioning process. If people didn't trust that the mooring they were bidding for was the one they would end up with, they might well end up with a lot less customers!

I said all this with a pleasant smile on my face. I was quite pleased with myself because when in situations of potential conflict, I often get stressed and emotional and then I don't get my point across. But today I remained calm and assertive. The only mistake I made was not getting a date from her when I would hear from them. But I shall keep on top of it. I won't be moving the boat until after Christmas, so there is no pressure as yet. I also got her to agree that I could pick the spot I moored at the new site as I noticed that on one part of the chain, there were rings I think I could tie to.

The story continues...

nothing comes easily

It is a universally acknowledged fact that nothing that is worthwhile comes to us easily. If this is in fact true, then the mooring at Fradley must be really worthwhile!
I phoned British Waterways this morning to arrange to meet someone at Fradley so they could show me exactly where the mooring and facilities are. I commented that I had been down already but there seems to be boats moored all along the stretch where my mooring is to be. The woman I was speaking to said 'yes, there are'. I asked which one was moving and she replied 'it looks like none of them'! I pointed out that BW had advertised the mooring, let us bid for it and have now taken my money for it and I couldn't believe they would do that without actually having a mooring available! Her only reply was that she had only just taken over the job from someone else and she would have to talk to them about it.
I have extracted a promise from her to meet me at Fradley on the 8th - the day I start paying for the mooring. If there is no mooring on that date then surely they will have to refund my money or find me another mooring? After all I have now given notice at Barton so I can't stay there after the end of the month.
How do I feel about all this? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!
I'll keep you posted!

Fradley here I come...

Yes, I'm off to my new mooring at Fradley Junction at the end of the month / year. British Waterways sent me my mooring permit this morning. The mooring is available from the 8th but I have paid here until the end of the year so I might as well use their electricity for as long as possible! Having said that, I'm dying to start this new chapter of my life and if it wasn't for the fact that I shall be working full time for the next month, I would probably be on my way at dawn on the 8th!
Mind you, it was around this time last year that I last tried to move from one mooring to another and thanks to weather, ice and stoppages, it took me 6 weeks! But at least I'm only travelling 5 miles to my new mooring so hopefully it will be easier this time - at least I won't have to ask my friends to help me move!

waiting with baited breath...

Just a quick update on the mooring situation. I have filled out the form and sent it in and am now waiting with baited breath to hear from British Waterways that all is well.

I was going to wait till I had heard before informing the marina staff, but I needn't have worried - someone else helpfully did it for me! It's another reason I can't wait to leave the marina, it's so much like a small village - everybody wants to know your business and if you tell one person something, it's around the entire marina by nightfall! I can't blame them though - it's my fault for not keeping my mouth shut, a curse that has been with me all my life! I was so pleased to have won the auction that I went and told at least three people. So yesterday the marina staff member phoned me and said that I should have given 3 months notice! 3 months - I hardly know what I'm going to do next week, let alone in 3 months time. Still, she graciously said that they would accept one month, but then went on to ask some very pointed questions about my next mooring and why I was leaving the marina. I really hope she doesn't decide to make life difficult for me - until I definitely have the mooring, she could mess things up for me.

I have to keep reminding myself that if it is meant to be, then I will get the Fradley mooring. If something happens to stop me taking up the mooring, then I really don't think I could stay in the marina. If I have to, I'll just take off and hope I find somewhere to live and work before I starve!! Yes, my freedom is that important to me now. It has sort of crept up on me, I never used to be particularly conscious of restrictions to my freedom - it was the price I paid to be in 'mainstream' society, with a career, house, church etc. But now, the mere fact of having to unlock a gate every day to get out irks me and when I am told by the marina where I can and can't walk and what I can and can't say to my friends, then a feeling of screaming claustrophobia comes over me!

So - anxious times, but not for long as the mooring agreement is due to start on the 8th, so I should here before that.