Smooth walls

Sunday, and the first job was to clear everything out of the WC ready for the laminate.

I decided that cutting the laminate warranted a new blade for the stanley knife.  I know, extravagant expenses, but without regard to the budget I set off to B&Q.  I have had problems with the staff at this B&Q being idiots in the past, but when I approached the till with some stanley knife blades, what I was not expecting was "do you have any ID?".  Apparently you have to prove you are over 25 to buy knife blades.  As this is the first time I have been "ID'ed" since trying to drink in Preston in the Seventies I was quite chuffed.  However if she thought I looked under 25 then she needs to get a new guide dog, because I know I look at least 28!

The laminate cut really easily, probably due to a fresh blade and sticking it to the wall seems easy as well, even though I expected it to fall straight off again, as soon as you put some decent pressure on it, it sticks.  Even though it seems to take no time at all, soon it was going dark and time to pack up again.
Two walls done and the first porthole liner fixed. I was hoping to have the remaining wall, ceiling and floor done today, but it does take longer than it seems.

 Next week maybe.

Very naughty Shepherds

We saw the Bad Shepherds at the Grand in Clitheroe.  They were very good, but Ade was in great form when he threw the bouncers (on the left in the picture above) out for using his phone!.  It is the first time I have ever seen the bouncers thrown out of a gig, this will probably be on youtube by now!

In anticipation of Christmas, I have been stocking up on "stuff to do".  I now have a huge pile of marine ply, sealant for the wetroom, laminate flooring, laminate walling and laminate ceiling, plumbing bits, paint and all sorts of other clutter acting as a trip hazard at the front of the boat.  One day all this stuff will be stuck onto the boat, hopefully in the correct place.

Swing and Thanksgiving

'Cos Roberto is american (nobody's perfect) we have to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Even when he gets the date wrong!

So we had an amazing meal at Lukes.  Being American, Roberto fell asleep half way through the meal, but Sophie was making up for it by being the party animal!

I saw the Swing Commanders in the theatre in Ramsbottom.  I haven't seen them since they played in Great Harwood, which must have been five years ago.  They were better than I remember, a great night of music.

Having fit the remaining radiators to the boat, and cured all the leaks, I now have a toasty hot boat with ridiculously hot water.  The water pressure is too much for the basin, so I have fitted pressure reducing valves to both hot and cold.  I don't know how much of a difference this will make, but we will see once the plumbing is finished.

I went up to Edinburgh and had a couple of beers near the Queens Hall, before I saw Lau, who were far better than they were in Manchester.  

On the train back, I decided to draw up a list of jobs that need doing on the boat, thinking this will help me organise what I am doing.  By the time I got to Chorley, I had ten pages of jobs.  I decided that a list of jobs to be done is daunting, and is probably not a good idea.

I may be wet, but at least it's warm!

The original idea was to have a central wood burner, running radiators for heating.
Then the design of the layout I reached meant that the wood burner would now be at the front, and although it may run a couple of radiators, it was unlikely to reach the back of the boat.
Then I bought the bargain wood burner, which was smaller than I had originally intended, but fits in nicely with the saloon layout, but is unlikely to run more than one radiator.
So I decided that a Propex hot air heater would do nicely for the heating.  I liked the idea of hot air for heating. I don't usually feel the cold, so the heating will be more for airing the place and preventing damp, so hot air heating seemed ideal.
That is the potted history of my heating thinking.

Now I am stopping on the boat occasionally, and now the nights are getting darker I have changed my mind completely.  Saturday night I got to the boat about 9 in the evening and it was dark.  I had no hot water, and the only way of heating (domestic) hot water was by running the engine.  If I get a Propex this will not change.  As I think it is a bit unsociable to run the engine in the dark, I have decided that the heating system will have to heat the water as well.

Luckily when I got the Calorifier from Ely Chandlers, they were out of stock of the single coil, so gave me a twin coil for the same price.

So, after trawling the net, I have an Eberspaher diesel fired heater. My first impression is of a huge cardboard box, but once opened the boiler itself is very small.  However, the remainder of the box is holding a frightening number of pipes, brackets, pipes, clamps, pipes and other unidentifiable bits and pieces. However after only 12 hours of crawlig around the diesel tank, cursing, reaching over and under the silencer, swearing, and grovelling in the bilges, the installation of the boiler in the engine room is complete. Initially I have only got one radiator and the calorifier connected, and, after about half an hour of bleeding (diesel and water), with a roar like a jet turbine, the boiler fired up.  The radiator in the bedroom warmed up in no time, and dripped water from one of the valves, but at least it is warm water.

Sticking a Ram on the roof

We went to see Lau at the Methodist church in the Northern Quarter on Wednesday.
Unusually they were not very good.  Martin had a few more toys and seemed to spend more time playing with them.  More electronics than music.

We finally got a nice clear day without too much wind, and lifted the refurbished ventilator/weather vane back on the roof.

Lifting the vane up onto the scaffolding with a manatee was remarkably easy, then we manhandled the vane into place, and it slid neatly onto the socket in the roof, a lovely snug fit.  I wish everything we did went this smoothly!

Once fixed in place, the wind vane was fixed, once we had worked out which way was north.

Finally the Ram goes on to top it all off!

As soon as this was done, it was down to the Met, to set up the bar for Bury Beer Festival.  Four bars, 30 beers and 30 handpumps.  The festival was quite busy this year.  The trio of Brewsters beers sold pretty quickly as did the Costa Del Salford and the Mad Dogs and Englishmen.

Sunday the bar was stripped down and packed away, then, after 50 hours on my feet over the weekend, home for some much needed sleep.

A tale of two spoons

There was a quite interesting sight the other day at the boatyard, a large widebeam was being lifted in from a lorry, but due to the weight two cranes were needed to lift.

This is known as a tandem lift and it is great to watch the co-ordination of two cranes effortlessly lifting the boat over to the canal.

I used to be a train spotter when I was about twelve or so.  I have never seen a class 20 because they were on the south coast somewhere.  Forty or so years later, while waiting at Leeds, two class 20's came through pulling a couple of tankers.  Funny what you remember from years back isn't it.

I have just been up to Glasgow for the first time in about 30 years to judge beer of Scotland.  I arrived at Glasgow Central and checked into the hotel just across the way on Argyll street.  I checked in and decided there was time for a pint.  There was a pub on the corner which seemed reasonable, until I found out that it was a Gay bar!
A quick retreat to the Wetherspoons just further down the road, the John Moore.  After a while I had managed to attract the attention of one of the bar staff and got a flat pint of sarsons malt vinegar. I tried swapping it, and was told that this is how Arran Ales brew their beer. Bollocks.  Arran ales brew fantastic beer, but the John Moore seem to be determined to destroy beer.  The worst Wethersponns I have ever been in.

After wandering around for a while I found another Wetherspoons called the Edward Wylie.  I was even more disgruntled with Wetherspoons than I normally am, but it was getting late so in I went.

There was one girl behind the bar serving someone else as I approached, but I got an immediate "I'll be with you in a minute".  A quick scan of the handpumps and they were having a Hawkshead brewery weekend.  So much for trying some Scottish beer!
The girl behind the bar served me quickly, offering a description of the beers until I mentioned that I was very familiar with the Hawkshead brews.
A pint of Red, and a pint of Windermere Pale, both superb, and then the New Zealand IPA, a relatively new brew I had not yet had.  What a superb pint, so I stayed for a couple.

The Edward Wylie was such a complete contrast to the other hole, in staff, service, atmosphere and beer.  I have no idea how Wetherspoons as a company can manage to have two extremes so close to each other, and still claim to have some consistency.
Anyway, The Edward Wylie.  A great pub.

Friday was spent judging at Pollockshields Burgh Hall, which was a great little venue.  Some great brews from Tryst, Arran and Highland Brewing but the Jarl was not the best I have had it.

Afterwards we went back into Glasgow to find some better pubs.  First stop was the Pot Still on Hope Street.  This is an amazing place with a massive array of whiskey on show.  All of the walls were covered with pictures and bookshelves and bottle shelves and the place had a great atmosphere, good beer as well.

Next was around the corner to Drury Lane and the Horseshoe, which I believe is quite a famous Glasgow landmark.  A huge pub which again seems to be unchanged for many years.  Unfortunately my phone battery had died, so no photo's!

The following morning it was an early start to leave Glasgow and get the train back home.

Scream and shout

On Saturday we had a remarkable day, and somehow finished work 2 hours early.  I know that sometimes we can save five minutes here or there, but somehow we have saved 2 hours.

Great timing, because then it was the train down into Manchester on a Saturday night for the first time in ages.  The Lass O'Gowrie was empty, and, worse still, only had one beer on.  Apparently the football had been on in the afternoon, and they had sold almost all of their beer.  Bastards!.  Now I have another reason to hate football.

Heading down Oxford Road, we found a bar called Jabez Clegg.  Not the most catchy name I admit, but they did have beer!  The barmaid opened the till, and the drawer fell out, change all over the floor.  I'm not laughing because I've done it myself, but it was amusing.

Next we had a couple of beers in KRO, which looks like somebodys house, probably because it used to be a house.  Great place though, catering for everybody - beer, wine, food, cocktails, everything.

Finally, across the road to the Academy, where we saw Alexa De Strange, which was a strange mix, operatic style vocalist and seventies rock guitarist, but what a fantastic band.

Then the main event of the evening, Toyah.

Looking and sounding fantastic, leaping about the stage I cannot believe she is fifty five.  I wish I had that much energy!









We had to leave early to get the train back.  I don't know which moron is in charge of public transport around here, but the last train back out of Manchester on a Friday night is five past eleven ?  Which idiot came up with that!

Sunday I decided to bite the bullet and build the first door for the boat.  I have been thinking about options for doors for ages, but it comes down to the fact that the doors are going to be odd shapes, so they need building to fit.

I cut the shape out of 12mm marine ply, and made sure this fit well.  I then put a border around each side made up from a 3" by 1/2" moulding I found at JAS timber. It took quite a while to work out the angles for the mitres - not so easy when the corners aren't 90 degrees, but I managed to make some remarkably neat corners.

After fiddling about with a sliding door track I got from ironmongerydirect.co.uk, I have a sliding door of sorts.  The only problem is the metal bulkhead that it slides against is distorted, so the door catches half way open, so I will have to move the door out slightly, but otherwise I am quite chuffed with my first door.

Open

Shut

Clear the decks...

I managed to get most of Sunday on the boat, and decided it was time for a clear out.  Boxes have arrived with "stuff" in, and then been used for rubbish.  I decided that the number of rubbish boxes was getting a bit much, so I have a clear out of  loads of packing and offcuts, and there is a suprising amount of space suddenly!

I finished off connecting the sink, but I have decided I don't like the flexi pipe drain, so I am going to take it out again and do it properly with a solid drain.

I have changed my mind about using a hot air heating system, as that would leave me having to run the engine to get hot water.  So, I have forked out a painfully huge sum on a Eberspacher DS4.

The only problem now is I am going to have to fit new pipework behind the walls I have already fitted.  It will have to wait on the outcome of the battle between how cold it gets, and me squeezing myself under the bed for a bit of plumbing again!

The plastic panels for the bathroom wall are also on order, so I need to sort it out before then.

Old Rope, New Rope

September has arrived, and busy, busy.
First it was the Mountain Rescue Beer festival.  46 beers, all on hand pump, and all good.

 This year we didn't spend any money on musicians, and Chris and Dawn did wonders on getting people to play for free.
Also we didn't spend any money on Glasses, as last year the "souvenir" glasses almost all came back for refunds.  So we used last years glasses. Some people complained, but this is a beer festival to raise money for the Charity, and not buying new glasses means £400 more to the charity!
Sunday teatime and the Beer Festival is over, 14 beers run out completely, and there wer only two beers that had more than a couple of pints at all.
All the money saving has been worthwhile, and it looks like we have raised over £3000 for mountain rescue, with still some sponsor money to come in!


Tuesday, I went to Union chapel to see Judy Collins.  Before the music started I had some Lasagne in the school hall which was absolutely superb.  Washed down with a nice glass of Meantime Ale from their unusual personalised bottle and glass.






Judy Collins was superb, although I found a lot of the "american" name dropping a bit tedious - I don't care how many times you have been invited to the Whitehouse - I bet you've never been invited round to Luke's for his Christmas Feast!









Next thing, I'm down to Burton on Trent for the Barrel Rolling Championships.  I'm not taking part, I do too much barrel rolling at work, but I am serving beer in the beer tent!

The Brewing museum is a great place to wander around, with a good show of all the historic vehicles from the brewerys' history (plus a huge horse!).

Just near the entrance, there is the Burton Union brewing system on display.  Beer is fermented in the wooden casks, and when the yeast forms above the beer, it is forced through pipes to be collected in the large channel above.

This all looks rather complicated to me, and I would hate to have to clean all that lot.

All sold out, I got back up to Rammy in time to see the New Rope String band.  Two Fiddlers and a squeeze box came on stage and it was laughing from the start.  Brilliant timing, and insane comedy, I was getting quite worried about sitting in the middle of the front row, but I managed to escape any major trauma.

Should you see the New Rope Sting Band near you, go and see them. You will laugh until it hurts!