The day got off to a good start this morning with the dayboat departing shortly after nine in the sunshine. Unfortunately by the time the other boats went out this afternoon the sun had disappeared and it had got a bit chiller. It is now quite bitter outside, let's hope that this isn't the start of the freeze...

We've got familiar faces out on Sovereign Lady today. Mr and Mrs Millington have hired from us on numerous occasions and are out for a couple of weeks. They run a caravan park in Harlech, so have come for a well earned rest!

Give me Time has now been SOLD and I have taken an offer on Tom Sandles.

More to report tomorrow.

Best regards,

David

Pictures today

I thought that I'd take a few pictures for you to look at today.

Firstly, Matt has finished painting The Arkenstone and we have had her on the dock for blacking and for a set of anodes to be fitted. Here she is nearly complete. Once she has had all of her fittings put back on she will be coming out of the dock and the customer's will be collecting her. Unfortunately I was unable to get on to her (due to the paint on the counter being wet) to shut the doors prior to taking the picture as I wanted to show you the rear bulkhead pattern. It isn't the normal design. It is very similar to that of the Shropshire Union fly boats and I pleased how it has turned out.


Graham has started over-plating our new dayboat Bounty. She has already served several years on the Welsh Canal and has suffered from an incredible amount of corrosion. Once she has been plated she will easily serve for another 20 years and following the paint job she will receive in the winter, along with some internal alterations she will be like new when she goes into service in the Spring.


The window/porthole apertures have now been cut in Kirsty Louise, that's the last boat that we put a cabin on. Matt has cleaned up around them and given the steel some protection ready for the windows to be fitted.


Matt has currently got Summer Wine in the dock for a lick of paint. I hadn't realised how faded the paint had got. It has done well though seeing that we painted her some five years ago now. She has introduced many people to the canal system and carried experienced crew. Once she comes out of the dock she will look like new! Joyce has also been doing some internal varnishing whilst Summer Wine has been in the warm and dry...


Until tomorrow.

Best regards,

David

A blog entry from Lorraine today.

Hello everyone. Queen numpty here. It's Lol in the tea rooms.

It has been very quiet today, but there is always something to do to keep me out of trouble ha ha.

Boss numpty head is taking us all out for our Christmas do in December to a casino in Stoke-on-Trent. I am really looking forward to it. I will have to behave myself and not do the Dick Emery famous walk. If you know me you will know what I am on about.

Well I had better get back to my kitchen and tidy up and mop the floor. David is busy and Joyce has been varnishing today amongst other duties and bless her she has been battling against a migrane all day. Well I will love and leave you all until next time.

I will let you know if any of us win at the casino.

Take care.

Lol xx

Where does the time go?

Blanche announced this morning that there are only thirty eight days left until Christmas. I just don't know where the time goes to. There has been alot of water under the bridge in the last twelve months in one way or another.

I nipped into Newport this afternoon to get some supplies for the tea room and to do some banking. I must admit that I was surprised to see the Christmas lights already up. I suppose they are up in most towns/cities by now, but as I don't venture into these busy places on a regular occasion I wouldn't know.

Talking about Christmas, most of you already know that there is a superb open-air market hosted by Birmingham City Council. The Frankfurt Christmas Market is located in Victoria Square and stretches down New Street. It has always been a hive of activity when I have visited and has a superb atmosphere, especially at night. It begins tomorrow and runs until a couple of days before Christmas Day. If you haven't been before - it is a must. I-for-one will be organising an evening trip there shortly. Further information can be found here. Now there's an idea - why not hire one of our boats for a short break (Monday - Friday) and visit Birmingham in the coming weeks. It is truly the best way to visit this city (as it is also others). I'm sure we can work a good deal out for you!

There's been alot of activity from the staff at work today. I was going to get some shots of them hard at work - only to prove that we do some work occasionally! Unfortunately I lost the light by the time I got outside with the camera - so I will try again tomorrow.

Best regards. Until tomorrow.

David.

Welcome back

I was sat in the Red Lion last night next to the open fire, that was roaring up the chimney (well it was when we had finished with it!), cosy, warm, with good company and enjoying a pleasant pint of Courage’s Directors bitter when I realised that I hadn’t written a blog. So being conscientious as I am, I decided to type one on my phone. Unfortunately when I went to upload it the Wi-Fi decided to drop out and I ended up pressing the wrong button, deleting all of the text. So I do apologise that you didn’t get a blog entry to read last night, but I did honestly try.

I’ll try again today!

It’s been quiet for the last couple of days at Norbury. Winter is definately here due to the fact that we have seen very little traffic on the canal. It also seems quite cold outside, although the thermometer in the car when I have been driving back and forth from Norbury reads 10°C.

We have welcomed back a little friend. Visitors to Norbury Junction will see that our Mandarin duck has returned. When I first came to Norbury in 2005 he visited each Autumn and stopped until the Spring. Once he had fertilised all of the Mallard’s eggs he used to disappear for the summer. Well he didn’t return last year, and we feared the worst, but it’s great to see him back. Here is a picture of him that I caught earlier.

Simon was concerned that we were (or rather that I was) going to eat the two tins of sweets that he had stashed away under his desk whilst he was away, so when he left to go on holiday he took them with him! One of our customers heard about this and thought that he was being unfair, so promptly went and bought us a tin from the supermarket (thanks Pete, ALL of the staff have enjoyed them!).

Jobs on the boats and around the yard have been progressing well – more about them tomorrow.

Until then.

Best regards,

David.

I’m glad Ange filled you in yesterday evening with some of the events of the return of the dayboaters. I’m glad that the others don't turn up like that every time that they go out! They definitely upset Bernard. They must have been brave, because I certainly wouldn’t like to upset him!

Cheryl spent most of the morning cleaning the dayboat up, ready for the next time that she goes out. I think that is the first time this year that we have kept the damage deposit for any of the boats.

Julian and I undocked the two boats that we had on the dock and docked Amarige. That’s one of the boats that we have sold recently which is now on for blacking and a set of anodes to be fitted. It also needs a new bottom rudder bearing (cup) fitting, but I will have to give the owners a ring first to get the authorisation to do that. The poor chap has got a few broken bones, from being knocked down by a motorbike outside his own house. The accident happened the day before him and his wife were due to collect the boat from us, so up until now he hasn’t even been able to enjoy getting out on the canal.

There’s been a few boats out and about today, a couple have been on the wharf for services, but certainly a huge contrast to those long and busy summer weekends that seem so long ago now.

Lorraine has been kept busy down in the tea room. She’s had some assistance from Ange and Cheryl at the busier times, but she is superb at looking after the customers who come in for refreshments.

Ange has been busy with her normal office duties, looking after customers and with laundry off of the boats. Now all-but-one of the new boats that we will be operating next year have arrived, the inventory is being checked with a fine toothed comb and all of the bedding etc. is being washed and stored in the warm and dry for the winter months.

Mick is progressing with the diesel stove that he has been fitting to one of our moorers boats. When I went down to the dock earlier this afternoon he had just finished fixing it down and plumbing up the back boiler. He only needs to fit the flue pipe and commission the diesel system now, so I would imagine it will be up and running by this evening.

That’s about all to report from here today.

Best regards,

David.

After all the rain that we had in the night, I thought that it was going to prove to be a miserable day, but it’s been quite the opposite. The sun was shining by 9am as the boats were returning from their weeks cruises. Although it has gone a bit chilly now.

We had one dayboat go out this morning. Let’s hope they aren’t as late back as the customer’s that went out this time last week! Princess has been collected and gone out for the week, and we have turned around three shared boats.

Talking of shared boats, we have had another boat confirm that they will be operating from here next season. That leaves just one space for a shared boat to be turned around on a Saturday. So, if you want to come to Norbury please do not hesitate to contact us ASAP. We send a warm welcome out to the owners of Still Dreaming and look forward to seeing you in April.

Best regards,

David