Great day out at the Weaver Festival

Dark clouds loomed over Chester when we woke but the rain that has persisted on and off over Saturday had finally stopped. Normally we would go sailing on Sunday mornings but not this time. The River Weaver Festivial is on in Northwich and Chris and I wanted to go see. It was also an oppotunity to meet up with Keith and Jo on Hadar one last time before they head off back home.

We left Chester at a late 9.15am as we knew the festival did not start until 10am. We did not rush as we had all day but still made good time and got there at 9.50am. Lucky for us the car parks were still fairly empty and we managed to park close to the town centre. I think the rain had put most people off but as the morning wore on the clouds thinned and a large very bright UFO appeared through the clouds, the sun was trying to break through to brighten the day.

We were amazed at the sight that greeted us as we walked to the wharf between Hayhurst bridge and Town bridge. The whole area was a mass of narrow boats and barges, some of which had returned to the place they were built at Yarwoods yard. Every boat sported bunting from stem to stern and the whole place had that great atmospheric feel about it.

The view from HayHurst Bridge 

Boats and bunting made a fantastic sight

We wondered around the stalls for a while and Chris was taken with the Knot stall where we bought a dragon fly broach made entirely of knotted cord for her and an emergency braclet for me.  Sounds odd for a fella to have a bracelet but this one is made of 10 feet of very strong cord and can be un done quickly if needed. You never know when this might come in handy one day.

We managed to find Keith and Jo on Hadar and spent a good while nattering about their experience on the Llangollen canal, which they both enjoyed imensely, and we discussed all things boaty.  Hadar looked resplendant in her bunting and many passers by commented about the boat in Jubilee colours.  You may know Hadar is Red and Blue with white piping and I have to admit one can see why people thought of that.  I think Jo was rather please about their comments too.

Hadar nestling among the work boats in her Jubilee colours

Chris, Joe and Keith's attention drawn to a boat leaving

Later in the morning some of the working boats took part in a parade along the river so moved out down stream ready to cruise past the festival.   As they left Duker boat Iris Abbott, a boat built by Isaac Pimblott & Co of Northwich in 1948, tried to head upstream but due to the rain the river had a good flow on it and as she tried to turn upstream her bows were forced back and she ended up across the river.  

Expertly manoeuvred but millimetres to spare

Her crew tried hard to get her round but eventualy she got wedged between a narrowboat on the tow path side and the jetty.  I'm glad we were not on the narrownboat as you can see from the photo it must have been unnerving haveing a rather large bow gently coming to rest against your boat.  Fortunately no damage was done and Iris Abbott's crew quickly dragged her back onto the jetty.  Concidering her size that must have taken some effort.  She eventually tried again and this time got away.  Credit must go to her helm who did her best  with a strong current and managed to manouver Iris Abbott in a particularly tight area.  Not an easy task as you can see from the photos.

and away she goes

Chris and I then said our goodbys to Keith and Jo wishing them well and promising to stay in touch via the blogs and then we headed for the swing bridge.  We got there just in time for the parade of boats and as you can see from the photos we had the perfect view point.  I even manage to get some great video though I need to upload it to youtube first.  I'll post them later when I get chance

Coming out under the bridge

Unusual bow cabin on this boat

Nice shot from above as I had a good vantage point

 Not much room to pass

Linsay in her new paint job looking great

Collecting up the ducks from  the duck race

Good view of a working boat hold

Peek a boo I'm coming through

Black over Bill's Mothers

I came across this on the BBC news website today


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18461189


It starts - "If the Inuit apocryphally have 50 words for snow, why don't British people have 50 words for rain..."


and ends


"None of us - with the possible exception of Taylor and his fellow meteorologists - knows exactly what the weather will be doing when the Olympics opening ceremony finally gets under way next month. But when that fake cloud splutters into life and rain begins to fall on the green and pleasant land below, it's a pleasure to think that all over the UK, families will have a rich and varied vocabulary to call on when it comes to describing it.


Here are the terms they list.   I've not heard many and I know there are many more perhaps you know others?  This is a list that could replace the Beaufort Scale. 



1. Not Raining
Outdoor furniture is erected cautiously in gardens and on balconies. Light to moderate rummaging takes places in rucksacks for cagoules and pac-a-macs. 


2. Mizzling
Women on way to hairdressing appointments proceed apprehensively without umbrellas.


3. Grizzerable
Overseas players on county cricket teams are surprised to discover that they're required to continue playing. 


4. Woodfiddly Rain
Outdoor furniture is brought back indoors. Lips are pursed.


5. Mawky
Aggressive hawkers selling fold-up umbrellas appear outside railway stations and shopping centres. Women on way back from hairdressers form impatient queue.


6. Tippling Down
Garden furniture is returned to garden centres in hope of getting money back. 


7. Luttering Down
Fingers drummed on indoor furniture. Eyes rolled. Tuts tutted


8. Plothering Down
Irritating displays of supposedly barbecue-friendly foods are removed from the entrance areas of supermarkets.


9. Pishpotikle Weather
Rain intensifies.Women with newly done hair find aggressive hawkers have disappeared when they take defective umbrellas back in search of a refund. 


10. Raining Like a Cow Relieving Itself
Cows relieve themselves.


11. Raining Stair-rods
Any garden furniture not taken indoors floats away. Reporters on 24-hour news channels began using words torrential and holding their hands out with their palms upturned.


12. Siling Down
Hardy British holidaymakers are finally driven from beach at Herne Bay. Garden furniture begins appearing on eBay. Water companies introduce hosepipe bans, pointing to dry spell five years ago.


So how about 
its Pipmly Sissing down 
Its raining pissistantly
Pisitively Possing Down
And if its windy too its Sqwirly wet


And final word from Spike Milligan


"The sky is full of holes... that's where the rain gets in.
The holes are very small - and that's why rain is thin"

Playing with Photos

We have our next planning meeting arranged in July so are really looking forward to that.  At least now we will feel some progress will be made and hope to have a better idea when the base plate will be laid by then.  


Our design thoughts are coming together nicely and we'll be posting the layout diagrams after the meeting and once we have finalised them. We think we pretty much have the basics nailed down so its just the refinements and final adjustments needed now.  Crick has not changed our thinking on the layout much though we have a few thoughts to run pass Fernwoods for the saloon but nothing radical from the original layout.  We have to settle on the design at some point and we think we have reached that point now.  The good news is Chris now has a feel for the internal colour scheme she would like as seen in our last post so that is a big relief for me.  


I've been busy CAD'ing up the layout thoughts on the computer so we have something to show and discuss with Fernwoods at the meeting (CAD = Computer Aided Design).  The good thing about having an electronic drawing is it can be easily changed without having to start all over again so any refinements made during the meeting can quickly be updated in the drawings.


In the meantime I've been playing with some photos we took at Crick to get some idea of what AmyJo might look like in her livery.  Fortunately for me Fernwoods latest boat, What-a-lark, is almost in the same livery except she has red where we want darker grey so all I needed to do was retouch the red into grey and hey presto, here are the results.  I'm quite pleased with the colours and would be interested to hear what you think.  I've not included any art work but you can get the general idea.  For us its nice to see what AmyJo might look like in a photo for change rather than only seeing a simple line drawing.

We hoping to attend the Weaver festival on the 24th June so we're looking forward to meeting up with Keith and Jo on Hadar again whilst there as they will also be attending.  Should be a good envent with plenty of working boats to gongoozle at.  


Well thats all I have for now.  Hope everyone is well and the weather not causing too many problems on the cut.  

Crick - Day 3 and the sun almost had its hat on

After the soaking on Sunday, yesterday, Monday, was much better with the sun making a warm appearance now and again.  With the sun out the temperature was much warmer than Sunday.


After a large breakfast Chris and I headed back to the marina and had a second look around "What a Lark".

Grey and red colours complement each other perfectly.

From the Stern showing the artwork. Graham is showing the public the engine bay.

Lovely but simple artwork on the bow cheeks

Outside she looks stunning in the grey and red livery.  Ken's eye for perfection meant every coach line is as straight as an arrow.  Inside she is spacious as you would expect from a 70 foot boat.  Her interior light and airy.  I would post some photos but I did not manage to get the owner's permission before we left so out of courtesy I won't.  She also sports the excellent quality Ferwoods are becoming renowned for.  Now I've said this of other Fernwood boats but if AmyJo turns out like "What a Lark" we are going to be over the moon with her.

We had offered our help on the stand so spent much of the day with Julia and Mrs "Gone Bush", Mrs "Green Matters" and Mr & Mrs "Moment in time"  A light hearted way of remembering people used by many of the Ferwood boat owners.  So we have become known as Mr and Mrs AmyJo.

Plenty of interest at the Fernwood Stand

"What a Lark" flying the Jubilee banner from the cratch

Despite the dry weather footfall was light but did pick up later

Later in the day we had chance to have another look round and yes, you guessed it the wallet got another hammering this time in the form of some universal stone polish to clean our UPVC windows, a pair of Regatta trainers each and a lightweight Regatta jacket for me.   Chris even found this material she really liked for the sofa and chairs.

We had a lovely time at Crick this year and made many new friends as well.  It was lovely to talk to Ken and Julia again and we were given some news about the build ( but that's for another post) 

As we were leaving we came about this unusual boat but access to the tiller was problematic as you had to literally crawl through a tunnel of cupboards to get to it. All you have is 3 feet headroom!

You can just make out the young lady crawling out to the tiller, which I think you can just make out is Chromium,  dare I say it, I want one of those....

A very soggy Crick

Hi All,
Chris and I have been enjoying a rather wet and soggy couple of days at the Crick Boat show.  Unfortunately due to the wet weather we did not have many pictures to show for it.


Yesterday, Saturday, we started to look at the boats but kept meeting fellow bloggers.  First up, Doug and James from Chance were working hard showing people around MGM's latest creation "Snails Pace".  Like Chance this boat we beautifully made and sported a striking green livery.  Doug showed us around the boat and we had a good chat as we went.  Thank you Doug and glad James is recovering well.


Next two lovely little dogs sporting natty union jack neck scarves greeted us.  It was Bombo and Sam with their owners Elaine and Paul from  The Manly Ferry aka Caxton.  Paul and Elaine have taken a massive life changing move by emigrating from Sydney, Australia to become liveaboards.  We had a great time talking with them as they are a lovely couple and they seem to be enjoying every minute living in blighty.  It was a real pleasure to meet them all.


We also got to look at Fernwoods latest boat "What a Lark"  We both agree Fernwood have, once a again, built a stunning boat. She is beautifully fitted out and her owners, Lisa and her husband, are delighted with her.


After lunch we met up with Ken and Julia on the Fernwood stand and who should pop along but Del and Al from Derwent6.  Chris and I love meeting up with Del and Al.  We always enjoy our chats with them though this time briefly.


Today, Sunday, we looked at a few more boats but one, a piper boat, really took Chris's interest as the interior colours are something like Chris has in mind for AmyJo.

The colour scheme that Chris is taken with

We both like this entertainment cabinet

I quite like the tiles here

We also came across this Francis search light that gave us ideas for our own search light.

We love this Cratch window and Tunnel light

After that we hit the marques.  I'm afraid we were like kids in a toy shop.  "We gotta have one of these",  "and some of those", "Oh and we simply must have one of these"  It got that bad Chris confiscated my wallet but not before we came away with 3 mooring Pins, 2 mooring chains, a stove top fan and (as Chris called it) a roly up mat thing.  A rubber mat rolled we can use on thetow path to get onto the boat if its muddy.


We're back there tomorrow for our final day but this time we have volunteered our services to help Ken and Julia on the Fernwood stand.  I'll post to let you know how we got on later.  Hopefully the weather will be better and I can get some photos.


Anyone watched the Pageant today?  Chris and I watched it when we got back to the hotel.  What and occasion.  Despite the awful weather what a spectacular event! One cannot help feel patriotic watching the procession.


Well that's all for now.  Chris has gone for a Sauna and swim whilst I type and then we're of for a much needed meal and a drink or three.  So chat soon. Bye for now.

Einstein enters the picture

It turns out that there's a scientific and logical explanation for why people (mostly men) spend so much time in pubs and only get home in the early hours of the morning. The reason for this odd behavior is based on Einstein's famous Relativity Theory.

It works like this:

It is a well-known fact that the more you drink, the faster you move.  After about 8 beers (or 4 double brandies & coke, etc), you're moving at close to the speed of light, and this is where Einstein enters the picture.  According to his Relativity Theory, anybody moving at, or close to the speed of light, undergoes Time Dilation, i.e. time for you in the pub passes slower than for an observer outside the pub. 

Complicated calculations have shown that the pub becomes a type of time machine:- for every half-hour spent inside the pub, something like two hours pass outside the pub.  A typical situation is: "OK guys, it's 8 o'clock, I'm gonna surprise the family and get home early!!" However, the moment this person steps outside the pub, the time travel effect is negated by negative radiation from the environment, and he/she then goes:" Why is it so quiet?? OMG!!! It's half past one!! WHAT HAPPENED???!!??" .and the answer, of course, is Time Dilation!!  Simples.

I've tried to explain this phenomenon to Chris on the occasions I have suffered Time Dilation, but so far she has not been able or willing to understand the sound Scientific basis of this phenomenon.!!!!!