Hasta la vista...... IWA

........Ok a little harsh but I have not renewed our IWA membership this year. This was based on a feeling they were not fair to the independent boater in the recent CaRT elections for board members.  They put forward their own candidates taking the slots the independent boater should have had.

I also have a concern their focus is not as direct as it should be for boaters. I understand there are other users of the canals but we are the biggest investor.

So this year I am out as they say.... still investing in the canals by my higher payments for a bigger boat and inflation plus on the respective fees.

Saloon help... care to share?

SOS....sort our saloon !!

When we brought Percy we were 'tested' in that it had:

• No dinette
• Fixed saloon  furniture

There were other things that we liked and we agreed that the two issues were solvable.

We have been a measuring and planning but cannot agree which way to go. We cannot add a dinette... we could if we lost the fixed bedroom but we don't want to do that.   So our options for eating are a desmo table or replace and improve on the drop leaf table we have at the moment.

As for seating... Rachel prefers loose, a two seater bed settee but we are not sure if we do this if we can add a captains chair also. We could just replace the tired cushions. As you all will know the L shape fixed is not the comfiest as it put all the weight on your bum.... and it is difficult to relax in.

We could just go with two captains chairs or similar....we already have 6 other berths (2 in the forecabin not ideal) so the make up settee is not essential.

So what do you have a why and how is it configured....Please help us make up our minds.... pics of your setup would be a real help?

Take care

Nev

Mooring surplus

Whilst checking to see if the new Fradley moorings were being advertised I noted the significant number of CaRT moorings that had been auctioned and received no bids. There are considerably more than receive bids. This is in stark contrast to how it was when we first started boat ownership. Then it was the case of get your mooring first then look for a boat.

Now days that is not the case and in most areas you can pick and choose. Where we are on the T&M we could drop into one of half a dozen marinas offering many facilities as well as linear moorings (nor necessarily Fradley though as they seem to get bids)

I read in towpath telegraph that the Marina on the Coventry near to Streethay will be open in June. Not sure what facilities this has but it adds to the weakening position for the other marinas in the area.

We have considered moving to the local marinas just to add some options for cruising, but we like where we are, and the cruising routes are excellent in all directions. Not that we are doing much cruising at the moment, it's frustrating but just the way it is with other stuff going on.

When we passed the new marina last time out on our trip to the Plough at Huddlesford junction all we could see was now deep the new marina will be.... if fishing is allowed it should be good !!

Top buying tip for 3 sims

We use 3 Internet when on board Percy. One annoyance is the 30 day limit on data purchases, we use a pay as you go Huawei E586 which allows 5 devices to connect and share the connection. We get a good HSPDA signal inside the boat.

I read on one of the forums about a 3 month sim deal so I investigated Amazon and sure enough for just over £10 you can buy a pre loaded 3gb sim that lasts for 3 months for just over a tenner.

Click here for the link

So that is what I am using now and it will last into June... If we use it up before then I have another waiting. Ideal and something to be recommended.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fradley

Latest addition to my blog roll

Julie from The Cats Whiskers  is my 21st follower. I like to find new boat blogs, like a free book that is still being written. The reason for the post is that from what I have read their desire to have a home with a canal mooring and still cruise waterways is very close to our goal.

Hopefully catch up sometime soon to exchange notes. For now another blog to read for those who may use my list to add boaters from.

Sad news and happy news

What a long week!

Last Saturday was very sad for us as we had to have Tamsin our rescue cat put to sleep. She was 18 years old and had been with us for all of those years and grew up with our family. We adopted her from the RSPCA quite soon after moving into our present house. She was a lovely little cat who had a good life and will be sorely missed. The last few times we were on the boat she came with us as we did not want to leave her at home as we had done before with family calling in to feed and check her. We realised we should have done this sooner but never mind, she had a nice couple of mini holidays before her death.



-
She lived with Leia and they got on very well....this is the last trip on Waterlily, both on the bed.


This was when she was exploring the towpath...

After selling Waterlily on the same day we decided if we did not have anther cat straight away we might not replace her. Rachel was understandably quite upset loosing her little friend so we set to visiting the local shelters over the last week.

There are so many lovely animals wanting a home .... In the end we took to a lovely long haired young cat at Derby RSPCA. Popped out one lunchtime to meet her and the same day she was adopted and back home with us. We had previously had animals from the RSPCA so a home visit was not needed.

Meet Lilly.... Part in recognition of Waterlily passing and a good name for her....







I am not a great cat person, I prefer the loyalty you get from a dog, but this little cat is so loving and interested in us both, I expect she will be a great companion.

The relationship between Lilly and Leia is not too bad, Leia is a great dog and very patient, understandably Lilly is a little wary, but they are getting closer literally all the time. I think Leia just wants to join in the games Lilly plays.

Anyhow we are testing them both as we have come to Percy for a couple of days and they are both aboard. So far so good, they just have to be aware where each other is....so no quick surprises.

We have been absent from Percy due to family health issues, our own and our relatives, but Percy is lovely and warm, both fires goings, and 100% in the batteries. It will be interesting to see how much we use tonight with the new led lights and how quickly we put charge back in tomorrow with my new charging system.

Anyhow that is the update.... Need to spot Simon from Norbury as I understand from Sues No Problem blog he is bringing a boat back via us. I'd like to chat to him about the rear panel painting when we have Percy blacked in May.



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Fradley

A very timely end

I happened to check on Waterlily's blog and saw this...

50,000 visitors, what a nice end to my blogging for this lovely boat.

Hasta la vista Waterlily

Well we are now back to being a one boat family. Great Haywood Boat Sales have done a very professional job in selling Waterlily for us.

Clicky here for the last post on my Waterlily site.

So, now we can start focusing on a few changes to Percy  - starting with our names going onto the rear panel when Percy is Blacked at Norbury in May. Then or before then we need to make a change to the saloon to make it a little more comfortable and we may be running a few ideas past this blog to that end.

Something wonderful is going to happen....

.....not quite like this, spooky but one of my favourites, if anyone can interpret either film please do so. But rather a good development in what is a shitty time at the moment.

So hold fast for more blogging news at the weekend.

Sometimes you just have to follow instinct...

Not a boating related post......other things are keeping us off the water at the moment. But that does not mean we (I) cannot get out and Sunday saw me spin my Honda Pan European up for a 120 mile run up into the peaks, ending up at a favourite cafe in Glossop.

We met up at CMC in Clay Cross to have a breakfast and a natter before riding out.

 So that's it other than to hopefully report on some good boating news at the weekend !