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About this blog

a narrowboat in a white bikini

Entries in this blog

double yellows

I never thought I would see the day when the river has a "no parking yellow line" painted on the side.   until I got home my impression was that the bend with the yellow line painted on the pilings was so people could see the bend more easily. In fact I got home last night to find a message taped to my door telling me to move my boat.   There is nothing at the side of the river saying I can't moor there, no written sign I mean... so I was quite surprised to see the message on my boat.  
honey ryder

honey ryder

3

the TO DO list

once again it was time to move on, having spent two weeks at Victoria park in London we needed to move to a new mooring spot.   Living on a boat is never dull and rarely boring, there is always something to be done. Whether that is something you actually want to be doing is another matter. Quick frankly, I was all up for a nice cosy weekend of cooking, faffing and sifting. Downsizing my stuff once again, because you can never have too few things. Minimalist is going to be my middle name. Ho
honey ryder

honey ryder

5

madness at the park

After a brief stay at Springfield, Bow Locks ( arf arf) and Lime house, we moved up to Victoria park in london.   we cruised the ring from springfield all the way around without seeing more than two boats. However We have now discovered where they all congregate, and that is Victoria Park. That place is heaving with boaters, doubled up pretty much all the way. We managed to find a spot on the outside of a boat we were immediately warned not to walk on the side of and avoid the roof. This comm
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

literary genius in the making

Narrowboating might be the death of me if I don't sell it soon.   Ok, so it's not actually for sale at the moment but it will be. I've had enough of this "living the dream", "life on the cut", "river gypsy lifestyle", and several other clichés.   Narrowboating, it's definitely not cricket. it's definitely not boating, it is definitely narrow though so I will give it that.   Im currently thinking of titles for my book, Ive searched and searched and I still cant find a book about the subje
honey ryder

honey ryder

5

Festivis

I love and hate this time of year, firstly I usually get a few days off work but then so does every bugger else which, lets face it can be a pain in the arse if you want to go anywhere or have a normal life. secondly I dislike it because everyone keeps wishing me merry christmas... NO, I don't want a merry christmas, I dont want to drink to excess, eat to excess or do anything to excess and be merry, I don't want to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, I don't want to waste valuable trees on p
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Bow Locks

We moved from Limehouse up the cut a bit to Bow Locks.   The more I look at the name Bow Locks.... the more it looks like bowlocks... you can see where im going with this I imagine...   yes, puerile mind at play I admit.   So Bow locks it is for the moment. I have no idea where we will be this time next week. Perhaps a little further north? perhaps a little bit more inside London village?   I saw a gorgeous boat in Limehouse on the pontoon where we filled up with water. I am sooooo
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Cheshunt to Limehouse Basin

After two and a bit weeks of mooring alongside a friend the time came for us to move on to pastures new.   The kind gentleman Cliff (and his frequently visiting lady friend Dianne) on his boat Axe looked after Honey Ryder while I was on holiday and kept me company while I was home alone , he even lent me his axe, labelled Axe should anyone want to know what it was or what boat it came from...   Axe has ventured north up the river lee and Honey Ryder has ventured south of Cheshunt for the f
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

muppets

The muppets of the puppetry type, a guaranteed way to raise a smile and add a ray of sunshine to your day   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wMHcpMmV9g   oh and i found out last night that they caught the little muppet who broke into my neighbours car, thanks to a nice sample of blood he left on the door.   muppet.
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

a one woman crime wave

It seems as though this year is doomed to be a year of criminal activity. I feel like it is surrounding me at the moment.   At the start of the year, the boating year just after easter I had my bike nicked off the roof of the boat, that was a sign of things to come. I bought a new bike and then two months later that was nicked too, this time from a secure carpark... then came the car's time to be broken into and violated.   so you would imagine that the three things would stop there.
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

A couple of weeks non-boating

As I near the end of my two weeks holiday, away from work, away from the man, away from all the infuriating commuting... I have arrived the other side feeling so much energetic and full of life. I havent moved the boat at all, Im still moored alongside a friend who looked after it while I went away to the north, arriving back all I needed to do was run the engine and charge the batteries.   unfortunately with the boat along side me its created a really good metal barrier to my internet signa
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

clairvoyance, rose tinting and arid extra dry

Im on holiday, the kind of holiday where there are no plans, nothing to do but simply enjoy not working and having a chance to have some quality time with me. Its been a few years since, in fact no, its been since NEVER that I had two weeks to do as I please, to do what I like, when I like because, just because.   I'm on my own here on Honey Ryder and for the first time since I've lived on the boat I feel like Im enjoying it. not because Im moving the boat, not because I even like the boat,
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Just like marmite?

finally me and the man agree on something, we are definitely selling the Honey Ryder next year. Well, I say selling, I mean trying to sell it next spring time ish.   First we have work to complete on the exterior paint, and an engine service or two to complete before then, plus fitting a new solid oak kitchen floor, renovate the kitchen and spruce up the showerroom.   That's where the agreement ends though. we need to complete the work, sell the boat and find a new living arrangement.  
honey ryder

honey ryder

4

doggies got a brand new bag

so on the theme of bags and how people of the south wear theirs...   papas got a brand new bag.. or more precisely Mr B.   ok, its pink and feminine but Mr B is an effeminate dog and doesn't much care.   I shall be parading like a proper prissy dog owner now. actually he will be more secure in his car when he's in my car... thats the main point of it.  
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

psycho-analysing handbags

Since we moved our boat closer to a convenient train station I have been partaking in the English past-time of getting to work at random times ( mostly late) via public transport.   It's quite an entertaining, infuriating, humanising, de-humanising, educational experience.   first of all, there's quite a variety of people, but most, if not 99.9% don't talk, not to each other that is.   this is commuting in the south. this is cramming as many people in to one small space as is possible a
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

faffing and splashing about

I'm not alone in the world when I say I love to faff.   I know there's quite a few people out there who love faffing as much as I do and this weekend I exercised my right to faff.   Firstly we moved the boat from Harlow town to Cheshunt. that took us about 5 hours which included a stop off for diesel and water. it wasnt a bad trip really, the locks gates are ridiculously hard in places but we were extremely lucky with 8 out of 9 or so locks in our favour. The highlight of the trip was t
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

an "end of week" life crisis

It's been a strange old week this week. So Im going to curl up on the therapists couch, otherwise known as a blog and talk about what's on my mind   to set the scene, I've been on very "flexible hours" working as I do in Croydon and currently residing in Harlow, tied up to some trees and having the boarding plank set to maximum reach.   working late at the office and working from home this week has given me time for reflection. Sitting in the boat slaving over a hot laptop in front of a glow
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Whats under yours?

I don't know if everyone does this, but I get really bored of having my furniture in the same place for weeks on end. I feel the urge to move stuff around.   unfortunately on a boat there's not many places to move stuff to.   I had a good half a day at home today to do some work and while I was there during daylight hours, I also had the chance to relax for once on my sofa. but I couldnt.   Our living room area is a bit awkwardly laid out, the stove is big and takes up too much space t
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

gerrorf my land

Britain is rapidly becoming, with the help of capitalist ideas and greedy, money grabbing folks (who "work hard" for a living) a very sad place to try and live quietly.   Im pretty tired of our consumerist lust for shopping and buying and owning and making things private.   First of all, who's GREAT idea was it to privatise the trains? that's rubbish for a start. anyway, that aside, my main gripe over the past few days has been busy bodies who have gone out of their way to make me feel m
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

Be-Ware, vicious locks, may bite

Another weekend of solo cruising was looking certain as my "slightly less grumpy than usual" other half had to fly to France quick for a funeral. We had planned to finish the Hertford arm of the river Lee this weekend but as fate dictates, all the best plans will go to pot. So, I said I would move the boat up a couple of miles to the village/town of Ware. No probs just a couple of locks to get through and moor up.   then I got a call from a friend saying how long it is since we last met up
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

flying fish

there's a new addition to the boat, well, only when we aren't cruising that is.   Mr "less grumpy than before he went on holiday" brought me back a fish wind sock and another colourful traily type fish themed wind thingy.   I love them, they make the place more cheerful and also makes our boat easier to spot in the long line of clones that we find ourselves in at the moment. Note in the picture how the fish is stylishly being held aloft with an old drainage rod, currently expertly held in
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

orchestral maneuvers in the dark

I tried, oh I tried to get home before it was dark.   it's virtually impossible with my hour and a half commute and the nights rapidly closing in.   I was determined that I would move the boat down a bit, to the bottom of the lock. Last weekend, running out of time I hurriedly moored up opposite a weir. There the boat has stayed despite me not enjoying being opposite a weir entrance. It has a good barrier but I just don't like it. especially since my mooring pins don't hold so good no matt
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

there's.... something on the roof

It's a bit parky out today. I know it's getting cold when, as a motorbiker I decide that 75mph is quite fast enough, compared with the usual 110-130 I like to cruise at. (on private roads)   So I wrapped up warm, thin layers and lot of them for a track day at Brands Hatch motor racing circuit in Kent. It's only 45 miles down the road so it's easy to get to via the motorway. I arrived like a choc-ice. I looked nicely wrapped from the outside but inside I was frozen. And that's the way I've stay
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

solo cruising

I finally decided to move the boat, and as mr grumpy is busy un-grumping himself on holiday with a friend, this left the job to me and a friend who promised she would come and give me a hand. After hearing nothing from my friend and the time already being 10am and armed with the knowledge she was wining and dining and you know whatting the night before I decided it could easily be afternoon before she surfaced, I figured I may as well just head off solo and see how I went once I got to the first
honey ryder

honey ryder

2

of all the gin joints in all the towns...

Picture the scene, ive been out foraging all day, hunting and gathering, buying new slippers and getting the sunday snap in.   It took a little longer than planned as I got carried away reading the dangerous book for boys in sainsburys so I arrived back in the dark. I wandered down to my boat on the dark towpath and I squinted at the boat to try and make out what it was I couldn't quite fathom... my boat looked considerably longer than normal. Now, just for extra graphic detail my boat is c
honey ryder

honey ryder

0

life doesn't get better than this?

A change is as good as a rest, or something like that. I've been trying to answer all my own questions of how I'd like my life to be, where I want to live, how I want to live, love and be loved. It's quite a hard thing to do, as each time you think you've answered question another two pop up.   It's like my to do list, it never gets shorter, it just changes with the times.   I've been reading Bones blog with interest recently as she's been on her holidays and visiting lots of other boat
honey ryder

honey ryder

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