Interlude

A Royal encounter... And no, they didn't touch.

Additional reading

Having so enjoyed The Thames and Severn Canal, my next bedside book is going to be Mike Clarke's history and guide to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which is on our summer itinerary (provided there's enough water in it). The book was a Christmas present from Carl-next-door, who hails from up that way. I shall also be preparing for the journey (on which we also hope to include the Rochdale) by perusing the wonderful Pennine Waterways website.

This weekend we are off to Cowroast to deposit all our luggage, and hoping to meet some of the other moorers there, as they sound such a nice bunch of people, and we will be setting off on August 1st.

Tomorrow I have a work 'awayday' (which necessitates getting up early; my how spoilt I've become), but the reward at the end of it is that we (our new department) are going on a trip on Tarporley. I secured a budget of £75 for refreshments, and yesterday took a keen (and fit) young colleague to Tesco's on the Caledonian Road to purchase a selection of (relatively) fine wines, beer and crisps; I am determined that this should be a cut above usual work catering. So I may not be back in time to post tomorrow, but I will give a full account on Thursday.

New review

Following a rather convoluted process, involving complaining about my subscription on CWF and soliciting some freebies, I ended up agreeing to do a book review for Canal Boat magazine. The book they sent me was a new edition of Humphrey Household's definitive account of the Thames and Severn canal. My heart sank a bit, as I'm far more interested in boats, boat life and carrying companies than in the development of canals, but I'd promised, all enthusiastic, so I thought on Saturday I had better make a start on it.

They only wanted 150 words, which is nothing; by the time I'd got the history of the edition down and a few interesting facts gleaned from the press release and the intro, there was only room for about another forty. So I thought I should glance through it so I could give an idea of the main content, and do you know what, I couldn't put it down! Probably in large part because in contrast to many similar works it's very well written (although the new edition has either introduced or left uncorrected a number of annoying typos); it started life as an MA thesis, which shows in the meticulous and extensive referencing, and also on the enormous range of archive sources consulted, and was shortened (my god, how long did MA theses have to be in 1958?) for book publication, in 1969.

Household makes a really good story of the the development of the canal, from the inadequacies of the river navigations that preceded it, and there isn't too much - but presumably sufficient - of the engineering and financial detail that other accounts often seem to get bogged down in. There are death threats and sabotage too, for added spice, and, what really wins it for me, the individuals concerned and the problems they face really come to life.

There is also one of those lists I like so much, of some of the goods carried in the late eighteenth century: Oil in runlets, hogsheads, puncheons and pipes; puncheons of perry; sugar in lumps, loaves, bags and hogsheads; firkins of butter; bobbins and matts of flax; pockets and bags of hops; casks of purgative squills; sticks of timber; a tierce of alum, and eight serons of barilla.

I haven't finished it yet; three chapters to go. But I certainly shall. And then I shall have the difficult task of cutting my review down to 150 words after all.

I doubt whether CB are planning to pay for this opus; for 150 words it would hardly be worthwhile. Certainly, in academic cirles it is accepted that you do reviews partly because it looks good on your CV (although reviews don't count for much) and because you get a free book. We are absolute suckers for a free book, even if it's one we never wanted in the first place. On this basis the most lucrative review I ever did was my first, 700 words for a journal called History of European Thought, of a new four volume compilation entitled Liberalism: Critical Concepts, which now sits proudly on my office bookshelves, bearing a retail price tag of £475. Yes, four hundred and seventy five pounds. I wasn't even particularly nice about it.

Brass band practice

The prototype chimney has performed well in its sea trials, and has been brought home for finishing touches. Particularly pleasing is the fact that it doesn't rattle, and also that if the bolt in the hinge is sufficiently tight, the chimney collapses in a restrained and controlled fashion, rather than with a resounding clatter.

So it will now be taken back to Warrior (we are going up to Cowroast next weekend, to deposit all our luggage for the trip), and the lower part will be sealed onto the stump which Jim tells me is called a spigot. One of the improvements made yesterday was to shorten the bolts that hold it in place so that they don't protrude. A further refinement was the adaptation of a large Brasso tin as an extension to the chimney's height.

The other was the deployment of a small strip of brass that we found on Warrior when we bought the boat. Not quite long/wide enough for a perfect finish, but very satisfactory, and at last (fingers crossed) after all these years we have an engine pipe to be proud of.

Mopping up operation

I have long wanted a proper, 'traditional' mop. Ordinary ones, with their short handles, really aren't very good for dipping in the canal (especially if you're standing on the roof cabin top) and will never look as good sitting on the roof cabin top.

A while ago there was a thread on CWF telling you how to make one, so Jim took note and planned to do so. First we had to get a suitable shaft, which we finally purchased at Braunston. Eight foot of 1 1/4" diameter ash. Then there is the question of what rag to use for the mop head. Some people have suggested old coats ot old blankets, but I always had trouble working out where boatmen would have got these from - surely a new mop would have been needed far more often than an old coat was discarded. Then someone posted on CWF that a popular material was 'Croxley blanket', a kind of absorbant felt used in paper manufacture.

It occurred to me that the synthetic felt that these thick cleaning cloths, from the local market, are made out of might be a reasonable equivalent - and as they are the same stuff that modern mops are made of, would probably be pretty effective. So we settled on using strips of this.

First, Jim made a ferrule out of a piece of copper pipe and fitted it to the end of the shaft. This is to stop it splitting when the screw is put in to hold the strips in place. Then he made two large rubber washers, to go either side of the strips, and finally a metal washer before it is all screwed on. How to stop the screw and washer scratching paintwork etc when in use was a bit of a problem. The instructions talked about putting a leather strip around the whole assembly, but we couldn't see how the screw could be screwed in then (perhaps it should have been a nail). Anyway, we solved that by the simple expedient of getting the last strip and sewing it together over the screw.

The shaft is now primed ready for painting in Warrior's colours. We're not goung to attempt spirals, but will stick to simple bands. It may not be 100% traditional - whatever that might mean - but hopefully it will be an attractive, and more importantly, useful, addition to the boat.

Braunston snapshots

Getting ready for the parade on Saturday. L-R Chiswick, Victoria, Buckden, Corona.

Braunston snapshots

2. Josher in a bridgehole (which one? - the boat, not the bridge, that is).