2016 is history

Here's wishing all our readers a happy  and enjoyable 2017.

Molly had some teeth out after Christmas and is recovering well.

Chas enjoyed his 75th birthday party with family round for a roast beef lunch.

Yet another mole met its end underground.

Many upgrades for next year.

Happy Christmas & New Year

We got the tree decorated

 and Ann did some baking

Mince pie any one?  Slice of cake then?

A few days ago we watched Mary Berry make a fish pie.  We made one for ourselves and it was delicious with the wine!

We are having Venison for Christmas!  Got some ideas off the internet on how to cook it.  Red wine and some herbs browned off in the pan and left to marinate in the pot over night.  Slow cook all morning while roasting spuds and steaming veg.  Ann made the pudding a while ago using her well tried recipe.  That will go down well with Brandy butter for me and dairy free ice cream for Ann.

It is Christmas Eve and we wish all our readers a happy Christmas and hope you all enjoy some time with family and friends to the end of the year.  Hope to see you in the New.

The Tree and another mole

This is the one I decorated on line.  Not done a real one yet!

We looked out the window to see yet another hill of earth made by another mole!  The Forest Pest Control man has been contacted again.

Had an email from Yahoo.  I had completely forgot that for some reason I had an account with them.  They gave me a code to log in and change my password.  I never had setup an email with them.  Not happy to know that they had been hacked.  We must all be careful what we put up on the internet.  I decided to delete that account.

Winter cheer

Our dear molie is no more.  Time now to be spent repairing the damage caused.

This snowperson is here to brighten the dull grey winter days.

The garden pest

Molie has moved up to new territory.  Andy our pest controller visits every other day to re position the traps.  It usually takes about a week to resolve the problem.

 The Winter Jasmine is turning yellow with its flowers.  A welcome sight from our front window.

Un welcome Pest

They appeared in our garden several months ago.  Mole hills.

At first I just flattened them and spread the earth thinly over the ground. Just one or two in the flower bed.  Then they were in the lawn!  The ground became soft with tunnels below the surface.  Having spent many an hour digging out the weeds and reseeding patches it is sad to see the state of  the lawn now.

A mole catcher has set a few traps.  He said there could be only one mole in our garden.  It is surprising how such a little molie can do so much damage!  It may take a week to catch the little beast.

A walk in the Forest

As my mum would say, to see the autumn tints.

 At Dibden

and Kings Hat

But even at the end of October we are a bit early down south!  The leaves are falling and no doubt clogging your prop!

A visit to Portsmouth

 The big grey boats have been active escorting that Russian convoy through the English channel.

 The Mary Rose was built for Henry VIII in Portsmouth.  She was heavily modernised and sank outside the harbour during a battle with the invading French.

Here we are on the deck of HMS Victory.

The historic Dockyard is very well worth a visit.

Waterway finance?

I am a member of NABO.  A group of volunteers who represent boat owners at meetings with CRT.
Their latest News booklet includes a report by Stella Ridgway about the CRT Annual Report.  I wonder what the charity is doing with their income.

Apparently the total income was £188.7m.  Some of that comes from DEFRA, Boating and Property Investment.  Us boaters paid £42.4m.

Strangely it cost the charity £39.4m to raise funds!   Charitable giving alone cost 1.1m.  Apparently it cost £7.20 for every £5 given! What is the point of that?

Trustees do not get paid but get expenses to the tune of £19,897.  Richard Parry was paid £189,847, Stuart Mills got £207,161 and redundancy payments were a whopping £870,000.

Rubbish disposal costs CRT £1.2m every year!  Not all rubbish provided by boaters.

Finance it seems is a subject that can pull wool over ones eyes!  However the proof is in the pudding.  The charity has to maintain Navigation of the waterways.  That is their task.  As we boaters know the system is falling apart rapidly.  Vegetation is growing faster than contractors can cut it back!  The lock equipment is not being repaired quickly enough.

It is no wonder that that there has been less boat movement on various canals.  The Oxford canal in particular has become overgrown in many places.  I wonder if I will be able to get the boat out of the marina next year!

The latest news is that local councils are considering charging rates if your boat is your only residence if you stay too long in one place.  Even if you are in a marina.  CRT are considering relaxing the 'Continuous Cruising' rules if you have children going to school!  What then about going to work!

Sadly our boat is closed down for the winter.  Diesel tank filled and water tank emptied.  We hope to visit at least once a month to stay 'rough camping' for a few days during the winter months.

Winter works

While my brother was on board he went with Ann to see the Morris Men and Women dancing in the Banbury street.

This paddle at Broadmoor lock has been broken for many months. We saw it again while walking round with Molly.

October has been kind to us while on the move but it has been a bit cold in the mornings and evenings.  Now it is time to prepare for the winter months.  Just filled the diesel tank @ 70 pence a litre, zero rate.  Moore To Life only needs 0.7 litres an hour for the engine or heater so we are pleased with that.  Next thing to do is empty the water tank and get air in the pipes.

Then it is short visits each month till the spring.

On the boat again

This time Brod met us on the boat at Cropredy.

 

Heading south and stopped below Bourton lock

 

As you see we found the 'Fine Lady' by Banbury Cross and Brod spotted the frog!

Our Heavenly Earth

We are explorers and have discovered the world that we live on.  As explorers we have sent out scouts to discover other worlds in the space beyond our blue sky.

So far we have found nothing out there that can keep us alive without protection.  Some of our human scouts have gone as far as the moon and back. Others have stayed longer on an orbiting space station.   We begin to realise that our long evolution on earth makes us vulnerable above the protection of that blue sky.

Our latest scouts, Rosetta and Philae, have just ended their robotic mission.  They sent back data and pictures to study and admire.  But it seems no life was found on that lump of rock.  Even though the building blocks for life exist out there beyond our blue sky.

Only our earth, it seems, has provided that blue sky protection for us to live under.  Let us do all we can to protect the earth so that we can continue to live in it's protection.

Titchfield

We met friends at Titchfield Mill for lunch on Sunday. Then walked through the quaint old village and found a stream for Molly to swim in.  May well have been a canal?

Back down Claydon

We turned round by the pub and headed down the Claydon locks after a day of rain.

 

Here we are waiting in the queue of two in front at the top lock.

It was slow going because both boats in front were single handed! But at least they were helpful with Ann sharing the work.  Many boats coming up as well.

No TV signal at the bottom so we got on line to see the end of the F1 racing and Bake off.

Getting 'on line' to watch TV is a new skill to learn.  I had to register and log on to Channel 4 to watch the F1 race.  My account with them even knows my home address!  The iPad refused to run the selected program because it lacked some essential facility.  I am collecting specific Apps on the iPad to get the various TV channels either live or 'catch up'.  OK on the Mac without Apps once I had logged back on to C4!  The screen is bigger anyway and my head hurts after all that!

I have a 'smart phone' now to get on line by making it a 'Personal Hotspot'. I have nearly abandoned the use of the 'Osprey' MyFi dongle because I only use it on the boat, not at home. Not worth the  monthly expense when we are not on board!

Company to Fenny

 We are pleased with the pram canopy made by A J Canopies Ltd from Braunston

 Our sister in law Ann came to stay on board and we headed up to Fenny.

The moorings filled up after we arrived on Friday.  Went off for a meal at the Wharf Inn.

Fairport, Cropredy

Our friends Terry n Myra came to visit us on board and we all walked the canal and through the village. All still very busy and full of people. One food outlet was serving up Buffalo burgers and ice-cream from the farm at Napton. The two pubs were serving food from their gardens, no tables inside.

Narrowboats were mored 'nose to tail' for miles either side of the village. Broadmore lock had been under repair with the navigation closed for a morning. Not sure what CRT had achieved because we saw that the failed paddle had not been fixed! Consequently the queue of boats took a while to get through either way.

Radio Oxford broadcast the music from Cropredy during Saturday evening so we were able to get a flavour of the convention from the outside.

Meanwhile Great Britain were doing very well at the Rio Olympics having gained 10 gold, 13 silver and 7 bronze by Saturday. Apparently more expected later.

On Sunday we drove down to Banbury early to meet our friends once again. After a walk round Spiceball park we had a drink and parted company. On our way back the traffic was 'nose to tail' between Cropredy and Banbury leaving the show site. It is all quiet now as the village gets back to normal. Many boaters are also leaving and getting diesel from the marina.

Fairport, Cropredy

We had a walk round to the shop. Just so much happening on the first day.

 The campsite is in the field on the other side of the river Cherwell

The shop is well stocked up for the event

Many of the villagers were providing food and drink during the day

Never mind the depth, feel the width!

I have traveled down the Oxford canal from Cropredy to Banbury and back during July and August.  Due to many boats moored I was obliged to get too close to the offside vegetation as a moving boat came towards me.

Unfortunately a hard branch conspired to scratch the boats paintwork. There seems to be too much vegetation that desperately needs cutting back.  Not only causing damage to boat paint but blocking the view at corners and bridges.

What ever happened to the 'Veg Pledge' previously made by British Waterways and now presumably  the Navigation Charity 'Canal And River Trust'. 

Visitors at Banbury

 Rosie and Jim now have a place on board.

 Then John and Jean stopped for a chat.  And we admired each others 'new' boats!

In Banbury

So we got to Banbury went for a walk round the park with Molly and set about altering things inside and outside the boat.  There will always be something to do to make things easy on a boat!

 Next to the park

Stick on registration numbers make the boat 'legal'. C&RT insisted because like cars they will soon not send out the disk to stick in the window.

Ann later spotted 'Rock n Roll' here at Banbury.

Got Instagram on the ipad.  Cannot quite get my head round how to publish a picture!  Will have to ask my grandson!  It is another way to keep in touch with family.  Facebook is the other!

When our TV fails to display a picture we can now watch the TV on that ipad using our 4GEE dongle.