Flattering

A dog is a man's best friend. It's very flattering to know that there is a creature who would rather do nothing else than sleep at your feet.

Arrow is booked to see the vet tomorrow for his first vaccinations, checks and hopefully to be chipped (not like a car).

Arrow Has Arrived

I went to Devon on Sunday to visit my sister and her partner and to collect Arrow. The oldest two children could not resist coming with me so I had plenty of company on the journey. We spent the night there and brought our puppy home. He has settled in quickly, loves the children and I think we're beginning to make an impact with house training him.

Here he is at his most winsome

Home Again

We left the luxury of Gilfach cottage with its broadband connection, beautiful garden and roll top bath at 11:00AM in light rain.

We skirted around the base of Snowdon without seeing the peak (visibility was only about 200 metres) and after an uneventful drive of about 5 hours arrived home.

Black Rock Sands Again

We passed our last full day in Wales on Black Rock Sands again. This time the weather was less clement. It rained on and off all day. However as the saying goes "There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing". We were clad in wetsuits. It's quite strange to go swimming in the sea while it's raining. As you emerge from the water you remain wet. We shared the beach with very few people indeed.

Porthmadog to Ffestiniog

Having been to the beach nearly every day so far (except yesterday) we decided to go to Ffestiniog via the railway. The scenery is spectacular as you travel along the narrow gauge railway into the mountains from the sea.

The engine that pulled the train we travelled on has its own web site.

Here we see a railway employee holding up a token for the driver of the train about to pass his signal box and enter a section of single track. I saw two of the tokens; quite elaborately decorated staffs.

Harlech Castle

Edward I built Harlech Castle nearly 800 years ago.

It dominates the town that grew up around it and dominates the landscape as it was intended to. The castle was originally built next to the sea and had a jetty at the foot of the castle rock that could be used to resupply the garison in the event of a siege. Changing sea levels have left the castle a mile inland today. On our wall at home there hangs a picture painted by my grandfather before my first birthday (in 1965), of Harlech castle, so this visit was something of a pilgrimage for me as well as a visit to a spectacular monument.

I was hoping to get a photograph of the same scene as the picture but it wasn't until I returned home that I realised the painting view point was from the south of the castle while I assumed it was from the east so our photo shows the gatehouse.

Black Rock Sands

Cathy had spent the previous day in bed with a stomach upset while we were at Dinas Dinlle, but today was the day of our first visit with the children to the finest beach we know of in Wales. Black Rock Sands near Porthmadog.

Cathy first came to this part of Wales on a family holiday in the seventies. I first came here nearly 20 years ago with Cathy just after we married. We did the obligatory visit to Portmerion then as we are both Prisoner fans.

Wales Day 2

We spent the day at the beach again at Dinas Dinlle this time. Some family members were too tired even to climb into bed when we arrived home.

Wales Day 1

Our Holiday in Wales at Gilfach was one where the weather cooperated for once. Here's the beach just 20 minutes walk from the cottage.
Or 45 minutes walk if you are two years old...
It's probably empty because of the seaweed and rocks, you're thinking. Actually there are limited sandy parts as well. Cathy walked back to the cottage and took the car to the supermarket in Caernarvon before coming back to pick us up and take us back to the cottage.

They've Got a Shackleton!

We went to the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry again. Whilst visiting Cathy's family in Manchester a couple of months ago we went to the Doctor Who exhibition in the Museum of Science and Industry and then we looked in the engine hall. On our way out I noticed they have an air and space hall too. So we went back during this visit to have a look. After I had finally dragged everybody away from the top floor "Explore" exhibition for children I had a chance to inspect the museum's Shackleton up close.
It's what became of the Avro Lancaster. The museum's example was built in 1954 and looks like a Lancaster on steroids. It was designed to track down and destroy submarines. You can get up close to the aircraft and the other exhibits which include the first Avro aircraft, the Avro One, all built in Manchester

Stern Tube Change

The original specification for Syncopation included a Vetus water-lubricated stern tube but the shell builder is not keen to fit one as he's never done one before so we've agreed to go with a traditional grease-lubricated tube with stuffing box. I was a little surprised as Tim Tyler has been building narrowboat shells for years but these tubes are relatively new to the canal scene. Anyway, it's goodbye to the low maintenance Vetus tube and hello to the more traditional version:

We just have to remember to grease the stern tube every day. Rumour has it that the Vetus stern gear won't cope as well with the dirtier, gritter canal water but nobody who has one has reported a failure due to this.

I'll add pictures of both types just as soon as I find them.

Becoming a Regular Event

I was out in the garden puppy proofing the fence in anticipation of Arrow's arrival in a couple of weeks' time when I heard the throb of Merlin engines again. Looking up I saw the Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight flying low over Finmere airfield again. That's twice in two weeks! This time the Lancaster was accompanied by a Hurricane, on its way from a display at Blenheim Park to a fly-past at Bletchley Park.

More Puppy Pics

He looks every inch the spaniel now.

Angels at 12 O'Clock!

Wow! On Sunday I was treated to my own personal fly past. Or it seemed like it.
I was the only member of the family outside at the time when I heard a familiar sound: Merlin engines. Then a Lancaster flew over at what could not be more than a couple of thousand feet. Now I know that there are only one or two airworthy Lancasters in the world, one of which is in Canada. So it must have been PA474 of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight so I checked their web site and sure enough the list told me she was on her way to do a flypast at Bletchley and then on to RAF Duxford for a display. That meant the the plane was only three or four minutes away from the flypast and thus lined up at the appropriate altitude to pass over Bletchley Park. An inspiring sight.

How He's Grown!

Here's Arrow again. He must be twice the size he was when we first saw him.

And with his mother and brother and sisters.

Narrowboat Planning

We went to Mill Wharf boats on Saturday to meet the builders and decide on the final positions of the windows. The steel shell will be delivered in the middle of July so the window positions must be determined quite soon. With the help of my Sketchup 3D model, we discussed the final layout of the interior of Syncopation. We have decided to change the rear bedroom. The bed is to be a cross bed, with the head on one side of the boat and the foot at the other side. During the day lower half of the bed will slide under the top half to permit free passage through the cabin and the mattress will fold out of the way. The advantage of this layout is that the bed takes up less length and that allows access to both sides of the bed unlike the longways layout which only permits access from one side of the bed. We also looked for probably the last time at Tonantron II, the current Mill Wharf boat before it is picked up at the end of this week by the owners. In the saloon we saw a rather attractive Stovax Brunel stove in Laurel Green enamel. We've decided against the Petit Godin

we originally specified and will substitute the Stovax, in Midnight Blue enamel finish.

Incidentally we found out that Tonantron is a kennel breeding Boxer dogs and the boat is named after it.

New Statue

Don't blink!
There I was walking back to the office when I came across this chap. A new statue. This is the Barge master and Swan Marker of the Vintners Company. Located just across the road from Vintners' Hall outside St James Garlickhythe. The Vintners Company is one the twelve great livery companies of the City of London and has the right, granted by the sovereign, to own swans which they claim during the Swan Upping and to eat them, which they do once a year with great ceremony. It is an offence except in a few instances even to be in possession of a swan carcase.

On Solids Now

Arrow and his siblings are now eating solid food - well, mush - since they've developed teeth and Molly, their mum is losing interest in feeding them. They're growing fast, though.

Here's Bramble.

Arrow likes to have his tummy tickled.

The Aeronauts

I don't know what triggered it but a dim memory of a TV series that enthralled me as a child surfaced. Couldn't trace it at all. It was in French, dubbed into English, so I thought it might be Canadian. It was about two air force pilots. The only thing I could only remember was the name of one of them: Tanguy. Well, the power of the internet came to the rescue of my dim memory. It turns out it was a French series called Les Chevaliers du Ciel, made in 1967, dubbed into English and broadcast by the BBC in the early 70s as the Aeronauts. It was remade in 1988 as a new French TV series and finally as a film in 2005.
I think the translators in both case had a tin ear for a title "Knights of the Sky" is a lot more poetic than the Aeronauts or Sky Fighters. The original TV series was based on a series of comics beginning in 1961 created by Uderzo, co-creator of Asterix.

Judi On Holiday

Here, as promised is my sister on holiday in 1989: