Tuesday, December 19, 2017

It's that time of the year again!

Our days have been seriously boring since my last post
 (which always makes me think of this!)

We left Kantara two weeks ago, winterised against the very cold weather she endured throughout the several days that followed. In fact, the cold was so severe (minus 14 celsius was recorded on the marina, apparently) we did our normal neurotic thing of going back to her the following week, just to make sure we'd done the job properly, and that she hadn't sprung a frozen leak in some pipe-filled corner we'd overlooked. All was well, and the lowest temperature recorded on our max/min thermometer was minus point 8.

Since then, it's been fairly unhurried Christmas preparation for us; cards written and posted, decorations up, tree, a bit of shopping, Nothing exciting. But we're looking forward to the day. It'll be all six of us for dinner, plus Michelle, and several of Eddie's family will probably join us in the evening. I've bought the very best Christmas crackers ever, but I can't reveal any details until after they've been enjoyed at dinner that day, lest any of the family read this before then. But these crackers will be a lot of fun!

We anticipate being here at the house until the beginning of February. Before then, we intend to plan some serious cruising for 2018. This year, we just about managed four weeks of it. Those of you who read the blog regularly will know why. Planning's something that Grace doesn't like to do, but we'll have some trips mapped out roughly before February, and then we can choose which to do, singly or severally, as the year progresses. We're hopeful! One thing that we have in mind is to re-do the rings we did on holidays years ago. Cheshire, Stourport, Four Counties, but this time taking them rather more slowly. (How good it is, not to have that deadline, that morning when you have to be back at the hire company's base!) We shall see.

Until we're back on Kantara, the blog will be probably be pretty much static, so Grace and I wish you all now a very Happy Christmas, and an equally pleasing 2018.


Monday, December 04, 2017

The end of the tour

From Whitby we drove across to Sheffield. It was a lovely, largely cross-country drive under a favourable sky, though our entry into the city was grim at best. The shabbiness in places was quite depressing, and I felt somehow wrong when we made our way out of those areas into cobbled, leafy streets lined with elegant Victorian houses. Our hotel was very grand for a 3-star one, and made even more so when our room was upgraded to an executive suite at no extra cost. (We were puzzled by the presence of two double beds.)

From the hotel, we drove down into the city again, to The Greystones pub and, behind it,  "The Backroom", the music venue.



Here, the Maidens performed to a full house. the audience enthusiastic and very appreciative. The venue has hosted many famous acts, and Judie Tzuke - one of my all-time favourites - is scheduled to play there in February. Sam Kelly and the Lost Boys, too - folky friends of StM. It's a lovely place.

Just a few days later, we were in Westcliff-on-Sea for another Said the Maiden gig. We took Jess as far as Chelmsford, home of BBC Essex where she joined Hannah and Kathy to be interviewed and to play songs from their new album, "Here's a Health". 


Grace and I drove on, and listened to their radio spot sitting in a car-park in Southend. We went there in particular hoping to find somewhere to eat, but were much disappointed. And it was late November, so Southend didn't really have anything else to offer, either, apart from a gloomy view of a receding tide in the Thames estuary.


We drove on, found a decent-looking restaurant, but couldn't for the life of us find anywhere to park, drove on, found a lovely-looking pub, but found that it wasn't serving food, drove on again and found a Marston's pub that fulfilled all of our search criteria. We ate gratefully. But when we'd finished, we had a problem.

It was about 4 o'clock. We had thought that the doors would be open at the "Hoy at anchor" folk club at 7:00, but now we were told that it would be 7:30, and this added an hour to our "what to do in and around Southend for more than three hours" problem. We knew that parking might be a problem near the gig, so we drove to Westcliff and found the venue, parking almost right outside. Now what? Sit in the car for hours? See the sights of Westcliff? (almost non-existent, I'm told) Sleep? 

We opted for a pub, but since I was going to be driving later, we only allowed ourselves one pint. And how long can you make one pint last? Not long. Back to the car.

Shortly after that, however, the Maidens arrived, later than they'd expected because of a coil failure in Hannah's car, but their arrival got us into the venue, which was warm and comfortable and sold decent tea and coffee. We were happy to wait. Michelle arrived not long afterwards, having had a near-death experience courtesy of an overtaking, oncoming car that forced her off the road. She needed some music to take her mind off it!

The evening was excellent, of course. It was Jess' birthday, and there was cake for all, a huge rendition of "Happy birthday to you", and a lot of fun was had by all.


The final gig of the "Here's a Health" tour was at Uxbridge Folk Club. The place was packed, the support band, "Threaded" were superb. Steve was with us again. Like us, he'd been at the Maidens' album launch gig in Camden, and was interested to see the subtle ways in which their performances had changed over the weeks. And they had!

(Note the guest appearance of Her Majesty on the right!)


StM were as great as always. I was amazed that they weren't all exhausted from the tour - the driving, performing, doing their day-jobs sometimes between performances. If there was any exhaustion, they didn't show it, and the audience loved them.

The final bow of the tour!
Now they're back to normal, whatever normal is for them! And we're back on Kantara. In the next couple of days we'll be preparing her for a winter without us, and we'll be back in St Albans for Christmas and January. While we're there, we'll be outlining our plans for 2018 -  cruising alone (together!), and with friends, and with family; day trips for other friends, and zinc coating on the hull. It's a lot to hope for. This has been a very strange year, and our boating has been greatly curtailed for several reasons, but we're optimistic for the future!

Watch this space!