Andichan

Thanks for the welcome! I appreciate it very much. By the way, Happy New Year to all! Considering it's a Bank Holiday today (2nd January,) the boys have been out working on the pontoons on the area know as 'Smeaton'. This is the one just on the left as you enter the marina and where I'm supposed to be! YEAH!!!! Mr McMaster did, by all accounts put on free beer and grub on New Years Eve but I'd been invited to go to Blisworth Marina where my brother Steve has his boat 'Tambourine' berthed. I don't recall too much of the evening! I will keep everyone who has an interest with updates as and when there is something of note to report - next September maybe? I have a blog that is www.nbisis.net and I tend to update this on a fairly regular basis and I'm happy to include useful information / photos you might find pertinant to anything on there. Down hill now and we'll laugh about this come the summer, maybe! BBQ time, crazy cyclists on the towpath, rabid dogs on the loose, kids driving hire craft unsupervised? It'll be fun!!

I have to be cautious as I speak as one who is resident here. I was disappointed to discover that none of the facilities were operational which meant I had a four hour round trip to Braunston to get a pump out. Rather than being beam on to other boats I managed to talk Mr McMaster into putting me bankside but that in itself wasn't workable as I single hand. I haven't yet mastered the fine art of walking on water and due to the stupid design of these spots, the prefered option of using my centre line to tie off with isn't. (An option that is.) Rock on the pontoons! On a slightly more optimistic note, we have had 24 hour power since Christmas Eve and it's still free but I've been told that meters will be installed in the "not too distant future". I just hope that this statement is about as realistic as all the other assurances I've recieved! Yes we now have pump out facilities, elsan point and diesel but getting to the service quay can be "interesting" even for someone such as myself who is pretty experienced, down-right dangerous for a novice due to all the boats tied off near by. In the defence of clan McMaster, many pontoons have been fabricated and one has been floated out and possitioned and in all fairness it has been too windy of late to do much more so I'm reasonably optimistic that come a period of settled weather much more will be done and we can get onto our prefered locations sooner rather than later and with luck it may encourage others to come here despite all the bad press. Looking at the bigger picture, Barby, once finished and has had a chance to mature will surely be one of the premier marinas in the country so I'm willing to endure a miserable winter in the hope that 2012 will see a kick start to progress. You might be interested to hear that despite all the shortcomings, the spirit between those of us that "spend a hell of a lot of time on our boats" (not live-aboads of course!)is alive and well and is perhaps one of the most friendly places I've encountered. So not all doom and gloom. Not ideal either I admit. Watch this space!