Silt in Residence

After over a year of complaints to the company who run our Marina about the amount of silt sitting under our boats, they have finally taken action to deal with it. Over the last year, we have had great difficulty in getting out of our berths and into the cut, because we have literally been stuck in the mud on the bottom.

The dredger arrived two weeks ago, but has had to stop work before getting to our berth, because the amount of silt which has been extracted is already over the limit which has been agreed can be dumped in the delegated spot in the nearby fields.

Here is the dredger being lifted into the water

Here it is in the water

Dredging commences

Consequently, we are still stuck on the bottom and had great difficulty getting out of our berth on Friday, making us nearly late for our dry run of the Saxophone project. I was really angry! We have been campaigning for over a year to get the silt removed and it has only actually happened when the company decided to build some more jetties and needed to dredge that area. I suspect that the dredging of the remainder of the berths, including ours will now be abandoned.

Overall, I am becoming extremely disillusioned with the company who run the Marina. They seem very keen to take our money, but are hardly proactive in providing facilities to match what we pay. At present, they are the only providers to offer residential status and the security which comes with that, so they are calling all the shots. I just cannot wait for other marinas to start offering the same terms at competitive prices.

We have been fully residential for over a year now, but still the issue of council tax has not been resolved. Currently we are paying full council tax for the boat and this includes arrears for a time when we were not officially residential. Everything is hanging on our marina operators and the valuation office coming to some agreement about what we should pay, but very little seems to be happening. In the meantime, we are left paying more than we should. I don't mind paying council tax, I think it is quite right that we should contribute, but the amount needs to be a fair reflection of our situation. For example, we pay for refuse collection as part of our mooring fee, so currently we feel that we are paying twice.

I love living on this Marina. Every single other boat owner here is lovely, without exception and it is very well situated in a great spot, but I am becoming increasingly disillusioned and cross at the cynical attitude that our landlords have to their customers.

I know that this has been a long whinge, but it is only right that I present the downsides of boating life as well as the good things!

One of the nice things that has come out of this work is the huge amount of wood which came from the jetties, which they removed and the caretaker made sure it came on our direction.

Another recent positive experience is that the dry run of the Saxophone trip went well. I was a little aghast when he asked if we could stop for a couple of minutes under each bridge, so that he could play a whole piece to properly demonstrate the change in acoustics. The idea is, that as a physics lecturer he can demonstrate to his students how sound changes over water and under bridges. In addition he is using it as an advert for the launch of a CD he is producing. He is quite a good amateur player and seems to have a number of gigs set up for the near future. He will be uploading the final video to Youtube, so I will provide the link when it is done.

Friday was quite windy and we did explain that boat handling in windy weather can be tricky. The canal is also very shallow at the moment, so there was also the possibility of us grounding if we lost control. However, we had a successful trip and he seemed pleased with how it had gone. The only problem was when we were mooring up at the end. All the cameras and instruments etc. were in the bow preventing access, so when I brought the front of the boat in to the tow path, Phil could not get access to get hold of the bow rope. The wind took us side on before he could get to it and the next thing we knew we were right across the canal. This was in the town centre where many people come to watch the boats, so it was particularly embarrassing. Our guests seemed completely oblivious to our difficulties until I called upon them to get on the end of the central line and help us pull the boat in!

That is my only worry about this project. The requirements do not completely fit with ease of manoeuvring a narrow boat! We will see how it goes. The proper run is next week, weather permitting. They are concerned that it will be wet, which would ruin the equipment, so would make it impossible. We are concerned that it will be windy and are not sure that they fully understand the difficulties associated with that and may insist on going ahead.

We had a lovely night out after the rehearsal, moored up in the town centre, which made it all worth while!

And to end on another positive note we have just spent a couple of nights in the Lake District having some proper R and R soaking up the scenery and doing some walking:

Al :)

A Party and a Project

We have had three significant birthdays on the Marina recently, so decided to have a barbecue to celebrate. There have been a number of new people arriving recently and the Marina is now nearly full. These are mostly leisure boaters, rather than residential, but they have all fitted in really well. The barbecue was a good opportunity for everyone to get to know one another and I have to say that it was a great success. It was heart warming to see so many people enjoying themselves and getting on so well together. The Marina is now a place where I really enjoy living and want to be, in marked contrast to a few years ago when there were some very difficult people living here. Everybody now, without exception, is decent and pleasant and it is a wonderful little community.

The bunting was put out especially for the party:

The dogs were all aware that there maybe some titbits of food for them and were looking expectant:

The birthday cake was magnificent, complete with sparkler:

I also discovered something on the Marina which I had never noticed before. Hops!

A boater who has now left, planted them a couple of years ago and they are thriving. I don't think I will use them to make beer as I have so much fruit gin on the go, but I'm going to make a hop pillow with them. I have some lavender in our little garden at the end of the boat, so should get a good nights sleep with a combination of hops and lavender!

Yesterday I had an interesting meeting with a physics lecturer from the University. I had met him a few weeks ago when he wandered onto the marina in search of a narrow boat to take part in a project he was planning. We got chatting and found that we had much in common. He is an amateur saxophonist and is looking for a pianist to accompany him. I found it quite spooky that I happened to be the first person he spoke to. His explained his project to me and I instantly agreed to participate as I think it will be great fun.

The idea is that he and a drummer will be filmed while they play at the front of the boat, which I will be sailing along the canal. He wants to demonstrate the changes in sound when a boat moves under bridges, so it is partly a video for his students, but he also is using the footage as an advert for a gig he is doing locally and for a CD he has produced.

There are many logistical problems, not least fitting a set of drums into the small area at the front and getting a decent angle for the video. He also wants me to stop the boat for about a minute under each bridge and when we arrive at the popular town centre canal side pub, he wants me to hold the boat mid stream for 10 minutes while they play a few pieces. I think it is going to be a challenge, but I'm up for it ..... watch this space for progress on this.

More news on residential status and work on the Marina in the next blog.

Al :)

wildlife and mellow fruitfulness

We have had no success with our wildlife camera. We have heard the otter splashing around under the boat on many occasions in the night and it has been briefly seen launching itself into the water from under the jetty between boats. We set the camera up where it has been spotted the most, but after two weeks, all we got was floating debris on the water. It did come in useful last month though, when I discovered that something was eating our apples at the allotment. We thought it was a mouse, as the only apples which were touched were near to the ground. We set the camera up and look who was the culprit:

This year has been fantastic for fruits with an abundance of sweet and juicy blackberries all along the tow path and hedgerows. The good thing is that everything is about a month early, so that I can gather it before I go overseas for work in October.

I have made Blackberry Whisky, Plum Brandy, Redcurrant Gin and Damson Gin so far, as well as several jars of pickled Beetroot and many Rhubarb crumbles. We have so many Raspberries growing on the allotment that we are sick of eating Raspberry fool and Eton Mess, so I think I shall also be making Raspberry Vodka too. My next job is to collect Sloes to make gin. These benefit from a sharp frost before they are picked and with the Indian summer we are having, it is unlikely that they will be ready for a week or two. However, I have recently discovered a number of new bushes, many of which are off the beaten track, so hopefully I will be able to harvest them before anyone else gets there. I took the canoe out yesterday and found a whole row of bushes on the offside from the tow path. These being only accessible by boat is a bonus!!

This afternoon we went for a lovely walk. I love the Autumn colours and picked up this beautiful leaf:

We discovered a Badger set as we walked through the woods, so have now set the camera up there. I think we have concealed it well, so hope it doesn't get nicked!

Hopefully we will finally get some wildlife footage. Watch this space ......

I had planned to do the coast to coast cycle ride next week, but a little project has got in the way, which involves a physics lecturer and amateur musician and our boat, which will lead to a fun boating adventure. More about that in the next Blog.

Al :)