Bartimaeus

Among the piles of letters and parcels, Shane had ordered that Jude had brought from Edinburgh, was one small parcel for me. It was a slim book of ten poems about hats. It has left me wondering if I should write a poem in that theme, as I never have before. Jude remarked that I should have plenty of inspiration since I had knitted so many. I have certainly knitted lots more than ten,  more than twenty. Still the muse was not on me, but the cooler weather has meant I have had a hat on me, or a hood.

The wetter weather forecast had made us keen to book our trip back to Selby to avoid being on an unsuitable mooring. I rang up and made our appointment. We set off from York on Sunday and arranged to  meet up with Jude at Naburn where we had recommended the cafe. Outside the peppers had grown since last time and inside I saw something I hadn’t noticed last time, a hat stand. Shane had been enjoying the line recently “Clare keeps leaving her hats all over the place, do you think I should make a stand?”

It reminded me again that my grandfather had a black top hat that was kept in a large leather box in the attic of the house I grew up in. The hat stand was just one of many antique items in the tearoom, it is full of lovely furniture, tea sets, glass decanters and cake stands.

We  enjoyed our lunch as much as last time. The cake array is amazing and I hadn’t tried one. Jude wanted to try one and I “helped” her with it, coffee walnut, anither childhood memory as I loved my mum’s coffee walnut cake and often asked for mocha cake for my birthday. This cake was surprisingly light and has no egg in it.

A further piece of nostalgia was on my saucer. In my childhood home, my mum had a set of apostle spoons with apostles in the handle. We didn’t really use them as they were kept in a box. I assume they were a gift or an inheritance. Each plate saucer and spoon were different but mine was an apostle spoon and at last I was actually using one, to eat the cake, while Jude used the dessert fork provided.

We had a short walk and noticed the air cooling. We waved Jude off and returned to the boat. We had moored near a chestnut tree and a conker had fallen into the bow well of the boat. There is a theory that conkers keep spiders away but we are unconvinced. We have had two in our bedroom on the boat and there have been plenty spiders, though not on that shelf. I haven’t found them on any shelves though.

The next day had been forecast to be very wet. It rained overnight. It gave me time to make progress with the cardigan I was on and get the main body cast off. I feel well ahead as the baby is not due until November. A message from Mugs about a knitting retreat, gave me inspiration for another little project. The link included a pattern for a hat called ‘the watery tart hat’ – a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference. I thought I might make that hat for myself, being at home on the water.

We had a walk into Naburn village and got damp feet but dry heads. In the village we found the bus stop doubled as  a community noticeboard and library. I had noticed some knitting there, little suits and hats that someone locally was making for babies as a charitable donation. They were appealing for spare wool to make more. Meanwhile Shane had found the bookshelf held a copy of Bartimaeus, nestled between The Sinner and Fifty Shades of Grey – this is the library, not our bookshelf. If we hadn’t already got the full set of the Bartimaeus trilogy aboard, we would have collected it. The name on the spine is the same as the writing of the name on Bartimaeus.

Later we had a chat with the boaters moored nearby. They were both leaving on Wednesday.I had been following the Try The Trent page and seeing locks closing and floodlocks brought into action and people warned not to travel due to strong currents. The page also strongly recommends buddying. 

The forecast heavy rain came a little later than anticipated, but there was still plenty of it and the morning was misty. We began to wonder if Wednesday would be better. We went to get diesel and a pump out at York marina in the mizzle. I had been messaging with Bryn and Nye as it was Bryn’s birthday and he had been with us last time we were at York Marina As we left the marina I saw a moored boat with an unusual name. I sent it to Bryn with a birthday greeting. He does enjoy a pun.

When we got back to Naburn Shane found out from the lock keeper that another boat was expected to go too. Then a boat arrived and as he moored we chatted. He was keen to buddy and swapped names and numbers. The sun was coming out and suddenly everything was brighter.

Shane went to eat early lunch and I went to get cake to celebrate Bryn’s birthday from the Tea By The Lock as they do take away. I wasn’t sure that Shane wanted some but chose one I thought he would share, lemon and blackcurrant.

I had a quick lunch and we donned our life jackets just in time as the lock keeper was readying the lock. The gates opened and we drove forward, passing our new buddies on the way. We got to chat more to them inside the lock.

The lock keeper told me that there would be six boats coming the other way and we would meet them quite soon. I relayed this to Jonathan on Dunno. Jonathan left the lock first. We promised to keep him in sight. We did most of the time, except when he disappeared round a corner.

We met three cruisers with plenty wake. I assumed they would have set off together in one lock then narrow boats in the next lock cycle, so the cruisers would not need to do any overtaking. A while later we met three narrow boats who all waved and one was advertising how Shane has often said he has felt, with not a hint of sarcasm.

The day brightened and patches of blue sky started to appear. Some debris appeared too but nothing compared to the amount we had met in the other direction. At one point when Dunno had gone out of sight, I got a text from Jonathan to check we were okay, it was good to know he was checking behind. He managed a few photos of us on the way and I managed one of us.

We were speeding up as the tide turned and we were going with the flow. A cold wind sprang up and I got my hat on. It didn’t take long to get to the bridge and the lock wasn’t far after. Jonathan turned and from where we were the lock entrance wasn’t visible but we could see him slowly getting lined up. Shane had turned round to and was holding station against the flow.

Shane made a controlled turn, and was complimented by Jonathan and the lock keeper. We all felt really pleased to have had such a good run and we were very relieved to be safely on the level water. We celebrated with some cake and a trip to the curry house that we had been to with Bryn. We were enjoying his birthday revisiting some of the places we had explored with him. I hope he enjoyed himself as much.

Shane had received a message while we were on the tidal Ouse that the Selby bridge was unable to open so we had nowhere to go but stay in the basin. That made our minds up that we should head back to Edinburgh the next day. Bartimaeus couldn’t go anywhere but we could. I decided to get that “watery tart” hat pattern to have something else to knit if I happened to finish the cardigan. Shane got on to sorting train tickets for going to our other home.