Crick

I've been watching the weather forecasts for the last few days of this week. That's why we went to the boat show at Crick yesterday. The forecast for today and tomorrow has been for lots of rain, with yesterday marking the last fine day of the present run of warm weather. I think the children were bored. Cathy and I were not. A little frustrated at having to spend an inordinate amount of time in the childrens' area. Next time we go to Crick, I think the children will be staying at home. All the same, we each managed to look at some narrowboats. Syncopation's builder was there with the current boat Tonantron II - due to be finished during the next couple of weeks. Needless to say, we both had a look. Here I am peering into the engine room of the Mel Davis show boat. The tiny guy is wondering when we're going back to the ice cream van:





















If you look very carefuly in the top right hand corner, you can see the stern of Tonantron II,the boat mentioned above. I've enlarged it below
















Among many exhibitors I think AS.Bikes may have won the fight for the folding bike supplier slot.
This costs £139 :

















16 inch wheels, aluminium frame and six gears wrighing in at 14.5kg.

This is the Brompton:



From the dazzling array of custom-fit brompton options, the basic bike comes in at around £560. This for the steel frame and six gears. Without suspension. All weighing in at 11.5kg. Granted, the Brompton is far more likely to be repairable because the manufacturers will likely still be available for comment in 20 years time. And I think the Brompton folds about four inches smaller. For over £400 saved, I'll take the slightly larger folded bike.

We're Getting a Dog

Probably. Well, certainly we're getting a dog, but now we've got a date for it's possible arrival. For a long time the plan has been to get a dog, but we've been in no rush to get one. My sister and her partner have a number of dogs, all working Springer spaniels and one of them is pregnant (probably), due about 6th June. Springers are use gun dogs - I've seen my sister's partner 's dogs at work. They flush out the game from thickets and fetch fallen birds, even dispatching the ones that are only winged. They love walks in the countryand are good swimmers. Well, we live in the country and we've commissioned a narrowboat so I think our dog will need to be at home tramping the towpaths and swimming in the canal as well as being a good family pet.

Publicity

This month's Canal and River Boat magazine has a feature on Montseny, the boat completed by JM Clarke in June 2006. I would include a link but there's no web site for the magazine.

Upton Park

In the cause of making good use of our National Trust Family membership and allowing D to meet another lad with Tourettes we went to Upton House and Gardens for the afternoon. Upton Park is a largish country house last inhabited by Walter Samuel, 2nd Viscount Bearsted, chairman of Shell. We spent a relaxing time walking around the gardens: nobody fell in any of the lakes or streams. We left half our party outside and went for a look inside the house, remodelled by the owner and filled with a large fine art collection with pictures by Stubbs and lots of English and French porcelain. Most striking was the recently restored art deco bathroom; covered inside almost entirely in aluminium foil which looks like the dull side of baking foil. A striking and surprisingly tasteful decorating medium. I didn't think taking as picture in the bathroom - I think I was a little overcome by all the shiny foil.

Bekonscot (With Canals)

Not just a model village. A model village frozen in time in 1929 (the year it was opened).
We spent an intriguing afternoon wandering aroung a model of rural England of the 1930s. It's beautifully done and has it's imitators but I haven't seen a better one.














I'm sorry but I became quite excited by the model canal with its lock, narrowboats, wharf and tunnel.
Lock














Wharf



















Tunnel

Signed, Sealed and Delivered

I delivered the contract to the Mill Wharf Boat Company yesterday. Everything starts at the beginning of June. The shell will be built by Tim Tyler in May and fitting out is due to start at the beginning of June with delivery on 31st December. During my visit to the boat yard I had a quick tour around the boat currently being fitted out - it's due to be completed to be exhibited at the Crick boat show. I also saw Jason's own current project, Columbia; a working boat he's restoring.

Contract

The contract arrived from the boat fitters yesterday. I immediatley sat down and read it through. Then I read it again. Checked the list of extras - all present. The bottom line is one of those numbers that makes you feel a little faint. Still, we won't be spending it all in one go. There are stage payments. When I sign this we are committed. No backing out (not easily anyway).

Delivery date is 31 Dec 2007.

Must book tickets for the Crick boat show at the end of May.

Shell Spec Approved

The specification for the steelwork has been approved and will soon go to the shell builder, Tim Tyler:

Spec for shell 60ft Tim Tyler Trad with :

Backdoors sliding hatch

1 ½ sterntube self lubricating vetus type

Stainless tank 150 gallon

Two sets of side doors as per drawing

Two Houdini hatch steel work as per drawing

Steel bow doors

Twin diesel tanks at rear

Fully watertight weedhatch access through rear deck

Comastic below gunwhales

Descaled steel for cabin,if not leave it in bare steel for us to do

Vetus bow thruster tube

Strangely enough Johnathan Wilson/Tim Tyler don't seem to have their own web site. On the engine front, we've decided to specify a Beta 43 in an acoustic cocoon with a 5kVA travelpower auxiliary generator attached.

Another Livery Half Address

Skinners Hall
8 1/2 Dowgate Lane
London

Image - a whole guild for people who skin things.

Syncopation Spec Check

Today we went for another visit to the boat builder in Blisworth. We took the latest version of the specification and plan for Syncopation.
He'll meet with the shell builder at the end of the week to order the hull for delivery at the end of May!
I've made some very minor changes to the spec - addition of a heater to blow warm air at the steerer from the engine cooling system in winter. This is probably the final version, on which the contract will be based.
We were given some bad news, though. Beta have stopped making the propgen! This engine driven generator was a central part of my gas free narrowboat design. Apparently the demand was not sufficient for this unit. Now we'll have to either reduce the size of the galley hob to a two ring version (not likely swmbo says) or seek an alternative way of generating 7.5kVa from the engine. There is a 7.5kVa travel power unit but Beta aren't keen on it so more research for a power unit is required. We may get away with a 3.5kVa Travelpower unit and use the inverter to "top up" when we have all the cooker rings on. It's pretty unusual to use all the rings on the cooker at once, so it may be enough.

London Livery Addresses

I've noticed a couple of the London Livery Companies have strange addresses:
Here's 68 1/2 Upper Thames Sreet, Vintners' Hall.
Skinners' Hall is 8 1/2 Dowgate Lane. I will have to investigate the rest to find more examples.













Here's a list of the London livery companies:
Actuaries, Air Pilots & Air Navigators, Apothecaries (medicine), Arbitrators, Armourers & Brasiers (armour-makers and workers in brass), Bakers, Barbers (also surgeons and dentists), Basketmakers, Blacksmiths, Bowyers (longbow makers), Brewers, Broderers (embroiderers), Builders Merchants, Butchers, Carmen, Carpenters, Chartered Accountants, Chartered Architects, Chartered Secretaries & Administrators, Chartered Surveyors, Clockmakers, Clothworkers, Coachmakers & Coach Harness Makers, Constructors, Cooks, Coopers (barrel makers), Cordwainers (workers in fine leather), Curriers (dressers of tanned leather), Cutlers, Distillers, Drapers, Dyers, Engineers, Environmental Cleaners, Fan Makers, Farmers, Farriers (shoers of horses / veterinary surgeons), Feltmakers (hats), Firefighters, Fishmongers, Fletchers (arrow makers), Founders, Framework Knitters, Fruiterers, Fuellers, Furniture Makers, Gardeners, Girdlers (girdles and belts as clothing), Glass Sellers, Glaziers, Glovers, Gold & Silver Wyre Drawers (gold and silver braid for uniforms), Goldsmiths, Grocers, Gunmakers, Haberdashers, Hackney Carriage Drivers, Horners, Information Technologists, Innholders, Insurers, International Bankers, Ironmongers, Joiners and Ceilers, Launderers, Leathersellers, Lightmongers, Loriners (stirrups and other harness for horses), Makers of Playing Cards, Management Consultants, Marketors, Masons, Master Mariners, Mercers (general merchants), Merchant Taylors (tailors), Musicians, Needlemakers, Painter Stainers, Pattenmakers (makers of wooden clog-style footwear), Paviors (paving, highways), Pewterers, Plaisterers (plasterers), Plumbers, Poulters, Saddlers, Salters, Scientific Instrument Makers, Scriveners (writers of court letters and legal documents), Shipwrights, Skinners, Solicitors, Spectaclemakers, Stationers & Newspaper Makers, Tallowchandlers, Tax Advisers, Tinplate Workers, Tobacco Pipe Makers & Tobacco Blenders, Turners, Tylers & Bricklayers, Upholders (upholsterers), Vintners, Water Conservators, Wax Chandlers, Weavers, Wheelwrights, Woolmen (winders and packers of wool), World Traders.

City companies without livery
Parish Clerks*, Watermen & Lightermen*, Security Professionals.

*Recognised as a City Company but without the grant of livery.

Guilds
Educators, Public Relations Practitioners, Guild of Art Scholars, Dealers & Collectors .

My Lunch Time

I noticed this:

a few days ago but didn't have time to read it so I went back this lunch time to read all of it. Captain Ralph Binney was murdered trying to prevent a violent robbery of a jeweler's shop on Birchin Lane in London in 1944. The surprising thing about it is that there's more information about the man on the web site of the Amiralante Padilla Naval School in Colombia. He helped found that august institution after retiring from the Royal Navy in 1934, returning to the Royal navy in 1939, eventually becoming chief of staff for the Port of London in 1944.

Other things I saw on my walk:
Entrance to Bengal Court
St Michaels church

Waterways Protest at Banbury

I took the boys to Banbury this afternoon. We went in search of the IWA funding cuts protest. Not quite as spectacular as the protest I missed entirely last month. There was a stall on the towpath opposite the Castle Quay shopping centre. I added my name to the petition. There were two narrowboats moored next to the stall. I assume the owners were manning the stall because when we went back that way to play in the waterlogged park before going home boats and stall had disappeared.
There was another stall inside the shopping centre, again manned by IWA members (I assume they were members, they were all wearing badges). I think the general public were slightly bemused by this activity. Most of them have no idea of the funding cuts. I wonder how many of them even know about British Waterways?
I was a little disappointed at the lack of stuff to see - was hoping to see more narrowboats protesting - like the blockade a month or so ago. Never mind: I cheered myself up by visiting the chandlery at Tooley's.
After a visit to the park during which I spent a lot of time trying to keep the boys from getting too muddy and wet we came home with the car roof down, beating the rain home by a couple of minutes!

Duxford

This weekend we went to Duxford. The Imperal War Museum's attic. It consists of six hangars full of aeroplanes. Had we set off earlier we would have had time to see more than just two of them. However, the ones we did see were spectacular. We looked in the new "Airspace" hangar (History of British aviation) and the American collection. Airspace has a prototype concorde you can go inside, a vulcan bomber and many others.
Buccaneer.




















The last Spitfire (Mk 24F)












The only criticism I can offer is that the aeroplanes are so closely packed it's difficult to photograph them. Here, the spitfire is framed above by the port wing of the Vulcan, with the Lancaster behind it.

Half Term Break

Siobhan broke her arm falling off her cousin's trampoline on Sunday. It's a buckle fracture of both the ulna and the radius. This week she is modelling a temporary plaster from Bury Hospital Accident and Emergency department until any swelling has gone down. Next week we take her to our local hospital to change the plaster for a permanent one that she will wear for the next five weeks until the bones have healed. This evening her first tooth fell out (not related to the trampoline-diving incident). So the tooth fairy has to find a pound to exchange for it tonight.

Lovely Snow!

Winter has finally delivered. With five inches (125mm) of snow, travel to work was not possible and I worked from home, having seen the weather reports yesterday and brought my laptop home with me. At lunch time we went out and played in the snow. Ewan was very excited by it. We even did some tobogganing on tea trays. Metal tea trays make surprisingly good vehicles for sliding down-hill. Round ones are more exciting because there's a strong possibility you'll spin round as you descend. I'm hoping the snow will make it too difficult to travel to work tomorrow as well.

The snow shows how much heat we lose through our supposedly high-tech roof. It was constructed as a so-called "warm roof": all the insulation is just below the tiles unlike the traditional British roof, where the insulation is laid over and between the joists on the ceiling of the upstairs rooms. This means that our loft space is as warm as the rest of the house. I've always had misgivings about the roof because the top four feet always melts the frost quite quickly. It also melts the snow and the whole lot had slumped into the gutters by late afternoon, unlike our neighbours. We must be losing a fair bit of heat through the top of the roof. But then, we also have the flue from the wood-burning stove passing through the loft space and that dumps a lot of heat in there. I suppose it has to go somewhere. I don't feel too bad about it though, because most of that heat was generated from carbon-neutral logs.

The Monument

We went up The Monument. This is the column built to commemorate the Great Fire of London. It is 202 feet high (61.5m) and is the tallest isolated stone column in the world. I read that on the Monument web site. I've no idea what that means. I've seen taller stone columns (the Washington monument, for instance), but presumably they don't count because they're not isolated. It must be some technical term because the Washington monument in Washington is in the middle of a field in the centre of Washington DC. That's isolated from other buildings as far as I can see. So, I can only assume that it fits the criteria because it's shaped like a classical column and it's by itself. The Washington monument must be an obelisk.






Anyway The Monument is well worth a visit, with spectacular views from the top once you've climbed the 311 spiral stairs.

Cabinet War Rooms

Wow! Winston Churchill's bunker. When the war ended, the Cabinet War Rooms were just locked up and left. Some of the rooms were emptied but most of the 33,000 square foot (3100 square metre) complex remained exactly as it was for 60 years. We saw the room where the cabinet frequently met during the war, where members of the government slept, even Churchill's personal dining room and the room where the first transatlantic hotline phone was set up
I couldn't help thinking that if we'd lost the war, this would be a bit like Hitler's bunker is now: ruins. As it is, it survived intact and with much of the contents untouched until the War Museum began reopening it. The parts that were stripped have been refurnished using photographs taken shortly before that happened. It's just an amazing experience wandering around and thinking that it's just as it was 70 years ago. The picture shows D looking at the cabinet meeting room as he listens to the audio commentary.

Shooting

I went on a shoot with my nephew Nick and my sister's partner, Brian. I had a great day. It was a beaters' day at Pulshayes estate. Nick and Brian frequently work as beaters and go on the odd shoot. Every so often, the estate owners who run shoots will have a day of shooting for the beaters as a sort of thank you. I was invited, as we were staying with my sister for the weekend. I've never been to a shoot before, so it was a novel experience and I really enjoyed it. Nick and I shared a gun. The shoot was divided into two parties and each took it in turns to drive and to shoot. So we all had a go at driving the birds to the other party. There were about forty of us all together and between us we fired some 400 shots and brought down about 50 birds: mostly pheasants and a few ducks. Here they are at the end of the shoot:















While I'm not about to take it up as a hobby, I'd go again, given the chance. I actually managed to hit a pheasant with my first shot. The atmosphere was great as well: a real feel of the community in the country.

New Interior

The interior has been reshuffled to add an airing cupboard. I've put it in the bunk room for the simple reason that bottom half will hold the calorifier and that's best placed as close to the two main users of hot water - the bathroom and the kitchen - as posible. This translates to placing it between them. Placing the calorifier in the stern cabin the pipe run to the galley would have meant that we'd waste more water whenever we drew a sink of hot water for washing up.

Here's the new interior. The bunk room has grown by 2 feet while the saloon has shrunk by the same amount.

Narrowboat

I suddenly thought yesterday that there's no airing cupboard on the plan of the narrowboat (insert name here). So I've taken two feet from the saloon - back to 13 feet again - and made some airing cupboard and wardrobe space in the bunk room. The lower half will hold the calorifier and the top half will be for drying wet gear. Only five months until the shell build begins. I need to have as many of the appliances available by the beginning of the fit-out - beginning of June - so that accurate measurements are available for the final plan.

Christmas Parade

Buckingham had it's Christmas Parade on 9th December. Not as many floats as last year I think, but plenty of enthusiasm!

nearly better

My ankle has almost healed. I can walk without a limp. I can put socks on without wincing. However I'll leave off the running for another week.

This week is a bit strange; we've done the school Christmas plays and now we're just waiting for the event itself to materialise. Everybody is going on holiday at work, so things are getting quieter but my activity level is getting higher as I take on more tasks to compensate for the absent. Lucky for me I'm off work on holidaynext week myself so it all stops as far as I'm concerned, on Friday.

The C3 Pluriel is still a wonder. Lovely to drive and sometimes I even have the roof down - just because I can. This requires the heater to be at full blast on maximum to keep the frostbite at bay, though. I'm really looking forward to the warmer months.

Xmas?

The facilities management firm at the office building where I work seem to be suffering from a rather bad case of interior designers. I don't think I've ever seen a worse example of corporate christmas tree. There are six of these and a slightly larger one at the entrance. They appear to have been constructed from those box files you used to see in most offices for keeping invoices in.

Aaargh! Pothole

I fell into a pothole in the raod on Monday night and sprained my ankle. I was so busy watching for cars in the dark on a busy road that I was not watching the road itself and twisted my ankle and finished up lying in the gutter. Here's my foot going purple yesterday:
Yes. It really did swell that much.

Birthday Meal at the Boathouse

It was my birthday on Friday, so we parked the children with a babysitter (thanks June!) and went out for a meal at the Cherwell Boat House in Oxford. It was lovely. The food was great, the surroundings were understated and elegant and the company was, of course, excellent.

Web Protection

I recommend K9 Web Protection. I installed it a couple of weeks ago to ensure D doesn't come across anything he shouldn't in t'interweb. So far the product has been brilliant!

Shamefully Acquired

The dangerous shiny article mentioned in the last post has been acquired. I am now the proud owner of a new Citroen C3 pluriel. After the famous new AX debacle of the late eighties I promised myself I would never buy a new car again. However, I was seduced. I think it started more than three years ago when we were shopping for a sensible mpv for the family. I saw and liked the pluriel in the showroom but we were definitely not in the market for an impractical convertible. It was sensible all the way with a second hand picasso. However, with the old Peugeot looking rather long in the tooth and likely to cost serious money soon, it was time for a change for my commuting transport. Enter the pluriel. More later. Perhaps a picture if I can figure out where all the other pictures on this blog have gone.

Dangerous Shiny

I stole the title from blogapotamus rex, who has a very interesting list of shiny things which exert a dangerous fascination for her. I've been thinking about replacing my old Peugeot for ages and here's the likely contender:

I dragged the family to Stony Stratford for a test drive. I admire the calm the sales staff exhibited as my children spent a good hour playing in their shiny new cars while Cathy and I each had a test drive. It's amazing how the mind goes strangely blank about figures when you're thinking how neat it would be to be driving this on a summer's day with the top down....

Mini Pedo

We spent Sunday afternoon in London. Not just London but the City of London. We were participants in the Pedo. To explain: Every year the UHULMC arranges two treasure hunts in the City. One of them, the Miglia Quadrato takes place on the second weekend in May, beginning at midnight on the Saturday and ending at 6:00 on Sunday morning. This is a car treasure hunt confined to the square mile. In October, the Pedo is a similar event but competitors take part on foot. Clues are cryptic and can only be solved by finding some permanent inscription on a building or other part of the cityscape. The Mini Pedo is a subset of the Pedo, designed for families and the less fit among us.

We completed four of the six sections before we had to retire due to a combination of tiredness and running out of clean trousers for tiny boys. We'll be back next year with more clean clothes and stronger legs! 

World Heritage Site

So, the Pontcysyllte aqueduct is set to become a world heritage site. This is ironic when you consider the fact that it is a very popular but relatively isolated part of over 2000 miles of our canal system, now under threat. British Waterways announced 180 job losses among the staff who maintain the network
due to a problem with farm subsidies in DEFRA. A problem not of BW's making which prompted the government to announce a cut in BW's grant partway through the current budget year. Write to your MP! I'm joining the Inland Waterways Association.

The world heritage announcement resulted in a conversation with my colleague Carl about the aqueduct which sent me to my photo archive when I reached home. I crossed the aqueduct in 2003, I think, so there should be physical photos in the box in the loft. I'll post them when I find them. One day I'll get around to scanning them in...

Banbury Canal Day

Banbury had a special canal day today. A festival at Castle Wharf in the centre of Banbury. Lots of boats, market stalls and entertainment for the children. We went to the museum in Banbury as well. The museum has some great interactive displays about the canal and life in Victorian England. The children learned about schoolchildren in the 19th century. We had a chance to wander up and down the towpath in the centre of Banbury, looking at the boats, both private and historic. We saw Scorpio, an ex-BWB motor:

I found more pictures on Flickr of Scorpio at the 2005 Braunston Historic Boat Rally taken by Robert Silverwood.










At the end of the Canal Day, there was a procession which for me brought up slightly sinister associations:
Don't get in the wicker boat, whatever they say!

Committed

I've paid a deposit to our boat fitter to reserve our build slot! Work starts on the fit-out of Syncopation at the beginning of June 2007. This means that the shell will be built beginning in May 2007.

Nature Walk

We went to Rectory Farm in Water Stratford on Sunday afternoon. The weather was wonderfully warm and the walk was entertaining and educational. We walked for about a mile and a half around the farm, seeing the various activities that were being carried out for conservation purposes. There were small patches of crops planted to encourage wildlife (millet, sunflowers) and birds. Crayfish are caught in the river Great Ouse which runs along one side of the farm. These are the Americn Signal crayfish which has displaced the native species in most of our waterways. The walk finished with some pond-dipping where we caught newts, water boatmen and mayfly larvae. Last but not least, we watched three sheep being sheared.

Blofeld Alive and Well

Grannybuttons has spotted Ernst Stavros Blofeld in hiding on a Wyvern Shipping Company narrowboat! Reminds me vaguely of the first narrowboat holiday I spent on Wyvern's Willow in 1978:

This is my Mum, Dad, sister Judi and Aunt Doreen, somewhere near Berkhamstead. I can't for the life of me think why we turned south from Willow Wren's base in Leighton Buzzard rather than north. The scenery would have been more attractive the other way.

No Spitfires

We didn't go to Duxford. It was raining, an hour's drive and cost too much. Instead we went to West Wycombe and Hellfire caves.

The excavation of the caves at West Wycombe were financed by Sir Francis dashwood in the 1750s. The chalk dug out was used to build a road to High Wycombe after a series of harvest failures left many local families destitute. The men of the area were employed by Sir Francis in this manner for several years.
They're great to take children to visit and quite atmospheric. We had tea and cakes in the tea shop afterwards, then a stroll up the hill to see the Dashwood mausoleum and the Golden Ball church.
Whilst there D found a geocache, so we signed the notebook and left a souvenir pen.

Planning the Weekend

To go or not to go? Duxford are holding a Spitfire 70th anniversary airshow next weekend> The price for the whole family will be in excess of £75 for the day. Only half of that will be flying but there's the museum to look around in the morning, if we have the stamina for a long day. It's likely to be a once in a lifetime experience. Should I spend that much on a day out? Decisions, decisions.

Dedication

Ewan was dedicated today at Well Street United Church. Similar to baptism, with the same promises but it leaves the actual baptism up to him to sort out when he's old enough to make his own commitment to God.

As a consequence, we had many family members visiting us. Overnight there were sixteen people sleeping in the house so things were a little cramped. Cathy's three brothers brought their families and Cathy's mum down from Manchester. We have just enough good weather last night for a barbecue and then we watched Serenity.

Rescued a Sheep

We went to Devon to stay with my sister on her partner's farm near Honiton last week. There were several trips to the beach, shopping in Exeter and a visit to my aunt in a retirement home in Honiton itself. She's over ninety and physically quite fit but finding life in the home a little boring so my sister and other relatives nearby visit often. It was my first visit and I was glad I went. She has serious trouble with her short term memory so it was rather confusing because my aunt is unlikely to remember the beginning of a conversation by the time she reaches the end of it.
My nephew aksed me to help him rescue a sheep on Thursday. The unfortunate creature had escaped into a field adjacent to the one it
should have been in and was stuck in a patch of boggy ground. Sheep hooves are rubbish for crossing muddy ground! It had sunk up to it's armpits in mud and couldn't get free. When we arrived it was exhausted with struggling to reach firm ground the mud under it was at blood temperature. We managed to lift it to firm ground but it wouldn't or couldn't stand up, so we left it to rest and went back to the farm house to phone the farmer who owned it. The next morning we were on our way out and saw many more sheep in field and - you've guessed it! - another sheep stuck in the same patch of mud. It might even have been the same sheep again.

Congratulations Teresa and Jack

We went to see Teresa get married to Jack on Friday. It was a posh "do" at Arley Hall. We had a wonderful time in the beautiful surroundings of the home of the Viscountess and Viscount Ashbrook.

Home Again

We got back from La Rochelle the day before yesterday after one of the most eventful weeks ever.

S's passport didn't arrive until Tuesday last week so she had to stay home with Cathy until it arrived. I went ahead on Saturday to our rented home for the week, Villa Souka. We went by air and had an uneventful trip, having had the TV and immersion heater damaged by a near lightning strike at home on Saturday morning before we left.

Later in the day two bedrooms were flooded by another thunderstorm via our Velux windows which I had left open. The girls were at Mead Open Farm.

We went to the Ile de Re on Sunday to see the Phare des Baleines and go to the beach.

On Monday we went to the Aquarium and on Tuesday we went to the Maritime Museum.

The cost of Mobile phone roaming in Europe is criminal. I burned £30 of credit in two days in about 30 minutes of calls and you can only top up your phone via Vodaphone in the UK. This meant that Cathy couldn't reach me when the passport arrived to tell me when she and S would arrive. I couldn't call until Tuesday morning: there are no French payphones that take coins any more, you have to buy an international card from a tabac. I finally thought to call the friend who gave the girls a lift to the station when I got no reply at home or from Cathy's mobile. Then I had to try to remember how long the train journey was via Eurostar and TGV to deduce their probable time of arrival.

On Wednesday Ewan was ill. I took S and D to the beach and the Museum of Automata and the nearby Model Museum.

On thursday we went to Planete Futuroscope. And Cathy and I were ill that night. On Friday S was ill and I took D to the beach. On Saturday we came home.

Early Sketchup Efforts

I've been learning sketchup in an effort to visualise the narrowboat to be. Here are my efforts so far:

This is a work in progress but it has already allowed me to even better visualise my design than before. Well done Google for this excellent entry level CAD package!

All For Charity

We went to the Puzzle Pre-School Charity ball this week. It was held at Pendley Manor Hotel, a rather lovely four star hotel in Tring at the edge of the Chilterns. The Manor is set in 26 acres of parkland with dozens of peacocks in residence. We stayed overnight on Saturday after the ball, having parked the children at a very kind friend's for the duration. It was only when I was leaving that I realised the hotel grounds actually border on the Grand Union canal! Here's a map. Curses! I missed a perfect chance to indulge in a little gongoozling.

Pitt Rivers Museum

Ever since my time at Oxford, I've loved the Pitt Rivers museum. It's an anthropological museum which strongly resembles an attic. It's at the back of the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. There's an unassuming (on the scale of the museum of natural history, anyway) door at the back of the main hall. Once through this, you find yourself in a large dimly lit room filled to bursting with large glass cases. There's only just enough room between the cases to fit one person. There are large exhibits (dugout canoes etc.) suspended above the cases. Items are classified under eccentric headings. There's a case full of fire-making implements, another filled with guns. There's even a case displaying what humans do to their enemies' heads. The whole place has the atmosphere of a huge Victorian attic. It's just wonderful. The museum is having an extension built at the moment which will more than double it's capacity. I just hope it manages to retain it's present atmosphere where every corner turned (and there are so many corners) reveals more treasures and unexpected discoveries.

Learning Sketchup

I've created my first sketchup drawing! My first attempt at designing a new mezzanine floor for our front bedroom. The bedroom has a fifteen foot ceiling, so it's begging to have something in that space. I reckon I can fit a platform big enough for a double bed in there. Sketchup has allowed my to prove that. Next, I'll think about tackling a narrowboat design. I've already produced two 2D plans of our proposed narrowboat in OpenOffice Draw. There are still some issues in my design : the fore deck and well deck are about four feet too short. Seating in the saloon is taking up an inordinate amount of space. I think moving to sketchup may be the answer. The problem is that having once gone 3D there may be no way to produce a 2D plan. I'd also like to transfer data from one application to the other. Oh well, only more experimentation will show what can be done.

Recursion

I'm reading a book called Recursion at the moment and I thought I would post something about it, but I found the Hasselhoffian Recursion instead. Aaaargh!

Show and Tell

S had show and tell at school yesterday. We couldn't find her baby book, so we sent her in with this. It's a panel about 3 feet by 4 feet, made for queen Victoria's diamond jubilee. The queen'd head is about four inches high. Made of three pieces of thin printed cotton stitched together. It's amazing that it has survived so long. We found it in a cupboard when we bought the chapel. 

Medieval Jousting

Wow! We saw a roadside avertisement near home and went to the Medieval Jousting Fayre put on by the Devils Horsemen at Wychwood stud. We were treated to a spectacular display of stunt riding and chivalry. Gerard Naprous and his team put on a great show. We cheered all the knights except for the villainous black knight (Gerard), whom we boo-ed and hissed. At the end he was, of course, vanquished and met an end fitting to his villainy.










In addition we saw some of the Gerard's huge collection of coaches and were able to look around the stables and see all their horses. There were activites like a climbing wall, archery demonstrations and a chance to ride in a period coach.

I had not realised the Devil's Horsemen were based so near to our home. I've even seen them filling their lorry up at a local filling station, complete with trailer carrying western stagecoach.