Evalunacy

Life aboard the broadbeam river barge, Eva Luna

Mar 23

Torte on Thames

by waterwytch

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These photos are from the Thames Clandestine Cake Club where decadent bakers disappear into a boat on the Thames with home made cake offerings.

This month we pushed ourselves hard with a ‘torte’ theme. I think we were all delighted with the results, and we had two new bakers on board the beautifully kept NB Drake – which, we learned – is the old English word for Dragon.

Next month’s venue remains a secret (that’s the clandestine bit!) but all will be revealed to those who sign up for next month. Priority is always given to regular bakers, but we love having new bakers along.

The decadent  combination of boat and baking feels somehow very naughty, the ‘clandestine’ bit even naughtier. And scoffing raspberry torte with the family was a joy!

(More here: http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/2013/03/17/terrific-tortes-in-thames/)

Next time we’re baking cakes with a ‘vegetable’ theme. Join us?

Eva Luna, our widebeam river barge, is now up for rehoming: http://www.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=292685

Amazing people

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Mar 17

Sailing Sadie

by waterwytch

Sadie is a lovely old barge, built in the 1890′s. Her engine was replaced sometime last century with an old 1945 RAF engine (traced back by its registration number). The engine hadn’t worked for around 15 years – until this weekend.

Her engine has been carefully refurbished and repaired, and in a flurry of excitement, Sadie took a short trip to a pumpout pontoon.

The pictures and video aren’t the greatest – they were taken on a mobile and I had the dog in tow – but I can’t help but post it here. It was so exciting to see this boat, which was moved into place last year under barge power, brought back to life.  A stunning piece of boating history, I can’t help but wish owners Mel and Steph every happiness with their lovely boat. (If their grins were anything to go by on her ‘inaugural’ sail, I don’t think it’s really in question.)

Amazing people

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Jun 5

Boaters Jubilee Party

by waterwytch

Pending permission to post more pictures, suffice to say that the Boaters street party for the Jubilee went well (with major thanks to StreetClub), with around 70 people visiting across the course of the day.

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Amazing people

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May 31

Jubilation

by waterwytch

Yesterday two lots of exciting mail arrived.

First up: our tickets came for viewing the Jubilee River Pageant. We were allocated two because Eva Luna didn’t make it into the pageant. (This was, I feel, probably a smart move on behalf of the organisers.)

We only have two tickets, and the names that we had entered with had to be the ones that attend, so it’s me and Morgan attending! I can’t tell you how excited we are to be getting a ringside view.

The other thing that came through the post was our Streetclub win – £500 to spend in Tescos. It has been agreed that we would spend half towards a boaters’ picnic and half that either leaves a legacy for others to enjoy (a picnic bench or similar) or goes towards another event.

Owen’s co-ordinating the event, and Amanda and Gill (valiant boaters from boats L’Eau Life and Harlequin) are going out to have some fun shopping. Tim from NB Shakira has amazing creative skills for posters and the like and has done a wonderful job. Thames and Kennet Marina has very generously given us space and even helped by laminating some of Tim’s photos.

The BYO picnic format means we can cope easily with extra arrivals, and if anyone’s passing, the marina does have visitor moorings (check with them for charges – there’s also showers, pumpout, chandlery).

We have no idea how many people may come, but even if there are only ten of us, it will be great fun.

Amazing people

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May 26

The Best Thing’s Just Happened….

by waterwytch

Streetclub‘s an online community building tool sponsored by B&Q, meant for people who live in the same place, but I set one up for boaters (called, imaginatively, Boaters!). There were a few glitches to begin with and no-one could find us, but these are now fixed, so I’m confident enough to say that it’s now open for anyone who’s boating.

It’s a community thing and I don’t want to ‘own’ it. Happy to do a bit of admin and propel it, but we’re atypical boaters and it should be there for whoever wants to be involved. It’s a great way of us all getting to know each other better.

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Amazing people

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Apr 22

Love a duck!

by waterwytch

It’s that time of year. Boaters start waging a battle with ducks looking for great places to nest, discouraging . Mostly it’s the coots who love boats – they are driven to find something on, and close to, the water, to start their nests. For the most part, liveaboards don’t present a problem – we’re there enough for the coots not to want to be disturbed.

The battle on the cruisers, however, sees the weekend crowds putting up netting, coot scaring once the first few twigs are placed, and we’ve even seen an outsize plastic owl appear. (This does seem to work on the coots, but we’ve seen mallards sat proudly beside it.)

Let me, at this point, introduce you to Amanda, who has lived aboard for years. Veteran of both a pretty cruiser and of an old working barge which she and partner, Pete, converted, she’s an experienced inland sailor who’s seen most things on the water.  She’s also recently given up nursing to start her own gardening business.

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Closer to nature

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Mar 24

Almost there

by waterwytch

In January, I wrote a post about a fellow boater, Allayne, having been diagnosed with cancer.

I’m hoping she’ll be reading this blog, because I have to share that she is one of the single most awesome people that I have ever met. (I’m hoping my Twitter friend Katie won’t be reading this – we have a ban on the word, but on this occasion, it so, so fits.)

Allayne came home from hospital at the end of January. Having had an operation on her spine, she was bed bound, and the hospital loaned her a hospital bed. Seeing her propped up in bed, against plumped up pillows, she looked older than I’d ever seen her look, tired and really unwell. She was talking about a March wedding. At the back of my mind was the lovely vicar that her fiancé, Paul, had been speaking to. If she wasn’t going to make it, he’d have come out and married them, then and there. She looked frail and tiny.

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Amazing people

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Jan 21

Keep Moving On

by waterwytch

And for the last time I am writing from our Narrowboat digitalis, before it goes to the new owners next week. Don’t think we will miss it now as we have had quite some time waiting around not travelling. It is not so appealing when you are not moving.

I was saddened to hear that the folk on Digitalis are giving up life on the water. They probably won’t even remember us, but they were one of the reasons that we made the move, having very generously shown us around their lovely boat when we were still looking. We saw them in Coventry before we found and fell in love with Eva Luna (Grace and Favour as she was then).

It came hot on the heels of friends from the widebeam Harlequin, who were on board last night chatting and imbibing with us, telling us their plans to move on from their boat in a year or so, possibly back onto dry land. We knew our new life was transient, but it’s suddenly struck me how transitory this will be.

But of course, once the boys are great lanky teenagers bringing home friends and wanting more privacy, the ‘Boys Own’ existence that they currently enjoy may not be quite so appealing to them or to us. We’ve often joked about getting a butty alongside, but the cost and practicalities of this might not be so great (although I guess two smaller boats might work).

And as Chrissie and co leave Digitalis, others will start their adventure on the waters – and they’re lucky to have found such an immaculate boat (on the subject of which, we’ve taken quite a ribbing about how tidy the boat was when the film crew came aboard. Space is tight and with two muddy boys, it’s not always as clear as it was during filming!)

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Amazing people

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Jan 1

My New Years Wish

by waterwytch

Coronation Street's Sammy Winward posing last year for Marie Curie Cancer Care

I had three posts for December written up and ready to post. All three were painful to write. I couldn’t bring myself to post them. I played with the words, toyed with what effect they’d have and then it was Christmas and posting things that seemed glum seemed wrong. Today I’m publishing the first of them, but with a hopeful message attached.

You see in 2012, barring some miracle, a friend, Allayne, is going to die.

A few short months ago, our frequent visitor moorings were blessed with the arrival of a beautiful shiny blue boat, Mischief, owned by Paul and his girlfriend Allayne.

Allayne is a beautiful, neat, tidy lady. And a month or so back they celebrated the anniversary of a year as partners. They have two beautiful cats, Pandi and Phoenix, and have delighted in their dream boat, Mischief.

One Friday in early December, Allayne went to A&E. She had been having pains in her legs. She had previously been to a smaller, cottage, hospital  with related problems, and they’d given her painkillers and sympathy. They should have looked harder.

This time, doctors found a lump in her breast so large that it had, if I’ve understood rightly, cracked a vertebrae.  Worse was to follow – they found a cancerous growth at the base of her spine. She was admitted immediately.

The following week was awful for them with bad news coming on an almost daily basis. As the tests progressed, it became apparent that cancer has invaded her liver and lungs as well. The news came that the cancer is terminal. Allayne has been given months rather than years, and operations and treatments are for comfort and preventing the cancer’s progress rather than a cure.

Cancer doesn’t care that it’s Christmas.

Aside of trying to help Paul in whatever small ways we can, their drama, combined with another, which I blog tomorrow, inspired me to take some long overdue time off with my family this Christmas – who knows when we won’t be able to any more – and to buy online cards from Marie Curie Cancer Care rather than buy Christmas cards this year.

But it is the New Year, and I want to end on a happy note, so here goes.

Paul and Allayne have decided to get married.

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Amazing people Dramas

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Nov 28

Watch out for the hotel boat

by waterwytch

Fellow boaters Alan and Jane have a hotel boat on the Thames. And they’ll be on Channel Four on Monday 30th November 2011,  having been filmed absolutely ages ago, on the guest house series Four in a Bed.

This is Channel Four’s blurb:

Geanna Hotel Boat, Henley-on-Thames

Plot: Alan and Jane welcome aboard their first ever guests for a night on their brand-new purpose built hotel boat. On arrival the guests enjoy the novelty factor, but Dan and Mardi think that space is too tight, while Jean-Pierre and Sarah are slightly concerned about privacy. The Geanna embarks on her maiden voyage up the Thames. The group pass by some hunks on the shore, sip champagne and get to know the ropes. At dinner the atmosphere is a little lacklustre. Next morning Jane and Alan bicker in the kitchen as they prepare their first ever breakfast on board.

Having been lucky enough to have taken a peek, the boat’s nicely fitted and Jane and Alan get quite a lot in a small space.

Like most guest house owners they now have a few more stories to tell now than when they set off. They had a horrendous start when their boat flooded within days of arrival. (These things can happen in houses as easily as boats, but still a pain.)

If  you’re on Facebook, you can ‘like’ them here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/myrivercruisingcom/156827181000142.

I hope you’ll join me in wishing fellow boaters well with their water based venture.

river barge

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