We have waved Debdale a fond fair well this week. That's one of our shared owned boats. She, along with all of her owners are off to pastures new after spending a number of season based here at Norbury. By the end of the week we will be giving Still Dreaming a warm welcome as we take them under our wing and operate the boat for current season. We also seemed to have gained a space for operating another shared boat aslong as the boat turns round on a Saturday. If any of you are interested, please do not hesitate to contact me. And don't forget we are now taking bookings for winter maintenance 2012/2013 - space is running out quickly!
It's been a really busy day here today. Victory, Defiant and Phantasy have been out as dayboats and we have turned round six of our weekly hire boats and Wharf Cottage. That's kept everyone busy. We've even had to rope some extra staff in today to give us a hand!
Simon sent me an email last night. He doesn't appear to receiving the emails I send him - they must be getting lost at sea, haha (the emails that is). So, hopefully he will ready this blog tonight and see that everything is hunky dory here...
Have a good evening.
Until tomorrow,
David.
NORBURY WHARF LIMITED
Shop front in the summer
Saturday, 31 March 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
The sun has failed to shine today and the temperature has been somewhat cooler than it has been for the past week. Although saying that there has still been plenty of people out and about.
We've turned five shared boats round and one hire boat.
Fred has been on his normal Friday duties of pumping the boats out etc. He does a really good job. Mick has been working on a our hire boats. Simon has been tacking the plates into place on the boat on the back. Matt is making good progress on Calstock and Bernard has been servicing engines.
A tree came down yesterday somewhere near the five locks at Drayton. It was cleared by about lunchtime today and we have seen a steady flow of traffic through since.
A friend of mine has just arrived into the country from New Zealand today, so I'm off over to Wheaton Aston to see her tonight.
Have a good evening.
Regards,
David
We've turned five shared boats round and one hire boat.
Fred has been on his normal Friday duties of pumping the boats out etc. He does a really good job. Mick has been working on a our hire boats. Simon has been tacking the plates into place on the boat on the back. Matt is making good progress on Calstock and Bernard has been servicing engines.
A tree came down yesterday somewhere near the five locks at Drayton. It was cleared by about lunchtime today and we have seen a steady flow of traffic through since.
A friend of mine has just arrived into the country from New Zealand today, so I'm off over to Wheaton Aston to see her tonight.
Have a good evening.
Regards,
David
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Pictures tell all
Simon has been preparing the boat that we are going to be plating next. He has removed the rubbing guards and we have lifted it up to give him better access to the underside.
Matt has been working hard prepping Calstock.
Here's a couple of shots of the basin and the canal heading off from Norbury, showing the glorious sunshine.
That's it from me today.
Have a good evening.
Regards,
David
Matt has been working hard prepping Calstock.
Here's a couple of shots of the basin and the canal heading off from Norbury, showing the glorious sunshine.
That's it from me today.
Have a good evening.
Regards,
David
Tuesday, 27 March 2012
HOT
It's been hot today!
Simon's started on the next boat that we are plating. The first job is to remove the rubbing guards and the patches that have been added over the years. It's now ready to have the bitumen ground off... Fred has blacked the boat on the dock, painted the gunnels of another boat and has been getting boats ready for the forthcoming "busy" weekend. Matt has been prepping the boat that we have in for painting - pictures tomorrow! and Mick has finished off a diesel heater service and finished some odds and ends on a couple of other boats.
It's been a bit busier on the wharf today. We've started to see more boats moving.
Joyce has been flat out in the tearoom, no, not laying down, but serving lots of customers! Ange has helped her as and when needed and has been catching up with paperwork and looking after customers in the shop in between.
That's it from me today.
Enjoy your evening.
Regards,
David.
Simon's started on the next boat that we are plating. The first job is to remove the rubbing guards and the patches that have been added over the years. It's now ready to have the bitumen ground off... Fred has blacked the boat on the dock, painted the gunnels of another boat and has been getting boats ready for the forthcoming "busy" weekend. Matt has been prepping the boat that we have in for painting - pictures tomorrow! and Mick has finished off a diesel heater service and finished some odds and ends on a couple of other boats.
It's been a bit busier on the wharf today. We've started to see more boats moving.
Joyce has been flat out in the tearoom, no, not laying down, but serving lots of customers! Ange has helped her as and when needed and has been catching up with paperwork and looking after customers in the shop in between.
That's it from me today.
Enjoy your evening.
Regards,
David.
Monday, 26 March 2012
I had some friends come over last night to join me for dinner in the Junction. I let Ali (that's the landlady) know that there would be about ten of us placing a food order, but I wasn't able to confirm a time as I told her they were arriving by hot air balloon. Well, she thought I was barmy or winding her up because she kept asking me "how long will they be?", my reply being "when the get blown here". Brownie even spotted the balloon in the distance, but Ali still was concerned that I was being serious. It wasn't until they walked through the door at about 8pm and we showed her the pictures, that she actually believed me!
They had taken off at Shugborough hall and their path had brought them over Gnosall, Norbury and finally landing at Sutton just a couple of miles away. We had all spoken earlier in the day and said that we would meet for dinner, but none of us expected the balloon to land so close to Norbury - we couldn't of planned it any better if we had tried.
It's been another glorious day here at Norbury. Temperatures are soaring, although they are still dropping cold over night. When I took Annie out this morning there was even ice on the boat next to me.
It was really busy here over lunchtime which kept Kim and Joyce busy in the tearoom. I've manned the office on my own, although Joyce has taken a number of hire boat bookings and given me a hand when she can. Bernard has blacked the boat that we currently have on the dock and has been doing some ferckling on one of the brokerage boats whilst Matt has painted the gunnel tops and sides of the boat on the dock and started prepping the boat that has just arrived for painting after Mick finished removing all of the roof fittings etc.
I've been sent a short film by a couple who hired Phantom back in February. They originate and live in Australia and thoroughly enjoyed their time with us. So here we go!
So that's it from me today.
Until tomorrow.
Best regards,
David
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Start of BST
Come on then... How many of you forgot to change your clocks last night? I meant to add something to my blog last night about remembering to change your clocks, but I forgot all about it as I had other things on my mind at the time (excuse the pun!).
Isn't modern technology a wonderful thing? My phone advanced by an hour on it's own, as did all of our computers, leaving just the analogue clocks in both the shop and tearoom to change. There's the one in the staff room too, but I don't see the point in changing that as no-one takes any notice of it anyway, haha!
It's definitely been the start of British Summer Time today. We have been incredibly once again. This has meant that we have had between four and five of the girls working in the tearoom all day. Lorraine's off at the moment on holiday, but we are looking forward to her coming back on Wednesday.
Talking about holidays, I have just received a text message from Simon. He has arrived at his destination safely and is sunning himself on the back of a boat - what he doesn't know; as he hasn't got any internet access, is that we are doing the same! The only thing we are lacking is the alcohol.
We have a whole host of boats for sale at the moment, and I have never known as many people looking at boats as we have today. I've taken a deposit on one that has only just arrived and it hasn't even been advertised!
I've managed to catch two more staff today so you can put faces to names.
Firstly we have Kim who only joined the team at Norbury last week. I managed to catch her on having a break before the made rush started this morning. She's recently returned to the UK from living abroad and has taken the position as our General Assistant and can be found working in the kitchen, cleaning boats and working in the office.
Secondly we have Denise. She thought I was only joking that I was going to take a picture of her and was somewhat shocked that I managed to catch her skipping across the Wharf. She is our head gardener. She can also be found helping out in the tea room of a weekend and cleaning the hire boats, amongst other jobs that we can find for her!
My ear's prick up as soon as I hear an old engine. I don't know how I manage to hear them from sitting in the office, maybe it's my sixth sense?? Anyway, the picture below shows Victoria which headed south today, on the way to Droitwich for the Historic Narrow Boat Owner's Club gathering over the Easter weekend. She was built by Yarwoods at Northwich around 1930 and is currently powered by a Lister JP2.
Regards,
David.
Isn't modern technology a wonderful thing? My phone advanced by an hour on it's own, as did all of our computers, leaving just the analogue clocks in both the shop and tearoom to change. There's the one in the staff room too, but I don't see the point in changing that as no-one takes any notice of it anyway, haha!
It's definitely been the start of British Summer Time today. We have been incredibly once again. This has meant that we have had between four and five of the girls working in the tearoom all day. Lorraine's off at the moment on holiday, but we are looking forward to her coming back on Wednesday.
Talking about holidays, I have just received a text message from Simon. He has arrived at his destination safely and is sunning himself on the back of a boat - what he doesn't know; as he hasn't got any internet access, is that we are doing the same! The only thing we are lacking is the alcohol.
We have a whole host of boats for sale at the moment, and I have never known as many people looking at boats as we have today. I've taken a deposit on one that has only just arrived and it hasn't even been advertised!
I've managed to catch two more staff today so you can put faces to names.
Firstly we have Kim who only joined the team at Norbury last week. I managed to catch her on having a break before the made rush started this morning. She's recently returned to the UK from living abroad and has taken the position as our General Assistant and can be found working in the kitchen, cleaning boats and working in the office.
Secondly we have Denise. She thought I was only joking that I was going to take a picture of her and was somewhat shocked that I managed to catch her skipping across the Wharf. She is our head gardener. She can also be found helping out in the tea room of a weekend and cleaning the hire boats, amongst other jobs that we can find for her!
My ear's prick up as soon as I hear an old engine. I don't know how I manage to hear them from sitting in the office, maybe it's my sixth sense?? Anyway, the picture below shows Victoria which headed south today, on the way to Droitwich for the Historic Narrow Boat Owner's Club gathering over the Easter weekend. She was built by Yarwoods at Northwich around 1930 and is currently powered by a Lister JP2.
That's it from me today. I've got some friends coming over tonight, so I will enjoy a nice relaxing evening with them, sat out in the remainder of the sun. Let's hope that you are all doing the same.
Regards,
David.
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Online bookings
I took Annie out about 7am this morning and the shop wasn't visible as I walked across the Junction bridge to the incredible fog that had come down over night. It reminded me of going down to London some fifteen years ago. I hoped off with the bike at Springwell lock and cycled down to the next Black Jack's lock to get the it ready for when the boats arrived. The mist always hangs low in the Colne Valley anyway but I haven't ever seen it that bad before. Cycling was a bit dodgy at times, but upon getting the lock ready it was really spooky to be able to hear the boats coming and not see them until the foreends entered the lock. Black Jack's is haunted anyway and the late Les Lapworth (boatmen) always used to tease me when I was a teenager about the ghost that used to drop paddles and cause havoc with the boats at that lock. It's even worse in the dark!
The fog stayed with us until about 10.30 but then it has been a glorious day for the rest of the day, although I fear that it will drop cold again overnight tonight.
Finally and following hours of hard work our new hire boat and dayboat availability search and online booking system has today gone LIVE! We are in the process of finishing off the required authorisation to accept online payments, but in the meantime it is possible to book a boat and then either give us a call to take the payment or we will give you a call by the following working day. I think we have ironed out all of the creases and I hope that it flows smoothly, but if anyone has any queries, questions or suggested improvements please do not hestiate to contact me and I will do my best to help you along the way. The booking system is designed to be used in a modern browser, such as Mozilla Firefox. For full details please visit our website.
It has been incredibly busy here today. It's like someone has given out a press release that Norbury is the place to be. We've only had one shared owned boat go out today, which Simon has been working on. Bernard has been working on a regular customer's boat, doing an engine service. Fred followed him along and has done a smashing job of cleaning the engine bay out - you could eat your dinner out of the bilge. All of the normal jobs have been done completed too - blacking, serving customers on the wharf etc. The girls have been extremely busy in the tearoom and I must say that they have all done a sterling job. Ange has been here there and everywhere to keep on top of whats going on.
Tomorrows another day, and by the looks of it the weather is going to be smashing, so I would expect that we will be very busy.
Until then....
David
The fog stayed with us until about 10.30 but then it has been a glorious day for the rest of the day, although I fear that it will drop cold again overnight tonight.
Finally and following hours of hard work our new hire boat and dayboat availability search and online booking system has today gone LIVE! We are in the process of finishing off the required authorisation to accept online payments, but in the meantime it is possible to book a boat and then either give us a call to take the payment or we will give you a call by the following working day. I think we have ironed out all of the creases and I hope that it flows smoothly, but if anyone has any queries, questions or suggested improvements please do not hestiate to contact me and I will do my best to help you along the way. The booking system is designed to be used in a modern browser, such as Mozilla Firefox. For full details please visit our website.
It has been incredibly busy here today. It's like someone has given out a press release that Norbury is the place to be. We've only had one shared owned boat go out today, which Simon has been working on. Bernard has been working on a regular customer's boat, doing an engine service. Fred followed him along and has done a smashing job of cleaning the engine bay out - you could eat your dinner out of the bilge. All of the normal jobs have been done completed too - blacking, serving customers on the wharf etc. The girls have been extremely busy in the tearoom and I must say that they have all done a sterling job. Ange has been here there and everywhere to keep on top of whats going on.
Tomorrows another day, and by the looks of it the weather is going to be smashing, so I would expect that we will be very busy.
Until then....
David
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