Bartimaeus

On the day when it was very wet all day, I went in to the shops at Penkridge. I saw a small item in a charity shop, but while he might be amused, I thought Nye might not appreciate the sign, especially since he has a nut allergy.

The same day Nye was messaging me about a cake recipe. He is planning ahead to make a birthday cake himself. I managed to make a small package for him and Shane and Bryn went to the post office. To my surprise it is going by a different company. Sometimes it is hard to find a post office, but I did think once you had one that they would send it by Royal Mail. I forget they aren't the same organisation any more. 

The next day was a drier forecast so we set off from Penkridge, though the skies were grey. At last there was no rain. There was a lock straight away and I guessed that Shane would be keen to be active after a day inside. Shane picked up a windlass and set off to get the lock ready for our arrival. Bryn join him at the lock. They walked on after it and the next lock was outside the pub we had eaten in two nights earlier.

A few boats met us and there was a boat following behind. With being stopped for the day I was charging on diesel as much as possible, but sometimes there was juddering when I slowed down past moored boats and I got the rare 'clutch slip detected' warning. We had a good few locks to go so I got rid of the flashing sign and carried on. Shane at one lock came over to tell me to look at the tiller pin on the boat as it came out of the lock. I didn't manage to see it but Shane had a photo in the lock. It was somewhat larger than life. The giant African snail is lots smaller.

Shane took over driving later in the morning and the clutch slip warning came again. He was trying to get rid of the alert and he was still not getting generation. He concluded that the drive belt had snapped. Bryn and I did the next lock, which I found very heavy going on my side, but managed. I was glad the go windlass was on order. We moored for lunch immediately after the lock and Shane had a look to find the band snapped and quite a bit of water in the engine bay so he got the bilge pump going and it worked away as we ate.

I saw a boat arriving to work the lock and thought it would be nice to help them through since we were partly on the lock landing. I found a lone boater, who was very pleased to have the offer and said he had brain fog and was finding going down the locks a struggle. I told him to get aboard and I would do it. Of course this was the particularly stiff one to turn and a man who was out cycling with a young lad, I assume his son, had stopped to see the lock in operation. The man saw me finding it hard and offered to help. Since I had done it before I knew I could manage it, but he was very keenly offering so I said if he could if he really wanted a go. I asked the lad if he wanted to do the other side since they seemed to want to be involved and I knew that side was easier. It was good that they hung around, as they were able to open the other gate. Meanwhile another boat had arrived going the same way. So I went to the other end and made the same offer to work it with them and told the lady that the paddle on her side was very stiff but she might get an offer of help, from the bystanders who had stayed at the other end, which she did. Yet another boat arrived, so I did the same operation again. The lad had a go at helping the woman with the stiff one, but couldn't move it so the dad stepped in. They were finding that it is even harder at the start.

I could see Shane has his boiler suit on and was cracking on with something and it appeared he didn't need to call on a smaller body to get down in the engine. The last driver going through asked what was wrong and I explained about the belt and he also asked Shane as he drove past if he had all he needed. Shane had completed his belt replacement and tightened the nuts on the stuffing box, to reduce water ingress. We both felt satisfied at having got jobs done. Shane has now ordered a new belt to come to Edinburgh. Nye has been told to  expect a few parcels around his birthday, but not all for him!

I had spotted an odd addition on one of the boats, as it went through the lock, a vuvuzela on the roof. It looked like it had been well used. Perhaps their horn was broken. We met them later in the day as we were stopping at great Haywood. At last I put two and two together. The boat was called Zulu, and a Zulu would want to have a vuvuzela.

We saw a few interesting boats, or boat names that day. Bryn liked the script on the Sea Mistress with fins added and she was next to the Pink Panther.

As we drove past one boat that was moored, we were surprised by a a large fluffy creature waving out of the hatch and calling hello enthusiastically. It was hard to see if it was a stuffed toy, being animated or a costume, I think the former.

No animals jumped out of this one. It didn't sell any wool either. It can't be Shaun the Sheep or his name would be there surely. 

This boat, Wooley had, as is common the name of the occupants on it,. Sometimes a whole family is mentioned. Companies of course had to have their names on the side. 

Another spoke of a broken relationship or maybe just by chance someone bought a boat off someone with the same name, but with no partner. He is putting himself out there and painted over the other name, but he's not speed dating on a narrow boat.

As well as the boats, we has aerial interest, with house martins flying around us at one point and later had the excitement of a kingfisher, which stayed ahead and we saw it a few times. A buzzard flew across and went over Shane's head. This is a great time for the little families in the water and goslings were the dominant birds of the day. One was a small family, in size and number, keeping close to mum and dad.

Not long after we saw a much larger family. They were hard to count while moving but a photo allowed us to confirm the count as eighteen goslings. The parents kept them gathered and nearby, one parent each side of the group, almost all the time.

When we reached Tixall Wide, just before the junction at Great Haywood, there were a great many geese, and not all Canadians. As we went for a walk to the cafe to get an ice-cream, we passed a boat with a woman offering food to the waterfowl. One family of goslings of greylags, were getting all the food. The parents were making sure no other birds got near enough so only their family got fed. The geese are very fiercely protective parents, even when the goslings are older.