Northern Lights
Blackpool Illuminations is a experience that we always wished to have as children but I did not get to see them until this year - aged 60+
I cannot say if they are better now than 50 years ago but they are certainly worth a visit.




















In April, on our way from winter moorings in Aylesbury to the Canalway Cavalcade in Little Venice I constructed my own illuminations in the form of a sandwich board with Geckos walking on either side. There is never much room for extra mural activities on Gecko and drilling 600 holes and pushing LEDs through them did interfere with routine activities somewhat. However it all worked well on the day. As we were so busy in London I did not get a decent photograph of the boards so when I re-erected them for the Xmas period here in Reedley I decided to rectify that omission. Then the snow came and I only managed to make the following films on Twelfth Night when we dismantled them.

More news
Apparently Stepping Stone left Reedley Marina for a short run to Burnley and was returning when it started taking on water. According to witnesses, once this was noticed the boat sank very quickly. The usual suspect would be the weed hatch or stern tube however the boat had run out of fuel and was being towed home without the engine running.

SCOOP - Boat Sinks on L&L
Last night around 5pm nb Stepping Stone sank on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal outside Reedley Marina. No-one is believed to have been injured. It is believed that the boat left the marina that evening but the cause of the disaster is not known yet. Ironincally there had been a crane on site all day lifting out and a boat for repair work and putting a boat into the canal. Unfortunately it left about an hour before the sinking occurred.

A Rare Sight
It is not often you see any canal in England being dredged. BW claim this is because of money and manpower shortages.




The could save money if they dispensed with the man in the bucket.

Whose burrowed my Spill Chucker?

Enemy Organised?
Back on 19 September 2009 (blog post - Enemy Action?) I raised a question about a certain boat which appeared to be stalking us.
In December we went to Germany to visit the Xmas markets.....



Am I getting paranoid?

I'm Seldom Jealous....
But I wish I had taken this photo which relates to my blog of 4th July 2009 - A Day to Remember

Take Another Bite
Regular readers will be surprised to see a contribution during the winter months. Whatever my intentions I generally fail to post any news whilst we are moored for the winter.
If you travel by rail yo will have spent some time waiting at a station and probably taking some refreshment. For the effort of logging on here you can get a FREE BITE card which gives you 20% discount on everything you buy at Upper Crust, Ritazza, Pumpkin, Burger King, Pasty Shop, Camden Foods, Millie's Cookies, Delice de France etc etc
And what's more Ritazza, Upper Crust and Pumpkin all operate loyalty cards.
We have been using these for some time and they always work but remember they discount is only available at railway stations - motorway outlets do not participate.