Almyne cruising in 2012

2012 cruising the waterways in Almyne

Sun, 1 Jan 2012
Another year has started, don't they just rush up on you?
At least the weather is being relatively kind, quite a lot of sunshine, even though it is only for a few hours each day, but the days are getting longer now, it'll soon be spring again.

Wed, 4 Jan 2012
2 miles 2 locks
I've moved up to The Jolly Boatman, topped up with water, got rid of the rubbish and emptied the chemical toilet.
Did a bit of shopping, so now I'm sorted for another week or so, except for bread, which I do like fresh.

Thu, 5 Jan 2012
I awoke this morning, the sun was shining bright
A little exercise I thought would start the day just right
I dressed in all my winter clothes, army boots upon my feet
And set out for a walk with my dog, he likes a treat.

As I strolled along the path I slipped and slid about
The mud was clinging to my boots, I'm glad their not worn out
My dog has much more traction, four feet instead of two
If I fall over any more, I'll get home black and blue.

Exercise is good for me, I know that this is true
I'm getting taller with every pace, as mud builds up on my shoe
Each pace is getting harder as my feet stick to the path
I know what I'll do when I return, I'll go and have a bath.

But in the meantime life is good, I watch ducks swim round
At the iridescent flash of blue, of a kingfisher, I'm spell bound
A heron stately stands and waits for dinner to swim by
And 'cause of mud along the path, there's no one else nearby.

To share the beauty of the day and see nature at it's best
The clear blue sky, the shining sun, I really feel quite blessed
Back to the boat I make my way, my dog is in the lead
I think he's had enough today, I'm going home to feed.

So now I am hunkered down waiting for the wind to blow through.

Fri, 6 Jan 2012
Richard

visited last night and regaled me with stories about when he first learnt to ski. A very pleasant evening.
Went for another walk today, but got stopped about half a mile from my boat by a tree that had been blown down and was laying across the tow path. A woman (Amanda) had sawn it up into manageable chunks and was trying to drag them into a car park beside her boat.
Her engine threw a crank several months ago and a local engineer has got it going on one cylinder only. It is a Chinese copy of the Lister and parts are impossible to obtain.
Anyway, I stopped to help and then chatted for a while. Her dog (Daisy) gets on well with D'fer. Her boyfriend lives on the boat next door, but I haven't seen him yet. The longer I stay somewhere the more people I get to know, but I am getting itchy feet, so won't be around much longer.

Sat, 7 Jan 2012
Couldn't sleep last night. Went to bed and read a book and just didn't seem to get tired. I was drinking vodka with fresh orange juice and eventually fell asleep sometime after four am.
Woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine and decided that it would be a good time to do a little shopping, so staggered along the tow path into Kidlington, yes I was still a bit tipsy.
By the time I completed the journey there and back I was in much better shape.

Sun, 8 Jan 2012
Another late night, but woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine again. Walked along to Shipton Weir Lock, about three miles, just for a look. It was still there.

Sat, 14 Jan 2012

Sun Under The Bridge

Basking
Well, I haven't moved anywhere so this is just an update on recent happenings and thoughts.
I have found a great way to tell if Almyne is warm enough, if I can spread the butter easily on thinly sliced, soft fresh bread without it tearing then the temperature is about right. If it is too hot I can pour the butter and my feet start to get almost painful. If they are that hot I cannot sleep and have to open the bedroom doors to the cratch and hang my feet in the cold draft.
A couple of times I have overlooked the fact that I have left the little door open that allows air into the bottom of the fire and when I have divested myself of nearly all my clothes, opened the windows and doors and still find myself too hot I check the temperature and find it is in the high 90's, that's the time to shut the fire down.
I have noticed that some of the coal bags have holes in them. I think that it is either mice, or rats that are climbing up on to my roof and nibbling through the coal bags to see if there is food inside. They have also nibbled a hole in the cratch cover and they have got into D'fer's bag of food.
They don't bother me here as there is more than enough food for them at the pub.
Alex, a guy I have got to know, who has built his own boat is coming over for dinner this evening, and again on Monday when Richard, the guy who is building his own boats will be joining us. It will be an evening of planning on how, when and where to built them. Alex is a time served shipwright and will be doing all the welding for Richard.
The weather here has been wonderful for the past few days, brilliant sunshine, although much colder. I have been waking up earlier as the sun has been coming in through my window and rousing me. Get up, have a cup of tea, stoke the fire and take D'fer

for an early walk while the stove gets back up to temperature so that I can spread my butter, on my breakfast toast.
Today I went for an afternoon walk as well and sat on the balance beam at Shipton Weir Lock for a while reading a book. The metal balance beam was quite warm under my bum.

Sun, 15 Jan 2012

View From Almyne
By the time I was up and ready to go this morning, Richard

had rung and checked to see if I was in and could he visit. As always, he asked if there was anything I wanted him to bring over, but I suggested that he take me to the local supermarket for a heavy shop instead.
Richard arrived, had a cup of tea and a chat and off we went.
The bulk of the shop was fruit juice, 12 litres cranberry juice, 8 litres orange juice, 4 litres apple juice and a few other miscellaneous bits and pieces, so I should be good for another few weeks.
Alex arrived later on in the afternoon and we all chatted endlessly about this and that.
Since I had purchased all the makings of a good steak dinner and Richard has the reputation of being really good at cooking steak, I sent him off to the galley to prepare dinner, and a really good job he made of it too.
After dinner Richard and Alex finalised the steel list for Richard's boats so that project has progressed another step.
Come half past ten, everybody was tired and ready for bed, so Alex sped off on his cycle, he's going by road tonight, not enough moonlight to risk the tow path, and Richard left in his car, leaving me to clear up the dishes, a small price to pay for a wonderful evening.

Mon, 16 Jan 2012
Woke up this morning to find an inch of ice on the cut.
I had been chatting to Maffi, the guy on 'Millie M' the boat behind me yesterday and he had said that he was off to the Thames tomorrow (today that is) and then off to Stratford-on-Avon .
He struggled to get through the first bridge hole but gave up a little further on as the going was just too difficult for him so he reversed back through the bridge hole and moored up again. Try again tomorrow.
GPS seems to be ubiquitous nowadays and I have often wondered if I should get one but can see no reason other than to see how fast I am travelling, after all, it is not too difficult to navigate the canals, there are not too many junctions.
Playing around with my phone a while ago I discovered that it has a mapping and GPS facility, so, one day whilst travelling I turned it on and checked. Sure enough, I can use it as a speedometer for Almyne. I was travelling at almost two miles an hour! Well, at least I know now, won't need to check that for a while.
For a long time now whenever I have shopped at Tesco or Sainsbury's I have been giving my 'points' away to the person behind me in the queue. However, a couple of days ago I was in the queue at the checkout and the person behind me was 'pushing'. There was a person at the checkout, another with goods waiting on the conveyor and my goods lined up.
The person behind me actually touched me as they leant over to get the customer's goods divider and then pushed my shopping along the conveyor so that they could get their own shopping on it.
A gross infringement of my personal space. There and then I was determined that they would NOT get my points for that shop (almost a hundred pounds worth).
This started me thinking. Why cannot I give them to charity?
I will point out here that I cannot be a member of any of these schemes as I do not have a post code!
Well, I have contacted both of these companies suggesting that they implement a savers card with a Charity Owner to which anyone can donate their 'points'. It could be very easily implemented with a bar code as they use for fresh vegetables.
Time will tell and I will keep all informed as to their response.
Another of my little quirks, is the 'Help Yourself' hot food displays. Ever since I can remember 'Help Yourself' means It's Free.
Wonder what would happen if anyone did actually 'Help Themselves' to the indicated goods?

Tue, 17 Jan 2012
More ice. I tried swinging the tiller and it moved all the way around one side but got stuck in the ice on the other side. Used it a bit like a hammer and worked it backwards and forwards till it went all the way both sides.
In the process it threw a little water across the surface of the ice, so outside my boat the ice is really smooth now. At the same time bubbles of air got trapped under the surface and I spent quite a long time watching these bubbles moving about, separating and joining up again, some slithering towards the edges of the canal until they popped up at the side and reached the air again.
The guy who empties the doggy poo bins is really friendly and nice. Apparently he empties them on a weekly basis and this is the second time that I have seen him, so I must have been here nearly two weeks already, not that I am going to move on in the ice unless I really have to.
What he enjoys about his work is being out in the fresh air all the time, even when it is this cold.
I haven't worked out what 'cold' is yet. Some mornings I have got up and the temperature is around 52, 53° and it feels really cold. This morning I got up and the temperature was about 47, but I haven't felt at all cold yet. I raked the fire out and stoked it up, so it will soon be back up to temperature, but why doesn't it feel as cold today as it did when the temperature was 52? I even stood on the back deck for a while although it is not as sunny today as it has been for the past week or so. Sorry D'fer, no early morning walk for you today.
Eventually got my butt in to gear and took D'fer

for a walk. Got as far as the lift bridge at Thrupp and spotted Dusty, the coal boat. Scooted back to Almyne and emptied the jerry cans of diesel into the tank, ready for Dusty to fill the tank and the jerry cans. I like to keep the diesel in the cans fresh as now that they have started putting more 'biodiesel' in with the ordinary diesel the chances of getting diesel bug is increased if it is left in the can for too long.
Anyway, topped up with diesel and coal, good for another few weeks now.
I heard Dusty coming along the cut from quite a long way away, crunching through the ice. I took a short video of it, but it's all on it's side as I rotated the camera and I have no way of rotating the video image.

Sat, 4 Feb 2012

Will it never end?

Extract of BBC weather forecast for Today.
Motorists have been urged to take extra care in treacherous conditions as snow across much of the UK turns to ice.
The Met Office has issued nine warnings for ice after disruption to road, rail and air travel following up to 16cm (6in) of snow in some areas.

Half of the 1,300 scheduled flights at Heathrow were cancelled and some trains and Tube services also disrupted.

Almost 400 transatlantic passengers are stranded overnight in Ireland after six London-bound flights were diverted.

Earlier, hundreds of vehicles were stranded on the M25 and M40, with some drivers forced to spend the night in their cars.

Snow swept down to London and East Anglia on Saturday evening after covering parts of Scotland, Wales, northern England and the Midlands earlier in the day.

Church Fenton, in North Yorkshire, reported 16cm (6in), which contributed to more than 60 accidents on the region's roads.

Fri, 17 Feb 2012

Maintenance being done at Dukes Lock, the junction of the South Oxford canal and the river Thames.
There is another junction at Isis Lock in Oxford.