Saturday 8 September 2012

Currently the catch-phrase is "Where is it?  Oh I know, it's on the b*** ###" meaning whichever is the most inaccessible, the boat, the house or the campervan.  This figures as one of my best excuses for this (again) tardy update to our blog, because my two digital cameras are "on the boat";  in fact the other reason is that I couldn't find the relevant card reader due to the rush to evacuate my desk and all in the kitchen prior to decoration.  I found that last night, when I wasn't looking for it, but those pix will have to wait until I bring back the memory cards.  So enough excuses, here's another nice picture of Burdock on Archangel that links to the last entry:

He's been on and inside Archangel now and has adapted well to sleeping on the back deck;  we started this when we went to the Dutch Barge Association's annual rally at Mapledurham from Thursday to Monday mid-August.  We slept in the wheelhouse to be within nose-to-nose distance!  After 3 nights like that we've recently managed to sleep in our usual bedroom (other end of the boat) while he is 'contained' on the stern deck.  So what have we been doing, well, two whole day lessons with lovely Roy May of Bisham Sailing School.  That didn't quite stop me scratching the paintwork, but so far (!) we've not had any serious accidents, that is, no dents or bits of the superstructure coming off.  This is not true of several new boats near to us in the marina! 

Anyway, one of the things in Marius's photoshop designs was inclusion of our 30 hour grandfather clock in the saloon.  Yes, I know pendulums need a steady base, but it's only 30 hour.  So we tried it out:

No we've not lost the movement and face, that's at the clock menders.  And yes it is 1/4 inch too tall, hence the old guy pretending not to be there.  Well, it didn't work, as you can see, both colour (old solid oak vs. modern solid & veneer), and size.  It either blocks the entrance into the side cabin, or the corridoor.  That's a shame, but it was always a flight of fancy.  Besides, it just means we need to buy a clock that does fit!  Time for a photo, rather intriguing, of a young friend of ours & our children, proving that we have more than one emergency exit/entrance:

So now to some pix of Mapledurham, and some other nice boats:

The boats at the rally were all moored 3 or 4 abreast;  here we see Le Coq, the boat of our tutor Roy used usually for training, and Dorchester which is a '"timeshare";  this didn't stop the current share-owners from entering the Barge Handling Demo', and doing well too!  Here is a picture during that:

The boat furthest away is in the demo', a lovely one with a big wheel right at the back, and yes this is taken from & overlooking Archangel, with boats 3 & 4 moored alongside.  There were about 33 barges there in total, so we learnt a lot, which was rather the idea, and not just an excuse of eating and drinking!
I'll finish with just one picture of Archangel taken underway, kindly taken and sent to us by friends on our sister boat Reverie (who are already in Calais, beaten us to it!) :
That's Nicola at the wheelhouse door with the car klaxon we use to hail friends!  The mast is down, as that was before we discovered we can do all the bridges with it up (just!).  More pix when I retrieve my cameras, later.

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