Well I laughed

Well I laughed when I read Angela's blog from last night, I was a little too busy to write one so Ange stepped in and wrote it instead, she has a unique way of saying things, well she has exposed the 'Numpty Club' here at Norbury, when someone gets something totally wrong then they get the title of chief Numpty, Not that it happens very often, well lorraine does get the title more often than most! and I won’t mention Fred as he has had his name changed by deed pole to Mr Numpty, so As Angela said last night if you want to join the ever expanding Numpty club then just drop her a line.

Its been a grey damp day today, one of those days where I could have stayed in bed for another hour at least, but not today though as there was far too much to get done, we had a day boat out first thing this morning, two boats going on the dock for blacking etc and I really needed to get the winter works schedules finished off as I am not around next week and the lads need to make a start on the boats as it is a big job to get 30 odd boats done as well as all of the other jobs that come in over the winter period, Matt has been progressing very well and the boat is looking superb, it will be finished this weekend so no doubt David will get a picture of it as it comes out of the dock, Graham has been busy as well, he has been adding some protection to the base plate of Defiant which if you didnt know is one of our day boats, he then started removing the stern gear of our 'new to us' day boat, the Bounty, it is very worn indeed and needs a new stern bush at the very least, Fred has been blacking and doing the last bit of grass cutting of the year and Bernard has been winterising boats, he is nearly finished and then he will be starting on the winter engine servicing.

That’s it from me for today so until tomorrow, maybe.
Simon

back to the grindstone

hi all, yes it was back to the grindstone today after a week off and what a good week i had too. contrary to popular belief i was not "knocking a round off" it is now too dark to play golf after work and mark was working so i was off on my own til friday, we then went to london to visit my brother in stratford where the new olympic stadium is, it looks really good, we then went to see billy elliot the musical and that was just awesome.
i really can't beleive how many holidays have been booked over the last few weeks for next year and it is nice to see some returning customers, hi to lorraine lintern who has booked "pippin" for next year and also hi to kerry morgan who has booked "princess", look forward to meeting with you again in 2012.
fred has been up to his usual tricks today like doing my head in and bernard has attended a call out as well as other bits and bobs around the yard, fred was hoping to have half a days holiday but that didn't materialise (sorry fred) and mick has been finishing off some private work before we get stuck into the winter works on the hire fleet, we have got lots to do.
we have been quiet in the shop and tea room today which has allowed us to catch up on lots of jobs and for me to catch up on a weeks work, the joys of having a holiday.
simon has been busy going through all the hire boats looking at what work we will be doing and sending e mails back to me by mistake that i sent to him, i daren't send one back to him or he would call me a numpty, we're all numpties here at norbury even his girlfriend amanda, but we're past all that now aren't we amanda ?, we just welcome everyone to the numpty club so if you would like to join just give us a call and we'll enrol you, that's it from me tonight, teas ready, speak soon byeeeeeeeee.

Its toooooo short!

I reckon that the weekend is far too short, but then I think that everyone else also feels the same on a Monday! The week days also seem far too short at the moment! I do like the winter when it is crisp in the air and a nice frost on the ground but I really don't like it dark in the late afternoon like it is now as I am writing this blog! It has been a seriously cold day today, I awoke this morning expecting to see a hard frost outside when I opened the curtains but it was just damp, I believe from David that there had indeed been a frost but then I reckon that because of the distance that he is travelling in to work at the moment he would be up earlier than me.

Its been an incredibly busy day today here at Norbury, we have sen quite a lot of boats on the wharf for services which has kept David on his toes, Micky has been fitting a stove, Graham has been welding in the dock, I have been for a play on our new day boat , what a Laugh that is going to be, I will post some pictures of it this week as soon as I get the chance, Cheryl has been busy in the shop and tea room as well as a bit of stock taking that had been over looked, Matt has been painting, and that is going to look superb when its finished this week, pictures to follow! Julian has been doing a bit of blacking and that's about the total sum of the activities today.

We have our Angela back tomorrow after her week of relaxing, knocking a few rounds off, doing London and generally enjoying herself, she will no doubt be well and truly refreshed after her break, I should just say that she likes her golf!

That's about it from me for today.
Simon

They arrived eventually!

The dayboat eventually arrived back just before six last night! I wasn’t very impressed as I was supposed to be over in Tamworth for six thirty. I can understand the boats being a few minutes late, as you can never guarantee timings on the canal, but to be an hour and a half late is taking it a bit too far…

I was out boating last night, enjoying the fire work displays all around until we reached our destination for our very own bonfire, fireworks and BBQ. A great evening was had by all.

I was up early again this morning, walked Annie and then headed over to work. Although the traffic isn’t usually too bad at the weekend, thick fog slowed progress down this morning. By the time I arrived at Norbury it became evident that the sun was going to burn through the fog and a brilliant day has followed. At one point there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and most people were walking around in short sleeved t-shirts. It’s now started to drop cold again and I wouldn’t be surprised to see a frost tonight.

Mick and Julian have docked one of our new hire boats. Julian has pressure washed it off whilst Mick has been carrying on with the stove fit that he is in the middle of. He has also been out to a break down. One of our moorers experienced alternator problems down at Church Eaton and called for our assistance. They are now up and running again and heading back towards Norbury.

Lorraine has worked really hard today, with a couple hours of assistance from Cheryl. Ange off on holiday, so I have manned the shop, office and telephones whilst carrying on with some advertising work and no end of other bits and pieces I have ongoing. Not to mention a bit of invoicing!

I hope that you all have a good week ahead. I have got some painting to finish off on Ant if the weather isn’t too bad on Tuesday/Wednesday – so that will keep me occupied.

Best regards,

David.

Didn’t it rain in the night?

Didn’t it rain in the night? It bucketed it down, but I suppose the canal system and the reservoirs need it to top them back up!

We have turned four boats around today and all the holiday makers have gone on their merry way to enjoy a bit of boating, now the canals are a bit quieter.

As I write I am sat here waiting for the dayboat to return. Hopefully they will be back for 5.30pm as I would like to get off on time to attend a bonfire/firework party.

I’ll try and blog a bit more tomorrow, but I am afraid I need to rush off! Have a good evening.

Regards,

David.

As I was driving into work this morning, the weather forecast was for heavy rain, thunder, lightening and possibly a hail storm. Luckily it has actually been quite mild and dry until about half an hour ago when the heavens opened! This has meant that Steve and Aaron have had to stop work up the moorings because they were just working in a muddy quagmire.

We have turned five shared owned boats around today and got the hire boats ready that are going out tomorrow. The two boats that are currently on the dock have both been blacked. I think Fred thought that it was necessary to black himself too! I’m sure that his wife won’t be too impressed having to do more washing for him…

Opal II has also turned up from Oxford and I know that Reflection is on her way because I saw her in Tamworth a couple of evenings ago. There’s another two on their way that should arrive sometime over the weekend too.

Simon has been out-and-about for most of the day. He should have been back to the yard about three, but he unfortunately suffered a puncture which has delayed him to the point that he still hasn’t returned.

I hope that you all enjoy your evening and I will be back again tomorrow to update you on what’s been occurring here.

Best regards,

David.

Flat out!

Sorry I didn't post anything yesterday, as the title suggests, I have been flat out for the last couple of days, I have had Angela off, David off, Lorraine off and Mick off today, not that it has been busy, but with four people off you do tend to be a little bit busier than normal, good job it has been quiet!

Not much to report really, I suppose the most exciting thing to happen is that we have had a blocked soil pipe in one of the cottages, not to exciting I hear you say, well not until Fred managed to loose a long section of the roding tool down the soil pipe which at that stage was full of s*** needless to say that when he reported it to me the air too was also full of s*** and lots of other expletives!! they have had to dig up the soil pipe to locate the roding tool, as I am writing this blog I am yet to hear how they have got on, I really do hope that they have sorted the problem, if not the s*** will hit the fan as the poor occupants of the cottage wont be able to use there loo tonight!

Apart from that nothing else too interesting has happened over the last couple of days, we have steadily been taking bookings for the boats for next year, one of the new boats turned up today which only leaves four more to arrive, Fred and Bernard have un docked two boats today and also docked two more, Interestingly for the past couple of years we have had a several empty moorings but this winter we are full to bursting point with moorings, so much so that we have had to start a waiting list again, we must be doing something right, either that or we are too cheap!

That's it from me for today.
Simon