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Author: Andrew

Shore Power

Shore Power

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We’ve been having electrical problems for the past few days. First the alternator bracket broke, and when that was fixed the alternator broke. We were reduced to just the solar panel for the fridge, lighting, computers, phones, and Paula’s CPAP. That meant being pretty frugal. Then the solar panel stopped working, so we did some desperate rewiring to charge the leisure batteries from the little alternator that charges the starter battery. That meant being even more frugal. Today we made…

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Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits

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Last night we attended an event at the Leamington Museum, with live music, gin and tonic (we skipped the gin) and the museum curators talking about the collection. Guess what? We are not the only people who play Ugly Baby Jesus! We spent a while chatting to one of the staff who had her BA and MA from Birmingham University, and the art students there play UBJ. She also told us about  Renaissance Elbow, and we explained First Cows of…

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The Tennis Craze of 1874

The Tennis Craze of 1874

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I went for a walk this morning along the River Leam (pron: LEM) and one of the many River Avons to within sight of Warwick Castle. Though the area is quite built up, development has avoided the riverbank for fear of flooding, so for much of the way you can pretend to be deep in the country. There was constant birdsong. I had to look up this SBB. It’s a juvenile European Robin. I saw occasional butterflies, too. This is…

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Royal Leamington Spa

Royal Leamington Spa

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Howard picked us up from Warwick last night and drove us to his home in Rugby, about half an hour away, for dinner with him and his husband Gord. Also present were three dogs, one other roommate, and an escaped tarantula. Probably. Nobody knows exactly where in the house the tarantula is hiding. It’s a sort of invisible conversation piece. Now I can’t stop thinking about vintage James Bond movies. Gord will soon be starting a new job working with…

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Footprints

Footprints

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Today we visited the Warwick Market Hall Museum. You’re never quite sure what you are going to find in a local museum in England. Perhaps it will be a fez… … a stuffed bear… … or even a battle swan. There will usually be a hoard of Roman coins. Thank you whoever invented the metal detector. Sometimes there will be Saxon jewelry… … teddy bears… … a chance to dress up… … or a beehive. The Warwick museum has lots…

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Lettice

Lettice

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This tomb in the Beauchamp (pron: BEACH-um) Chapel in the Church of St Mary in Warwick is usually referred to as the tomb of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester and favorite of Elizabeth I. It is really more the tomb of Lettice Knollys, his wife. The tomb was created for the two of them at her request, and she outlived Dudley by 46 years. It was a second marriage for both of them. Lettice was first married at the age…

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Aurgh…

Aurgh…

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That’s pretty much how we feel after slogging down the twenty-one lock Hatton Flight. They are heavy double wide locks, so the gates are hard to move and the paddles take a lot of winding with the windlass to get them up and down. The weather was generally good apart from two brief rain showers, lasting about one lock each. The wind made it hard to manage the boat. Though the locks are double wide, we were only opening the…

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Gangsta Granny

Gangsta Granny

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It’s becoming a tradition that we try to arrange our schedule to go and see my old friend Howard performing every summer in whatever touring outdoor show he is in. This year it is Gangsta Granny, the heartwarming tale of a boy who discovers his grandmother is an infamous jewel thief. Howard (in the silver vest above) plays the boy’s father… … and an obnoxious neighborhood watch busybody. You may notice something strange about some of these pictures. That’s right,…

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Variety Meats

Variety Meats

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Yesterday evening Paula wanted to go out for a walk, so we headed along the tow path to a bridge, and up onto the road. A few yards along the road there was a sign pointing into the soggy countryside saying Nature Trail so off we went in search of something natural. Paula spotted a pheasant. Not exactly natural, not in this country, but it will have to do. The common pheasant is has spread from its asian home across…

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State of the Union

State of the Union

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We trundled down six more locks this morning, pausing to fill the water tank and empty the toilet cassettes, and then said farewell to the Stratford Canal and joined the Grand Union. The Grand Union runs all the way from Birmingham to London, and was built as a faster way to move goods than the meandering Oxford Canal and unpredictable Thames. Most of it was built for double wide barges, so the bridges have plenty of room and the locks…

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