Bits and pieces

On Thursday, we saw The Amazing Spiderman 2, and wouldn't have been too bothered if we'd missed it. Far too reliant on special effects - we saw it in 3D - and, well... bring back Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, I say! The hero has gained superpowers that didn't exist in the good old days of Spidey, and this has taken away a lot of his vulnerability. We won't bother with the third in the series.

On Friday we drove to The Musician in Leicester, to see Dave Swarbrick and Said the Maiden together. The Swarb's solo violin didn't impress me much, but he and guitarist Jake Wilson were amazing together. So, too, were Said the Maiden, who performed a superlative 45 minute set, and later sung a Fairport Convention song "Quiet joys of brotherhood", with Swarb on the fiddle. (Recently, in an interview on Radio Cambridge, Dave said that Said the Maiden's version of this song is the best he's ever heard.) A brilliant evening.

Leaving the gig at nearly midnight, the Maidens came back to the boat with us, and spent the night, before heading off the next afternoon to Derby, where they took part in a St George's Day celebration in the town centre.

As we were all enjoying a breakfast of French pastries, Rolling Wave, in the berth next to us, spluttered noisily into life, and left about fifteen minutes later, on her way back to ABNB's base in Crick. She is for sale, and Yelvertoft Marina have a small number of ABNB's boats berthed here. Rolling Wave wasn't selling, and management wanted her gone. With Smudge on our other side also away from the marina at the moment, we have much-improved views from inside Kantara now - very welcome!

This morning, the weather's cold, wet and windy - perfect for cozying down with the stove on!

Spring is sprung, the grass is riz!

On Friday of last week we went back to St Albans to spend the Easter weekend with the kids. It was great to catch up with them again. They're all so busy that there's loads to talk about. Jess's gigs with Said the Maiden on tour with Dave Swarbrick,

Steve's production and engineering of the Maiden's new album, "A Curious Tale", and his three weeks of work installing a sound system at Sheffield Cathedral with DM Installations,

and Naomi's brilliant work on the garden,

and the Food Smiles community agriculture project she's spearheading, launched officially today

We had Easter Day lunch together at The Plough at Sleapshyde, which does the best traditional roasts I've had outside of home, and would have gone for a walk after, had the weather not been inclement.

We returned to Kantara on Monday, bringing with us a number of bits and pieces we'd forgotten back in March. The weather's very variable, but we're itching to get out on the cut next month. We'd go now if we didn't have other responsibilities, but there are things to be done here, so we're not bored yet!

This is more like it!

Sunshine, blue skies, mild temperatures! It's good to read boaters' Tweets hailing the better weather, with photos of sunsets and sunrises, of canals under the sun. We took advantage of the change and planted out our troughs with pansies. 

While the weather was making up its mind, we went to the cinema again. Having intended to watch "Noah", but then reading lots of very unfavourable reviews, we saw "Non-stop" instead, and we're glad we did.

During a transatlantic flight from New York City to London, U.S. Air Marshal Bill Marks receives a series of cryptic text messages demanding that he instruct the airline to transfer $150 million into an off-shore account. Until he secures the money, a passenger on his flight will be killed every 20 minutes.

Tense, action-packed, with mystery and twists, this is an excellent film.

Despite the improved weather, we won't be cruising again until next month. We're going back to St Albans next weekend, to spend Easter with the kids. After that, although we'll be back on Kantara, we're sticking around just in case we are needed to transport Said the Maiden anywhere on their tour with Dave Swarbrick.

Seeing the sights... on land

We concluded that it probably wasn't the best day to be visiting gardens as we drove to Lincolnshire under a sky grey and hazy with Saharan dust. But at least it wasn't windy and rainy, and the flowers would still be out, despite the gloom above. So we arrived, first at Easton Walled Gardens.

We came here four years ago, while were having a short break in the area. It's a lovely site, and the flowers were a delight. The whole place is a major project, having once been the site of a rather grand house which was so badly treated by British soldiers billeted there during World War 2 that is had to be demolished after they vacated it. It's not the first time we've heard this story about the abuse of such houses as this, and it angers us each time, that people who gave up their homes for the sake of the war effort had to lose them entirely. How on earth was it allowed? At any other time, it would be called vandalism, and treated a a crime, with compensation paid.

The project is going well, and we saw a number of signs of improvement as we wandered the grounds. None of what remains of the house is open to the public, however.

Having eaten a lovely lunch there, we moved on to nearby Woolsthorpe Manor, the house where Isaac Newton was born, and spent much of his life. We'd been here before, too, but were glad to return to refresh our memories, and to see and learn new things, too.

The tree still remains under which Newton sat when he developed a theory of gravity. His diary makes no mention of an apple falling on his head, though, as the mythology would have us believe!

It was a good day out, despite the atmospheric pollution.

Today, Said the Maiden start their tour, supporting Dave Swarbrick at 14 venues around England and Wales. Caerphilly tonight. Have fun, Maidens!

WOW! The weather!

Do you remember the weather, a year ago this very day?

What a difference! So, back to Kantara tomorrow with the first carload of stuff. Back to St Albans next weekend to collect whatever else we need (and Naomi's promised us a family Sunday lunch), and then we're on the water for the rest of the year. How I've missed it!

One of the things that's kept us here a week longer than expected is the need to get someone to cut ten trees in the garden - a row of cypress at the bottom, which need to be reduced by about a third, a hawthorn which needs the same kind of treatment, and a hazel which needs gentler thinning. I've had four guys in to quote for the job. One was a bit of a cowboy who really knew little about this kind of work (despite what his ad said!), one was twice as expensive (but knew his job), one was three times as expensive, and we're still waiting for the other.

The garden's in something of a mess at the moment, but Naomi's set about redesigning it for us, and has made a start on the work involved. Central to the design is a number of raised beds, walled with railway sleepers, in which she'll grow vegetables. This will relieve the patio and the rest of the garden of a number of pots, so the whole space will be much tidier. It's a bit of a mess at the moment, though!

I've just listened to what will probably be the final mix of Said the Maiden's first full album, " A Curious Tale", due to be released next month. It's sounding fantastic! One of the tracks features Dave Swarbrick, founder member of Fairport Convention, who's being supported by the Maidens on his tour in April and May. Exciting times ahead!

Restless...

...doesn't describe adequately how I feel at the moment. The weeks since Christmas have seemed incredibly long, and, although it's good to be spending time with our kids, we're more than eager to get back to Kantara. The worst of the weather seems to have passed (but who knows, eh?), we have plans for the rest of the year, and those plans are canal plans!

Being at the house has enabled us to get done a number of jobs which were needed here, or which we could do better here. We've had solar panels installed, we've investigated cavity wall insulation (and found it's not needed), replaced a shower pump (supplying two showers), and done a bit of gardening at times between downpours - Naomi's done more than that, bless her, and has just started a project to erect raised beds around the garden, in which to grow vegetables. Other, tidying and rationalising, work will be done as part of that, too. I've investigated a leak in the roof of the summerhouse, and await further heavy rain (although I really hope it doesn't come) to test my repair efforts. Grace has made several dresses for herself and Jess. We've been doing a fair bit of clearing out of "stuff", too, and discovered FreeCycle, an excellent way of finding good homes for things that are no longer wanted. I've just given away a couple of Kerria from the garden, and a TV a week or so ago. We have a couple of good charity shops just at the end of the road, too.

And I've broken my third exercise bike!

Looking back over the blog, you'll see that I bought my first one for use on the boat back in 2012. It developed a fault before the year's warranty expired, and i got a replacement... which failed within the year, so I got a replacement... which failed last week. Tesco Direct, from whom I bought it, have been very good about this, and replaced it each time without any problem, but they did say this time that they wouldn't replace it again, if I insisted on having the same make and model. So I've chosen another, and I'm waiting for its delivery as I type. Fingers crossed!

We were glad to be around when Said the Maiden supported Jim Moray at the Hitchin Folk Club. It was great for them to be supporting yet another top artist on the folk circuit, and their performance was magic.

 They're in the process of finalising their first full album, ready for their nationwide tour with Dave Swarbrick in April and May. Steve's engineering and producing the CD.

Of course, when we get back on the canal, there's no telling how much this deplorable weather will affect our cruising, but we have a number of trips in mind; to Llangollen, to Stratford-upon-Avon - we have vouchers for theatre tickets we're looking forward to using, to Brentford, and a trip to complete our intended Leicester Ring trip last year, visiting Coventry and the Ashby Canal.

We shall see!