Friday 16th May to Friday 23rd May
Friday 16th May
A terrific start to the day
and looking like a very warm one. Yesterday was spent out in the open and so it
became very warm inside the boat but, when we get to Fradley we should be
somewhat cooler as there are trees both sides of the canal there.
I recently learned that a
certain friend of mine; no name, no pack drill; has been learning to play the
keyboard. Now, I’ve been something of a grasshopper when it comes to music. I
have two guitars; one classical and the other steel strung; and I also have
Ukulele, both of which I tend to switch between. As a result I haven’t really
learned to master either. Well, now I intend to put that right and unearth my
classical guitar from under the bed, and follow some tuition from Mike
Herberts.
I have a couple of DVDs from
Mike, one called Chordaoke and the other a classical piece. However, I also
have some lessons that I downloaded some time ago, and it’s these that I have
unearthed and which I will now devote some time to. Here’s hoping!!
Saturday 17th May
What a gorgeous day
yesterday, all sunny and warm and, for the first time since leaving Crick, we
were able to cruise without a coat on. Lovely!
However, later in the day it
became a little too warm for my liking, so we wandered up to the shop and
indulged in an ice cream. Not that it made a lot of difference, but it was most
enjoyable all the same.
Quite a few of the tiles
behind the fire have come loose. In fact, some have even fallen off the wall and
need re-attaching with the proper sticky stuff. So, since it was so warm
yesterday, we decided to let the fire go out last night; much to the detriment
of my wellbeing this morning. Blooming chilly, so it was. Still, my cardigan
warmed me up, so I’m not complaining.
We are hoping that this warm
weather will stay with us until Tuesday, by which time we should be at Rugeley,
where we can probably buy the sticky stuff at the local Wilkinson’s. We’ll give
the chimney another clean first, then fix the tiles and black the grouting.
After that, the weather can do as it pleases, ‘cos we’ll then be able to light
the fire again if we so wish.
Today we’ll be off to
Handsacre and will stay there for the weekend but, since the pub we usually
frequent when we’re there, doesn’t sell a decent lager; I’ve gone off the
Guinness due to tummy trouble; we’ll try The Crown, which is right by the side
of the canal and just a short walk away from the moorings.
Sunday 18th May
Last time we moored here at
Handsacre, the nice man in the house opposite almost smoked us out with his
bonfire. Of course I thanked him for his consideration. In fact, if memory
serves me, we actually moved on and moored above the locks just before Fradley.
This time however; after
cruising for two hours, through three locks, enjoying a cuppa and then walking
up to the shops and back; out came his petrol powered strimmer. The noise was
horrendous, but this time we decided to grin and bear it. After all, if a man
works all week and then decides to work his weekend too, who are we to
complain?
The gentleman concerned lives
in a house that lies sideways on to the canal and, since he has two young
children, he wisely erected a fence between the house and the canal, leaving a
gap of about six feet or so. To give him credit, rather than leave the gap
between house and canal to grow wild; which would deter idiot boaters from
mooring there; he tries to keep it tidy, hence the burning of rubbish and the
strimmer. He still has a few nasty roots to dig up, but I’m hoping he’ll leave
his matches and strimmer inside today.
Today we’ll give The Crown
pub a try. We’ve used it in the past and, since it is beside the canal and the
weather looks to set fair for today, we’ll sit in the garden, rather than walk
up the hill to The Old Peculiar.
Monday 19th May
It’s been a great weekend
weather wise and far too hot to be working on the boat. We enjoyed an hour in
the pub garden yesterday and our main meal of the day was somewhat different to
a normal Sunday.
On Saturday evening Sheila
popped along to the nearby chippie and bought fish and chips, along with mushy
peas for me. Now, down south, when you order fish and chips, you tend to get
enough chips for one person. The further north you go, or so it seems, the more
chips you get for your money. Unfortunately Wifey forgot this and ordered 2
pieces of fish and 2 portions of chips. The pieces of fish were OK; although, I
didn’t think much of the batter; but the chips were enough to feed an army.
Anyway, to get back to our
Sunday meal. We had a huge plate of chips left over from Saturday and, rather
than throw them away, we saved them in the fridge and re-fried them, along with
a couple of eggs. Lovely!
Incidentally, I didn’t think
much of the mushy peas, which were a really dark green colour. To my mind, if
you are going to make mushy peas, you should do so with Marrowfat Peas.
Goodness knows where the chippie bought his, but they must add too much
colouring. Dreadful things, they were.
So, a somewhat cooler start
to today and we’re off to Rugeley for shopping, then straight on for about
another mile, where, if we’re lucky we’ll get some more paintwork done. We
don’t moor up in Rugeley any more since they allowed a Macdonald’s to be built
close to the canal.
Tuesday 20th May
Yesterday was another
scorcher and we left Handsacre for Rugeley quite early. Shopping done and stuff
with which to attach those loose tiles, then it was off to one of our favourite
spots, the pig farm by bridge 69, where we stopped for the day.
Thankfully, despite the
forecaster’s threat of rain, it stayed dry for me and I managed some more
painting; just the black, non-slip stuff; on the bits I’d rubbed down and
treated with rust preventer and undercoat. I did intend to let that dry and add
some grey undercoat before topping with green. But, as with the best laid
plans, it rained later. Still, it’s a fine morning and, if we’re lucky we’ll
reach Great Haywood without getting wet. Sadly, no TV, Internet or phone there,
so we’re incommunicado for a couple of days.
Wednesday 21st May
Yesterday morning we had
rain, lots of it, but it had stopped by 8 am so we headed off to Fradley. We’ll
be staying here for today and taking the bus into Stafford.
Unfortunately, because it had
been raining and the boat needs to dry out properly, I didn’t get any painting
done. However, we did manage to clean all the tiles at the back of the fire,
and Wifey stuck them all back on with the sticky stuff we bought at Rugeley.
But, what with Fradley being somewhat sheltered from the sun for much of the
day, and what with more cloud and rain later in the day, this metal tube became
rather chilly yesterday evening.
We couldn’t light the fire
because, had we done so then Sheila would have had problems filling the tiles
in with grouting. Also, we didn’t want to put the heater on, just in case we
depleted the batteries and didn’t have enough power to run the heater this
morning. Well, you can’t have everything, now can you? And besides, we wanted
to watch Happy Valley last night, and that’s getting pretty exciting, I can
tell you. Only two episodes to go!!
Today promises to be fine and
warm, so I’m hoping to get some more roof painting done when we get back from
Stafford.
Thursday 22nd May
Yesterday didn’t go according
to plan, oh no, we had one of those days. Off we trotted to the nearest bus
stop, which stands outside the local pub; about 10 minutes away from our
moorings. The bus was due to arrive at about 09.50 and, while we were waiting,
a charming, little lady came along and said, “Are you waiting for the bus, only
I don’t think it stops here anymore?” After we confirmed her suspicions, she
then told us that she thought it now bypassed the village and stopped further
up the road at the next bus stop, coming at it from a different route.
So, we walked up to the next
bus stop and, sure enough, there was a notice on the timetable, which stated
that the route had been changed about a month before. Wouldn’t it have made
sense to affix the same notice to the now defunct bus stop? After all, there
are quite a few boaters passing through Great Haywood, who moor up and take the
bus into Stafford, the same as we do.
Anyway, we were far too late
for the bus by now; which would now stop there at 34 minutes past the hour; so
we decided instead to buy the paper at the nearby shop and get back to the
boat. By the time we got back it was approaching 10.30 and a wee bit late for
us to go cruising, but we decided that, since it promised to be a sunny and
warm day, we would head off to Weeping Cross, about five miles and two locks
away.
I say that this is a wee bit
late for us, because we like to arrive at our destination at about that time
and usually find easy moorings. By arriving nearer to lunchtime we ran the risk
of being unable to find a place. However, luck was on our side and we slipped
into the only space available and settled in for the day.
I’m now back to the guitar
and following one of Mike’s fingerpicking lessons. It’s slow going right now as
I don’t have the dexterity in my left hand, but I’ll get there. I’ve also dug
out the Noad book on Spanish Guitar playing, simply because I’m familiar with
the lessons there and know that I can play some of them through without
problems. I’m hoping this will loosen up my left hand fingering.
The problem I have with the
Spanish Guitar is my tummy. I like to sit at our dinette when practising, but
my stomach gets in the way. I either need to lose weight; not easy at my age, believe me; or I need a thinner guitar. I do have one, a steel
string Eko from the 60s, but I prefer the wider fret board of the Spanish one.
I once asked the salesman in the Harlow music shop, why steel strung guitars
don’t come with wider fret boards, to which he remarked, “Because you’re the
only person who’s ever asked for one”. Yeah, right!!
Friday 23rd May
Yesterday was a bit wet, to
say the least but, as usual, by the time we set off to catch the bus into
Stafford, it had stopped. Not only that, but it stayed dry throughout the
morning and started up later in the afternoon, by which time we were back at
the boat.
The weather forecast for
tomorrow is lots more rain; as if we haven’t had enough of it last night; and
it’s still raining this morning. The forecast is for even worse weather
tomorrow, so we’re going to gird our loins and head for Penkridge this morning.
What fun that will be if this weather keeps up!
Cheers for now and enjoy your
Bank Holiday.
Dave and Sheila.
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