Massive Curry, No Beards

Before I tell you about the curry, let me first clear something up. To James and any other doubters; here is proof of our floating state in the form of a photograph of none other than James lovely sister Louise who came to stay for the night (and kept us up till 1am, the minx!) and gamely (also rather attractively I think you'll agree) posed on the stern of our boat to put to bed, nay banish from credulity, any doubt that we are indeed on a boat. If that ain't enough for yer, there's also Polly's Flickr site. So there, ner!

Also, pre-curry, please join with me in lamenting the fact that there have been no further beady-boater sightings since the initial one in Sowerby Bridge.  I did see a beard today, not on a boater but on the surly and unfriendly face of the bloke in the boatyard at Outrighton. We had stopped to fill up with diesel, which is a bit like stopping at a garage except there is only one pump, situated right by the edge of the canal, it is usually rusted to buggery and the fuel it contains is embarrassingly cheap. This man who served us was so abrasive and borderline rude he would have made a bottle of whiskey feel unwelcome at my Granddad's wake. A bad beard-ambassador.

But you want to know about the curry. It was dee-licious. And immense. Better than that, it was shared with Nick, Polly and The Toast who had come down for a cuppa and a bite. At what a big bite it turned out to be; Alan had one too many lumps of naan bread and is still paying the price, although I shan't go into details. Polly and Toast had to leave early which was a shame except for the fact that Nick had brought a cake with him and P and T went before pudding! Result! A shame also that Toast didn't have his camera with him to take some arty shots of the boat since he is something of a talented photographer and would make a much better job of it than I do. Have a gander at his website www.ysr23.com. He really is very good.

(Incidentally, I've no idea why my photos come out all pixellated on this blog; they look miles better when I first take them....honest!)

Today is the second day of full countryside we have had since leaving Littleborough's Pennine grace behind exactly one week ago and I must admit it's a bit like a nice cup of tea after a long hard day. We are moored up on the outskirts of a little Cheshire town called Lymm and the view from my window is like a kiddie's painting of the countryside, all stripes. A big, wide lick of yellow paint across the bottom of the page for the cornfield, a bumpy green bit above for the trees; all darkened-green in the dusk; and a dusky powder blue with a couple of dark cloudy-smudges for the sky.  Ten minutes ago when I stood on the roof after my tea (and after a glass of red wine, health-and-safety-fans) it looked like this:

I have become a bit obsessed with the sky at the moment, it being a bit of a novelty to the London Dweller. The built-uppyness of London is the closest thing you can get to having a roof on your world and it means that unless I stand strategically placed on Hampstead Heath, the best I will get is a tiny glimpse of sky. London really does just offer a person a few kinky peep-show peeks at the sky whereas here it is so big and available that I have already asked it out and am embarking on big daily snogs with it.

Tomorrow we head for Stockton Heath where I will try to make enough time to tell you all about the super-posh nutter with the brown dalmatian and Lady Di fixation whom I met by a tree in Dunham Massey yesterday. I think you may like him...

Comments

[Shelly]

Mmmmmmmmmmm curry. Miss ya sis x

[Ant]

Is it not pissing it down all the time? Still, I guess a boat is a good place to be. Here's hoping the weather is ok for Tapestry - only a couple of weeks now. What you wearing? Love Ant

[the most bestest cousin in the world...and her little nissan to the rescue]

ALL ABOARD??!!!! or is is ROSIE AND JIM??? hello guys yes yes its me your bestest cousin in the world...(laura) just incase you didnt know!!!!shame on you if you didnt!!! now then down to business are you guys ok?? cuz you know if you fancy a macdonalds one night me and ludo will come and rescue you lol!!! you swingin back this way i must come see next time love to you both have fun xxxx

[James Robbins]

OK OK I believe you. I think your photos are great, Lou in the twighlight and your moody sklies look fab to me. ( Lou is best in the twightlight never take her photo in direct sunlight you'd damage teh camera).

Sorry you've encountered a rude and miserable example of beardom i hope the next one more than compensates.
Hope your toilet - post curry unblocks soon.

[Jon of Jon and Tracey]

Hellooo Debs and Alan!

Just caught up with your blog, most chucklesome. Due to a busy time - moving back to Ham then having a break in Scotland, discovering moths really like to eat wool carpets when left unpersecuted by lazy tenants (grrrr), ripping out carpets, unpacking boxes (for future reference you can get them much cheaper from those self-storage places than Argos) - I've just digested Right, please don't tell me what kind of weather you are having -to- Massive Curry, No Beards.

Needless to say Tracey and I are very envious! Sounds like you're having a great time.

RE: Barge drivers et al, I consulted Ocean Careers dot com (no, really) and the work titles came up as "Barge Captain", "Barge Master" and "Barge Pilot". So "pilot" does seem the correct nomenclature, but maybe if one of you is the pilot the other can be the captain to keep it all on an even keel?

Hope you're both well and not adversely affected by any flooding type stuff...

See ya soon.

[Dave and Marg]

Dunham Massey is great - we were there few weeks ago.

And the sky in the photo is wonderful. We are currently looking out on a beautiful Windermere sky - looks like it's going to be another lovely day tomorrow....hope it is where you are too and hope we've seen the end of the rain.

See you on Saturday (Dave will shave his beard off before then)

Marg and Dave