The Bluebell Polka

Flowers, Spots and Belles
https://bartimaeus.blether.org.uk/the-bluebell-polka
#Narrowboat #LiveAboard #BoatsThatToot

Cycling and Knitting

We continue with our regular hobbies while we wait for the boat.
https://bartimaeus.blether.org.uk/cycling-and-knitting
#Narrowboat #LiveAboard #BoatsThatToot

Welcome to a blue-moon night where peace falls after a hot and busy day. A perfect night for gently contemplating great and imponderable things!

#podcast #narrowboat #philosophy #history #slowliving

https://www.noswpod.com/oxeyes

Last night in the dark, a boat went by.

I say "in the dark" but it had a headlamp on it, a foot (30 centimeters) in diameter that lit up the world.

I heard this boat long before I saw its headlamp. It was a steel narrowboat, about 30 feet (about 10 meters), with a diesel generator roaring on the forewell, and a tiny electric outboard motor on the stern—barely enough to get this boat crawling through the water in the dark.

#CanalLife #canal #narrowboat #OutboardMotor #boating #boat #generator

Along the canal there were wild roses. It was on the off side, not the towpath side, in a stretch that nobody can reach on foot.

Have boat, will flower.

With the bow in close to the rose bush, it was possible to clip a small bouquet. These roses are in full blat but there are also some buds tucked in below.

#CanalLife #canal #vegetation #plant #rose #flower #bloom #boating #narrowboat #boat #BloomScrolling

Where a weeping willow hung low over the canal, the only option was to slowly boat through the hanging curtain of leaves.

Then: an enormous TWANGGGG. Something caught the solar panel brackets.

Amidst the twigs and leaves was a hidden limb with a diameter of 5 inches (12½ centimeters).

Out comes the electric chainsaw. That tree got a trim.

#CanalLife #canal #willow #tree #vegetation #pruning #maintenance #boating #narrowboat #boat #solar #SolarPanel #CRT #CanalRiverTrust #CanalAndRiverTrust

A long day of boating. It was busy on the cut, but not crazily so, which is good for a bank-holiday (long) weekend.

The weather was gorgeous so I wore a wide-brim hat, long sleeves, and cotton gloves. There's nothing like holding a tiller all day for getting a sunburned right arm and hand.

Call it a boater's tan.

#CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #weather #sunshine #holiday

In dim light, spiders always look bigger than they are.

One just did a Tom Cruise Mission Impossible drop from a ceiling vent. Straight down, like it owns the place.
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🕷️

I turn to the light switch, flick on the lights. By the time I turn back to it, the spider has made a speedy return to the ceiling. It's medium sized.

One gentle tissue-grab-and-shake later, and this spider finds itself on the canal towpath outside the swan doors.

#CanalLife #canal #boating #narrowboat #boat #bug #spider