Well it’s been a
right busy fortnight with lots of boating, lots of chatting and catching up and
just a small amount of alcohol (he he).
On Saturday 19th, we drove down to Darley at Alvecote and put
our things in the back cabin and then by 6.30pm retired to the Samuel Barlow
for pre-birthday drinks with the crowd.
After an hour three boats set off from Alvecote in convoy to The Bull at
Polesworth. David Goode took the lead with his newly acquired Josher Ling with Karen
Parrott as crew, followed by Darley with Dawn and I as crew and with Matt
Parrott being given the honour of steering (well it was his birthday) The convoy was being supported from the rear
by little Woolwich motor Auriga. The
drinks flowed, the fun began and everyone seemed to be having a great time
especially Matt as he went through the various stages of excessive
drinking. First the happy stage where he
was really enjoying the company, then the second stage as he ’loved’ everybody
telling them but mainly Spuggy s repeating again and again “I love you Spuggy”
while playfully slapping Spuggy round the cheeks. Then the final stage, which was mainly played
out in the gents where he just wanted to die!
Sunday morning saw some of us heading down to Dusty’s café for a mega
breakfast. Suitably refreshed we headed
back to Alvecote where we were leaving Darley for the week. A couple of evenings we drove down to
Alvecote just to do a few jobs in preparation for the fourth coming rally
season. Friday after work, I was going
to drive down to Darley and start back, but a midweek phone call off David Ray
inviting us to his birthday on Friday night saw us driving up to the Junction
Inn at Norbury for the festivities. I
volunteered to be driver and so drank coke all night, returning home about midnight
and stopping off at the chippy for a supper of curry and chips. With this consumed I put my stuff in the car
and bade farewell to dawn and headed off down to Darley. I arrived at Alvecote at about 1.30am and so
was aware of the need to be quiet. I had
left the keys for Darley with Lawrence Williams at the weekend so he could fill
her tanks up with diesel for me during the week. As he needed to move Darley from outside the
Barlow down to the yard where he would leave her, or so I thought. I parked very quietly on the pub car park and
walked back up the lane, across the canal bridge and back down the towpath on
the opposite side to the yard. When I
got there, Darley was nowhere to be seen, Just a line of moored boats, so I
proceeded to quietly pass about six moored boats and still no sign. Strange I thought and wondered if he had put
here in the yard or the marina and so I walked back up the cut back to the
yard. No she was not in the yard basin
and I could not see her in the marina, but looking back down the canal, there
she was, moored outside the pub where I had left her last week. Bless you Lawrence he had filled her up and moved
her back. By 4.00am Saturday morning I
was up and ready to go but it was not quite light enough until 4.30am when I
fired up the Petter and was off. By 10.30am
I was making the turn at Fradley only to spend the next hour and a half to get
above Shadehouse lock waiting for the numb nutts to bugger about with half
paddles. By 4.00pm on the Saturday
afternoon I finally tied Darley back up at her mooring at Great Haywood after a
12 hour trip with about eight of those boating in absolute baking heat. The factor 20 cream I had put on my head had
meted completely and it looked and felt as if I had poured chip oil on my head! Sunday I went down to Darley to sort out the
cloths on the cratch. As some of you
will know I run Darley with the top cloths up from the deck board to the mast
and under this Dawn has her little ‘galley’.
Since I bought Darley the side cloths have never been right at the bows all
saggy and buckled and I thought it was because they needed tying up properly. So on Sunday I set about this half hour job
which ended up taking most of the day.
When once I had taken the top cloth off and put new strings on the side
cloths I began to tie them back up but they were as saggy/buckled as before and
on closer examination, it was due to the side cloths not being fitted
correctly. Side cloths, when tied up,
should run straight from end to end along the top edge, in other words as the
bows sweep up the cloths become narrower.
That is when they are fitted correctly, Darley’s followed the hull side
at a parallel width and this is what was the problem. So I untied them and then set about removing
the strips fixing them to the gunnels.
After this I repositioned them and re-attached the strips. With the side cloths now fitted correctly, I
proceeded to wash them all down, including the top cloth. With this done, I proceeded to fit the top
cloths the finally the cotton rockets, which had been removed prior to the
start of the winter.
I have been down to
Darley every night after work doing all the little jobs, cleaning, painting
etc. in readiness for this coming weekend show at Etruria which both Dawn and I
are really looking forward to. Well
Darley is now ready and we will be travelling up on Thursday/Friday so if you
see me on my way give me a wave, shout ‘how do’ but don’t bang ‘em about
Blossom
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