Sheep's clothing

Day 5, Wolverhampton

Well, it seems I spoke a little too soon, as we had a slight kerfuffle at 4.30 this morning, some passersby deciding to hop on and nick some of our coal. They didn't half get a surprise though when Jim popped up from under his bivouac in the hold growling 'Fuck off!'... One of them ventured back a few minutes later by which time Jim was fully dressed and wielding the keb, and that was the last we heard of them. I hid under the bedclothes of course while all this was going on. Tonight though we have drifted Chertsey over to the offside ever-so-secure-because-utterly-inacccessible mooring, and apparently we are leaving tomorrow at half past five. So I shall endeavour to be ready by quarter past...

Today we went back into the town centre looking for a food shop (we eventually found a small Tesco hidden in a corner of one of the two shopping arcades) and hoping to investigate the covered market, only to learn that it's closed on Thursdays. If it hadn't been for the early start we certainly would have investigated the Great Western pub, but sadly now that will have to wait for another visit. We did however drop into a proper old fashioned caff ('Charlies') for Jim to have a proper old fashioned breakfast ('12 item' breakfast £3.90) and two excellent mugs of tea at 50p apiece.


And then we came back and continued with the painting and decorating - the cabin and the rear hatches, which are nearly done now, and putting some new paint on the outside of the cabin to clean it up, getting all the brass done etc. so that we won't be too much of a disgrace at the festival. I'm pleased with the general way the back cabin is looking now, although it doesn't bear too close inspection.

Take a seat

Chertsey's seatboard, now completed by Jim. I must say I'm terrifically impressed. I particularly like the single bird which, if you look at it closely, is clearly a seagull to remind me of home on the coast!

Rugged rug

Having successfully handwashed it (albeit with a fair bit of effort, and not escaping without getting wet), I decided to chance the first ever rag rug that I made in the washing machine. This is a rather super new machine that we have recently bought, which has different programmes that I actually use, which is a first. I thought that if the rug could survive the vissicitudes of being bundled about in a big bucket of water and lifted out sodden, then a Woolmark wool wash and 600 spin would be a doddle. And so it has proved; the rug is unscathed. On the downside, so is most of the dirt.

Fan mail

It looks like a very big hurrah for Trent Valley Bearings in Long Eaton. We went there initially to get new... you've guessed it... bearings for the engine's cooling fan. We knew we needed a new shaft too, as it was worn from where the bearings had been rattling, greaseless, and the threads were badly worn, and were wondering where to go for that, when I notices on the counter a flyer etting out all the services they provided, one of which was machining. So we left the old shaft with them, and within hours had a quote of £80 to make a new one. We took advantage of the fact that it was all in house to get them to put the whole assembly back together too, and fit it into the casting that houses the fan. This process was begun on Monday morning, and this afternoon we collected the complete unit. How's that for service, and a total cost of £150. Then it was next door to Arkwell Fastenings for two nuts and we were away.

One spacer however needed machining because it had sustained some damage in being removed, and we hadn't thought to take that along. Here Trevor came to the rescue (he is the next door neighbour of the very forebearing chap at the bottom of whose garden we are tied up. The railway is their joint enterprise and Trevor is in charge of (and no doubt built) the steam loco), taking Jim off to his shed to demonstrate his lathe. Really, this absolutely could not have happened in a better place. Jim has started to reinstall everything and touch wood, if it continues to go smoothly we should be on our way again tomorrow. But I don't want to speak too soon.

Meanwhile I have been doing more interior painting. I had already decided, based on what was already here, to go for a relatively austere look with mainly cream gloss and a few bits picked out in green, with minimal graining. It was only later that I read in one of the Tom Foxon books his reference to the cabin of the boat he had just bought being still painted in Waterways' cream and green - I must follow this up, but I won't be changing my decor for a while anyway.

Castles in the air

And other little jobs.

Having bought a set of nice brushes yesterday, I finally got around to putting a first coat of Craftmaster varnish on the roses and castles on Chertsey's hatches. This was a job which was long overdue. The paintings date from at least the early 1970s, and very possibly earlier. Because Chertsey was unused for so long, and the hatches shut tight, they were protected from the elements. Now the boat if being used, they are exposed to the sun and the rain and of course this is fatal to the fragile old paint, which was already starting to crack. I haven't attempted any repairs or repainting, nor have I rubbed them down at all, I didn't dare, so the patchy patina of discoloured old varnish remains. All I did was gently clean off as much dirt and grime as I could with a weak detergent solution, followed by meths. Hopefully a few coats of varnish now will preserve them in their current state for years to come.

I've also been making progress with the interior painting; it is a very slow process in such a small spacem constantly having to move everthing around. Meanwhile Jim has been cleaning up in the engine room and has wrapped the heatproof bangade around the exhaust. So lots of little jobs are finally getting done whilst we're laid up here waiting for our part to be made.

Lucky dipper

Today Jim got his paints out again and painted this dipper. It's one of two 'feed scoops' we bought ages ago for a fiver. I think it might be destined for Chertsey as it's my birthday next week.... Nice, isn't it.

I'd love to have a go, but I know I just couldn't do it. I attempted some roses on Andante, but I couldn't even work out what direction to move the brush in. My castles weren't much better, but at least they were the right way up.

That bedspread at last

So sorry for keeping you in suspense, but suddenly there were so many more interesting things to write about. Anyway, here at last is the new bedspread, purchased a couple of weeks ago in the newest Newhaven charity shop. This one isn't part of a national chain but is a long-established local charity supporting disabled adults. Local charity shops like this I find are in general not so good for clothes, but better for bric-a-brac; a bit more like a good old fashioned jumble sale.

Anyway, I couldn't resist this multi-coloured crochet treasure trove. And it - and similar crocheted blankets - do have a use. The cross bed has a solid base and a foam mattress, which can attract a lot of condensation. Putting a blanket like this under the mattress seems to help reduce this, by spacing it out and providing some airflow.

Got it finished

I'm quite surprised at how quickly I've got this one finished - it's got the same amount of bits in (roughly) as the others; but it's definitely been the quickest yet, despite having a more complex pattern. All I can put it down to is that the vast majority (are we allowed to say majority or is it all too painful?) of the fabric was woven, and therefore could be torn into strips, rather than having to be cut like jersey (t-shirt etc material)does. The downside of tearing - especially velvet - is that it's very messy, bits and fluff and threads everywhere. But it is a lot quicker.

I'm reasonably pleased with the way the diamond pattern has turned out, though it was harder to do than just straight lines (I've learnt a lesson though; in future whatever the pattern I will work it in straight lines, changing colour as necessary. Working in blocks makes too many fiddly corners to work tufts into.)

Of course, it looks a lot neater on the back.

Green vote

Looking for something to do with my hands whilst listening to the results coming in on election night, I decided to get on with Chertsey's first custom-made rug. It was along night, as I was determined to wait for the result from Brighton Pavilion, where the Green Party had its first real chance of securing a seat (which of course it did, hurrah). It was interesting not only because I have a great deal of time for Green politics, but also because it's a nearby constituency (next door but one along the coast). You may not still have been up, but that result finally came in at about six a.m., after I'd gone round the house opening the curtains again and was just sitting staring rather fixedly at the computer screen, having augmented Radio 4's coverage with the rather good Guardian election blog. By then I'd run out of bits of stuff, but after a couple of hours sleep I cut up some more and continued podging whilst watching (well, listening to) events unfold.

Now, I already have a rug in Chertsey's cabin. This is the very first one I made, which sat safely, untrodden, on Warrior's side bed until someone (ahem) put a creosote (substitute)-soaked fender down on it. This was a blessing in disguise really as it meant it could now be used for its proper purpose. It is now filthy, but does an excellent job of trapping dirt and stopping it getting all round the cabin. This new one will, for now, be for best. The plan is to keep it on the bed during the day, and only put it down at night as a treat for my bare feet. Eventually it will get grubby, or some accident will befall it, and it will slip down the rug league to be replaced by another interloper at the top. But I suspect it will still be there long after whatever government we get out of this intriguing situation is long gone, and hopefully it will remind me of that momentous night.

It's not exactly designed not to show the dirt, as I have based it on the cream and green paintwork of Chertsey's back cabin (and indeed engine room). Baz may notice when he next changes his bedclothes that his cream wincyette sheet has disappeared. However, as he only changed them last week I should be safe for about six months yet.... It is so far in my standard concentric oblongs pattern, which is what I do because I never know in advance how much I'm going to have of any particular fabric, which makes planning patterns difficult. I think I'm going to be a bit more ambitious this time though and perhaps go for a diamond pattern in the middle.

Roses and ratchets

I was browsing in the charity shop last week (not unusual of course) and I saw these curtains, so I thought I had better snap them up for Chertsey, remembering the trouble I had finding suitable fabric for Warrior's. Somewhere, of course, I still have plenty left of the lovely big linen curtains I made Warrior's from, but can I find it? Of course not.

Interesting, isn't it, how the pattern of yellow and pink roses and little blue and yellow daisies crops up again here, the same as in Warrior's different fabric and very reminiscent of traditional canal painting.

And by way of contrast, I've got myself a nice new ratchet, thanks to Jim spotting it on Tooled Up.

Sixteen quid and next day delivery. Wonder if I'm going to get the chance to use it in the next few days?

The kindness of...

I hardly know what to say.

Checking in this morning I spotted that Blossom had a new post, on a topic close to my heart, and as I can never wait to read his wonderfully knowledgeable and entertainly written posts, I clicked straight through to this.

By the time I got to the end, and realised what he had done, I genuinely did have a tear in my eye. I have met Blossom once, and that incredibly briefly, with no time for more than the quickest chat, at last year's Black Country Museum gathering. In that sense he is indeed a stranger.

But didn't I really meet him back in 2007 or thereabouts, when he left his first comment on nbWarrior, pointing out some error I'd made - but as always, with such tact, such obvious knowledge and devotion to getting it right, that, very unusually, he instantly won my respect. Whatever else the internet may be, it is, in my experience, somewhere where you - especially the shy and the awkward among us - can make real friends and meet some wonderful people.

And I understand absolutely what he has done, and why, and gladly accept it in that spirit, in the hope that one day I will be able to do something similar, if not for Blossom, then for someone else.

Thank you Blossom, from the very bottom of my.... bucket?

Castles in the air

the final instalment of Jim's painting adventures

We all arrived full of enthusiasm, bright of eye and very bushy of tail despite quite a snow fall overnight. Without exception we all found Saturday tiring but were looking forward to what we all perceived to be the more difficult of the two days. And so it proved......as the landscapes are more technical by far, full of shading and perspective as well as Bradford Bean Can Theory. We did however have one major problem, the room was considerably colder than yesterday so much so that the paint was not drying properly despite us using proper quick drying flat paint. This is necessary, otherwise the various colours will either bleed through or drag, this should only happen if you want it to. Phil was getting frustrated by the slow progress caused by the non drying paint so he arranged for Zita to bring over the office halogen heaters which which was all well and good but he neglected to tell us that the office heating had broken down and poor Zita had to do her work of reorganising the office in the cold, so respect to her as yoof of today would say. These heaters made a world of difference and our work quickly dried enabling us to try and catch up what Phil estimated was a loss of over an hours 'production' meaning that we were unlikely to finish our work properly. We pressed on, fueled as yesterday, by copious quantities of tea, biscuits and rolls and more tea. Success was in sight at last and almost on time as well but we still had to endure Phil's bear hunting joke, and endure it we did and him being the son of a music hall comedian.
Please note : for a much more objective appraisal of this wonderful weekend please keep an eye out for Jill's forthcoming article in Canal Boat complete with pictures in glorious technicolour.

For those whose appetite has been whetted there are just four tips that I would like to pass on:
Don't ask how you can paint egg cups, teaspoons or flat irons
Don't say Alfa Romeos are Fiats only rustier
Don't ask are there any Italian motorbike makers?
or say Formula One is rubbish.

Other than that sign up and enjoy.

Roses in the snow - Part 2

The next instalment of Jim's adventures... in which paint finally gets a (small) mention

Woke up to a perfect day which augured well for the labour ahead. Leapt up, chucked some cold water on my face and put the kettle on. Strains of giggling from up stairs alerted me to the fact that Wriggle and Bones would soon be appearing. Several cups of tea drunk and a bowl of Mort's
Oatbix(?) devoured we were all ready for the day and off we set in the Volvo laden with large quantities of rolls and good intentions.

On arrival at the Stourbridge Canal Wharehouse, the venue for our weekends fun, the rumours of much chillyness proved fortunately false.
Some of our fellow 'students' were already there and a finely cheerful and positive lot the were too. More tea, biscuits and general banter, an introduction to the wonderful* Meg Harvey, Phil's former apprentice and off we went. Phil's passion for the subject was clear from the start and
a silence that you could cut with a knife enshrouded the assembled throng - this was the natural course of events over both days, somehow Phil's very casual manner held us all enthralled despite regular mobile calls from some people installing a paint mixer breaking the spell and his general inability both to work his mobile and find his glasses, Each process, there were about 8, was explained and demonstrated and then it was our turn................. and an even greater silence ensued, as we all sort to put into practice each of the seemingly simple? processes.
There was none of the usual mickey taking or competitiveness, just surprisingly focused work. Much tea was consumed, biscuits eaten and at lunch 'our' rolls received a surprising good reception.

Met up with Tiggy Madcat, a fellow 'student', who owns Halsall, a big Northwich which spent a considerable amount of time in Chertsey's company at Les Allen's in Oldbury but now lives in Hawne Basin, lucky thing. Not only did boat talk but she said she was a big fan of the heavy rock music, especially the Groundhogs, a band with whom I had a short term aquaintance. We were all inspired so lunch was short and we were soon hard at it again, although still somewhat confused by the elusive roses or flowers as they should be known as. Everybody had achieved the same level so far, a tribute to both the tutors and the concentration and hard work of all the participants. The roses continued to evolve but not as we would know them and certainly not with the 'life' of Phil's but press on we did until as if by magic and following the final process our 'roses' came to life with a general and very particular satisfaction.

Our work done for the surprisingly tiring day we drove back to Jill's for some food and in anticipation of a or several well earned pints.But before we went out we had to prepare tomorrows food for the class. Jill had decided that there should be some cold sausages which we were instructed to wrap in either foil or cling film which we signally failed to do because we were utterly useless, dropping most of the sausages on the floor, which in turn caused us, Mort and I to fall into an almost catatonic state of hysteria so much so that 48 hours later my face still hurts and my eyes are still sore from the tears of mirth. The situation was recovered by instructions from the kitchen but even so it was fully five minutes before we were able to move. Beer was however calling fairly loudly and as well as being able to choose a boat builder Jill can also choose a pub and it was to the Railway Arms that we repaired. A truly wonderful pub developed out of Bridgnorth Station platform buildings of the Seven Valley Railway, some of whose engines and rolling stock can be viewed for Jill's house. 10 hand pumps, none of which I knew, a really good mild and a very eclectic clientele including, to complete a mini banter Caspar Ghost and his brother Kevin who extraordinarily had carried on a family tradition of making their own narrowboats from scratchin their garden complete with nice old engines
- a Ruston and a Dorman both bought off ebay. A good evening was had by all but we were not too late as our eyes and tails had to be nice and bright and bushy for tomorrow to paint our landscapes
* This was the word Phil used which proved very true.

Roses in the snow

As part of his Christmas present (along with some rather fine new dungarees) I sent Jim on Phil Speight's 'roses and castles' painting course. And here is his report (well, part one of it), in which we don't even get near a paintbrush, so I have the comfortable feeling that this will keep me in posts for a few days yet.
(Please excuse the buggered up formatting; it's because it was written in an email and then pasted in here, and no I'm not going to go through and weed out all the extraneous returns, sorry). Over to Jim:

My nervousness regarding venturing to the Northern Wastes to take part
in Phil Speight's weekend long 'flowers and landscape' workshop was
heightened by the time it took for the eventual date to arrive. Several
changes caused by the "unseasonably cold weather" had made matters worse
and by the time Friday came I really did not want to go. I am not a
'joiner' by nature, in fact I don't like people much at all. My
previous experiences with 'courses' ranging from first aid through VHF
to NVQ 4 Training for Trainers and 'Partnership Working' had lead me to
expect being confronted by a room full of fools bleating nervous
inanities and inconsequential 'jokes' whilst the facilitator or trainer
worried more about the assembled company feeling "safe" than imparting
any of their usually very limited knowledge.

I travelled up on Friday afternoon so as to settle in to my digs for the
weekend, on the living room floor of the marvellously named
'Wrigglefingers' very temporary landbase in Bridgnorth. I was somewhat
early so I phoned ahead to organise meeting Jill Wrigglefingers at
Dadfords Wharf, the home of all things wonderful to the connoisseurs of
inland boating, where she is having a seriously great boat Cobbett
very properly made by David (not Dave you understand) Harris, worth
every penny no matter what it cost. Dadfords Wharf itself is just a
fantastic place just to wander round, for apart from the almost mythical
Mr Harris, it is inhabited by the as mythical Ian Kemp and a person whom
we should apparently call 'Jesus'*, the aforementioned Phil Speight. The
building and its environs alone, an old canal warehouse in original
condition, would take a day of anyone's time, piled high with the
detritus of proper boat building and sundry proper engines of all kinds
as well as numerous moorings for several ex-working boats. The smell
alone would be worth bottling and selling a aftershave. As exciting for
me or should that be us, was that I met Ian Kemp who apart from being
the a boat builder/restorer of renown is THE Petter PD2 guru and holder
of most of the available stock of spares as well as 2 brand new
engines!- absolutely not for sale. Ian was simply marvellous and very
helpful, so we shall both be up there for several 'consultations' before
very long I am sure. He also ran Chertsey as a teenager in the early 70s
as well as having rebuilt the engine during his brief tenure, that seems
a bit to much of regular feature for my liking but hey ho! The last (and
the first) time that we had seen Ian was a sort of 'Fist Full of
Woolwich' scenario when we all went to view (and it turned out to buy)
Chertsey and it was a bit like a reverse Mexican stand off - the first
one to blink bought it.

Whilst Jill finished off her painting I looked at Swan's new iroko
gunnels with Ian and his son and saw that it might not be such an easy
task as I first thought, but doing things properly on a boat never is
but at least I have seen iroko in action although somewhat strangely the
joints were butted and not lapped in any way but this is a question for
another day as Ian had wandered off. What I did learn, from Mary Gibby
the long time owner, was that originally the gunnels were held in place
by cheese headed bolts but that these were no longer available so
perhaps some might have to be made as it seems to be a much better way
that using domed coach bolts and plugging the holes. Just as we left Jill
said that her house was somewhat untidy as she had been working on
Cobbett for several weeks and worse she had just had a book avalanche. I
though that this was something like a baby shower or possibly some
unknown to me fundraising wheeze but on arrival, armed with the next two
days 'makings' of lunches for 12 hungry painters and ambushed by the
lurking Bones, I saw what Jill meant........several floor to ceiling
piles of currently homeless books had fallen over and lay scattered over
the tiny floor of the small cottage in hurriedly assembled, random
smaller piles. Whilst Jill cooked a marvellous meal, cognisent of the
various constraints placed on her by both Bones and me, Bones and I set
to and made the rolls and pittas for tomorrows lunch, accompanied by
much giggling fuelled by copious quantities of red wine but it was
certainly early to bed for tomorrow brought a need to be very bright
eyed and bushy tailed.

*This was apparently the nickname for Phil used by Ron Hough (god) when
talking to a customer in the 'Nelson' at Brauston.

Chain reaction

I have been following Blossom's Minnow blog with enormous interest - it is quickly becoming a vast repository of information and memories and anecdotes that will surely be a treasured resource in years to come - not to mention right now.

I'm going to be cheeky and put in a request for Blossom to tell us about chimney chains... their purpose, origins and most importantly design and decoration. I have all these lovely brasses


and I want to know how to attach them to a chain - and what sort of chain it should be - for best effect.

Of course, I couldn't find a decent photo of a really good one (Plover has one, but it didn't show up properly in any of my photos), but any excuse for a picture of a cute dog.

I know the tale, of course, about chains being made from the brass fastenings salvaged from gas mask cases - and modern chains that you buy new with their flat links would seem to be based on this. But WWI or WWII gas mask cases? And in any case, what did they do before the relevant war? I'd have guessed that ordinary brass chain would have been used, but in that case, why does no one seem to use it today even on boats done up in earlier styles?

So much I don't know, but someone out there will have the answers.