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About this blog

a narrowboat in a white bikini

Entries in this blog

A trip down the thames

Its been years since I went down the thames, past parliament and under tower bridge, 12 years in fact.   So I was happy to help a friend who wanted an extra pair of hands due to a slightly incapacitated crew member. (the very same person who fell in the lock and is now nursing broken ribs and a snapped knee)   The cruise was lovely, turning left out of Brentford and heading to Limehouse. The tide was still on its way in, but being a neap was not very powerful. We punched the tide for a while
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

lucky escape

this is anecdotal and I dont have eyewitness levels of accuracy about this next entry but stick with it...   It was Sunday, I was expecting some friends on a boat who I met last year on the river Lee, they are a lovely couple and perhaps the only real boaty friends Ive made apart from the french yaching couple I met in Limehouse basin over the winter.   Anyway, this couple, I shall call them Mr n Ms Axe. They are heading up to a dry dock somewhere past Watford, so planned to meet up with me
honey ryder

honey ryder

6

The Refrigedaire experiment

Coming back from holiday nearly two weeks ago I was faced with a decision, to turn the fridge back or not?   If I turn the fridge on, I know that I need to charge the batteries almost daily. If not, well, that was the great unknown.   So I decided to plump for the living without a fridge option. Surprisingly it hasnt been as hard as I thought it might be. The fridge is still a fairly cool place to keep stuff as part of it is below the water line so its a bit cooler down there, also the weat
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

barge poles

I returned home last night to see my boat not quite as i left it.   my barge pole had moved and was resting in a very strange place. I wandered around the roof looking down at the scene trying to work out why someone would move my pole and leave it in such a strange place when my questions were answered by a neighbour who trotted down the towpath to talk to me.   apparently my boat had come adrift and he had to punt it back to the side with my pole.   you could say i should have hammere
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Bye bye tangarine speedo

Ah, the little orange dream that has trundled behind Honey Ryder over the past year has got a new home to go to.   its carried our water from obscure water points, its carried me to the supermarket, its taken me across limehouse basin to visit friends in the marina, we've rowed in the oddest of positions, weve slipped about inside when its icy cold and Ive bailed out gallons and gallons of rain water. Its been home to a stray cat on the roof, ducks have cadged a lift in it and its been used
honey ryder

honey ryder

2

slow down

I got told to slow down for the first time this weekend. Yay!   I was cruising past moored boats into my own mooring spot. I say my own, I mean a place at the side of the canal I have claimed as mine for the next few days. So this chap reckoned I was going too fast. yeah, the crazy speed demon I am was approaching the bank at, oh, 3mph i think, yeah the granny on the tow path was going faster. I tried to point out I was actually slowing down to a stop, but because I was doing this in my ow
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

no news is good news

Its been all quiet on the boat this month, the new black box is fitted, my wallet is £850 lighter. The new box, although it looks identical to the one it's replaced, is in fact far better than the old one. Its more efficient and works slightly differently. It's been a blessing in disguise really, although it's been an expensive blessing. The charger uses less power on start up which means we can charge directly from our small gennie via the shore power socket. We used to have to run the eng
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

bang bang, I shot you down, bang bang

It was wednesday morning, I was doing the usual getting up and going to work routine and decided to run the washing machine as I was down to my last pair of bloomers.   switch on the engine. eat some breakfast at the same time, wait for it to warm up a bit, load the washing machine, chuck the soap in the drawer, switch the travel power on, green light... then switch over the main power switch to activate the 240v system. ive done this, oh... so many times and I know the routine.   this rou
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

the sound of silence and extra ballast

Dear readers out there, you may have read about my crime ridden 2007, having a push-bike stolen off the roof of the boat last april was the start of it, followed by having another push-bike stolen from where I work.   followed by, and not necessarily in the right order: having my car broken into at Tottenham, having a friends car broken into next to mine at Cheshunt, watching kids rifling through a stolen handbag and reporting it to not very interested police, my flat was burgled in Croydon,
honey ryder

honey ryder

4

migration

My blog is migrating.   It is moving here:   http://jaffaminsky.blogspot.com/   The reason I am moving it is to preserve it for the future when I hopefully sell Honey Ryder and the story will continue aboard a different boat, possibly with a different name. Since my next boat will not be based on the canals, then is makes sense to move from a purely canal based forum.  
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

farty

I came back from a weekend away, stepped on board to unlock the doors and the action of me tipping the boat a bit to one side allowed one "cheek" to come up a bit and release a whole barrage of bubbles from the nether regions. It rather amused me, though I am a fan of toilet humour.   the other fun stuff this week is that I accidentally bought a new motorbike. I was just bidding away on ebay, you know how it is, drop in a silly bid occasionally and try your luck at getting something for not
honey ryder

honey ryder

9

persuasion pays off

It's been weeks, no months now that I have been persuading the Man in my life that buying a yacht would be a great idea.   At first he was a definite no, based on the fact that he had no reason but thought if we haven't enjoyed narrowboating then why would be enjoy sailing? Plus he wanted to go back from France.   Then he started to warm a little to the idea when I said I don't ever want to get to a point in my life where I have regretted NOT doing something.   Then I imparted my thoughts
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

slippery when wet

It's been a quiet past couple of weeks, having friends to visit has been the highlights of my weekends.   This coming weekend Im off to the Beaulieu boat jumble to help my folks shift their last load of old chandlery stock. There's some amazing bargains to be had, it's well worth a visit if you need anything for your fit out or indeed if you don't need anything but quite like the push n shove of a good old free-for-all boat jumble. I just hope the sun shines otherwise it could be a mud bath.
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

found

the remote control.   its been missing since november 2007, ive looked under the sofa 10 times at least, down the side of the cushions, in the fridge, in the dogs bed, under my bed, in my knicker drawer, in every nook and bloody cranny this boat has to offer.   do you know where i found it?   under the sofa.  
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

time out with friends

it was the northern posse on cruise patrol this weekend.   a couple of friends toddled on down from the north, to visit me, the dog and the boat this weekend. after insisting on me giving them a postcode of my location (on the river Lee, near cheshunt in herfordshire was apparently not good enough) they found themselves 20 miles adrift somewhere inside the M25 near to the olympic development site. Twat-Nav is a splendid device, especially when you put the wrong postcode in. After a few minu
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

welcome to the zoo

I am fed up of being treated like a freak show, I think I shall put a message for all to read upon my roof ( apart from a for sale sign that is)     If you want to have your picture taken on someone's boat, first make friends with the owner. Don't just climb on while Im having my breakfast and let you mate snap away from the towpath. Cheeky bastard.   If you want to have a look around my boat, my home, then get to know me first and wait to be invited. Don't peer through the windows and
honey ryder

honey ryder

2

feel the pressure

It's quite a simple, logical water system on Honey Ryder, but logic evaded my helpful, well meaning little hobbit friend as he tried to do a job we have performed several times together like clockwork, but, alas, working alone he forgot when to do what and why and it all went a bit tits-up.   what happens every four months or so is that our accumulator needs a bit of air adding to it to keep the water pump churning away at a nice leisurely Brrrrrrrrrr Brrrrrrrrrrrr, rather than a staccato soun
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

one moment in time

as a photographer currently without a decent camera, I do see some picture opportunities simply pass me by without a chance to capture the moment. its frustrating.   so I keep my trusty compact with me and occasionally I see a subject not too challenging for its meagre pixels.   sometimes if you squint enough, even the shit holes of london can look quite nice.    
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

could be worse...

just when I think I'm having a miserable time on the canals, I am always reminded that in fact some people have it far worse.     still doesn't stop the really funny young people who knocked on my boat at 6.50am this morning, just because they thought it would be funny to wake us up. The man was just ready to leave for work so they got a suprise when he popped his head out of the doorway asking if he could help them. Stuck for anything interesting to say, they wished him happy new year.
honey ryder

honey ryder

2

where's the punchline?

Living aboard a narrowboat on London canals just gets more an more exciting, the adventures never end.   Constantly cruising and trying to adhere to the rules as much as possible means we move. We move frequently. While the rest of the world (it seems) hides inside in a warm cosy place and rides out the winter only emerging in Spring, we continue the battle of finding somewhere new to moor each week or two. Knowing we have to move means a few days before casting off I mentally prepare to mo
honey ryder

honey ryder

1

the magic sponge

As with most modifications, they come about because of an urgent necessity through breakage.   Our travel power has been out of action for just over a week now, ok, it's 2 weeks but I was trying to think positive.   The first symptoms of something wrong happened, er, last year on our maiden voyage away from our marina at Easter. squeaking ( read squealing) bearings in a jockey pulley that stops the large travel power belt from flapping about.   We changed the travel power belt because i
honey ryder

honey ryder

1

name that tune....

The tune we are humming is one of a Beta Marine BV1505 engine with travel power on the side.   Since the Man arrives home before me it's generally down to him to fire up the beast each evening to charge the batteries and heat the water. Last night I arrived home and He tried to describe a new problem he had with the engine. First of all he says, "oh, the engine did a funny thing tonight" I reply warily, "what kind of funny thing?" "well" he says, "it was going along nicely then suddenly t
honey ryder

honey ryder

1

The Victoria park posse

Life in London, moored on a busy towpath is never short of activity, gossip and curiosity. Not to mention unruly dogs and children.   This week, life in the nut house involved several events of note, hardly note-worthy on their own, but as a group, collectively they turn from curious to just plain odd.   So it all started on the Saturday morning when both myself and the Man set about a bit of bike fettling, the man was outside tightening up his bottom bracket (fnar) and I was inside struggli
honey ryder

honey ryder

3

if plastic bags were women?

having moved yet again from my favourite spot in Limehouse Basin we cruised up the Regents canal ( not the limehouse cut as we would later regret)   Now, anyone who's has been around London may, or may not have experienced this lovely bit of canal. It has taken me nearly a week to find the words to describe it eloquently.   Basically it's a shit hole and reinforces everything I abhor about canals.   we cruised quickly through the first lock (which of course had to be turned around as they
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Giz a Job

Before life on board the good ship ( read: metal tube) Honey Ryder, my day consisted of, drag myself out of my flea pit at around 9.50am, splash some water on my face, have some breakfast and then hop on my pushbike and arrive at work at 10am. My work happens to be my "dream" job of working on a motorbike magazine. It doesn't pay well, but the perks stack up high. This is what is often called Golden Handcuffs and I've been wearing them for nearly seven years.   yes, life wasn't at all bad back
honey ryder

honey ryder

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