i'm back ;-)

hi all, i haven't been at work since wednesday last week, day off thursday, 3 days holiday, then guess what day off monday. i went boating for a few days with mark, 2 friends from far away newcastle upon tyne, their 2 daughters and 3 dogs, it stayed dry but it was cold, however, we had an excellent weekend.
so it is back to the grindstone today (not quite sure if i've spelt that right, but hey ho)
i have been ploughing through my in tray today, invoices and holiday bookings, i have even booked a day boat today for this friday. simon asked fred to drain 1 down and move it onto the moorings, then i booked it, so fred had to bring it back and fill it up with water, not a happy bunny, poor fred.
we have also booked phantasy for this friday, she was moored on our moorings and i asked simon if she could be brought down today so that we could get her cleaned, david said to him "don't forget you can turn her round down there, don't get taking her down to grub street to turn it like steve did last week", we did wonder where he had got to, no wonder it took him so long.
it hasn't been too busy here today, the tea room has been relatively quiet until i was left in the building on my own then i suddenly had people wanting to be served in the tea room whilst i was dealing with a customer in the chandlery and then the phone started ringing it's head off, denise was on monarch getting it ready for its new occupants today but she soon came to my rescue, thanks denise, you're a life saver. the boat was ready for when the customers arrived at 1 pm and they were happy that once they'd had lunch they could set off for nantwich.
simon has been doing simon things today, he is all caught up with his e mails and other jobs to do so he thought he would browse the i phone web site for ring tones.............what a flippin racket........i thought some one was being murdered at one point, it was so loud, we had to filter a few out as i to have to listen to his phone ringing when he is in the yard and we are all in the office.  
i can't think of anything else to report for today so until next time.........byeeeeeeee, ange.

Just as we were walking out of the door on Friday evening the phone rang. Simon promptly answered the it and on the other end were the lads who had taken Sphynx out for the weekend. The engine had stopped for some reason and they were close to Church Eaton. Unfortunately for Mick he was on call, so he departed in the van to see sort it out. I had a call from him at about seven, to say that he thought it was a little more terminal than we first thought, but could be fixed with some spare parts that we carry on the shelf and it was agreed that Mick would visit the boat first thing in the morning as the light was fading and it was making the job difficult. 

I got to work just before eight yesterday morning to prepare for another hectic day. Mick arrived soon after and gathered the bits together that he required. Once he was on board it was soon apparent that we really needed the boat back at the yard, so we swiftly my another ten berth boat available and sent the lads on their way. That's the first time this year we have had to swap some customers to another boat - it would happen on the last week of the season... Mick returned to the yard to get the other six boats and the holiday cottage ready for the oncoming customers. 

We had Bill in too to check the internals of the boats and of course Fred who did his "normal" Saturday jobs, pumpouts, gas, diesel, water and washed the fleet off as an amazing number of leaves had fallen onto the top of the boats.

As soon as all of the boats were ready I dispatched Simon to get the engine running along with Fred who would steer the boat back. He arrived at about five thirty last night - one of the reasons there was no blog yesterday...

Mick had to go to a boat at Audlem first thing this morning, so Steve set to removing the inspection plate on the top of the diesel tank of Sphynx and emptying the diesel. We've had to replace the majority of the fuel line. I don't think it has got anything to do with the "Diesel Bug" but a sign of age. She has obviously had a problem in the past as the originally supply pipe has been capped off and another pipe fitted. It has taken most of the day, but we now are confident that she will be ready for the customers who are picking her up tomorrow.

Denise has been in the tearoom today with Joyce helping out when necessary.

Winters certainly on it's way. It has been bitterly cold for the past couple of nights, and the temperature doesn't seem to have risen much today. We've had one day boat out both yesterday and today, I do feel sorry for them when it is cold and damp, but both parties have seemed to enjoy themselves.

Until next time.

Regards,

David

Friday

Friday and its the end of another week, well it is for me anyway! Its been a cold one here at Norbury today, it was certainly a cold one last night and a windy one too, i sleep at home with my bedroom windows wide open , I got up early this mooring to find the curtains had been sucked out of the window and it was freezing, i soon shut the windows and jumped back in to bed, we have been selling coal and smokeless fuels at a good rate now that the colder weather has come, we had a further 4 tons delivered today so that we don’t run too low on stock as I suspect its going to get colder.

The lads have all been busy again today, Steve is still doing wood work on a brokerage boat, Simon has been working on a replacement stern gear all day on a boat in the dock, Fred turned the fleet around this morning and then went blacking another boat in the dock, Lee has been flitting between dry dock and wet dock applying paint to two boats, he is nearly finished on both of them, this weekend should see the back of them, Mick has been on engines in the fleet all day getting them ready for either collection this afternoon of tomorrow, We have had Billy in today to do show arounds, David has been all over the place, on hire boats in the cottage, on private boats, in the office, and on the phone taking last minute booking, which is pretty much the same as me, Denise has looked after the tea room helped by Denise while she has been in-between cleaning hire boats, all in all a busy day!

Until Monday
Simon

Regulars

Its that time of year again when we start to see the regular visitors to the area after they have been out cruising all year long, we have regular canal users that live on their boats and still move up and down the Shropshire Union canal, we have our own moorers that come home and we have our regular customers who come to us for winter moorings and works, so while the canal is now starting to go quieter we are kept occupied by looking after our regulars! Its great to see those customers who we haven’t seen for a while and catch up on the gossip from around the canal system, no doubt this will involve several pints of beer as well.

We have had a busy day today, Simon has had his head in a diesel tank that was leaking, he eventually sorted it out, then he went back to his stern gear on the boat in the dry dock, Fred has been moving boats around, as it is the last week of the cruising season we have virtually all of the boats going out so we don’t have much space in the basin which means we have to shuffle them about a bit, Fred then went and blacked a boat and did a few odd jobs around the wharf, Lee is still painting, Steve, Angela, Joyce and Mick are on their days off which has left me in the office by myself for most of the day, so I have been busy manning the phones, doing quotes, putting stock away, serving customers etc, now I am knackered! See I do some work occasionally!!!!!!

Regards
Simon

Strange day?

 Thanks Angela for yesterdays post, I have to say though that Angela doesn’t know what a strange day is ( I am now running for cover) its true it was a strange sort of day, a busy day I know that much, hence the lack of a post from me, its been a weird sort of day today, not an overly busy day yet as I sit here typing the blog I see it is after 4pm and I have no idea where the day has gone. We haven’t been blessed with good weather today and I don’t think it has brightened up all day, it has been a typical dull autumnal day, loads of leaves on the ground now and a definite nip in the air, talking of leaves on the floor, don’t forget that at this time of year they play havoc with sticking to your propeller, which slows you down and puts extra load on your engine, you would be amazed at just how much this happens!

The lads have been busy today, Freddie is back, and it doesn’t seem like he has been away, he has blacked a boat on the dock, prepared the counter bands for painting as well as serving customers on the wharf, Lee has prepared the roof on the boat in the dry dock for repainting whilst finishing off the other boat in the wet dock, Simon has been stripping out old stern gear on a boat ready to replace it tomorrow, I have finished looking through the boats for their winter works, cleared up all of my outstanding paperwork, emails and the like, and for the first time this year I have a clear desk in front of me! Time Simon

strange day

it has been a very strange day at norbury today.
very quiet to start with, we had 1 day boat out 1st thing this morning and it has stayed dry for them all day.
i caught up with a bit of paperwork today and have also done a couple of holiday bookings, 1 for next year and 1 for this saturday, we have almost got the whole fleet out now for this weekend :-)
steve has been on freddie duty today as fred has been at the eye infirmary today as he likes to call it, simon has done a bit of welding on the hatch on karakoram which is a brokerage boat that we have sold, lovely couple and they are heading down to london...........they managed to boil the engine between here bridge38 and bridge 37, we attended their breakdown and hopefully they are now on their way.
lee has carried on with the painting of "whycwood" which is coming along nicely.
joyce asked if she could go home today at lunch time, i said yeah no probs...........i never had a minute to spare in their all afternoon.........simon  was out and about and i was in the shop, tea room and answering the phone and doing the holiday bookings........sods law..........and danny off karakoram wanted to pay his bill.
all in all a very strange day, let's see what tomorrow brings,
bye for now ange.

made it back

Well I made it back safe and sound after going in to the deep depths of Wales the weekend off roading, its funny how you forget work when you are miles away and are doing other things, but I did think this weekend when the sun was streaming through the windscreen that with this weather Norbury would be packed out, upon my return today however David said that on Sunday the mist didn’t clear until nearly midday, but in Wales the sun came up and from my hotel room I watched as it rose over the river Dovey, simply stunning! As it happens it was a busy weekend for them all at Norbury in way or another.

Today has been a busy one, loads of people in to see us for allsorts of things, we have all been kept busy, Steve delivering coal and gas locally, then on the wharf, helping me and David lift a generator in to a boat as well as a multitude of other jobs, Mick has been engine servicing as well as several small jobs on boats dotted here and there, Lee is painting the last private boat that will be painted here this year, the reason for this is that we start on our massive winter maintenance schedule at the end of this month and that keeps everyone busy until next March, we do manage to fit in the odd private job here and there so if you do need something doing don’t think we will turn you away!

That’s it from me for today
Simon