Typical English weather

Rain, sun, rain, sun,rain, su, rain, sun, rain, sun, they tell me that is a typical English summer, surely this cant be normal? its not just a light shower, its torrential rain!

We have had a busy day today, three day boats first thing, one with an old friend on, Jilly Hog, she used to do lots of canal painted ware but has long since retired from that, several hire boats returned today and we have had six go out, and all three day boats came back without issue, just as the rain came down! We have had a hand off our good friend Becks today, its a pleasure to have her give us a hand, she gets on so well with everyone, Micky has been fitting up Ada Rose, thats the boat that Matt has just finished painting, thats coming out of the dock tomorrow, and thats about it really, the usual jobs for Fred, simon and aour new lad Jake, I will tell you about Jake when I have a minute.

Thats it from me for tonight
Simon

Its Friday!

Don’t know why I bothered typing the title really as I have still got to work this weekend so today is just another day, are you feeling sorry for me? probably not! but it is the weekend for most of you and I hope that the weather stays like it has been today here at Norbury however I hope the wind drops a little, it has been as windy as hell here today, that makes boating interesting, narrow boats in a restricted channel in the wind are not good combinations, its a good job they are made of steel that’s all I can say!

Its been a busy one today, although only a hand full of boats out today, two shared boats, two hire boats and one day boat but we did have several returning this morning which made first thing a bit interesting, boats everywhere, well the ones that were going out have gone so that’s it until it all happens again tomorrow, and that’s it from me until tomorrow.
Simon

Here comes the rain, hail and damnation!

I thought for one moment today that the end of the world was coming as it went black over Norbury and then came a thunderous roar from above, it was obvoius what was next, yep the heavens opened up and it threw it down , we had 'cats and dogs' and everything thrown at us for about an hour, it was bouncing off the boats and the roofs it came down that hard as but when the hail came down I decieded that enough was enough and I retired to the shop for some cover, see attached photo for the deluge! As I type the blog my feet are still wet through.
The sun has now come back out so I suppose you could say that we are having a typical summer?

We have certainly been a lot busier today, sods law as most of the boats turned up for wharf services just as the heavens opened up, we had that many boats here that Simon and I were both out there in the pouring rain dieseling the boats, pumping them out trying to generally dodge the rain, and its carried on like that all afternoon with boats pulling on to the wharf for services.

Thats it from me or tonight, Im off home to dry out.
Simon

extension to jenks blog

hi tis me AGAIN........aren't you lucky...mmm

as i was leaving work tonight i said to simon have you done the blog, ange i haven't had time was his answer then he said well i have done a little one about the moorings, that rhymes with boring.

we had 1 day boat out this morning with people who had never been on a boat before and thoroughly enjoyed themselves, especially as it has been a stunning day here at norbury, the sun has shone for most of the day and of course we have all been moaning about how hot it has been, there really is no pleasing some people. well i have been complaning about the heat cos i have been doing service washes for most of the day and the heat from the tumble drier has been too hot to handle.

we have had a private job on the wharf today where we have fitted an 1800 w sterling inverter and after much deliberation about the size of the fridge a few minor adjustments were made and the customers bought a new fridge aswell as their old one was too old and noisy, they also commented on what a nice guy simon the engineer was, and he is. jake is a nice lad too and picking up simons good ways.

joyce has manned the tea room with a little help from me , when i wasn't doing service washes, there aren't many of us around on wednesday so we all have to muck in together. except the guys that is, i asked denise if she would clean the mens tea room, they are all on the naughty step when she returns on friday...........filthy.

jenk has been busy sorting an engine job and fred has been his usual self.............moaning, we love ya freddie.

until next time, byee.

Moorings available

It is a rare thing for us at the moment, since we completed the improvements on our moorings we have been full however in the last two weeks we have had two boats go up for sale with us and a long term moorer move his boat to a section of canal that is cut off from the rest of the system so he can explore that for a while, this means that we have two spare moorings, we can accomodate up to 70ft on either mooring, one has electric and the other doesnt, one is down the old Newport and Shrewsbury canal (off line) and the other is on the main line of the canal on the offside, if you are interested give me or david a call.

Simon

quiet day

hi, it's me again the new boss, well i've the bosses permission to say so anyway.
there's not an awful lot to report today as we have been quiet in the shop and tea room, but having said that the phone's haven't stopped ringing, i have done 2 hireboat bookings for this weekend and 1 for august, it is getting to the time of year where people are leaving it to the last minute to book their holidays to get the best deal.
we had a dayboat go out first thing this morning, the weather hasn't been brilliant but at least it has stayed dry for them and they have returned without issues.
engineer simon has been welding for most of the day and mick has attended a break down in chester.
denise was bitten by a dog last night and it took me until 2 o'clock to persuade her to go to the doctors for an injection, nat went with her to hold her hand. i told her that injections aren't what they used to be, she said " i don't like injections and certainly not in my bum", i said it's an arm jobby now so that made her feel a little easier, anyway it's all over and done with now, poor denise. jenk has just been his usual self, sitting in the corner with his feet on the table, (oops sorry i mean under).
that just leaves fred...............he's been getting the boats ready for the weekend, blacking, weeding and moaning!!!!
til the next time, byee.

New Boss!

Cheeky so and so she is, Angela that is! I was asking her if she didn't mind me going early yesterday as it meant that she would have stay a bit longer to lock up, well if she wants to be the boss then she can have the job, so if you read this Ange can I have a pay rise please, I want more holidays, oh and by the way I wont be in tomorrow as I am feeling ill (well I fancy a sickie) lol

Its been a bit of a roller coaster type day, dead quiet one minute and then MANIC the next, the phone seems to have been relentless though but not to many customers through the door, even though the sun has been shining, the tea room has even been quiet today, very unusual given the excellent weather.

A couple of day boats out this morning, without issue I am glad to say, they also returned without issue, we have also had a hire boat out this afternoon, that too went without issue!

Not really much else to say about today,so until tomorrow
Simon