The Rhythm gas iron 375U

On my way back from Skylark the other day, I popped into Diss Auctions to see if there might be anything interesting to buy. I was pleased to win a few bits and pieces but was particularly interested to win an old gas iron as part of a mixed lot.

It was made in the early to mid 20th century by the company Radiation who specialised in gas appliances like cookers. 

I don't know much about this iron as there is little information on the internet; there's one in a museum collection in Wales but I guess there are others dotted around in private collections and probably some rotting in the back of garden sheds and in people's attics (one or two are cropping up on Ebay, I see, but none of them is as nice as this one). 

Anyway, I'm hoping, when I put this up for sale at the summer Street Fair, someone will see its potential as a doorstop, a bookend or maybe as a kitchen ornament. 

I would suggest its use as an iron is long gone so, as much as I might like to see it back in domestic service, connecting it to the mains gas and putting a match to it is not recommended!

Weathershield

As the original paint for Skylark's exterior was ICI Weathershield gloss, I have continued to use it when touching up. I know lots of other narrowboaters use it, and for good reason. Anyway, now that I've come the end of my last pot of Brunswick Green, I have bought a new one from a man at the local Car Boot sale who specialises in this. 

What? I hear you shout. You must be mad!

I think not. He noted the exact formula, the same as if you went into a B&Q or similar, and brought me the new paint the following week. He was able to source the unusual extra dark base which can cause some suppliers problems. 

I haven't used the new paint yet but I have no doubt its the same as if I'd bought it at a high street or national DIY store. He also provided lots of free advice on preparation, application and aftercare. And, if that's not good enough, here's the really good bit, it only cost me £10 a litre; that's less than 50% the DIY superstore price.

It's obviously worth searching out these people.

By the way, something I've learnt over the last year or two is that paint is not what it used to be. It's thinner, doesn't cover very well and doesn't last very long before it needs another coat. Whether painting the outside or interior, I now always go for the higher quality 'trade' variety rather than the much weaker 'domestic' stuff. I've not regretted paying more. It's easier to apply and I'm sure its quality will still be evident in the years to come. Just ask any professional painter - as I did.

Second Birthday present for Skylark

To mark Skylark's second birthday, I have bought her a heat powered stove fan. 

(Shhhh, it's not one of those expensive ones that cost a hundred squid but a much cheaper one that, according to the feedback, does exactly the same but for a fraction of the outlay).

 

I've taken it out of the box but not used it yet so time will tell if its money well spent. It certainly looks and feels sturdy.

Happy Birthday Skylark, I hope you like it.

UPDATE: I have just set it up on the Morso Squirell at home and it immediately started to silently whiz around. A simple thermometer held about 3' in front of the stove without the fan reads about 22 degrees and with the fan it reads about 24 degrees. Is that a resounding success? Not sure but at least that's 2 more degrees of heat going into the room than would otherwise. For this room measuring about 5m x 5m (plus a high ceiling) that's not a great increase in efficiency but on Skylark, with a main room of about 2m x 5m x 2m high, that will probably be quite an improvement. I'll test it on board next week and report back.

More painting

Change of plan. 

I didn't like the red diamond on the sliding hatch after all that planning. It just wasn't Skylark. So I've gone back to the idea of something less colourful. Something that will be more in keeping with the simple overall look of the boat. So yesterday, I gave the rear section of the roof and the hatch a coat of dark grey undercoat in preparation for it's new look - steel grey gloss on the roof (to match the rear deck) and dark green on the hatch (to match the sides). The bit between and around the two runners will be dark green too.

I may extend the grey along the inside of the hand rails, along the full length of the boat, to 'connect' the front and the back. I feel a lot happier about this now and just need a couple of dry days to complete it.

While I was at Little Ouse Moorings, Danny helped to move his floating dry dock out of the creek. It's being relocated to its new home in the Ely Cathedral Marina. Moving was not a simple job even with the current and wind in its favour but it was made even more complicated when it was found to be too tall to get under the road bridge. Even carefully sinking it proved to be a problem when it hit the bottom of the river. So, the dock is too high, the river is too shallow and the bridge is too low. Thinking hats on guys!

New chimney

A few posts ago I told you that my chimney is falling apart with rust, not to mention the fact that I can't get it off the roof because it has rusted itself onto the chimney ring thingy. A consequence of having coal fires I guess. So a replacement chimney has been on the cards for a while.

As my proposed spring trip up the Nene, through the Middle Levels, involves negotiating quite a few low bridges, I must be able to take the chimney off so this has prompted me to order a new one now.

While the old one is a standard 18" x 6" double skin black jobbie with a brass ring and a couple of brass hook/handle adornments, I was unsure if I should go for the same. I looked at all the options including stainless steel and couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't try the 12" version of the standard design. It looks business-like and I guessed the smoke will still get away OK but my only slight concern is that any oily residue from the smoke will have a slightly shorter distance to fall and, if it does, it may fall on the roof. You can often see boats with black stains around their chimneys so I will wait and see if this is a problem with the shorter version.

Now, all I have to do is get the old chimney off. If it won't budge, it may a job for my angle-grinder.

De-cluttering

It got a bit like waiting in eager anticipation for all those Christmas or birthday cards or, if you're still on the pull, for all those Valentine cards. Yes, you've guessed it, seeing how many emails I'd got.

When I was away and without an internet connection, I waited until I got home to open my computer and, wow, my heart soared, I've got 100 emails. I must be a really popular chap! Now I can spend an hour or so catching up with all this important communication stuff and feel confident that I still have place in the world. I can even drop the hard statistics into conversations (so long as I don't become a internet bore).

STOP! What's that I hear you say?

Don't kid yourself, you're not that popular.
Oh yes I am.
They don't want you. All they want is your money. 
But they're interesting emails (trying to sound confident). 
No they're not, you always delete them. 
But what will I do if they're not there anymore?
How about starting an interesting Blog?
Oh funny!  
OK just think about it! 

So, responding to my inner self, I started to trawl through them and, unsurprisingly, I found only a few were really worth looking at.

How much of this stuff is actually needed? How much could I get rid of for good and not notice they're gone? So I started to de-clutter and, wherever I could, I unsubscribed the little blighters. I kept only the essential stuff like EA, GOBA and IWA alerts but the rest went straight into, what the Americans call, the Trash folder (why can't we call it the rubbish bin?). 

To give you an idea of the irritating reminders and updates that fell to my outstretched delete finger, they included:

Trainline and National Express, Travel Lodge and Ryan Air, Green King and Adnams, Visit Suffolk (or somewhere warmer), Amazon and Ebay, Money Saving Expert and Saga, BT Sport and Twitter, Safe Cracking for beginners, Speed Dating on a budget, Sky Diving News and Extreme Sport Insurance, Emergency First Aid for the Over 60's, Basic Amputation and Taxidermy, Dressing up in camouflage and gatecrashing the annual Bravo Two Zero Reunion.

OK, perhaps not all of these were actually in my inbox but you get the idea but at the end of my unsubscribing binge, I felt so much better. It was a bit like cleaning out my shed and throwing away the dried up paint pots I've kept since the 1970's (I had always hoped those tins of purple and orange emulsion would eventually come in handy but they didn't).

Now, when I open up my in-box and cast my eyes over the list of emails, I can clearly see that, well, nobody wants me any more!

A brief encounter

As if my last three months was not enough, I've had another three days away. 

My time has been spent mainly painting again. Having finished the bow and stern decks in a nice shiny mid-grey that would not look out of place on any Royal Navy battleship, I've now moved onto the rear sliding hatch. It's become a bit scratched over the last two years and could do with a refresh so I've decided on a 2" dark green surround to match the cabin sides, with a red diamond on a white background inside that frame; nothing complicated but just needs a bit of care. If it works out, I'll post a photo. If it doesn't, I'll repaint it all green.

Now, as I said in a previous post, I can go for days without seeing or speaking to anyone but this time, as I popped my head out of the rear hatch, I found myself eye-to-eye with a gentleman from the far east; no, not Great Yarmouth, Japan, to be precise. He was looking at Skylark in a quizzical sort of way so I said hello and he said hello with a little bow, which I thought was a nice touch. I couldn't reciprocate as I was already bowing down under the sliding hatch (the one that I'm painting). He then pointed at Skylark and asked,  'You live on boat? 'Cos I see plates through your window'. I said, in my best Japanese-English and supported with suitable hand movements, 'No, I live in house, far away, and only use boat, for pleasure.' I didn't expand on this last point but could see he was really interested as he was straining his neck to get a good look at my engine room. I crawled out of the hatchway and offered him my hand and he accepted. We then had a chat about people living on board narrowboats, the pros and cons, the ups and the downs, what he was doing in England, etc. etc. 

Anyway, as he was so interested by this time, I offered to show him the inside. He accepted at once and we went through the front doors into the boat. I showed him the main cabin, the galley, the shower/wc, the bedroom and engine room. 

He was very pleased with my guided tour and asked if he could take a photograph of me standing nonchalantly in the kitchen area. Those weren't his words exactly but you get the idea. I, of course, agreed and adopted the sort of relaxed pose that I thought would portray the essence of a modern Narrowboat Captain. You know, someone who is a responsible, upstanding member of English society yet very much at ease with his individuality. I had to be careful what impression this might make as the photo might appear in Facebook or on his Blog and seen by thousands of his family, friends and countryfolk. Afterwards, I slightly regretted putting one hand on my hip as I think that looked a little too nonchalant, if you know what I mean. 

Anyway, not wanting to give the impression I was in need of any extended social interaction, we said our goodbyes and he asked me to take his photo standing in front of Skylark which I was pleased to do. He stood without much of an expression on his face which I think is typical of people from the orient but he thanked me profusely and performed another little bow. When I thought it was all over and I could return to my hatch painting, he took his rucksack off and delved into its bottom-most recesses and took out, no, not a wad of fivers, but a small plastic envelope containing a woven bookmark with a symbol that looked like a swastika. 

My mind started to race, which it's not used to - a leisurely stroll is more the done thing. Well, was he about to break the news that he was a member of some extreme right-wing political group? Did he see me as a potential convert? Had he been surveying the boat as a possible venue for meetings? Anyway, to avoid any unpleasantness I thought quickly on my feet. I didn't want to mention the war so I asked him what the significance of the emblem was. He looked at it intently and, pointing to the red symbol in the top right hand corner, he nodded in thought and said it represented a cherry tree. I have no idea if he was just making this up but it sounded good to me. 

I will find a suitable place to put the bookmark on board and it will remind me of my brief encounter with the man from Japan.

Keeping busy

Delving into my diary again and maybe for the last time, I see another common thread to happy cruising, is keeping busy. 

It's all too easy to get up, have breakfast in front of the telly, have a coffee and a packet of biscuits for afters, watch Lorraine or Jeremy for an hour, have another cup of coffee to really get the system going, have lunch at 12.00 and watch an afternoon repeat of Lovejoy on the new Drama channel and before you know it you're trying to answer some Pointless questions (thank goodness for Pointless) before a quiet evening in, in front of the box. 

Don't tell me you haven't done it.

The key is to keep busy.

So after that first cup of coffee, just remember that government body that helps us regulate out TV watching habits - Offswitch.

When I'm not planning on going anywhere on the boat, I do like pottering - I've mentioned this before - or I visit somewhere on foot or on my bike. For instance, while I was in St Neots a while back, I took Brian's advice and popped into the small Museum. For £2 it's a little gem, set inside the old police station, complete with the 3 original cells, a small prisoners toilet* and an exercise yard measuring about 10' x 6'. It's well worth seeing after you've visited the market and all the Charity Shops in the town.

* to clarify, it's actually a small toilet for prisoners not a small prisoners toilet.

Apparently this was a 19th century narrowboat owner waiting to find out if he had won a free trip to Australia...or worse!

By the way, it's also worth seeing if there is anything on at the Priory Centre on the waterfront next to the EA moorings. We once caught a performance of Godspell by the local Youth Group and enjoyed almost every minute of it.

The other obvious place to visit is the nearest pub as there are many dotted around the fens, often quite close to the river and its mooring places. Ely is particularly well endowed with drinking establishments including a popular micro pub but there are many to choose from. Now I wouldn't want to be accused of spending all my time in local hostelries but I'm told the occasional tipple does help to keep the blood flowing freely and keeps you in contact with other members of the human race while you're out and about.

Spending time away from home is also a great opportunity to select something to read from your collection of boy's-own books and comics. The heroic adventures of people like Scott, Shackleton, Fiennes, Biggles and Churchill (not to mention Chris Ryan and Andy McNab) do wonders to keep my small boating misadventures in context I can tell you. TTFN.

All alone

Looking back at my diary for the last 3 months in the fens, one of the key points will be the peace and tranquility. I often went for days on end not passing another boat. I would see other boats on and off the water, tied up for the winter, with tarpaulins over their roofs or curtains pulled closed to keep out the cold weather but very few were being used. 

People were about in the towns but there were very few people along the rivers or around the marinas and moorings.

The most boat people I saw were the live-boards and there weren't many of them. Some were over-wintering in the Fens as it's easy to move about on the ice free water, find provisions in the towns and moor for a few days without causing any problems. Come the spring, most will be going back on the canals via Peterborough and Northampton.

All was peaceful and quiet on the river. Everything was at rest and as I was in no hurry to get to one place or another, it was good to keep the revs down and not disturb the tranquility.

Being an early riser, I would often be moving by 6.30 am and would see some stunning landscapes. It was very cold on one or two occasions but usually the temperature was above freezing - just.

Some of the sunrises were stunning too; often a little on the bleak side but stunning nevertheless.

It was good to see how the wildlife started to become more active as the temperatures increased, especially the swans, grebes, herons and kingfishers. Their pairing and mating rituals were fascinating; often characterised by 'mirroring' each others actions with head bobbing, neck arching and ritual washing. It was good to see the spring flowers appear and the leaf buds on the trees starting to show signs of green in the last few weeks.

On my trip up the Little Ouse last week, the river was looking fantastic again; still not many people about but then that will change over Easter and beyond. 

Having had the river pretty much to myself for the last 3 months, I need to brace myself!

Ouse Cruise Highlights

I've just re-read my diary from my 3 month trip around the fens and I can't say it makes inspiring reading so rather than posting the whole thing or even an edited version, I will just highlight a few memorable moments, mainly with photos. Some of it may be of interest when the boat has been sold, the cat has finally slipped off the easy chair and I'm sitting in the conservatory of the Twilight Home for the Sad and the Lonely. What a thought!

So here goes...

Spending quite a time in Ely meant I could pop into the nearby Maltings Conference and Wedding Centre on the waterfront. They put on films, shows, concerts and the like during the week and at weekends. The films are usually middle-of-the-road light comedies and appear a few weeks after their general release to keep the cost down. I've seen quite a few but the performance I'd mention was a short-one-woman-show called The Novice Detective. Sophie Willans presented an hilarious 'help me find my Dad' show with tons of audience participation, songs, dances and current jokes. If she gets the right breaks, I could see her making it big...

In my diary I often make reference to 'pottering about on the boat'. This can involve anything from cleaning, sweeping, polishing, repairing, improving, painting and lots more. It's all part of the boating thing. 

For instance, one day the 'coolie' on top of the chimney fell off.

With the fumes that come out of the chimney and the fact that its open to the weather, it only lasted 2 years so I bought a new stainless steel one to replace it in the hope it would last a little longer. We'll see.

I decided it needed fixing to the chimney so I set about drilling holes into the end of the leggy things. Unfortunately while I was doing this, the drill slipped and I took a 4mm drill bit into the back of my thumb. I was not pleased. By the time the blood had stopped spurting and the pain had subsided to mere agony, I had had enough. So the new coolie is fixed with just one small bolt. I'll have to hope it stays on. I'm not drilling any more holes even though I've almost got the feeling back into my thumb.

While thinking about chimneys and the like, I decided to spruce up the stove. It was beginning to look a bit tired so I dug out some stove blacking and gave it a coat. What a difference it made.

When the temperature perks up and all the fire paraphernalia is put away until next winter, I'll probably sweep the chimney. That might be a good time to replace the top bit so I start next winter with a shiny new heating system.

Another bit of pottering about came as a surprise. On a particularly challenging day last month, the wooden handle grip of the brass tiller broke off. The wood was more like soft balsa wood than tough pine. Anyway, I whittled away a couple of inches (see below) and refitted it. 

It's obviously 2 inches shorter but you wouldn't know it...

By the way, you'll see I've covered the handle with para-cord. It makes it warmer to the touch and easier to grip when it's wet. I also fitted a screw-threaded black Bakelite door knob on the end so that when I'm standing with the tiller resting in the small of my back it's more comfortable.

I mentioned this was a challenging day. Obviously we all have to deal with things going wrong every so often but on this particular day lots of things seem to conspire against me. 

Not only was it cold, wet and windy when the tiller handle broke (not the best sort of weather for boating I might add) and my thumb was still throbbing from the 4mm drill but my calor gas bottle ran out during the preparation of a slap up Cup-a-Soup. I also lost a mooring pin in the river, a fender melted against the exhaust, my umbrella pole bent in the wind, wet grass and mud was carted everywhere, and, to make matter worse, I bashed my head on the rear hatch opening. I don't know why I'm mentioning all this now as I would rather forget about it but I suppose it's a good reminder than boating is not all sunshine and calm waters.

Denver and Downham Market

Yesterday, I headed up to Denver Sluice to use the water-point and pump-out. From there I could see the lock into the Relief Channel was in my favour so I pootled across the river and went in. Operating the two large V gates was no problem; both are electric and the instructions are clear. The Relief Channel is not the most interesting waterway, being long, wide and very straight. Its sole purpose is really to hold back flood water when the inland River Ouse is in flood and the adjoining tidal section is at high tide. Because of this, while it lacks the attractiveness of other stretches, it is an interesting piece of water. It's quite an engineering feat really and one that could be put to good use in the Somerset Levels.

Just downstream, about 3 miles, you find Downham Market. You can just see the road bridge over the channel in the distance. The EA mooring is on the left bank with a vast Flour mill opposite. It's a floating jetty so can be used at any state of the 'tide'. 

Downham Market is a small work-a-day sort of place with a train station, a market place and a good selection of shops. I visited the Morrison supermarket for my evening meal and on my way out I choose the shortest checkout. Mistake!! When the old lady in front of me got to the end of her small selection of purchases, she announced she had forgotten her dog food. The kind checkout lady asked if a colleague could fetch it for her. The old lady said it was called 'Butchers' and the lady went off in search of it. She said sorry to me for the wait and I thought, as I was in no hurry, it was good opportunity to practice my patience skills; something I had never quite mastered at work.
After about 5 minutes watching the world go by and trying to appear unconcerned about the inordinate waste of time just standing there (with my arms crossed in a nonchalant sort of way), the lady appeared with a box of dried dog food and apologised that she could only find a brand called 'Bakers'. 
'Oh, that's it,' the old lady said. 'I knew it was something like Butchers'. We all laughed.

Anyway, after the old lady had toddled off with her shopping bags, the checkout lady apologised again and I said it wasn't a problem. In fact, I said, to make my life more interesting, I always choose what looks like the most challenging checkout, and she had won, hands down. We laughed again! Such fun!!!!

Later that afternoon, I returned to Denver, guessing correctly that the lock would still be in my favour. I hitched up at the EA mooring next the Jenyns Arms. A bit later Narrowboat Suborro arrived and I chatted to owner Chris before the sun went down and his evening coq au vin turned to BBQ McChicken. I left quite early this morning and headed back to base.

Brandon on the Little Ouse

With a few good days of weather on the cards, I took Skylark up the Little Ouse to Brandon. This is a very nice 14 mile stretch of river, meandering through the fens, open fields, lakes reclaimed from sand and gravel quarries, woodlands and small villages. There is a large RSPB reserve just outside Brandon and I have often seen Red Kites and Buzzards twirling in the air around the trees. There are many Kingfishers, Herons and other waterfowl about so it's great if you like birdwatching. I think I heard a Bittern in the Fen. As I'd never heard one before I was only going by what I'd heard about them on TV but it sounded right. Don't ask me to mimic one 'cos I can't!

Brandon itself is not much to write home about but it seems friendly enough and has everything a boater needs. The lock was closed and undergoing some maintenance while I was there, which is no problem for me as it's too short for Skylark anyway. I moored at the EA mooring just below the lock. A Kingfisher had made its nest in the bank just 15 feet from my bow.

I had the pleasure to meet Danny who works voluntarily for the Brandon and District Angling Club. He has been opening up the area over the last year, since I was last there, and made it much more 'user friendly'. Previously, it was a bit hidden away and I think subject to the odd bit of vandalism and night-time disturbance. My two nights there, were very peaceful and I take my hat off to Danny for the improvements he's made. What a star!

I had a discrete smile to myself when I read Danny's parking sign and saw that someone in Brandon is very to happy help him. If only they could put on their wellies and help with some practical work as well!

My 3 month diary

When I get around to it, I'm planning to post some extracts of my diary, with a few photos but in the meantime, I thought I would just summarise how the last 3 months went and what I learnt.

My 3 month trip away was certainly enjoyable and I would happily do it again. The river was peaceful and quiet with hardly anyone else around and I learnt a lot about living on board, albeit with regular trips home. I feel confident that I could do extended cruising if the need or opportunity arose.

Living on board is really common sense and involves a bit of planning ahead, being flexible and having some consideration of others. For instance, I made sure I parked the Landy in safe, out-of-the-way places so I wouldn't upset any locals and I moved Skylark regularly for the same reason. I washed and dried clothes, towels, etc between home visits as needed and kept the boat clean and tidy as I went along. I was surprised how dirty and dusty the boat became even though I regularly cleaned it - something about living so close to the outdoors I suppose.

Without wanting to fill the boat with tons of boxes, bags, tins and bottles, I usually bought food on a daily basis. This just needed a little thought and meant I could have fresh food and drink and take advantage of late deals. I soon became an ALDI convert (like many others), recognising both the quality and cost-effectiveness of this supermarket chain. The staff were also very pleasant.

Planning the purchase of fuel, taking on drinking water and pumping out was not difficult and travelling solo was easy so long as I thought things through, planned ahead and tried to anticipate the things that could go wrong.

I think one of the most important things was to stay busy. It was all too easy to sit down with a cup of coffee and a bar of chocolate and turn on the TV. Not a bad thing in itself but I could find myself still there an hour later watching short snatches of Loose Women or How to Do Something Strange Down Under in between frequent bouts of Michael Parkinson advertising the best-ever Over 50’s life insurance and Carol Vorderman promoting very reasonable Pay Day Loans at only £3700% apr. Don’t go there! So, I would turn off the TV, and maybe turn on the radio, read, practice guitar and/or Uke, go for a walk or bike ride, visit places of interest, potter about on board, do some painting or whatever. This meant, what could have turned out to be a long 3 months of boredom, actually turned out to be varied and interesting.

While having to be content with your own company for quite long periods, talking to other boaters (mainly live-aboards) and passers-by was good. I could pass on a bit of information about things I'd noticed on the river, find out about what's going on or, as I did with a young lady standing on a bridge over the Ouse, try to talk her down. It brought a smile to her otherwise glum face and probably gave her something to tell her mates in the office. Seriously though, I was aware of the risk of becoming seen as that Billy-no-mates on the river who speaks to strangers about nothing in particular so made sure that didn't happen. I think there's a thin line between being friendly and being boring or appearing weird!

I may think of other things so there could be more to follow - if I can keep on the right side of Google and Blogger!

Towergate Insurance

I've just called Towergate Insurance about renewing my boat cover for the coming year and the nice man agreed to look into reducing my premium. After all, I understand the need for them to make a profit and increase their fees to cover their on-costs including an inflationary factor but I don't see why their charges should just keep going up when nothing else has changed. So, I asked what he could do to make the annual bill less of a burden for this hard-pressed, retired ex-local government worker.
He said he couldn't change the arrangement fee as it is already one of the lowest and it has to cover them sending out paper renewal forms and answering calls from old men doing quite good impressions of Victor Meldrew but he did put me on hold while he went to speak to someone higher up the food chain. When he came back he was able to reduce my premium by nearly £20. Not a bad outcome for a short telephone call. It's obviously worth asking.

Molly Dancing

Before my Blog went 'pear-shaped' I had drafted this post but the system wouldn't actually post it for me so, now I've got the thing to work, I'll post it now...
Last Saturday, I popped my head out of the front hatch and saw what I thought might be a 'local character'. You know the sort, someone who selects the most garish clothes from various charity shops and takes great pleasure in declaring to all and sundry that they 'are who they are'. So I didn't give it much more thought - until another one went by and then another, then a small group of them, and then a larger group. Could it be an official outing from the Mad Hatter's Appreciation Society? Or the annual gathering of the Doo-Lally Foot-Tappers Club? I was intrigued.

So, when the next one came past, I asked him what it was all about. He said they were all Molly Dancers; like commando style Morris Dancers! Anyway, they were having 'a bit of a do'  at the Cutters and he suggested I went along to see them. So I did.

Well, what fun! Dressed in a wide selection of dresses, coats, hats and dangly things, they drank, danced, chatted, sang, laughed, played fiddles and squeeze boxes, drank some more, danced some more and so on. With much more gay abandon that any Morris Dancer could summon up, they really enjoyed themselves and gave a great performance to the small but appreciative audience.

To give you a flavour of the atmosphere...

Anyway, plucking up enough courage to talk to one of them, I asked what it was all about. Apparently, Molly Dancing is an East Anglian pastime, which surprised me as I had never heard of it in my 59 years. It's like Morris Dancing but much less formal. It stems from the agricultural past and emerged in the cold period after Christmas when work on the fields was often scarce so, apparently local men would call at a farmers door, ask for work and when told there was none available he would go away and tell all his mates. They would then come back later, the worse for drink, dressed in various costumes and often with garish make-up or even blackened faces and would dance on his nicely manicured lawn to really upset him.

Now, how true this is I don't know but it's good excuse to get drunk, have a song and dance, and to get dressed up in ladies clothing! I wonder why people don't practice this nowadays.

Great News!!!!

After 3 months of trying to work out why my Blogs won't open up, I have found the answer (I hope). I've tried speeding up the system by defragging, removing unused files and programmes, removing errors, uploading updates from Windows and changing my operating systems. My last ditch effort was to download the latest Google Chrome thingymajiggy and I can now open up Skylark 2 (and Ebay which didn't work either). I presume this is because Blogger was bought by Google about 3 years ago and they would prefer users to have their latest Google whatsit to run it on rather than someone elses. So, this is just a test post to see if it does actually work.
Anyway, the other great news is that I have finished my 3 month Cruise on the Ouse and Skylark is now berthed in her new home close to the marina owners house. It has a secure car park, a few on-site neighbours and great views of the nearby rookery. Lots more about this later.
Now, let's see if this will work!!!!!