Today we went through the Harecastle Tunnel. That’s half an hour of navigating the boat through total darkness apart from the lights on the boat and the little pinpoint that it the end of the tunnel. Just to make it more interesting, in places repairs to the tunnel have used up almost all the headroom, so you have to crouch down to avoid getting knocked off the boat. Soon after leaving the tunnel we made a sharp turn from the…
If you open the Uber app it really looks as if Uber operates in Stone, but when you actually want to go somewhere, it turns out that they don’t have anyone willing to take you there. In fact we just wanted to get back from the grocery store to the boat (a bit less than a mile), but no luck. We also tried the local cab company but they said they couldn’t get anyone to us for half an hour…
It was cold and moist this morning, so we got off to a late start. The canal was quite busy, and we had to wait at some of the locks for one or two boats to go through ahead of us. Though it takes longer that way, there are plenty of people around to work the paddles and the gates, so it makes the work easier, and when there is a boat coming the other way you don’t even have…
The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust dues actually manage to have some wildlife in their HQ at the Wolseley Centre. Most of it is squirrels though, because the squirrels have repurposed the bird feeders. Every one is now a squirrel feeder… … and the birds have a hard time getting a beak in. This one is waiting his turn. Finally. While I was watching the squirrels (and the occasional bird) … … I got talking to a woman who was recruiting members…
The meadowsweet is in bloom along the less well mown bits of the towpath. Popular names of common plants being what they are, it is also known as Bridewort, Meadow Queen, Meadow Wort, Pride of the Meadow, Queen of the Meadow, Lady of the Meadow, Dollof, and Meadsweet. It was used as flavoring for mead, an insect repellent, and a charming addition to bridal bouquets. While it would not guarantee the happiness of the marriage it would at least protect…
Just outside Polesworth there is a monument of fossil fuel. Poised on top of an old slag heap from the local coal mines there is a golden pillar forty feet tall. The cross section represents a silver birch leaf, but you can’t see that unless you are forty one feet tall, or happen to have a forty foot ladder in your backpack. Stilts might also work, or a really tall unicycle. Anyway, it represents solar energy stored in fossil fuels,…
Atherstone, formerly known as Adderstone, has nothing to do with snakes, so the lady in the Heritage Centre told us, when we asked about the snakes in the Atherstone Mural… … and the Atherstone Totem Pole. What the Atherstone Heritage Centre does have to offer is the fact that the canal runs through town and they used to make hats here. The lady there is also convinced that it is the site of both Boudicca’s last stand, and the Battle…
Today we left the rural idylls of the Ashby Canal and returned to the Coventry Canal, taking a big loop through the outskirts of Nuneaton. The canal side back yards were variously besplattered with roses… … resplendent with fake geese… … or littered with skeletons. The towpath graffiti gets a B-minus at best. We passed a narrowboat decorated with battle swans made out of old tires. Past Nuneaton, the agriculture is pretty varied. There are designer cows… … horses, sheep,…
OK, I can cross that off the bucket list. I’ve now seen an ancient Greek depiction of juggling. This one is in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It’s from Athens in about 450 BCE. There are only a handful of Greek juggling images I know of. Images of athletics or anal sex are far more common. It is always women juggling, and they are usually seated, or in one case bending over awkwardly. Did Greek homes have low ceilings that…
Tortoise sex proceeds at about the same speed as a narrowboat. I have a childhood memory of visiting Twycross Zoo, soon probably not that long after it opened in 1963. The chimps there were famous for appearing dressed as members of the working class in TV commercials for PG Tips tea. I remember seeing them performing at a tea party, and afterwards they came around and shook hands with the watching kids. Yep, I got to shake a chimpanzee’s hand….