Playing Catch-Up v.1.0

There has been a dearth of blog posts during the month of October.

Time to put this right with and end-of-the-month flurry..............

Around 4th October, we were still having some fine weather.

I took the opportunity to do a few little jobs that I had forgotten/back-burnered/been avoiding.

First, our stainless steel chimney, which arrived late last autumn, finally gained it's coolie hat....... :

 

 

Our generator had started to look a bit shabby, so out came the power file, rust was rubbed down and a protective coat of CIP primer was applied:

 It seems I neglected to take any 'after' pictures. Suffice to say, it looks a lot better....... in an industrial red-oxide sort of way........

 I went out for a ride on my bike. I took the camera with me and managed a couple of shots of Mark and Sheena's boat, wb "Norwiegan Blue" (aka The Ex Parrot).

James and Amy then motored past on nb "Willow" and I took a good few pictures of them too.

I had spotted a pile of recently felled wood on the towpath. James and Amy moored up next to it and I helped manhandle some large chunks onto their boat's roof.

 

This is Albert, my 1950's Raleigh bike. (Ex-Constabulary, 28" wheels, Sturmey-Archer four speed gears, weighs a ton.....)

It was a beautiful autumn day and the light was amazing.

The next day, I went back to grab some wood for us. Again, the lovely autumnal light was showing the river and it's environs to the very best advantage:

I spent a happy, if rather sweaty, hour or so splitting some of the really big bits down to a more manageably transportable size with wedges, wood grenades (pointy wedges which split in a spiral), my splitting maul, and lots of John Heft. This was the resultant pile.

I then transported it upstream, through Baits Bite lock and on to the field where Mark and Sheena moor the Ex-Parrot, where it was off-loaded into Mark's wood pile.

Here it will lie, seasoning in the sun........ (There's an irritatingly saccharine song title in there somewhere.......)

It was a golden and beautiful trip back.

If you're bored by now with pictures of the Cam in this sort of light, then tough.......

It simply doesn't get better than this, and I for one and going to look back on these pictures during the long, grey, gloomy and dark  months to come and remember these golden days........

How fitting such a lovely day should end with a lapful of cat.......

 

Goodnight.

Habeas Corpus Alvis

Well, I bloomin' well ought to have 'a right to the body'!

It's newly painted and I've just written a whimperingly large cheque as the final instalment on it........

I suppose you'd like to see some pictures, then?

Well..............

O-o-o-k-a-a-a-y.............

:-)

Yes, colour photography is now banned until The Big Reveal.

This will only take place when the car is fully finished, so get used to monochrome!........

The Big Reveal itself may involve theatre lights, smoke and a suitable soundtrack - Richard Strauss's "Also Sprach Zarathustra" or something similarly understated.........

You can all amuse yourselves in the meantime by making educated guesses as to the chosen hue.

Car is being delivered to my friend Jane's in a neighbouring village the weekend after next. Her Triumph TR4 is being taken away to The Body Shop to have similar magic woven upon it. While this happens, the Alvis will be in the TR's garage.

All I have to do is hook the engine out, dismantle it, rebuild it, and put it back.

And do the same for the steering box, the brakes, and the suspension.

Oh, and re-wire it with the new loom I have ordered from Autosparks.

And have all the chrome re-done....... and fit it.

All in the time it takes Andy and Terry to do Jane's TR4...........

I am not feeling even remotely daunted by the enormity of this task, nor the slightest tremor of trepidation regarding the potential for practicing my "Large Cheque-Writing" skills.

(Actually, the above may be a bit of a fib.................)

When all that's done, it can go back to Wisbech for the final fit-up of the front wings, inner wings, bonnet and front apron.

Then it will be ready to go off to the trimmers to have the interior sorted prior to Andy changing it's colour to complement the bodywork.

Then the trimmers will have it back to put a nice new hood on.

Cue: 'The Big Reveal'......

Nope, hardly daunted at all..............

Ulp.........

:-)

Long Weekend

I had Friday off, Jackie was at work in London, so decided to single-hand Pippin into Cambridge to pump out.

The tank was only about 3/4s full, but leaving it another week would have meant the university colleges would all be back.

Locals know that this means, as a consequence, the river will soon be awash with novice rowers bouncing ineptly from bank to bank.

Their arrival marks the coming of Autumn as surely as ducklings and cygnets denote the arrival of Spring.

However, it introduces a level of stress into the piloting of a 26 ton steel boat down a suddenly crowded waterway which traduces entirely any enjoyment which might otherwise be gained from it.

Thus, a last quick trip to Cambridge before winter sets in and we switch to the long but peaceful slog to The Blessed Isle that is Ely.

I couldn't have asked for a better day for it:

Quite early one morning.........

Our Seagull Sentinel saw me off.

Under way, passing the GOBA moorings, c.08:30

Approaching the Cam Sailing Club: the river a mirror.

 The Bridge at Clayhithe

Lowestoft Ice-wherry 'Jester' has sunk at her mooring once again.

And on I travelled, through that most glorious autumnal morning light: light filled with poetry, and filled with yearning for the last of summer and sadness for the end of it. The trees still in full leaf, yet tinged with winter's harbingers, the ochres and the rusts.

"We are fallen into the sere, into the yellow leaf......" (Shakespeare: The Scottish Play.)

The little steam launch seemed about to be readied for play.
Another 'last blast', perhaps?

 View from Bait's Bite Lock footbridge, upstream and downstream

Softly through the green corridor, the engine but a murmer.

At Jesus lock Pump-Out and water point.

While the pumps worked away (I pumped out, rinsed out with bleach added, then rinsed out with plain water: if you've come all this way, you want to be thorough! :-), I took the opportunity to wash down the port side. The windows particularly were very grimy.

(It tends to get over-looked at home, as port is the river side, and hanging off the boat to do cleaning opens one to the threat of an unscheduled inspection of the bottom of the river: a prospect I find highly de-motivating..........)

Anyway, spider webs were banished.

Glass and paintwork sparkled anew.

The trip boat, nb 'Rosie'. I had a cup of tea and a chat on board Pippin with Peter, her proprietor.

Very pleasant! 

The trip back was lovely. I tried to take some pictures as I steered out of Cambridge, but found that photography and helmsmanship are not a comfortable mix.

At this point I wasn't doing either very well......

Serve me right for trying to multi-task....

This lovely wooden cruiser is called 'Brunette'.

 This is the last piece of undeveloped private land backing on to the river in Cambridge.

A veritable snip at £450,000, I thought.......

Fen Ditton from the river

There is a beautiful thatched cottage nestling in the trees.

Sadly, once again, my attempts at steering/photography meant I missed the 'money' shot....

Bait's Bite stood against us again on the way back, but I had a nice chat with some people at the lock. It was Conversation 3B: Generators/solar panels/wind turbine.

At least they didn't ask "Isn't it cold in winter?"...........

Pippin looking serene, shiny and svelte (and hardly like a 'fat boat' at all, thank you, Dr Bones! :-) moored on the lock approach.

Baits Bite lock fills. Slowly........

Swirly water

The lads from The Cam Conservancy hard at work shoring-up the bank and towpath opposite the moorings at Horningsea.

A particularly sylvan stretch between Horningsea and Clayhithe.

Approaching the bridge at Clayhithe.

It's looking like a particularly suitable venue for a game of Pooh Sticks in this lovely light.

Moored-up safely at The Parish.

The cloud formation above could almost be a heart shape, if you squint a bit.....

I did.

Well, it was our wedding anniversary the following day!

:-)