Moving Day

Tomorrow is moving day! No, not off the boat but from the marina that we have been in since Epiphany was launched. Firstly on a leisure mooring and then since April last year when we moved aboard, on a residential mooring.

So where are we off to? We are staying on the Kennet and Avon canal whilst I continue to work, but fortunately the canal is never far away from my workplace or the community visiting I do.

We will be located in the Pewsey area. As regular readers know we enjoy moving around on the boat and although it has been convenient to be in the marina we prefer being on the "cut". In fact some of the residents in the marina accuse us of never being here!

So we will be losing our land line - this means no good broadband access! Maybe it will be good discipline as our mobile package currently gives us evenings and weekends for the internet! We are watching with interest the developments in mobile broadband and if anyone has experience - both good and bad, please do let us know.

So our blog will change slightly - smaller and less pictures possibly, due to the slow upload speed if 3G is not available! However as soon as we decide which is the best system and as mobile internet improves we will decide what to do. "Big John" would be "lost" without the internet! I if I am honest I would miss it too!

Thinking about other things we lose by moving out of the marina such as a convenient elsan point, diesel, water on tap - well almost, and electricity, we know we can manage without all that!

After all what is being on the cut all about? It is about being able to move around, be as self sufficient as possible and as relaxed as possible! Having a new garden on a regular basis and meeting other boaters.

I am sure you can add to this list and we know we are going to enjoy it. We can't wait!

Boaters and Birthdays

The thing I find wonderful about the canal community is that when you meet strangers there is always something in common. The conversation starts with boating and then often progresses to other things. Depending on how much liquid refreshment is available the conversation may degenerate to "human functions" or ascend to greater heights such as the philosophy of life!

Whatever, a gathering of 40 or so boaters is rare and is an experience not to be missed if invited. We felt privileged to be invited to a giant banter in honour of one of the Canal World Form members who celebrated a significant birthday at the weekend.

John is the active member so knew the alias of those present and identifying the real person behind the name was great. We had a really good evening. Our thanks must go to "Moley" for having the birthday and to him and his family for arranging and hosting the evening.

The entertainment was great, particularly the Tudor musician and to all those forum members we met and chatted to - thanks for coming and we really enjoyed meeting you.

Just a quick mention of our visit to the NEC for the Caravan and Boat Show. We were glad that we had free tickets as there was not much there for the narrowboater. Just a display of boats from 4 builders, the IWA stand and very limited chandlery exhibitors.

However we went for specific things and picked up some useful information. I marvelled at some of the motor caravans, both their size and the way they were packed in. As for the boats, some of the sea going vessels were impressive and exhibited imaginatively. However even if I was a millionaire I would not be buying one - I get sea sick!

Anyone Going to Birmingham?

We have tickets for the Caravan and Boat Show at the NEC, Birmingham. John entered the caravan channel draw and won free tickets for Friday!

We went a couple of years ago and gave a refundable deposit to Severn Valley for a build slot in 2007. We (fortunately - maybe, no - definitely, as Bath Narrowboats were much more impressive!) changed our mind. But it took a while to get the deposit back! However it is fair to say that we were impressed with the standard of the fit out of their display narrowboat (despite the "house style") and the owners were very pleased with their boat.

We also gleaned a few ideas for Epiphany and talked to reps on stands such as Alde (gas heating), Webasto (diesel heating), Channel Glaze and Worcester Marine (windows), also at some of the general chandlery stands there. The narrowboats were rather limited with only a few companies were represented but we still looked for ideas!

For fun we allowed ourselves to be drawn into the hard sell of a time-share company who were promoting their narrowboat time-share. We are wise to the hard sell techniques and found the whole experience amusing but frightening at the same time. Frightening, as it was all so convincing and the unwary could part with a lot of money for very limited and controlled access to the boat. It was a relief to know that we both knew more and understood the issues much better than the salesman! A bit naughty to string him along I suppose.

It was also interesting to look at some of the caravan equipment as it was either similar or could be used in boats too.

So this time we are going to look - admire and also do a bit of research on technical progress on such things as TV reception.

So let us know if you are going on Friday - we could meet up for a bevy!

All Quiet On Epiphany

Yes, we are still here!
A visit to Cornwall at the weekend means that I haven't blogged for a few days. Cornwall was cold but not as cold as here, "up country" as the Cornish say. The minimum temperature was about 4 degrees where as in Wiltshire it has been -5 to -8 degrees most nights.

The milder climate in Cornwall means that all the daffodils are out and so too are the camellias. The roadsides around Truro and the Roseland Peninsula have banks full of daffs, it really makes you think spring is on the way! We even saw a cherry tree in bloom!

The only problem with daffs out at this time is that they can be over for Mothering Sunday. However as Easter is early this year so are all the other "special" dates and the daffs and primroses will be around for picking for the children to give to their mothers at Church!

Although I took the camera I didn't take any photos, partly as we were busy and partly because it was rather grey and overcast. We were glad to come back to the blue skies of Wiltshire and I never tire of the wide open spaces, which despite the lack of sea can give us a view to the horizon.

John managed to do some paint touching up on Epiphany today once it warmed up today so we have some fresh looking rubbing stakes and stern gunnels on the starboard side - time to turn her around to do the other side! But I think the weather is changing - the barometer is dropping and the humidity has gone up!