a chirurgical miscellany
Such a staple of life in Bath. Sally Lunn’s is the place to go. You can look a the restaurant and imbibe the history of Georgian Bath while on a walking tour, or queue with Japanese tourists to actually imbibe the bun.
Linda is pointing out the perils of not making the Bath Bun part of your daily 5.
The tranquility of the canal system in England is astounding. Everything goes above the canal system (unless you are on a viaduct in which case, you have fresh air below).
The canal surface is perfectly flat and unless you are using the lock system, there is no flow. Stop and moor up and by the time the last knot on the mooring rope is threaded, the ripples of your journey will have faded. The JPEG jaggies of the smooth edge of the bridge parapet reflection in the mirror image in the water have smoothed out — never to return unless by cranking the compression in your photos too high.
This is “the fastest way to unwind”.
The wind may sough above, but the trees and bushes along each bank cancel this out. Fruit — elder berries, brambles and sloes amongst the myriad berries that are more suited to birds, hangs heavily and drags the branches down to the water. This harvest seems not to be appreciated by the passer-by. To be truthful, on most towpaths, there are few walkers. On busy parts of the systems Lycra clad cyclists spurt past, oblivious to what in my nana’s time was an indispensable part of living in the country. Elder berry wine followed elder flower wine and fingers were stained from picking the blackberries.
The first of the Kennet & Avon Sloe Gin has been bottled — we are doing our best to redress the balanced
Day 4
Bristol to Bath
SS Gt Britain today. Strong currents in Feeder canal so leaving delayed until 15.00
Still further delays due to grounding of excursion boat in Netham lock. There was not sufficient water in the canal as the lower lock had been opened beyond Bristol to flush the mud away from the river (this mud has a memory and returns within a few days, so the whole process has to be repeated)
Eventually, given the ok, we motored against the current, but with the wind, up the feeder canal to moor up and await closure of the overflow. Moving into an enormous lock, we tied up to a buried cannon — just about 50cm of the muzzle visible. A rapid journey back to Hanham lock and then to the Lock & Weir for a pint of Gem. Wilson (a retriever) and Jasper (a black lab) were in attendance. Jasper was ever hopeful for a crisp or two — as with all labradors, but hope proved in vain. Back to the boat and the ducks. They must have a bit of labrador in them as they were expecting food in the form of stale bread!
The TV is up an running — a minor miracle as the aerial is just a copper loop stuck to the top of the narrowboat by rubber sucker.
A chance to review the day and our visit to SS Gt Britain. Very emotional — she returned to her birthplace 127 years after she left. Abandoned in the Falklands and after a failed attempt by the Falkland islanders to get her restored, in 1967 after the vital initial moves had been made (letters to The Times), a salvage team went out and with the help of mattresses donated by the people of Stanley, the colander was plugged and she floated. A perilous voyage home and she was in Avonmouth. Refloated from the barge, she was towed under the Clifton bridge (for the first time) and arrived back in the dry dock in which she had been built on 19 July 1970
At the end of her journey, the biggest risk had been Bristol City Council who wanted to concrete over the floating harbour and cover it with flyovers and through roads. Here we can thank a lack of money that saved Bristol from the fate that overcame Coventry and Portsmouth.
Today, a safe dry berth sustains the GB (15% humidity to stop the rust below the waterline) and above, fresh paint and new wood.
Good to visit and you must seek help from the guides — so keen to help
Tomorrow, Bath and boar cheeks
Slightly hairy journey down the Avon into Bristol Floating harbour. This craft, which looks so large and strong on a canal, metamorphoses into a tiny tin can with a pitifully weak engine; the leeway is something to behold and only topped by Ena’s response to wind. She is a fickle creature, and will rapidly move in the direction of the prevailing wind.
SS Gt Britain tomorrow am; we have seen the original mizzen mast on Ross Road in Stanley and now for the real restored item
Moored up outside Bath, or I suppose, in Bath as we can see the terraced golden stone houses across the hills over the towpath and the railway.
Moored up along the concrete side of the canal and everytime a boat passes, the boat hits the side and the clang echoes along our 47′ narrow boat called Ena. The wind is now picking up and as we are on a sort of embankment, the boat is rocking with the gusts.
This canal was built at the end of the 18th Century and designed for barges. The locks and bridges can cope with wider boats – after all it seemed to be a rapid transit in days of sail to transfer goods (think sugar and coal) to London.
Now to cruise into Bath proper and see what the moorings look like (will there be room at the inn?)
* apologies to Iain Banks
Job done
All cars stripped, painted and decals applied. New tyres as old ones crumbling. Curious how some rubber products liquefy while the rest dry out and become brittle. Have I spoilt these models by the refurbishment — I don’t think so. Does a classic car lose value by being resprayed or having new tyres?
These now have pride of place on my mantelpiece in the study.
Now for the next project … A model train set.
This will be my 4th set … The first as a child, the second to celebrate my first child, the third for my youngest and the present one for Cameron, my first grandchild. Mind you, it will be a long while before he can do more than just watch. He can start with the Duplo train and then graduate onto Thomas and friends. Where did those old Rev Awdrey books go to?
http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Wilbert_Awdry
Next time, some thoughts on scale and the history of HO/OO
Just arrived, the last of the Dinky racing car series. This is the Alfa—Romeo 23F. As usual, a decision has to be made when restoring a collection or starting from scratch as to whether to leave as is — job done, it is meant to look like this — or to restore the model.
Really it is a personal decision. To talk of reducing the value of the model really means reducing the money one can get for it on eBay. Original models in pristine condition in their original boxes, command silly money. To achieve this, the original purchaser ( or collector) will have to put the boxed article in a dark room or secondary box, away from the light and bring it out 50 years later. Not really a very good investment and of course, no pleasure in playing with the cars.
My models came in a variety of dilapidated states. Some had been repainted — really, just overpainted and poorly at that. The paint work was chipped and faded.
This latest model had its original paintwork. The tyres had perished (we do replace the tyres on real cars from time to time without loss of value — indeed to some gain in market price). A good paint job also gains value.
And so:
Final pics of completed set on the Dinky section of this website. In the meantime, some pictures of the Alfa in transition
This then is my Book of the Month : The Mystery Of Easter Island by Katherine Routledge. A facsimile of the original, published in 1919. Setting out to explore one last unexplained area of the world before they died; they were away for more than 2 years. The 1st World War started after they were well on their way and the world was not the same as when they departed for the Pacific— contrary to the reassurances they made to their family and friends. The transportation to Easter Island even had to be built in the form of a 'yacht' called the Mana.
The first excavations of the stone statues and the last chance ever to speak to the old men (not women) who carried the oral history of the island were carried out by this expedition.
A good read and beautifully written, with just the right amount of 'dated prose'.
A cogent and entirely reasonable argument for the retention of books in print rather than ebooks (though I really miss the ability to define words and to chase interesting facts and ideas down the rabbit hole of Wikepedia.
You can buy this book. From a really nice shop on the Main Street of Hanga Roa or almost certainly from Amazon.
As an aside, I'm also reading World War Z by Max Brooks — either Easter Island or the Falkland Islands would be good places to escape the Zombie plague — assuming that of course you close down the airports after you arrive.
Rivets drilled out and caustic soda applied, old paint washed off.
Primer sprayed onto body shells and base plates sprayed gloss black.
Well on the way to a complete refurbishment after 50 years.
Now for the fine, painstaking (and colourful) work on the racing strip. HWM is on the grid
Minor changes to the website today. These include more pictures on the galleries and an invite to a guest blog. More to follow.