Granny Buttons

Pumpout toilets vs cassette loos - the cost

Chas on Moore 2 Life says:

I find it appalling that pumpout cards are not available from the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust because there is no profit in it. The cards are used to activate the pumpout machines. Thankfully we do not have a 'black tank' to empty. We have cassettes which we can empty for free.

Les on Valerie is also a cassette-toilet fan, as are many others.

When I bought my boat eight years ago, I swallowed the 'disposable toilet' argument (not literally of course) and lived with one for nearly a year.  But I was never happy with the process of emptying it, had a pumpout tank installed, and have never looked back. 

But it occurs to me: why can't we have the best of both worlds? If I was fitting out a dream boat now, I'd certainly have a pumpout tank.  But I'd also include a way of pumping it out into a small (say, 5-gal) container that I could  then carry to the sanitation station - just like Chas and Les.

That way, I win both ways.  I can leave my cesstank aboard for weeks if I can't find a station (or I'm not in the mood to face my waste), or I can run a relay with it.  The result: no pumpout fees.  Except for those private boatyards that charge.

I've not yet come across a boat with this system, but if you learn of one, I'd love to hear about it  (By the way, if you're listed on my boatroll (listed right), you don't need to email me or add a comment; simply write about it on your own blog; I read 'em all.  That's probably why I'm so behind with my email!)

Deepfields Junction panorama

Deepfields Junction, 30th Dec 2006.
This strange picture is an experiment, a stitched panorama of about 10 photos.  It's poorly done, and I'm still fumbling with the technique.  When doing stitched panoramas, the invidual exposures need to be consistent (which mine weren't), and ideally you'll use a tripod (which I didn't).  I did a better (if less wide) panorama last weekend, of the Oxford Canal Basin Car Park.

Panoramas are little-seen in waterways photography, and I think that's a missed opportunity.  Done well, they could show many  familiar scenes in a new light. 

Nevertheless, you need to pick your subjects carefully.  Just because you can capture 180 degrees (as here), doesn't mean to say you should.  120-130 degrees is probably more realistic.

If you try stitching panoramas you might also try a little high-jinks.  For example, if you are photographing a towpath scene in several images, why not have a walker with with dog in each frame, showing the same figures in each section of the picture. 

Apart from the irregular exposure, this particular one didn't work because the subject was dead straight in front of me, stretching from side to side.  The result looks like a Y-shape, with the central foreground protruding towards the camera, completely unrealistically.  The ideal panorama surrounds you in a semi-circle.  I'd be interested to see what a skilled panorama photographer can do with this subject.

Perhaps the greatest panoramic photographer is Australian Ken Duncan.  He recently has a 'megapan' camera made to his own specification, giving him a 5:1 ratio image, slightly less than my image here.  His camera rotates as it shoots,  so no stitching is required.  There's a fantastic megapan tropical river scene here, and a pretty view of the Yorkshire dales here.   No canals though.  Not yet, anyway.

Bristol Fashion and canal videos

Bristol Fashion has done a flurry of good posts this week, culminating in linking to some YouTube videos about canals.

I've not been watching YouTube closely enough.  There are now several people putting up their waterways videos.  User 'Pig & Pineapple' seems to be the most prolific and is a careful editor.  The 'Lost Stoke-on Trent Tunnel' will probably be an interesting period piece in years to come.

"Watch this space for the launch of NB Pig & Pineapple", says Pig & Pineapple.  If she (for it sounds like a she, an American she) is referring to a boat she is having built, it could well be the first narrowboat build videoed - at least by its owner.  (I don't count Dover - that was a corporate effort.)

But none of the canal videos I've seen on YouTube appear scripted or seem to have a thread, nor do they 'go anywhere' in a story sense yet.  The waterways are itching for some really good 'road' movies to be made about them, and I won't be surprised if YouTube hosts the first. 

Perhaps Pig & Pineapple's efforts so far are just a dry run, just practice. Maybe "the launch of nb Pig & Pineapple" isn't going to be about a real narrowboat, but a figurative one, a plotted, storyboarded movie about the waterways. It's a nice idea.

Bits and Bobs from a Swot mentions the Thames protest

Not many bloggers have written about the protest cruise past the Houses of Parliament on Jan 16th.  The most recent was Davey Marcus, an American student studying in London, in Bits and Bobs from a Swot:

As we found ourselves coming back over the bridge we saw some protestors coming on their motor boats down the River Thames to protest the privatization of the canal…or something along those lines. I found it rather amusing that they had the protesting boats and the escort of police boats (I assume to solidify the safety and the peace, but I still found the protest on water rather funny).

Well done, Davey!  I think you are only the fourth or fifth blogger to mention the protest.  I'm only sorry that so few blogging boaters have touched on it. 

One boater who has is Broderick Ross (husband of former Falmouth MP Candy Atherton) in his Yahoo 360 blog on 26th Jan :

Although the skies were grey and the Thames and little choppy in places; the protest went very well with the boat being dressed overall with protest banners and sounding our horns at Westminster which we were not really meant to do, but our fingers slipped on the hooter buttons. The protest got excellent media coverage and was mentioned on Sky News and syndicated throughout all the BBC regions which have inland waterways and canals in them.

Another was political blogger HowlerMonkey, who wrote about it on 26th Jan on the Labour Home forum:

Although the skies were grey and the Thames and little choppy in places; the protest went very well with the boat being dressed overall with protest banners and sounding our horns at Westminster which we were not really meant to do, but our fingers slipped on the hooter buttons. The protest got excellent media coverage and was mentioned on Sky News and syndicated throughout all the BBC regions which have inland waterways and canals in them.

Amazing!  A monkey, tapping away on a keyboard, types out exactly the same words (and typos) about a canal protest as a blogger somewhere else!   I mean, what are the chances of that happening?

Water, water everywhere except in the Rochdale Canal

Reservoirs could end canal water problem - Rochdale Observer last week:

Littleborough Canalside Development Group is urging British Waterways to acquire Warland, Light Hazzles, Whitenholme and Blackstone Edge reservoirs, currently owned by United Utilities, to solve water shortages for Rochdale Canal. ... they are unsuitable for domestic use as, due to the high levels of peat, the water in them is not fit for human consumption.

United Utilities: Reservoirs do supply drinking water - Rochdale Observer today:

United Utilities has sought to clarify the position regarding reservoirs it owns on the hills above Littleborough.  A spokesman says contrary to claims that the water is Warland, Light Hazzles, Whiteholme and Blackstone Edge reservoirs is unfit for use, they are all used to supply drinking water.

Eastside Masterplan vs. Fred Grove

Warwick Bar, Birmingham, Dec 31st 2005.

You can spend time in an area and never sniff the real stories.  D'log alerts me to a Birmingham canalside story that I didn't know about yesterday, but which has been bubbling along for four years, and has only just reached a sensible resolution.

The Eastside Masterplan is the 'aerial' view of this story.  Says the Birmingham Council:

Respecting the city's heritage
The Eastside concept is breathing new life into the area through the development of the cultural quarter, reflecting the city's many and diverse communities, buildings and natural heritage.

Combined with a commitment to conserve and improve the quality of the local environment, Eastside will encompass well-designed, attractive buildings, spaces, historic waterways and railway viaducts, with sustainability issues at the heart of the project.

Closer to the ground is an old man called Fred Grove.  He's been living in a 'lockkeeper cottage' for 40  years, and for four of those he's been under notice to quit, to make way for the Eastside plan.   

Today BBC Birmingham says he's won a reprieve, and will be allowed to stay in his home after all.

Enthusiasm for Swindon's canal

Canal will bring back town's soul - Swindon Advertiser

Bullish support for return of the canal to Swindon, including some interesting reader's comments after the story.  (I love newspaper sites that allow readers to comment.)   

Putting a canal through Faringdon Road and Westcott Place has won the overwhelming support of Adver readers. The results of an Adver phone and internet poll asking whether council leader Roderick Bluh's canal plan is a good one show almost three-quarters are in favour of the idea.

Coun Bluh (Con, Dorcan) said he was bucked by the level of support but not surprised. "I'm surprised anybody would think it's a bad idea," Coun Bluh said.

The Chairman of the Wilts and Berks Canal Trust says the Trust thinks the scheme is "fantastic." Roy Cartwright said that three routes had been considered - two going around the outskirts of the town and the third along Faringdon Road. But the town centre plan was by far the best, and cheapest, he said. ... The canal trust has done a study that showed the waterway could be built for £30m and would attract £8m a year to the town.

Sowerby Bridge 'Marie Celeste' narrowboat death explained

Solved: death riddle of unmanned boat - Halifax Today.

Here's the denouement to the 'Marie Celeste Narrowboat story from last Dec 2nd:

Police officers found an empty bottle of wine on the cabin top of the boat.  A post mortem examination found an alcohol level of 316mg per 100 mls of blood – equivalent to nearly four times the drink drive limit.  Mr Burns had died from drowning.  A verdict of accidental death was recorded by coroner Roger Whittaker.

Oh no, I bet someone uses this as a stick to beat us with, to introduce drink-driving limits on the canals.

Forgot my camera last weekend!

Oh, no!  Last weekend I forgot to bring my camera with me.  It's not hard to find photos to take for grannybuttons.com, and I can usually come up with a half-dozen halfway decent pictures in a day, enough to feed the blog for a week. 

But when I forget my camera, I slip behind.  Actually, it was quite nice last weekend not to feel the pressure to photograph Great Haywood in the dark.  Next weekend, though, it's a full moon, and that brings out the werewolf in me.

Perfectly good bike recovered

Monkey Marsh Lock, May 2005 - Kennet & Avon Trust volunteer warden recovers perfectly good children's bike from the canal with my boathook.  This bike can't have been in the water more than a few hours and it was pristine. 

I lost the chap's name (sorry!) so I was never able to follow up and find out if he ever managed to reunite the bike with its owner.  The Kennet & Avon Trust relies on good volunteers such as him to patrol the canal and report on its condition.

Let's have a BOGOF (two for the price of one) today, shall we?   Yes, OK.
 

Lamberts strike out for freedom

The Hunts Post had a nice story last week about Ray & Mary Lambert, who sold up on terra firma and moved onto vice versa.  They are happy as anything.  But they have a caveat:

Ray warns that a life afloat is not for everyone. "You have to be very practical because things are always going wrong on a boat. Also you do have to get on well, the furthest you can get away from each other is 60 feet apart."

The Lamberts' isn't an unusual story by any means, and there are lots of these life-shift stories in local newspapers - all of them with happy endings.  I'd like for once to read a story of a MOG with a cautionary tale to tell, but you don't get them that often, and few people are willing to admit to making a mistake. The Lambert's story appears to be an intro to a larger feature, but it doesn't seem to be online:

They told ANGELA SINGER why they did it and, on the facing page, RAY LAMBERT shares with us his tales from the river.

A walk over the Standedge Tunnel

Blogger 'Kendal Mintz', who's clearly an enthusiast for fell-walking, has written an interesting account of an 11-mile walk over the top of Standedge Tunnel - starting and ending at the Standedge Visitor Centre and following the route of the old turnpike that predated the Tunnel.

Old Mount Road is the route of the first turnpike build by Jack Metcalf in 1759, who was known locally as Blind Jack of Knaresborough. This road originally linked Wakefield via Huddersfield and Marsden with the old county boundary at Austerlands. 

I think it would be wonderful to have the chance to base one's boat at Diggle or Marsden for a few days, explore the area, and trace this route - and other turnpike routes across the moors.

Breakfast nearly served

Mad O'Rourke's Pie Factory, Tipton, 14th Jan 2007.

My powder's still dry on the Pie Factory, but I'll try to fire off about it sometime.  Any boater with a childish sense of humour (and a childhood reading the Beano) should visit it at least once.  Moor up (as I did) at Coronation Gardens, where The Tipton Slasher stands sentry.

Fans will say it's not what it was (and some would say it never was).  It was one of the Little Pub Company, founded by Colm O'Rourke about 25 years ago (and sold to someone else about ten years ago).   His stock in trade was whackiness, or at least a certain bent sensibility, and he inspired much affection and many fans, including this informative (but long-unchanged) website.

Gt Haywood to Little Haywood

Gt Haywood to Little Haywood - a short hop today over lunchtime, just to find discreet visitor moorings for the week. 

My plan is to take Granny back to Streethay next Saturday, and spend the Sunday discussing the work that needs doing on it in the next couple of months.  Granny's getting a bit tatty again.  Poor Granny.  I'm looking forward to spring when I can take her out again.