On-board the Event Horizon

Plane Plains

2012-03-21T14:45:00.000-07:00

Trying to photograph a Plane tree in Banbury, whilst sitting passenger in the car mean I only caught the twiggy twig ends of the branches of these impressive trees. I think those trees are my favourite thing about Banbury, second favourite is Banbury's Chish and Fip shop, always piping hot chips and good sized fish, all they need to do to make it perfect is have a display of cans of pop that get warm then let me buy them to drink. Chip shops just don't do warm fizzy drinks like they used to...

The fog came early last week, with a lovely pink in the sky. If I hadn't left my big camera switched on in it's case, I would have had a far better photo than this one.

After reading a felting blog I had a go at needle felting a ball.

I used the spare bit off the hose attachment, a 32 gauge and later 42 gauge needle and merino wool, dyed purple.

Felt ball half completed.

Finished ball.

Yes, I know, the roof needs cleaning.

Baffling growths.

Also, this week, even more exciting than mentioned above, is my newly working temperature gauge and oil light. The temperature gauge stopped working around Birmingham and I've no idea when the oil light stopped, thought someone must have switched wires at some point. Many thanks to Chris and Joy for making the electrical stuff happen and providing me with many more hours trying of to win a game of scrabble.
I didn't have a photo of engine wires, but I did have a pretty photo of the Puffin's baffle plate.

Some things haven't gone wrong.

2012-03-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Something must have gone wrong with the ships space canal continuum as we travelled through Solihull again, this time without the curry flavoured air and with less carrier bags in the water. The scenery was almost identical though there may have possibly been more plastic bottles and other rubbish in the water this time.

The lock must have restored normality (yeah I know, what's normal?) as we appeared to be travelling through Oxfordshire again. Could have been something to do with the film Labyrinth, perhaps it was a portal. I'm sure this lock was used in Labyrinth, I could hear Ludo somewhere nearby and it could have been Hoggle that closed the gate behind me.

See, there are even some of those crazy steps that appeared at the end of the film. I've since ran up and down them myself but couldn't find David Bowie in pale blue tights, anywhere...

feltafloat felt cases

I haven't had time to polish the roof, that's because I've been busy making iPony cases out of felt. Even got pretty labels in them too. Blackberry cases next.

Instead of the usual painting of roses, I've made my own flowers. Snapped my last felting needle when adding the pin to the back of one, those things are so fragile. I was worried it was going to happen but relieved when it did because it bounced off my eyelid, so, I'm lucky I didn't 'have my eye out' with it. Safety goggles for felting, from now on.

See how far away the hedge is? It's miles, the towpath is sooooo wide!

So, recently, I have:

Ordered new core plugs, which of course arrived and turned out to be the wrong size.

Continued to loose a litre of water a day from the engine, and still not located the leak.

Discovered my Maglite is only intermittently faulty, mostly doesn't work.

Lost all but one games of 'Words with Friends' (scrabble on iPony app)

Attended a job interview that went really well but they still didn't want me.

Now got a cat that only likes to poo in the litter tray, never outside anymore.

oh, And the 3 dongle doesn't let me sell on ebay.

Finally moving again

2012-02-29T14:22:00.000-08:00

Cat chin tickle

With the ships cat happily nestled on board, it was time to do the engine check before setting sail.

After a RCR service and engine inspection just a month ago, I was surprised to see a large nut in the below-engine pond. After a swift look over the engine I located it's proper home which was an engine mounting bolt. The bolt is higher than the rest of them, looks like it is trying to leave the craft, might need looking at, why didn't RCR notice this? I replaced said nut, slightly worryingly the bolt rotated a little too...

space ship in lock position

Best lock banter yet, I was accused of being a boy, that was now a girl. We then had a nice chat about colour schemes and the crappy paint job courtesy of the crappy marina on the Macclesfield canal.

Untidy roof arrangement

Approaching the parking spot I was asked it was one way traffic. One way? Just imagine if the canal network was all one way traffic. There would either be a lot of boats at the end of certain canals or there would be a lot of boats being transported by road back to the start of the canals. The rings would be ok, as you could continue to go round in circles. There would never be any danger of having to pass an oncoming boat, but then coal deliveries would be infrequent, unless Dusty has a friend with a big truck to get him back to the start of his route.

Maybe if it were one way on Monday to Wednesday, the other way on Thursday to Saturday and erm, day of being moored up on Sunday, yep, that might work.

Now, the sk8 kids have left the car park and the clubs music has stopped. Will it start again and will the kids come back to throw everything off the roof into the water and untie the craft, as we have been warned will happen?

Ships cat back!

2012-02-26T06:52:00.002-08:00

Cat has returned home, looking a bit sorry for herself and very thin. Am very happy to have her back.

missing cat

2012-02-22T15:13:00.000-08:00

The ships cat is missing, has been since the weekend. She needs pain relief but hasn't been home. She has been spotted on a farm recently.
She is 11 years old with arthritis, missing teeth and a growth on her head.

I want her back home.

Valentines swans.

2012-02-14T14:44:00.000-08:00

Walking on water.

The kids have been round each day for bread and crackers but not spinach. Google says they like spinach and lettuce, but they declined such delights.

Fight!

The view out the front of the ship is all clean and white, out the back it's smokey. White smoke billows out the exhaust, the exterior has a film of black on it. Funnily the interior is covered in a film of black too, no idea what's causing it. Under the bed is black, inside the cupboards is black, the cutlery draw is black. Myself and the fella are going to get flat caps and brushes and find work as chimney sweeps, we can't wash it off as we only have enough water left for 4 cups of tea, the ice is too thick to move the boat to refill the water tank.
The cat is now a black cat, no longer tabby.

Mr. Bojangles was living under the floor boards, occasionally climbing the walls and gnawing on the wires that power the horn and light so will have quiet cruising round blind bends from now on. He's made a macrame plant pot holder from the fridge wiring. I've seen him playing in the kitchen while the cat tried to get into the food cupboard.
Eventually, the temptation of organic chocolate spread and noodles was too much for him, I was woken by the cat playing with the trap complete with mouse inside.

Chocolate spread nose.

Mr. Bojangles has been released.

This morning I started the engine only to discover that someone has stolen the white smoke. Could be something to do with cleaning the little piece of metal with holes in it on the air intake unit.

Ice Painting and a robin.

2012-02-05T15:14:00.000-08:00

A frozen canal, perfect for painting on, with food colouring of course! Ok, I may have cheated and let the ice do the work. Green splodge was painted first.

Rocket/bird.

Now the red painting took hours, to get the fine detail exact.

Lungs/tree.

It's been a little chilly, the constant dribbling British Waterways water tap has done a little alien sculpture of it's own.

Jelly fish mushrooms.

The ships cat has done an excellent job of bringing in a toy to play with. The tiny mouse is now living under the floor, to check it was ok and still there cheese was left in the wardrobe. After the cheese vanished dried rice was left in the wardrobe. After the rice vanished a trap was purchased. The trap had a buffet of delights, on the dangly bit and on the floor. All food apart from the door activator has been removed.

A second trap have been purchased, this time with peanut butter in, smooth with the addition of sugar. A few grains of rice and sunflower seeds are settled snugly in the paste. The movement of the boat is activating both traps, with no Mr. Bojangles inside.

Ice ice baby.

Dusty the coal merchant has been, we had a cracking time following the trail.

A fat little robin.

2012-01-02T16:13:00.000-08:00

Naturally, as soon as I decide to choose not to upgrade my phone and to downgrade the tariff instead as O2 kindly offer, my iPony gets a mysterious few cracks across the screen. I've prevented further damage by applying some single sided sticky tape. Also, if I don't put it on silent mode, it doesn't vibrate randomly. Looks like I'll be upgrading after all

The pub quizzes have been going well, magically it's a tie breaker between all teams, every week. The ships cat took part but was caught trying to cheat by using the iPony. She later went for a lie down.

New Years Eve burlesque night started with the local mummers performing in the pub, which I was delighted with as I had only read about them years ago in a ghost story, so thought they were a made up thing or only existed in medieval times.

Dinner was eaten at midnight, a fine Indian take away from Mahi Restaurant. I thoroughly enjoyed my vegetable jalfrezi, but it seems that they forgot to put in any spices to the chicken vindaloo. I might ask them about that.

2011-12-28T10:57:00.000-08:00

6 months on...then off.

The paint isn't staying attached to the craft very well, in fact I'd call that paint flaking off. Must be something to do with time travel as it's only been about 6 months since it was applied. I was misled to believe it would last years.

For Guy Fawkes night we doodled in the night sky, a tailed mosquito, pretty, no?

After a little encouragement to move along now, we headed further south, with the craft occasionally stalling-not fun when drifting full speed towards a lock.

Next job is to try to get Canal Contracting to fix the work they did when they fitted the new fuel lines that now all leak.

Funny Compton

2011-12-22T11:31:00.000-08:00

After being thrown out of bed and having the loose objects thrown across to one side we discovered a faulty lock gate and the ropes removed some paint (that comes off if stared at for too long).

Unable to comprehend furniture on wheels moving, he walked into the coffee table and nearly broke his toe. Maybe fixed furniture isn't so bad after all...

A few months later, we set sail again. As usual we started the journey at dusk, night time being the best time to sail a spaceship, obviously.
First stop was just over a mile away in a nice corner of the hedge.
The following morning we set sail for Fenny Compton, a mere 7 miles away. We parked very close to the pub which has a rather excellent shop inside selling all kinds of things needed on an intergalactic journey. It's a large friendly pub with music at the weekends but no fancy moustaches.

We stopped off at the marina to have the gravity drive looked at, turns out it's a cheap model from a truck thus only heats up for an hour and always will do that.

We made friends with a couple in another spacecraft disguised as a boat, Wren's Nest which also has a ships cat.

Spaceship Races

2011-12-08T10:22:00.001-08:00

After a couple of nights at the nearest pub to the water where one room smelled a bit funny but was other wise ok, a race was started.

Weirdly, Long Itchington has a sleep deprivation order in place. Nights were spent lying awake not thinking, just being.

Early in the morning he set of on his ship while I waited for the ships cat to return. She saw me turned and ran away, as fast as she could. So, 5 hours later, cat captured, I followed, through the locks, up hill.

Using the telephonic devices, I learned himself had fallen in due to speeding hire crafts, so, I was catching up.

I paired up in the locks with a lovely bearded man who complimented my antique light.

As the sun lowered enough to blind me, I didn't hit any other craft and made it round all the tight bends.

We eventually parked in the middle of the locks at Royston Vasey. A delightful little village on a hill where every one wears the same uniform of a Barbour shirt with brown or green trousers and wellies. Some kind of headwear is preferable but not compulsory.
An incredibly friendly bunch who give the biggest welcome in the only public house worth entering in the village. We didn't try any others nor did we feel the need to.
I left a portal location device for the Event Horizon on the window ledge there, Mark and Sharon think it's an art deco lamp.
The food was excellent, I ate the fish and chips and the scampering scampi, he ate the meaty dishes. As usual, there was no pudding consumed as we would sink the spaceship with such big bellies, the portions were big enough as it were!
Music is played in that public house.

BW poo disposal, Fosse Wharf

2011-11-27T05:06:00.001-08:00

A beautiful British Waterways Sewage or 'Elsan' disposal point, as marked on page 95 of Nicholson's Waterways Guide 1 - Grand Union, Oxford and the South East.

Some boats have big poo tanks, (I never liked the idea of my bed being on top of a load of poo) and some have cassette toilets. It's mostly free to empty a cassette of poo but does mean it has to be emptied into designated points and more frequently than tanks.

Most are clean and a bit smelly, this one is not clean and is smelly.

It is also used as a rubbish disposal by some. Maybe a hose is missing from somewhere, as there appears to be a build up on and around the stainless steel feature.

That's the poo disposal in action, trying to minimise splash back. Splash back happens so I try to stand back to avoid it- or better still, get someone else to do it.

2011-11-22T13:09:00.001-08:00

Four light years later, we moved again, not far this time due to all those huge silent locks. Only 5 of them but there wasn't anywhere to stop in between locks. To save time and effort and space craft fuel, we tied to the two crafts together. I operated the exercise locks while he steered, dragging my craft along with him. It worked pretty well but I lost a fancy windlass somewhere along the way, I think it fell into a wormhole, maybe it will come back one day...

Semi detached time travel

The graffiti's getting better...

One nights rest, then off into the other dimension at Shrewley tunnel. It was only 433yds long, but I nearly got lost and didn't come out the other end. Finally met a craft that can go slower than mine in a straight line. I came
very close to engaging the gravity drive.

2011-11-13T13:17:00.001-08:00

An early start through the layers of graffiti and beer drinkers stiff locks and rain. No one threw stones at the Event Horizon, that treat was saved for the vessel behind me. I collected a few more carrier bags and a grey sock with pink toe and heel, disguised as a short piece of soft rope.

Solihull was eerily quiet, even the drinkers had ditched the beer cans and taken up jogging.

We paused at the scenic Catherine De Barnes to remove the carrier bag collection, we then pootled on down to Knowle for a few days rest of warmth and beer in http://www.emberpubanddining.co.uk/theredlionknowle/
The food was great, the beer got us drunk and the folk in there were friendly. The toilets reminded me of a Wetherspoons but yet the rest of the decor I especially liked.

Down and out of the centre of the Universe

2011-11-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

After a peaceful nights sleep we got ready to escape the big city. A sharp left, possibly backwards round a watery roundabout and into the descent. Thirteen locks, naturally I was in the middle of three crafts single handing, so I ran ahead, prepared the next lock whilst mine slowly sank then ran back up the hill to prepare the lock for the craft behind me.

After raising a lock paddle I came across what may have been a Birmingham work of art...

I stopped for lunch and was helped by a friendly young man with slurred speech and all his teeth missing, he was very keen to tie any rope he could grab to the nearest mushroom. I thanked him for his help then hid inside. As soon as I had company (of the sort I choose to have) he rapidly left.

We continued through beautiful Birmingham, mostly because there wasn't anywhere to stop apart from in the middle of a lock and that's not the done thing, plus it would be a bit dark. Some non English speaking gentlemen took photos of the spaceship. Well that's what they implied they were doing, but people always look to check their digital image, I'm convinced there camera wasn't taking any photos at all. Weirdos.

That nights mooring was in the middle of derelict factory town. We stopped on the locks mooring mushrooms with the plan of leaving before any boats needed them. It didn't even smell of beautiful curry making hungry anymore, which was a shame, some of those smells were wonderful.

Bir ming ham.

2011-10-27T07:36:00.000-07:00

The space craft took the right turn on the junction, uncharacteristically still waters.
I'd been told that Birmingham has a boring straight bit, but the views were really something. The graffiti grew in talent and size, the objects on the water bed varied in shape and size, the water was so clear that everything could be seen clearly.
After cruising along at a fast pace the engine caught fire and singed the bottom of my shoes. I turned off the engine and drifted to the bank, waited a while, everything cooled down then set out again yet I eased off on the revs for the rest of the journey.

Only a few cyclists and lunchtime beer drinkers out on the towpath in this area. The canal appears to have been mistaken as an extra large bin, mostly for carrier bags which I collected on my prop.

Dancing on the roof

2011-10-27T07:15:00.000-07:00

After a peaceful night in a mooring where no one could get to us, nor could we leave the boats, we set sail headed for Birmingham. Locks were scraped through, tunnels threw us into different dimensions, the sun shone down on us.
The scenery was beautiful, if you appreciate derelict factories and graffiti. Sailing passed without incident. After a slight miscommunication I reversed back up half a mile of canal (where I discovered I really do actually have steering in reverse) through a black hole and moored up for a peaceful nights sleep opposite two barking Salukis with kids zooming past on a quad bike. We slept through everyone dancing on the roof and the stealing of bicycles and bags of cat poo from the roof, fortunately all items were returned by morning.
Torn carrier bags removed from prop in the morning.

Wolverhampton flight of darkness

2011-10-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

After stopping at Oxley Marine to fill up with diesel and water and dispose of poo, we decided it was a clever idea to start the 21 locks just before dusk.
The first few locks were done in daylight. He went first, setting the locks for me after he went through them.
We had help from two young kids on three of the locks, one sang a song in German and the other explained 'stranger danger' to me.
The Event Horizon didn't want to stay still after each lock so I was struggling to close the gates without tying up to the oversized mushrooms. Twice I had to step on board without being able to hold on with my hand too, it was drifting away from me. It was dark by the time I had to leap for the boat, nearly missing it to fall into the cold dark water full of dead fish of all sizes.
The space ship seemed to speed up as I approached the locks so I ran ahead to open the gates while the ship was coming up in the lock then ran back to the previous one to close the gates that I had left open, I didn't want to fall in the chemically treated water.
Some youths closed the gates ahead of me but were kind enough to open them again as I approached. They then watched me struggle with the gate, just to make me feel nervous.
When I finally tried nudging open gates I found the lock wasn't empty which was odd as it had been left empty for me. Assuming someone was altering reality ahead of me I crept along as quietly as possible so no murderers knew I was there.
21 locks in 6 hours, mostly in darkness, never again.

Sinking...

2011-10-10T04:44:00.000-07:00

Yet again I dreamt the boat was sinking, I was single handing (moving the boat by myself) yet the engine boards were up and the batteries had slipped from where they should be and were about to fall into the water. I had to steer the boat up some short yet very steep ramps, the only way to do this was to approach them as fast as possible and jump onto the higher platform.
Fortunately real life is a little more relaxing.
There currently don't appear to be any problems with the engine or electrics, even the stern gland has successfully been stopped from leaking. So... time to concentrate on the rusting paint.

Trading standards have given us advice and Towpath Talk have offered to find contacts to help. Ideally we need an official to say that the paint should not be rusting off after only less than 4 months, which Rapid Paint have agreed to do!

Somethings wrong.

2011-09-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

There is still power in the batteries, the oven is working and the engine works; I can't work out what is wrong, but something has to be, it always is.
Maybe the gravity drive has broken or the detonators are faulty...
I dreamt the front wheel was being changed but I know there isn't a problem as there aren't any wheels on the craft.
Maybe it's slowly sinking or there is an evil organism growing in the water tank. Or it's just the dog poo that I've trodden in twice since mooring here.

Power cuts

2011-09-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

I used to love power cuts when I was young, they were so exciting, sitting by candle light, the television off...
I've ran the engine for 2 hours today when I came to turn it off I noticed the light was still on to say there was no power coming from the engine. So, yet again the electrician is coming out first thing in the morning.
I've recently had a new fuse board, new leads on the batteries, new wiring to the batteries, loads of other bits and bobs replaced and it's still not right. I was even optimistic this time that I wouldn't be having another engineer out for a while.

In less than 3 months I've had someone out to fix something 8 times now.

What a non relaxing peaceful way of life? Everyone else must have boats that just happen to work.

So far, things that have gone wrong and needed attention:
water pump,
solid fuel stove,
kitchen sink,
gas oven and grill,
lighting,
side hatch leak,
roof hatch leaks,
mushroom vents,
horn,
nav lights,
window leaks,
webasto heating,
fuel tank,
fuel pump,
alternator,
lap top,
bath taps,
brand new rusting paint job.
kettle,
cat,
and me.

Unless I'm forgetting something everything else appears to be working fine.

Intermittence

2011-09-18T12:08:00.000-07:00

Today the power is still in the batteries, which is unusual. As usual I've had the fridge on, the water pump has pumped water for the shower and taps. The bath pump has pumped the water out of the boat. The inverter has provided power to charge the lap top. Best of all I put the heating on, for it's usual hour as it magically knows when an hour is up and turns it's self off. (No other Webasto does this...)
The heating uses up lots of battery power.
Recently without the heating on the batteries have less than 12 volts in after 12 hours.
Today, still more than 12 volts after 12 hours. Obviously the problem that the electrician is coming to fix on Tuesday has gone away, for today.
Last night I dreamt I was cycling along a mountain bike trail, not knowing if I was going the wrong way, if I was going to cause a nasty crash as a biker came hurtling around the corner. Then the dentist announced he has to drill a hole in my filling.

More rust coming through and pushing the paint off.

I wish I had a washing machine.

2011-09-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

When I get a real boat I'm going to have a washing machine on it.
Posh Wash in Stafford is the best launderette I have been to yet. It's the first I have been to that is attended, by a friendly lady who advises which wash programme to use. 25mins for a wash, that's quicker than any other machine I've come across and she seemed proud to have such good machines.
It doesn't have much seating as it's only a small place. I read the beginning of One Day in the car.

Hallucinating in my dreams.

2011-09-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

Last night it wasn't about a sinking or evil boat.

I was driving the car, over taking on a duel carriage way when I saw two cricketers having a fight in the middle of the road, I stopped the car and sounded the horn, then they vanished. I then realised I must be hallucinating within the dream, which I thought was a very bad sign. I was holding up the traffic and motorists were getting annoyed with me, I was desperately looking for somewhere to pull over so I could stop the car, but of course there was no where to stop.

I took the Montague out today. We went to Cannock Chase. For an urban bike in Montague's Pavement series, it did remarkably well. Would have been nice to have suspension on the rougher tracks, but still it was a good ride and that large sprocket makes first gear ideal for getting up any hill!

First blog.

2011-09-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

It's a lovely peaceful way of life, so relaxing. So I'm told. I totally disagree, it gives me nightmares, literally.

Intermittently, the batteries get charge, sometimes they get lots, sometimes just a little. WIthout a battery charger and generator, I wont have enough power left. Today poor charging, yesterday perfect, the day before, useless. I haven't tried the generator yet, so that might not do it either.

I found more of the £6,500 paint job rusting off today, I'm sure I'll be told that's to be expected after 2 months. Really?