Ups and Downs

I guess I should expect life to be full of ups and downs considering I live on water, but this month the contrasts have been particularly marked.

My best friend Maggie died of cancer, having only been diagnosed a few months ago. She was the best person I knew. She was a Christian as Christians were always meant to be. I mean that she was kind, hopeful, forgiving, sensible and sensitive to others, as well as being generous and modest with a lovely subtle sense of humour. She helped people but kept quiet about her good deeds. She had a straightforward and deep faith but did not pressure anyone into believing what she believed and was extremely understanding of me when I quit my ministry and turned my back on the Church. She was honestly unafraid of her impending death as she believed she was going to be with her God and that faith gave her immense comfort. I shall miss her more than I can say.

The upside of my month came when my stepmother decided to give some of her money away. Thanks to her generosity I now have a certain level of financial security that I haven’t had since I left land living. I also have a car that works! She is a bright yellow Peugeot 107 and is now adorned with eyelashes (she has a face) and some hippy style flowers and butterflies – I am revisiting the 60’s as I was too young to enjoy them first time round!

On Monday I cruised in the boiling heat from Fradley to Shobnall boatyard in Burton Upon Trent. It was worth a truly sweaty day as, on Tuesday, they fitted a brand new, shiny 135w solar panel! It is so exciting – I am currently at work and I know that back on the boat, as the fridge slowly runs the batteries down, the sun will be filling them up again – and it’s free power! Well, it will be when I recoup £600 odd pounds in diesal costs. It is also totally clean energy which is a bonus. It will take some experimenting but I think I will be able to run my engine for half as long as I do at present. If true, then I will have recouped the initial expense in just over a year!

I want to post photos of both the car and the panel but I haven’t figured out how to load my camera software on my laptop yet!

Pictures at last

I have finally managed to transfer my pictures to my new laptop so I thought I’d give you a bit of a flavour of the area of my mooring…

 

This is Alrewas – the next village from Fradley Junction and our nearest winding hole (for turning the boat round). The river Trent runs through it and the canal actually crosses the river – see the weir in the next picture…

We have some great walks on our doorstep…

We are surrounded by farmland and there are footpaths everywhere. Bonny loves racing down this path as rabbits live just the other side of the ruined barn!

And of course a lunchtime walk wouldn’t be complete without popping into our local – The Swan – locally known as The Mucky Duck

Now, I haven’t figured out how to shrink my pics on my new laptop so they don’t take ages to upload, so I better stop there and see what happens.

flash new blog tool

I have finally bought myself a laptop computer and within its programme I have discovered a tool that lets me write a blog entry and include photos etc while I am offline. Then I only have to go online long enough to post it up. This is great for me as I only have 500mb a month on my dongle and it will save me using any of it while I am writing. Hopefully it will also encourage me to write more often, as well as post some photos! We will see….

to Adverc or not to Adverc, that is the question

Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a nerdy techy blog entry but I am confused. I have an Adverc battery management system which up to now has worked beautifully - optimising the charge my batteries receive from the alternator. Recently my alternator died a natural death and so, being a member of River and Canal Rescue (the waterways version of AA or RAC), I called them out. A very nice young man came and fitted a new alternator. However he neglected to tell me that he had disconnected my Adverc.

Over the next couple of weeks I noticed that the performance of the alternator was disappointing, especially considering they replaced a 55amp with a 70amp alternator. I contacted RCR and another, not so young man came out and replaced the first alternator but also mentioned that the Adverc had been disconnected by the first chap. When I asked him to reconnect it he refused, saying it would void my alternator's warranty. He then went into great detail as to why Advercs are a bad idea and would shorten the life of my alternator by a third. He said if I really wanted it reconnected I would have to take my boat to a boatyard and pay.

I accepted his explanation, but was disappointed as I am not getting as good a charge into my batteries without it.  A couple more weeks went past and then I received the RCR newsletter. Blow me down with a feather; there on the front page was a whole article praising Adverc to the skies and saying that their engineers were now trained to diagnose many common Adverc faults!

I got on the phone to RCR and was first told that 'our engineers don't deal with Advercs'. When I drew their attention to the article in their newsletter, I was swiftly passed on to someone else. He told me that they do like Advercs and that their engineers are being trained to diagnose problems, but that they still couldn't reconnect my Adverc as it was 'too complicated to do on the bankside and needed boatyard services'. That confused me further as their engineer had told me that it was a simple matter of reconnecting one wire, but that it needed soldering.

I have a horrible feeling that I am being given the run around to avoid them having to come out to me again - even though I have just renewed my membership at the cost of around £150. So my next step will be to contact Adverc and see what they have to say about all this.

Boats... who would have them?!

Ashby and Coventry Cruise

Sorry I'm yet again going to write an entry without accompanying photos. I will get my computer out at some point and update the pictures.

Friends Roger and Shirley Ann Andrews came for a visit and we took the boat out for a blissful 8 days cruise. We left Fradley on the Monday and made the entrance to the extremely rural Ashby Canal within two days. Mind you my usual pattern of cruising for 4 hours or so and then stopping to explore was replaced by the Andrews' preferred habit of cruising all day and so we made more progress than I would have made alone. I had forgotten how lovely the Coventry Canal is from Fradley down to its junction with the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal. In fact the Coventry becomes the Birmingham and Fazeley for a while and then changes back into the Coventry - all to do with competing canal companies when they were first being built. You can tell the B & F section as bridge numbers are replaced by the much more fascinating bridge names.

The Ashby Canal is so extremely rural that even I started to crave the sight of a building or person to interrupt the isolation. However it is very beautiful, lock free and of great interest to anybody interested in the English civil war. We moored for the night at the Bosworth Battlefield Moorings and had a BBQ whilst Bonny ran madly around in the woods and refused to come back until the burgers were cooked! We cruised to the current end of the Ashby Canal, where we met a lovely lady who was fundraising for its continued restoration and viewed the first pound to be refilled with water - all very exciting.

Because of our rapid progress, the decision was made to return down the Ashby and then continue on to Coventry city centre. I wasn't that keen as I hate cities but I was persuaded as the Andrews said that if I wasn't happy in the canal basin, we could come back out to Hawksbury Junction to moor overnight. I'm afraid my city prejudice was confirmed as we approached the city and the rubbish content of the canal grew to ridiculous levels. We had to avoid - among other things - two three seater sofas, three doors and countless lesser objects floating in the water. I took off nearly a bin bag full of carrier bags and plastic that were wound around my propeller. Interestingly, the water itself was very clear compared with other canals but I think that was because so few boats had ventured down its length that the silt had settled on the bottom.

The canal basin itself was quite smart but surrounded by high rise tower blocks and it was all I could do to leave my boat and Bonny for a couple of hours to explore the city. The only highlight for me was the visit to the old and new Coventry Cathedrals. The bombed one had a lovely altar with a cross made from burned timbers and the legend 'Father Forgive' written behind. The new one looked to me like a multi storey car park from the outside, but had the most beautiful etched glass doors and stained glass windows.

I was relieved to leave the city and moor at the beautiful Hawksbury Junction where Bonny and I explored the heathland which used to be a series of coal mines. We eventually wended our way back home via the stunningly lovely area of Hopwas where we ate in the Tame Otter - highly recommended as a great pub to eat in with helpful and friendly staff. Only one criticism - the area is hugely popular with dog walkers and yet no dogs are allowed in the pub.But Bonny was quite content to be left behind on the boat to catch up on her sleep. As usual she was brilliant while we were cruising and spent long hours happily patrolling the roof.

I got back on Tuesday evening and am back into work today - tannned, happy but very tired!

boatyard

On Monday I took Don't Panic up to Fradley Services which is a tiny boatyard at the junction of the Trent and Mersey and Coventry canals. You know how you can have a pain for ages and then you visit the doctor and as soon as he asks where it hurts, you can't tell him because it has mysteriously disappeared? Well it was much the same when I ran the engine so the mechanic could hear the strange noise that has worried me for quite a while. No noise! All was normal! How embarrassing! Still, he still had my water leak and stuck filters to play with. He thought he had mended the water leak but when I ran the engine that evening it promptly overheated and filled the boat with smoke! The header tank was bone dry so the leak wasn't fixed after all! Mind you if you ever have to stay in a boatyard overnight, I highly recommend this one. It is set on a little island at the junction surrounded by grass and with a great view of the lock and the pub so lots to watch and listen to. The pub is The Swan (or to locals, the Mucky Duck) and is not only the best pub ever but also apparently one of the most photographed pubs in England!

Bonny loved being at the yard and was very well behaved; sitting at the edge of the water watching the world go by for hours whilst I took advantage of my position in the dock and painted my gunwales. The cost of the repairs wasn't as frightening as I had anticipated but has still left me on rations for the rest of the month! Unfortunately, although I am working on Easter Saturday and Sunday, I don't get paid any more and also do not get any advantage from the bank holidays as Friday and Monday are my normal days off. I feel a bit hard done by, but at least I have a job. As far as the strange noise is concerned, the best guess is that I might have bashed my prop at some point and knocked it out of alignment, which would cause the sort of noise I heard. Apparently it is possible for the prop to vibrate its way back into alignment and so recover. Still, whatever the truth of the matter, there isn't a noise currently and I am very grateful for that as it would have taken 2 hours labour just to check the alignment and that's before any repairing of the problem.

I hope my readers have a lovely and meaning filled Easter and enjoy all this beautiful sunshine.

Spring Itch

I know it has been a month since I lasted posted anything. This is partly because I haven't had anything to say and partly because life has speeded up with the blossoming of Spring. The days are longer, the sun is brighter and the nettles are energetic! So when I get home from work I spend time pottering around cutting back weeds and planting vegetables rather than diving straight into the boat to light the fire and close the curtains - bliss! Bonny is really enjoying it too, despite being on a tight training regime at present! I've decided it is time to put an end to her disappearing off for hours, so we are working hard on sitting and staying and on recall. Meanwhile she is on the lead for the majority of her time outside.

Spring has also brought me a bout of itchy feet. I have been chatting to boaters passing through the lock flight who are off out cruising from now till October or November. I ask them where they are going and most of them don't have a plan - they will wander the system as the whim takes them. How fantastic to have such a length of time to be free! Free to stop where they want, explore the area, do a bit of essential shopping or laundry and then drift off, not knowing where they will be washing their knickers next!

I only have a week here or there because of my work and the temptation to chuck it all in and just go comes over me in waves. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, the desire to eat and pay my bills keeps me tethered to the garden centre. In February I had the sniff of a possibility of a job with a boat yard shop which would have suited me very well. It was only a seasonal job - running from March to the end of October and so I had initially rejected the idea. But then I did my sums and worked out that since I would have been working a 5 day week rather than my current 4 days, I would only have had to find around 6 weeks work in the winter to have the same annual income. Temporary work around Christmas time is easy to come by and that would leave me with nearly 3 months of freedom! Yes it would be winter and the chances are I would be frozen to the spot for at least some of that time, but still, the idea of being mistress of my own destiny for at least part of the year, was hugely attractive. Unfortunately the job didn't materialise, but it would definitely be something I would consider in future. After all, I only have to last for nine and three quarter years and then, with my various pensions, I will be considerably better off than I am now and free for ever!

For the time being I will have to live with my itchy feet and take the boat out whenever I can. That is if next week's visit to the boatyard to investigate a strange noise in the engine doesn't finish me off entirely! My boat seems to have phases of being absolutely fine and other times where things go wrong all at once. My alternator died a couple of weeks ago and needed replacing. (Frightened the pants off me when I started the engine as normal, to be met with flashing lights and an alarm!) I have an engine water leak and when I did my first solo service last week, I found both my  oil and fuel filters were stuck on. So another boatyard bill is scarily imminent.

But it is Spring time. The leaves on the trees are freshly green from their seed wombs, the baby rabbits are playing chicken with Bonny and this season of new beginnings holds fresh hope and excitement. All is well.