Some of you might find this boring

I started this blog with the intention that it would be simply a record of our life after retirement just for us. A log to look back on in the ensuing years. Then I started to get readers from all over the place, and it stopped being that diary, and became public. That was fine, of course. I was chuffed that so many people were interested in what we were doing.

Today, however, may be less interesting to some of you, but this post is written purely to remind us in future years of the fascinating major work being done currently in the canal just outside our marina. My last post included part one of the series of videos made by Alan Davies of My Narrowboat Venture fame. This one has parts two, three and four. There will be more.

I do hope that you find it at least mildly interesting!

I was dead chuffed...

...to be asked to write a guest blog for the CRT website a few days back. Odette, the lady I dealt with, gave me a few suggestions as to what I might write about, and gave me 300 to 400 words to do it in(!) It was published yesterday...

From house to boat: Making the move

There are some interesting posts in the Guest Blog. Worth a browse.

Grace had a brilliant idea for a table decoration the other day. The photo doesn't show very well the soft blue glow that emanates from it, but just imagine it...

It's a string of tiny LEDs, bought from the £1 Store. These are powered by a couple of AA batteries in a plastic case at one end of the lead, and the lead is waterproof. So these LEDs are in a Kilner Jar full of water, with chunks of blue glass. We got these from a nursery, the kind of thing with which you might dress the soil for a pot plant. We were hoping for warmer colours than blue; amber, red perhaps. But the blue's lovely.

Having missed The Lone Ranger at the cinema a couple of years ago, we watched it on DVD last night. I can't remember why the critics were so scathing at the time. And I don't care. I was a great fan of the TV original as a child. And this film was brilliant. Very funny indeed, superbly slapstick at times, yet with moments of horror and pathos. Even Silver (his horse) was comical. Johnny Depp was perfectly cast as Tonto, and Armie Hammer (flipping silly name!) did a great job as John Reid, the masked man.

John Reid: Do you know what "Tonto" means in Spanish?

It's a Comanche word, of course, but Spanish it means "fool"! Whereas, "Kimo sabe", Tonto's Comanche name for the Lone Ranger (the meaning of which has been debated for decades) means, according to Tonto "Wrong brother". He'd rather be riding with Reid's dead ranger brother.

The film covers in 149 minutes (so they say) what the first three 30-minute episodes covered in 1949; the story of who the Lone Ranger is, how he met Tonto, how he came to ride Silver, and why he wears a mask. There were lots of amusing references to the TV series way back (1949-57).

John Reid: Hi ho Silver, away!
Tonto: Don't ever do that again.
John Reid: Sorry.

This is one of the few films ever I'd watch more than once.

From the TV series. Yes, in black and white!

P.S.  I just had to do it! I've just found a DVD for sale on the web, for just £2.59. The first four episodes of The Lone Ranger TV series, three of which the 2013 film is based on! How cool is that?

Follow that boater!!

I follow a number of fellow boaters on Twitter, and read a number of narrowboat blogs, as well. It's fascinating to follow their exploits, and I learn a lot from them, too. One such tweeter, newly started, is David on NB Wreyland. He also produces an excellent vlog (video log) of his new life on board. The videos are extremely well produced, and the story they tell is a good one. I recommend it, especially for newcomers to canal life, or those considering it, but it's really good entertainment for all. Visit David's vlog at cruisingthecut.co.uk, and follow him on Twitter @CruisingThe Cut

NB Wreyland

I'm not going to single out just one or two boating bloggers to recommend, because there are far too many of them and I wouldn't want to try to rank them, but there's a fairly comprehensive list to be found at Boaters' Blogs.

I was chuffed yesterday to receive an email from Odette Myall, the Digital Content Editor for Canal & River Trust, asking me if I'd contribute to the guest blogs on the their website. She's given me a few subjects to choose from, but she's only allowing me 400 words (!!!) and you know how verbose I can be!! I told her the discipline might do me good...

Back into known territory now

...well, we have been since just before Nuneaton actually, but somehow this last stretch seems more familiar.

Friday was the hottest day since we started out at the beginning of June. It started clear and warm, and built up throughout the day. Moving on the water, we were kept a little cooler than we otherwise might have been, but it certainly was hot!

I started to follow the Canal and River Trust on Twitter today, and alerted them to the sunken craft we came across yesterday. It seems they didn't know about it.

We left Hawkesbury Junction later than we ought, and turned into the shallow lock - a mere 6", I think - which starts the northern arm of the Oxford Canal.

In contrast to the southern arm, the canal is often wide, and largely straight. Like the southern arm, it passes through beautiful farming land – apart from the first mile or so, which is dominated by a huge power substation and massive pylons.

There was a lot of other craft on the cut today, both holiday makers and owners, and everyone was busy getting tanned! By mid-afternoon, we were beginning to feel overheated, and we hadn't had lunch, so we moored – sooner than planned – just before Grimes Bridge (26), where we spent the rest of the day, and the night. By coincidence, we'd moored here on our way out on our abortive Leicester Ring trip last year. It's a very pleasant spot opposite a farm, peaceful apart from the background noise of the M6 which crosses the canal about half a mile away.

It was a hot evening, and very warm night!