18/12/2011

It was another chilly one last night, that left the roads a bit treacherous for the journey to work this morning. We opened up and the poor old Landy wasn’t having any of it. Her battery has eventually died. It just goes to show that this cold weather will soon expire a slightly tired battery! Mick soon got that sorted and towed the advertising boat upto the end of the lane.

It’s amazing the amount of interest that the boat generates. It has been seen by hundreds (possibly of thousands) of people around this area and at the rallies/shows that we have taken it to. Most people that I talk to have seen or heard of it. I suppose it’s quite unique and at the end of the day, that was the purpose of building it – to show what we can do at Norbury.

Talking of boat building I have added a new page to the website today – “Welding and Fabrication”. I will expand it as and when I get more pictures, but it certainly shows what we can offer. Please visit the page HERE.

Matt came in this morning to just finish a couple of bits and pieces off on Pippin which allowed Mick and I to swap the boats in the dock just after lunch. It is unfortunate that we don’t have more waterspace (we’d probably fill that aswell!) as it takes sometime to shuffle all of the boats into position to access the dock. It was certainly cold moving the boats around and the ropes were all frozen. My gloves kept my hands warm until they got wet.

Anyway, here’s a picture of Pippin in all of her glory. She is still due to go on the dock and there are some internal works to complete, but she does look well in our livery.

Just to show how cold it has been today, I captured this picture of the view down the arm at about 3pm which shows that the ice on the canal hadn’t melted.

Lorraine has been giving the cottage a spring clean, so Ange has been manning the tea room. There were quite a crowd in over lunchtime, but it’s a vast difference to those summer days…

I can’t believe that in a weeks time it will be Christmas Day, it doesn’t feel like five minutes ago that we were celebrating Christmas last year.

I’m off down to Stoke Bruerne after work for a Christmas Party in the Indian restaurant located adjacent to the top lock. Stoke is a place that I have a real soft spot for. When I was young I used to insist that we tied there for atleast one night when we were passing through. We used to visit the Boat Inn and have a game of Northamptonshire skittles - which I have some great memories of. In my teens I spent many hours there working on a number of different boats and I also lived there for a short while before coming to Norbury. If I ever move back onto the bank, I think it will have to be at Stoke Bruerne…

Have a good week and lets keep our fingers crossed that the weather is going to warm up somewhat (that’s what the five day forecast says anyway).

Best regards,

David.