How to drain the canal ...

Guten tag mein freunds! How are we all? Well I hope. Life on the canal continues to be varied and interesting so let me fill you in on what we’ve been up to in the last few weeks. This week I’ve had quite a few interviews for one thing and another. Today I had an interview with an organization called PACT (Prison Advice and Care Trust) - http://www.prisonadvice.org.uk/ - who work with prisoners and their families for a job working in the tea bar at Holloway and Pentonville prisons serving food and drink to the visitors. I really like the ethos of the organization so it would be great if they offered me the job and I could work with them. Other interviews I’ve had are for some voluntary jobs, one in an IT session that is open to the community in Queens Park where I would be helping people use computers and teach them new skills and another as a tour guide for an art installation called Chord in an old tram station in Holborn (http://measure.org.uk/measurenews.html) which would both be fun, I’ve just got to decide what to do as I’ve almost got too much to do now! I’ve also been doing some work in Southampton with Chris and Suzanne in the warehouse for their Kids’ Rooms business (http://www.kidsrooms.co.uk/) which has been good fun and has brought in some much needed cash. My NVQ Assessor training is going well, I’ve had 4 classroom sessions so far and had my first day with my mentor work shadowing him and seeing what is involved yesterday which was good, but a bit scary to think that I am going to have to do that myself In a couple of weeks time! Debs is generally doing well although she hasn’t been very well for the last week with a bad cold/swine flu/who knows! But she is getting back to full fitness now.

Last weekend we had the pleasure of Matt and Natalie coming to help us move the boat from Hanwell where we had been staying for the last fortnight. Debs particularly appreciated it as she wasn’t very well and we needed to start our journey by going up the Hanwell flight of locks which is 6 locks in a row and then 2 more very shortly afterwards. Matt and Natalie did a sterling job operating the locks and holding ropes to keep the boat steady in locks, thanks guys! We did have one minor mishap when we forgot to close the valves on the lock gate behind us before opening the valves on the gate in front of us meaning that we we were just draining the stretch of canal between us and the next lock up! By the time a man on a bike told us what we were doing you could see the canal bed, oops! Although we’re pretty sure that the water level must have been pretty low before we opened the valves because they weren’t open for very long. Anyway we managed to sort it out with a bit of help and we are now in Yeading near Southall next to a park which is very pleasant.

The weekend before we headed down to Dorset for Mat and Rach’s wedding which was great fun and a really happy occasion, it was great to see Mat and Rach tie the knot and to see lots of friends, it made us realise how much we miss you all! So come and visit us! Or we can come to you!

The Saturday before that, the 5^th September Tim and Dorrie came to visit us and helped us to move from Brentford to Hanwell which was fun. The main thing I remember from that trip was waiting to open a lock for ages because people kept climbing over it carrying guitars and amps and stuff which was a slightly surreal experience, it turns out that there was a rock festival going on.

BREAKING NEWS – I’ve been offered the catering job at Holloway and Pentonville prisons, how exciting!

See you!

Phil

Fun times!

Hello chaps, Phil here, how are we all? Well I hope. Well we’re still in Brentford, we’ve been here just over a week and are going to stay until next weekend when it will be time to move on as we can only stay in one place for a maximum of 2 weeks.

Two weekends ago we discovered a bit of a gem, we wanted to go to the cinema and decided we’d try and find an independent cinema, so we ended up at a place called ‘The Riverside’ in Hammersmith. We thought we might be making a big mistake as we walked there because it was in the middle of a housing estate and next to a derelict factory, but it turned out to be a real oasis in the middle of the scruffiness. It had a nice big bar and a beautiful terrace looking over the river and the food was top drawer, I had the best burger I’ve ever tasted! It helped that it was an absolutely beautiful evening, so we eat with the sun going down, very nice. Then we went to watch ‘Looking for Eric’ with Eric Cantona in it, which we both really enjoyed.

Last week I had my second week as a rickshaw rider which I continued to enjoy. I really enjoyed it when you were giving lifts to people who were having fun and a laugh, you could join in their fun and earn money for it, can’t be bad hey?! My biggest mistake of the week was probably on my last day riding on Thursday when I hadn’t had a single ride all afternoon and agreed to take a couple of girls from covent garden to harrods for 15 pounds. This was a bad idea for a number of reasons. First of all it is a very long way from covent garden to knightsbridge, secondly I didn’t know the way and thirdly it turns out that there are some very large, busy roads on the way that aren’t suited to a slow moving rickshaw. Trying to get to the third exit on wellington roundabout when there is about 3 lanes of very fast moving lanes of traffic was the first time when I was really stumped about how I was going to make it on the rickshaw. We did make it in a very long winded fashion and did make it to harrods but I was absolutely knackered by that time, and still had to make it back to covent garden! So that took pretty much the rest of my working day and most of my remaining energy! That was actually my last day on the rickshaw (at least for the forseeable future) as I started my training course to become an NVQ Assessor on Friday and will be doing that 2 days a week for the next 11 weeks. But all in all I enjoyed riding the rickshaw, it was certainly an experience, kept me fit and taught me my way around the west end.

I really enjoyed the NVQ Assessor training, I’ve got a really good instructor and really caught a vision for how I can hopefully use this job to encourage people and affirm their abilities and help them move forward in their lives and careers, so I’m looking forward to the next 11 weeks of that.

This weekend we had my Mum and Dad over on Saturday afternoon which was really nice. Lizzie, Mum and Dad’s dog also came, so I ended up carrying her over another boat that we were moored to 4 times in the afternoon, poor dog, don’t think she knew what was going on! After chasing round the local area trying to buy a new gas bottle because we had run out of gas, Debs cooked up a lovely lasagna and we had a really nice evening.

The owners of the boat we were moored to and the eventual source of a new gas bottle were a lovely couple called Sue and Martin. They really have got life cracked, they spend the summer cruising around the Thames on their narrowboat and then go overseas for the winter, they’re off travelling to the far east this year! On Saturday night they were off to play a gig at a pub, they play covers of 60s and 70s music and are very good, we can vouch for that, we heard them play on Sunday night! So if you need a band at all give them a call on 07884 003119!

We got on really well with them and they really were lifesavers with giving us some gas as our fridge runs on gas as well as our cooker! Thanks again guys!

Our friend Mike came to visit on Sunday afternoon, and after another lovely meal cooked by Debs we headed off with Sue and Martin to a pub called the Brewery Tap to listen to some live music. We had a brilliant night and we can see why Martin is so passionate about the place, not only was the music really good but there was a really friendly atmosphere and a real mix of people all having fun, that’s what life should be about! We also met a couple called Lorrie and John at the pub who are going to be living on Martin and Sue’s boat while they are away over the winter, so it was nice to meet them.

On Monday, after eating Bacon sarnies with our new friends, Debs, Mike and myself headed off to Notting Hill Carnival. It was really fun! Very loud and busy but again a really good atmosphere and mix of people all having fun. We also got to try some Carribean food, and very nice it was too!

Anyway better go, and remember, if you haven’t visited us yet, we’d love to see you!

Phil

Our boat is better - yippee!!

Hi everyone, Debs here. Just wanted to share the exciting news with you that our bo is now better! The Carter's are on the move again - yippee!

It's been a long process getting the boat fixed but at last it is complete, now that the boat has been fully health checked it is time to continue our journey.....

So, yesterday I took an annual leave day and Phil and I set off moving the boat and we are now in Brentford. In terms of who does what, Phil generally does the steering and I become a bit of a mother hen making sure the crew is all fed and watered! It's fun!

Thanks to everyone who is reading and following us on the blog, we've had lots of people let us know that this week, so thanks everyone, it means alot to us to keep in touch with people, especially those of you in Southampton. Although we are having alot of fun - we do miss our lovely friends in southampton and loe having you come to visit! You're welcome anytime!

So today, Phil is doing an intensive NVQ over the weekend in order to become an events assistant at the O2 arena, should be fun doing that and he is looking forward to it, although he is working all weekend in order to get the NVQ. I however, am meeting up with some friends both today and tomorrow so that should be nice - looking forward to seeing you Amy, Becky and Beth!

Anyway, just wanted to fill you all in on that - especially the news that the boat is on the move again! Yippee!

Bye for now,

Debs

Long time no hear ...

Morning blog fans! Phil here, sorry its been soooo long since we last updated the blog, there's just so much going on its hard to find time to update it.

We've had a cool last month, unfortunately our boat is still a bit sick, we came to Sunbury to have a little bit of electrical work done on it and it has turned into a marathon boat-fixing exercise, the last problem that was discovered was a diesel leak in the engine, not ideal! But apart from the boat being a bit of a nightmare we are having a great time.

So lets see what has happened in the last month ...

We've had lots of friends to visit which has been absolutely lovely; Phil and Maggie Orchard came to visit for a weekend at the end of July which was great. Maggie particularly seemed to be in her element on the boat and as you can see from the photo they both had to walk the plank like all of our visitors do! (Don't worry future visitors you don't end up in the water!)

Then the next weekend Becky came to visit and we got our freedom for the weekend and were allowed to venture away from the boatyard for the weekend which was so lovely. We headed up the Thames towards Windsor, eventually ending up in Staines (which isn't as bad as Ali G would have you believe!) Becky thoroughly enjoyed herself and was an excellent shipmate!



Bizarre spot of the weekend was a shrine to one-hit wonder Chesney Hawkes in someones garden backing on to the river!

Jim from work came to visit the following Saturday which was really nice, we borrowed the little motor boat from the boatyard and headed down to pick him up from Hampton Court station which was really nice apart from a very stressful 5 minutes where the boat got stuck in reverse and tried to reverse itself over a weir! Hopefully Jim isn’t too traumatised by the whole experience!



On the Sunday Claire and Steve came to visit and we had a really fun day with them including going to watch a Polo tournament at Ham Polo club (we even went and trod down the divots at half time!) and a little trip down the river in the motorboat and a drink in a pub.



This week my mum and Cecille came to visit on Thursday and we had a great day, they came to see the boat and have a spot of lunch and then we went to Kew Gardens, great fun! Then Mat and Rach came to see the boat on Friday night. Poor Rach decided to stay over but then had to leave at 5 in the morning to get back for an early shift at work, poor girl! Mat stayed around for the morning with us before heading off to the U2 gig at Wembley - swine! (Not that I’m jealous of course).

Other minor events include me giving up my job at IBM! I’d been thinking for quite a while that I’d had enough of sitting in front of a computer all day and the hassle of commuting to Southampton from London 4 days a week was the kick I needed to do something about it, so I’ve left! I’m going to miss all my friends at IBM and the lovely site but it was the right time. So I’m going to start training as an NVQ Assessor at the end of August, so I’m looking forward to that.

In the meantime I’ve been finding a bizarre but enjoyable collection of activities to keep me occupied while I’m not working. The top three in terms of bizarreness are being paid 20 quid to go to a yoga lesson to be guinea pigs for a new yoga teacher whose yoga positions all seemed to be drug related and turned out to be a candid-camera type TV wind up for a comedienne called Olivia Lee, so I’m going to be on TV looking very silly in October! - http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/tv/olivia_lee_dirty_sexy_funny/

Number 2 was sending in my photo to a modeling agency who were advertising for ‘boy next door’ models for catalogues and music videos etc not expecting to hear anything, being invited to an interview including a photo shoot of me literally doing catalogue poses and then them saying that if I got a professional portfolio of photos done that they would add me to their books! Got to pay for the portfolio though and we’re a bit short of cash at the moment as I’m doing things like this and not earning much money, so don’t think I’m going to do that right now!

Number 3 is that I’ve signed up to ride a rickshaw round the west end for a couple of weeks to try and earn some money! How cool is that! My first trip with a customer was a bit fraught on Saturday, they wanted to go from Covent Garden to the Houses of Parliament, I started off by heading off in completely the wrong direction, i.e. to go over Waterloo bridge, when the Houses of Parliament are on the same side of the river as Covent Garden! Then there were roadworks and I ended up riding the rickshaw on the wrong side of the road on The Strand, oops! And then because I went over waterloo bridge I had to ride about 3 times as far as I should have done because I then had to ride back over Westminster bridge! I was absolutely knackered! Lets hope things go better today!

Debs is on good form, although finding her job a bit difficult, but keeping her chin up well and being entertained by my antics!

Come and visit us soon, we love having visitors!

Phil

Having so much fun!

Hi everyone, its Debs. So sorry it's been so long since we blogged, we're just having too much fun to keep recording it!!!!

SO, we are now on the River Thames and it is pretty amazing. We sailed to Brentford and then you have to follow the tidal rules etc to get onto the river thames. I was pretty scared of going on to the thames because of the much bigger boats who use it, but actually it's fine and not too scary! We did have one pretty bad encounter with a bridge......but I'll get phil to tell you about that in his next post............ he was the driver after all!

It was amazing coming onto the thames with our little home. It was so cool coming through richmond, under the bridge, twickenham and kingston. There was some kind of regatta going on in kingston so loads of people were waving at us............don't think it was to tell us to get out of the way.....or was it?!!

Our lovely friends Anna, Hayden, Bronwyn and Bethia came to visit for some of the journey on the thames and it was great. We had a fantastic day playing with the kids, bronwyn, the older of the two girls was especially excited by the ducks and boats and water and , well, everything! We finished the day with fish and chips and all was well with the world. Thank you to you guys for coming to visit, it was so nice to have you, you are welcome anytime!

We are now located in Sunbury. We are having our electrics on the boat sorted out, we'll probably be here for another week. It is a beautiful location.

I have now started my new job, which seems to be going quite well so far, its hard work and there is certainly a lot going on, but once I get my head around it all I think it will be okay.

Yesterday we had a great day, Phil and I went for coffee and brekkie in Kew, went for a walk, then to hampton court palace, so nice. Then we had a spontaneous moment and jumped on a boat (not ours - a pleasure boat!) to go to Westminster to see Billy Elliot the musical. As it turned out we had to get off the boat half way through the journey because it wouldn't get us there on time (we didn't realise that!) jump on a train and then run across town to get to the theatre - we hadn't even purchased tickets in advance, but we were lucky and there were a couple of seats left in one of the boxes. It was really fun! We then got the train home to kingston, stopped at subway for a sandwich, got on a bus to Hampton court and picked up our car to get home! Phew, what a day! Was great fun though, and another adventure to add to our collection of adventures!

Well, best sign off, thanks for reading, hope you're all dong well, and remember everyones welcome to come visit!

lots of love

Debs x x

Don't argue with stone bridges!

Hello chaps, Phil here, as Debs mentioned in her last post we had a little argument with a stone bridge on our way on to the Thames, and to be honest there was only really going to be one winner! We were at Brentford, on our way to Thames lock which takes you on to the Thames, Debs had got out to open the lock and with an audience of a couple of people on a boat going the other way, I tried to make my way over to a pontoon to pick Debs up. I can't exactly remember what happened, but what I do know is that the current was quite strong, Debs managed to hop on to the boat and then we found ourselves heading towards the right hand side of the arch of a stone bridge. As anyone who has steered a narrowboat will tell you, the brakes aren't that great (i.e. there aren't any, you just put the boat in reverse, but as it is so heavy it takes quite a while to stop) so there was nothing we could do as we started to go under the bridge. The first thing to suffer was my bike which was on the roof and whose wheel got turned round but didn't suffer much damage it seems, the next thing was our steel chimney which didn't fare so well and got a bit bent, next would have been our heads if we hadn't ducked out of the way! So actually we got away pretty lightly, it was just a bit scarey and embarrassing! Poor Haydon suffered a bit as a result of our bent chimney because when they came to visit I started the engine while he was standing next to the chimney and it turns out that when the chimney got bent it opened up a little hole in the chimney, so he got showered in black stuff! Poor bloke, sorry Haydon!

On other matters we had Michelle, Deb's sister and her fiancee Mark to visit on Sunday which was nice. We went out for lunch in a very pink restaurant, which despite its appearance turned out to be very nice. Then we went for a jaunt on the Thames in a little motorboat we hired (after walking for a while to get back to the Thames because we had taken a 'shortcut' through some back roads which ended up being about 5 times as long as just going back the way we came!) which was really fun, apart from when the wind got up and we all started getting soaked by waves breaking over the front (sorry boat experts - bow ;-)) of the boat!

What a lovely day!

We've had a great day today with our friends Simon, Catherine and Finlay:

They came to visit us for the day in Cowley, we had a lovely bbq - thanks phil, fin played in the park, we had a nice icecream, then coffee then a nice walk. It was so nice to chill with our friends and we had a good catch up and fun!

On the bryants suggestion we've also started a visitors book, so please do come visit to put your signature in there!

Cowley is a nice place, we're liking the park and pub!

Bye for now!

Debs x