Shobnall Fields Forever

The final post: why we won't be back

2011-08-02T08:05:00.000+01:00

Site knock down has gone really well this year, helped by the continuing fine weather, so that there's no mud to slow you down, or rain to send you diving for shelter. Another powerful factor has been the wrg leader, Al Moore; her campers have clearly been inspired and motivated by her.

The very limited distribution spoof issue duly went out yesterday morning. Much of its silliness was appreciated, but a piece in which I attempted to mimic the contrarian style of Steve Haywood's column in Canal Boat misfired badly in some quarters. In it, I challenged the purpose of the whole exercise, and this was taken by just a few people in senior positions, it seems, to be a criticism of the substantial effort that goes into mounting the show.

As a result, we had to sit with gritted teeth during the congratulatory speechifying last night as Ian West described it as "ill judged", so that we were the only part of the whole operation not to be told how well we'd done. That's all right, it was only most of four weeks work designing, editing, printing and distributing the thing, not to mention this blog.

Just for the record, no one could doubt the incredible achievement that is the Festival, a huge weekend show mounted by volunteers, with the only professional input coming from the parts that absolutely have to be professional, like the marquee erection, the power supplies to the traders, the security cover and the like.

I have nothing but admiration for the way the volunteers throw themselves into the tasks and work amazingly hard for no return other than a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

But... with no Festival next year, IWA is quite rightly taking the opportunity to have a policy review of the aims and purposes of the event. I shall be seeking to make my own input to that, so do feel free to email me or to comment on this blog with any thoughts you may have.

Should the Festival carry on as it does at the moment?
Should it be focussed more tightly on one or other of its aims?
Should it happen at all?

Next year there will still be the Canalway Cavalcade in London, the trail boat rally and the campaign rally, so there will be plenty of IWA events to attend.

This has been our eighth National Festival, and before we got here, we had decided that enough was enough for the time being. Recent events have done nothing to change our minds, so we won't be going to the 2013 Festival in Newbury or wherever else it happens, assuming it happens.

We do plan to attend Cavalcade, though, at the beginning of May, so if you are about the Paddington Basin and Little Venice area that weekend, do look in to see us!

For now though, it's goodbye from here. Tomorrow's post will be over on Living in Sanity Again, probably posted in the late afternoon as usual.

Day 17, almost over

2011-08-01T08:41:00.000+01:00

It always feels very strange, how quickly an event that's been the focus of everyone's efforts for so long is so soon done with. It's even more so this year, of course, as the show was a half day shorter. This is my penultimate post here; tomorrow's will be the last.

Good stuff about this year:

The site was an easy one to work, being flat and of a regular shape.
The weather was great, though it made things hard for the wrgies slogging in the sun
For the third year running, no child was lost for long enough to require a sweep of the site to find it.
Lots of people came; we're waiting to hear the final figures

and for us personally:

We won the Calor Rose Bowl for the best galley on a private boat in the show.

Amazing; we've never won anything like that before – thank you Braidbar! The prize included a compact gas barbecue, which we're currently scratching our heads over, not having a lot of space on a liveaboard for such items.

Less good:

That car park, of course. Saturday's gate was probably reduced by the need to turn cars away from the free parking, though on Sunday another car park was identified, and things were easier.
There was a degree of confusion over timings for things like the Opening Ceremony and the finish yesterday. I've no idea what went wrong there; usually the team gets that exactly right.

Some final pictures:

Guy the Arena manager getting out of a classic dray

The Park and Ride shuttle from Burton Town Centre

A weary wrgie

The car park in use

Remains of the heap

So, nearly over. I plan to help the fencing team today, then there's the end of the event party tonight.

Day 16 and lots of visitors

2011-07-31T08:01:00.000+01:00

There was a lot of sun too, enough to become uncomfortable by mid afternoon. It made it very tough for wrg, slogging in the sun, especially in the car park. The main car park was full by 11, and all of them by lunchtime. Cars had to be advised to park in the Town Hall car park and use the shuttle bus.

Despite this, I understand that there was a good gate, and there were certainly a lot of folk around everytime we went on site.

The last offical issue of the Shoveler was printed and published; just the unofficial spoof issue to go. This is the one that allows the newsletter team to have some fun at the expense of their co-workers and (possibly former) friends. It's only given to the three week workers and the wrgies, needless to say.

Just a few photos today:

Climbing Everest

Staffs Fire and Rescue did a sponsored Everest climb up a ladder and down a pole for their own charity and local charities. 20 guys went up and down to climb a total of 8848 metres, the height of Everest.

Smallest entry

This amazing scale model of an FMC josher has been going up and down the cut. It has an MP3 player inside producing the sound of a Bolinder, and is controlled by its constructor being towed behind it in a canoe. The power source is an electric engine of the type used in mobility scooters.

Speechifying

This is the pic that broke my resolve yesterday when Blogger was playing up; it shows the opening speeches on Friday lunchtime.

We're nearly there; see you tomorrow.

Day 15 and getting weary

2011-07-30T09:06:00.000+01:00

The hard work is beginning to get to me; it was the Illuminated Boat Parade last night, so we weren't in bed until midnight. It hadn't been dark enough until half ten, and the parade went very slowly as a result of them working up Dallow Lane Lock on their way.

There was the usual range of effort, from basic to spectacular. It's a shame it's really not possible to do justice to them in photos, so I'm not going to try. You had to be there.

Earlier in the day, we'd had the Opening Ceremony go off OK, although tere was some confusion about timings.

I'll let the pictures tell the story, too tired for too much creativity!

The local schools ahd been much involved, with teh kids making "Art from Rubbish" on a canal theme

The VIPs were brought by dray from Burton Town Hall

Ready to go

Setting off

The AD1000 re-enactment group Regia Anglorum escorted the dray in

and the Mayor cut the ribbon

Blogger is now giving me grief, so I'm going to have to leave it at that for now – sorry.

Day 14 and the pace hots up.

2011-07-29T08:23:00.000+01:00

The traders poured onto site all day yesterday, and we stayed well out of the way of the throng. Much of the morning was spent tidying up the Friday edition, and when we did go on site,we spent a bit of time talking to Festivals Chairman Ian West, who has oversight of what we do.

It's a situation which could become quite fraught – what journalist ever appreciated proprietorial input? – but Ian's tact and diplomacy makes it much less irritating than it might be.

The Lavender Boat began its service, collecting rubbish and, err, stuff from the moored boats:

Here it comes

It takes the form of a push towed pan and tug on loan from BW.

The Bantam tug

Hurricane Bob Metcalfe is in there somewhere, cursing the wheel steering, so much less direct than the tiller on his boat Glenfield.

Happy in her work

Elaine Scott has been doing this job for 20 years. There's no accounting for taste (sorry).

Elsewhere on site, lunches were made and the Advance Ticket office personned:

Ladies who make lunch

A team of blue shirt ladies come into the wrg compound every day to make the sandwich lunches for the wrgies and any blue shirt who chooses to buy it.

Waiting for trade

Edwina told us it was very quiet, but she was selling the occasional advance ticket.

We went and had a last look at the car park. Wrg have achieved a quite amazing amount, but I'm afraid it won't look very impressive to fresh eyes, and I suspect the car park team will have to take some heavy abuse from drivers worried about their undersides:

Remains of the first heap

Second heap untouched

Still slogging on

Pedestrian exit

Driver's eye view of the entrance.

With the show due to open at lunchtime today, a last big effort is to be made. A heavy roller will spend the morning consolidating the spread hard core, and it may be possible to clean up the entrance area.

A reminder again that this is a personal blog, not an official IWA one, which allows me to express my own opinions. Frankly, this situation could be seen emerging for six months, and Festivals Team has, or should have, some hard questions to answer about how matters were allowed to get to this pitch.

Over the years, wrg has pulled the Festival out of some pretty deep holes, but this one was just too much even for them. Instead of relying on local Council reassurances, Festivals should have either:

Identified a proper parking site for themselves
or, if this location had to be used, diverted a wrg camp to it to prepare it
or, if all else failed, hired in a contractor to prepare it.

Rant over, back to the good stuff:

Help!

Sharks were seen lurking at the stern of the LNBP boat.

Former FMC steamer President and butty Kildare arrived:

Threading her way through

Skilfull steering

They brought the pair through with barely a touch to any of the moored boats. A bit later, the converted to steam BCNS ice breaker Laplander showed up:

Sean Neill's pride and joy

Her tall funnel makes for interesting boating:

Too tall to pass?

Which is why it hinges:

Neat, huh?

That's it for today – I've got to go and take photos of the VIP guests being loaded onto a brewery dray at the Town Hall.

Day 13 and the first issue

2011-07-28T08:45:00.000+01:00

The continuing fine weather makes things so much easier, even if the ground is hard under foot. It makes this sort of job comparatively straightforward:

Marquee walking

One or two of the marquees ended up in the wrong place, and had to be moved. As long as they are not too large, the easiest way is just to pick them up. Here a blue shirt team is doing just that; my thanks to Chris Sheppard for the photo.

On our way into site yesterday, we collected our boater's pack of various leaflets and stuff, and this year's plaque.

Waterspace reception

There are now lots of wrg volunteers about, and at least one seems to have been taken in hand by Martin the American:

A well deserved rest

Here are a selection of photos from around site yesterday morning:

Site 3 demonstrating his marquee movement directing skills

Rigging the IWA marquee

Shell stands have to be assembled in a giant 3D jigsaw.

RCR delivering Tony Brooks's engines

River Canal Rescue sponsors well known boat engineering expert Tony Brooks to give a series of mini workshops, one of the best deals in the show. They are free, you don't have to book, and Tony really knows his stuff about engines, stern glands, electrics, you name it.

The Fun Fair

Kids under 16 with an accompanying adult come into the event free, but they do have to pay to go on the Fun Fair rides.

Guy and Connie

Guy is looking after the Arena PA system this year, and here he is bustling about with his partner Connie.

On the canal, the boats pack closer and closer, and even seasoned boaters like the National Chairman can find it a bit of a challenge:

Clive Henderson arrives

Watching the fun was one of our ECOs, Mitch Gozna:

Strangely not distracting Clive at all

ECO stands for Emergency Control Officer. We have two, so that one is on watch all the time, ready to take over if there's any kind of emergency, from a lost child to a serious injury to a bomb scare. As a serving police officer, Mitch is well qualified to fulfill the role.

The Shunt

One of the more unusual boats on display is this extension to a 56 footer. Her owner had had his original boat stretched once already at Streethay Wharf, and wanted more room yet. He didn't want to lose cruising grounds by going over 58', so designed and built this little push tow, the stern of which wraps around the bow of the main boat. If you come to the show, don't miss it.

We printed nearly 1000 copies of the first issue of The Shobnall Shoveler. Here's the team folding them ready for distribution:

The SS team

After the copies had been folded and sorted, the team set out in all directions taking them to the boaters, campers, traders and everyone else we can think of.

Finally, last night we went to the traditional Wednesday evening Chinese meal for the workers. It was very good, one of the best we can remember. After the meal, the Festivals Chairman, Ian West, gave his usual speech of appreciation for all the hard work. He also announced that the 2013 Festival will probably be at Newbury, on the K&A, subject to final negotiations.

Day 12: Craning day

2011-07-27T08:51:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was craning day, when the show boats are lifted into the water, and in some cases out of it. Meanwhile, on the field, things got busier and busier. As a result, I've got lots of photos, out of the 171 Sheila and I took between us.

There was a fair amount of boat shuffling going on, and Bungle volunteered to move one of the workers' boats to its proper location. This involved a long reverse, and of course, since there was an audience, it didn't go all that well...

Big prop, shallow water, never a good combo

Approaching boats had to be warned about the organised (?) chaos ahead:

After you

which task was undertaken by those most useful of persons, the Americans:

Ready for action

The actual craning was from a corner of the car park next to the canal, and made for some interesting sights:

Up she comes

Round she goes

and down she goes

Mind the edge!

Touching the water

and afloat

After putting one in, one needed to come out, to form part of the land based boats:

Slinging

Positioning the slings is always trickier when the boat is floating:

Wrong!

If you don't get it right, the boat doesn't sit level and risks slipping out when in mid air. This is not a good idea.

Right

After several trial lifts and some testy exchanges, they got it right at last, and away it went:

Swinging along.

Meanwhile, Bungle's reversing had gone much better once out of sight of the crowds, and he celebrated with an ice lolly:

Happy, happy Bungle

Just to finish with the craning, later in the day, one of the other exhibition boats was being moved under its own power, when the need to hold back led to a complete loss of drive. Investigation showed that all was well with the engine and drive train, but opening the weed hatch found the problem.

The prop had fallen off.

Not a good day for Aintree Boats, who seemingly don't know what a split pin is for.

Wrg came to the rescue, and Gary and Lucas turned out to do things the trad way:

What's Gary doing, children?

(apart from scaring you senseless, that is)

He's towing a boat!

Though not all by himself:

On its way.

On the main field, matters carried on, with some selected traders arriving early, because their displays need tricky manoeuvring:

Multicell coming in

In the Bar Tent, the team was setting up:

Assembling the bar

Ready for action.

Perhaps inspired by this, Site 2 was seen practising his imitation of the famous moment in Only Fools and Horses when Del Boy falls backwards through the bar:

David Jason he's not, but it's a good try.

and finally, I can't go without mentioning the car park:

All hands...

It looks like one of the piles will be cleared, but I have my doubts about the other one.

Today, we print the first issue of the newsletter, The Shobnall Shoveler.

Day 11, progress and brewing

2011-07-26T08:55:00.000+01:00

I've just posted a short piece on Living in Sanity Again about problems with a particular boat builder. Those thinking of commissioning a new boat should have a look at it as a warning of the need to choose a reputable company.

Meanwhile, the work went on on the site and in the car park:

Bees as well as wasps

In addition to the wasps nest, a bee hive was found. Both have been dealt with, though the bees didn't need much intervention as I understand it.

Almost done

The grassy area is pretty well sorted, although some tidying of the edges is still needed:

Cleaning up the edge.

Meanwhile, work continues on the mini Alps:

Increasing area of flat stuff

but there's quite a bit to do:

Untouched heap

They're working at it non-stop, using all the skilled telehandler drivers available, including our resident professional, Site 3, aka Mike Sumner. The Merlo suffered a puncture at one stage, but was soon repaired and back in action.

In the evening, 20 of us went on a complimentary brewery tour at Marston's. Fascinating; I've seen round this brewery before, but each tour adds a bit of new info.

Original grist mill

We started in the original, Grade II listed building, looking at things that were still in use 6 years ago. Brewing is a very traditional business.

Hearing about the old mash tun

The liquid produced by mashing the ground malt or grist is passed into a copper for hopping and boiling. It's called a copper because...

Peering into the copper

...it's made of copper. Here's what the modern one looks like:

Stainless steel copper

Though even these are over thirty years old. Marston's still uses the Burton Union system of brewing for Pedigree Bitter and for the Bass they brew under licence from InBev. Other beers are brewed in modern(ish) closed fermenters.

The "Cathedral of Brewing"

The Union ssytem is an ingenious way of separating the yeast from the brew at the end of fermentation.

Inside a closed fermenter.

The unions weren't working when we saw them, it was too early in the week, but we saw inside a closed fermenter. This is what Burton Bitter looks like when in mid ferment. That brew was going to be bottled, and we had a fascinating overview of the enormous bottling line.

This line is capable of bottling 40,000 bottles – an hour

I could have stood and watched it for hours, except that free samples were waiting in the Visitor Centre!

Day 10 and the car park

2011-07-25T08:45:00.000+01:00

Good stuff to report first; the Race Evening was a resounding success, with a lot of money made for the Inglesham Lock Appeal. We don't have the final total yet, but it's certainly into four figures from what we understand.

Yesterday, the weather settled into a warm and dry state, which is excellent for most purposes, but hard on the wrg team haymaking in the car park.

On with the photos:

Good start, long way to go

Bit like the car park, really (see below)

Michael Caine was here?

Was the evening so good they blew the bloody doors off? No, the Environmental Health Officer didn't like the glass doors, and wanted fire doors:

Sleeping Accommodation Doors

...like these ones.

Digger's start

Digger did a bit over half an hour on the rock pile on Saturday night, nearly missing dinner, he was enjoying himself so much. He managed to get this bit done.

Some of it's gone

Later in the day, the first pile had had its end cut off by Phil and RAF Martin taking it in turns in the Merlo telehandler.

Phil at work

Part of the problem is that the bucket is a grain bucket, not an excavator bucket. Progress would be a lot faster if we hired in some more appropriate plant, like an excavator and a couple of 360° dumpers, all of which wrg are well used to using.

The Haymakers

Meanwhile, other wrgies toiled on in the sun. They said they felt like something out of one of those recreation of the past telly programmes.

Hauling it away

The hay was piled on tarpaulins and hauled off to the sides of the area, being careful not to make the heaps too big. We don't want spontaneous combustion...

What we did get was spontaneous sprinting, however, when "Hurricane Bob" Metcalfe put his brushcutter through a wasps nest.

View from commercial gate

Another case of 'well on the way, but some distance to go'. The marquee guys are still shoving canvas up all over the place. It all has to be done by Thursday, when the traders come in.

Hotting up on day 9

2011-07-24T08:43:00.000+01:00

The pace is beginning to hot up. Sheila and I had a chance to meet Karen (hi Karen) who's been doing a brilliant job of the PR for the Festival. A good example of that is a broadcast by Radio Derby, featuring Harry Arnold, the event chairman, and Jenny off Tom Tug, the boat behind us. You can hear the broadcast here; fast forward to the two hour mark. Part two is on Monday.

Karen was around to meet up with Harry and arrange a group photo. Harry is a long time waterway restorer, hire yard operator and most especially waterway photographer, trading as Waterway Images. Here's the photo he took, but note well that he retains the copyright for it, not I:

Many of the volunteers

Elsewhere, things got busier and busier, as the wrg camp gets into full swing and the opening day draws closer.

Checking kit

As each wrg kit trailer arrives, it is entirely unloaded and the kit checked off against a list, so that any losses can be attributed to the right camp.

Wrg1/Site1 conference

Meanwhile, Al the wrg leader had a planning meeting with Moose, Site Director, well away from the hurly burly. Later in the day, these picnic tables were repainted by a Community Payback team.

Signs at work

The vinyl for the signs is cut in the cabin I showed yesterday, but the actual assembly takes place in a corner of the wrg marquee.

Entry to the wrg compound

And here's one they made earlier.

Forks training

Elsewhere in the wrg compound, Digger, who is a professional plant handler, did a training session on the use of the telehandler. Anyone who wants to use a piece of wrg plant, whether owned or hired in, has to have been trained and issued with a Driver Authorisation ticket.

And if this doesn't work, I'll fetch a bigger hammer...

It's usually the red shirts who find themselves having to redo a piece of work because Site 1's changed his mind, but this time the waterspace team caught themselves out. Repositioning some of the workers' boats meant that the landing stages were in the wrong place, and had to be extracted and reinstalled. (My thanks to Martin the American for the photo.)

For removal

Strimming continued in the car park and, later in the afternoon, this fence panel was removed to allow the forks in to start moving those heaps of hardcore. Digger got stuck in with enthusiasm, and had to be persuaded to give it up in time to take part in the Race Night. This was an event to raise money for the Inglesham Lock Appeal. We didn't make it ourselves, Race Nights not being our scene, but hopefully I'll get a report on it from others today.

Sunny day 8

2011-07-23T08:20:00.001+01:00

The weather showed distinct signs of improvement yesterday, and the forecast is good for this weekend. Sheila went off to help with some promotion of the event at the Octagon shopping centre in Burton. She spent the morning there, and reported a good level of interest, which is encouraging.

It meant that I was free to wander the site with camera and radio around my neck, and these are some of the results:

Whose car?

This car drove by and on down to Personnel. I wondered briefly who had the fancy registration, then spotted Clive Henderson, the National Chairman, in Admin talking to Sandy.

His!

Just a little later, there he was again, helping to carry a table into Personnel. See, he is good for something! ;)

Testing, testing

The sparks team under Bungle were testing some reserve cable he had fetched from storage at North Cheshire Cruising Club. Because it's been out of use for a few years, it all had to be tested for earth leakage and the like before being deployed.

Can you see what it is yet?

Meanwhile, the chippies were repositioning the sign on top of Commercial. As originally erected, it wasn't visible from the vehicle entrance, which rather misses the point. It's a bit better now, but is also leaning back a bit, so that visiting helicopters will be able to spot it...

The skips

These are the rubbish skips, and a recycling bank ...

Where?

and this is the view of them from the nearest point of the main site. I try to be positive about everything, because I want lots of folk to come to the Festival, but readers of my other blogs will know that I believe in telling it like it is, so this is my first moan of the day! The skips are in the picture, honest, but right at the far end of the road running up the middle of the shot.

Martin strimming

And this is my other worry today. The Americans spent the afternoon strimming in the main car park. You can see the scale of the problem, and that's the easy bit. I have two concerns: firstly, getting this area ready in time (I'm sure it will be, we've got 80 wrgies arriving over the next two days) and secondly whether it will be big enough. It's normally estimated that we need 25 acres of car park, and I don't think we've got it this year.

There will also be a free shuttle bus from the town centre, and that may well be the answer for anyone local. I should explain that it's not entirely the Festival team's fault. Burton Council did offer to find car parking space, but were in the event unable to do so.

Watch this space, as they say.

Finally:

Guess who?

We have a very effective signs making team, using cut vinyl stuck onto Correx board. Naturally, their cabin has the best sign. But round the back:

Last years signs

It's not quite so tidy!

See you tomorrow.

Day 7

2011-07-22T08:45:00.001+01:00

The work goes on, the weather holds. Site 1 (Moose) said to me (and I quote exactly) "I don't like it, it's too quiet". Think he's been watching too many old Westerns again...

The main activity has been on the part of the marquee guys, steadily putting up canvas all over the show ground. Late in the day, Moose's concerns were partly justified when the genny supplying Admin village and the Tardis compound hiccuped for a while, and then died. Emergency supplies were sorted to get us through the night, and a repair or replacement should be happening as I type this.

I also had a chat with Moose about the use of wrg forestry, or non-use rather. He said that he did look at getting a wrg team in, but the timing just wasn't right. There's a narrow window for this sort of work (before the birdies start nesting) and a wrg camp just couldn't be done.

I guess that's the other side of the volunteering coin; unlike contractors, you can't just summon a volunteer team when you want them.

This blog continues to attract positive tweets and the like; my thanks to those who do so. Meanwhile, Towpath Talk has drawn attention to a reshowing of the BBC2 programme, The Golden Age of Canals, tonight at 9pm.

Now for a few more photos:

Two thirds of the IWA marquee

The biggest marquee will be that occupied by the IWA, as you'd expect. It will be visible as you come in through the main entrance.

Wrg eating marquee ready for action

30 trestles are now installed, so we should be able to accommodate everyone.

Driving a peg

Anyone who's ever struggled to put a mooring pin in will look at this machine with envy. It drives the 30" long marquee pegs with little effort, but a lot of noise. At knock down, the beast can even be used in reverse to pull them out again.

Blacking out the sleeping marquee glass

Every year, they fit the sleeping marquee with glazed doors. Last year, I did manage to get them to change them for solid ones, but this year it was decided just to fix black out material over the glass.

Commercial cabin

Here it stands, all sad and alone, by the exhibitors' vehicle entrance. Come the day, there will be a marquee front to it, and it will be heaving with activity.

Plumbers' Fire Service

Seems a long time since the plumbing team got a mention, so here they are collecting the biggest step ladder on site, preparatory to climbing another tree.

Many thanks to all who sent us good wishes for our anniversary yesterday. In the end, we went to the Albion on Shobnall Road, an easy walk from the site. It's a Marston's chain pub, but the food was good, though only Pedigree was available from the cask, no guest beer that I could see.

Service was average; our starters came in good time, but then I think they forgot about us, and we had a long wait for our mains.

Day 6 and the work goes on

2011-07-21T08:59:00.000+01:00

Today is our Ruby Wedding Anniversary. We're not planning any wild celebrations, just a trip out to the pub tonight. We'll maybe have a fancier meal later in the year, when we're somewhere a bit better supplied with fancy restaurants than Burton (it really is a pub town still).

Meantime, all I can say is that my life divides into two parts, the first 18 years before Sheila and I were together, and the last 43, including a long engagement at Uni, when we've been inseparable. I don't know what I did in the first 18 to deserve the last 43...

;)

There are no dramas to report from yesterday, just a satisfying level of progress, so I guess I'll let the photos do the talking again:

Motorised marking

This photo is a bit blurry, as it was taken from some distance by a phone camera; my thanks to Judy Hanchet for it. It shows Chris marking out the campsite with the aid of his wife's mobility scooter. That's not a moustache, by the way, it's a pen in his mouth.

Premier skeleton

The marquees are again being supplied by what's now Northern Event Structures. They are very good, and have a fast erection team. This is the skeleton of the Premier Marquee in place. By the end of the day it was covered and floored.

A lot of stuff happened in the wrg compound, getting it ready for the weekend's incursion of the main wrg camp.

Eating marquee

The eating marquee is nearly ready, with all the trestle tables installed and covered in poly.

Adding the fridge annex

The kitchen cabin has an annex attached to the back, to hold the fridges and freezers. It's stored in flat pack form in the Tardis; here the guys are roofing it in heavy poly canvas.

Activity outside the eating marquee

For many years, Moose was a leading red shirt. Quite rightly, he plays down the distinction between red shirts (wrgies) and blue (Festival volunteers) but strictly speaking he's a blue shirt these days, as Site Director. Some might say,therefore, that this is a typical picture, the red shirts in the background are working, and the blue shirt disguised as a red shirt in front is having a sit down.

Sleeping marquee

I can't remember another camp (and this is our eighth) where the sleeping marquee has been ready in such good time. It's been floored and carpeted, and all it needs now is the blown hot air heater installed.

Veg team take a break

They worked through to Horninglow yesterday. Here they are taking a break, well deserved in view of their efforts.

An example of the work

The householder whose garden is behind this tree has been asking BW to trim it back for him for years. They quoted him £800 to do it; it took the veg team maybe half an hour.

This raises an interesting question. In the early spring, the heavy scrub along the embankment where the workers' boats are tied had to be cleared off before the birds started nesting. BW gave IWA £600 towards the cost, and IWA then hired contractors at a cost of £1600 to do the work.

Wrg has a skilled forestry team, for whom this would have been a couple of weekends' work. Why weren't they used? That way, IWA could have kept the £600. I'll try and find out the answer (there may well be one, I just don't know it).

Horninglow basin

This is where the Friday night Illuminated Parade will turn round, and good luck to 'em, say I. I could just about wind Sanity here, (she is 60'), but I wouldn't like to try the same with Sanity Again at 70.

Granny Buttons

This is the boat which has starred in so many blog posts by Andrew Denny. That space alongside is technically the winding hole and access to the service block. What you can't see is the bridge hole behind the camera that makes it amazingly difficult to swing into or out of the slot.

That's it for today; more tomorrow when I sober up ;).

Steady progress on Day 5

2011-07-20T08:59:00.000+01:00

After the thrills and spills of the day before, yesterday was a day for a steady effort. It's always the same in the first week; it can be very frustrating not having a great deal to do and knowing that things will be much more hectic as the opening approaches.

Work has gone on preparing the main moorings, and the various cabins continue to turn up. One challenge waiting for the main wrg camp is readying the main car park. Marston's have very kindly donated the use of some spare land of theirs by the canal, but it needs just a touch of sorting out:

The entry doesn't look too bad...

It needs a bit of strimming and so on, that's all. It's when you get inside that the scale of the task becomes apparent:

Heaps of hard core

These two heaps have to be levelled off and spread out over the unpaved areas to make a usable parking area. Mike Sumner, aka site 3, is a professional contractor for this sort of job, as it happens, and estimates about two days work for a Merlo telehandler with a big bucket. We shall see!

Meanwhile, Mo and Martin, aka the Americans, started improving the towpath edge for the moorings, whilst another team on board Shropshire Lass tackled the vegetation on the offside:

The problem

This area has to be cleaned up so that boats can be moored two abreast on the towpath and still leave room for passing craft.

Here comes Mo with a rake

I'm not sure if I've explained this before. Mo is from Scotland, and she and Martin live in Iver in Bucks. When they turned up at their first National camp, the first person they met misheard Iver as Iowa, and told everyone else that two Americans had arrived. They've been known as the Americans ever since.

Mo using a wheeled strimmer while Martin rakes

On the offside, much more aggressive tactics were called for:

Getting stuck in

There are four blokes in there somewhere.

It just shows what volunteers can achieve with basic tools and some goodwill.

Meanwhile, elsewhere on site:

Some musty hi vis vests were washed and hung out to dry

The Brew Hut cabin was delivered, but with the wrong key, seemingly.

Towing Glenfield

Bob Metcalfe is a stalwart wrgie, but couldn't be with us this week as he has his living to earn. He'd brought his boat, though, and the Waterspace team towed it into its proper mooring, so as not to leave it alone and undefended on the parkside moorings.

Day 4 Boat shuffle

2011-07-19T08:38:00.000+01:00

Lots of pictures today, as yesterday's main activity was moving all the workers' boats onto the moorings prepared for them by the Waterspace team. First though, my thanks to Andrew Denny at Waterways World for his great news item about the Festival. Not only does he take much better pictures than I do, he even gives a plug and a link to this blog.

It's nearly enough for me to forgive WW for the mess they made of the moorings at Crick ;).

It's quite an operation, shifting over 40 boats in a pretty narrow channel – I'll let the pictures do the talking:

The first few boats in position

On a dull, damp morning, operations began just after half seven, with the first boats to be moored on the inside moving up to just by the footbridge.

How the expert does it...

This is Terry Robertson of TR Boat Handling slotting his own boat, Shropshire Lass, into her space. We'd left him just enough room and he didn't touch another boat as he did so. What you'd expect from one of the best boat handling teachers in the business, of course :).

Master class in reversing

This is Pat Campbell reversing Fair Fa' from the parkside moorings to their slot on the workers' moorings. Mind you, it's easier if you have a bow thruster.

Tricky

But by the same token, there's no excuse if you do get stuck! Not that Pat really was here, but I reckon he was sweating a bit.

Sheila Campbell celebrating their safe arrival.

Mind you, if Fair Fa' hits an iceberg this winter, we'll know who to blame.

Ooops

The "ordinary traffic of the district" (as all those old signs say) continued whilst this was going on, of course. Dave Jones was just starting out with Jacaranda when a Canaltime boat appeared coming in the other direction.

Skilfull hirer

This is another Canaltime; the steerer looked pretty anxious, but was pleased by his round of applause as he emerged from the pack without touching anyone.

Meantime, work did continue on site, though interrupted by folk being called away to move their boat.

Big gennies

I said the big gennies would be coming soon, and these are two of them, together with an auxiliary fuel tank. Hopefully, one of these will be positioned in its proper place today, and we shall have a shore power supply to the workers' boats by tonight. We'll be glad of it; the boat behind us has a propane powered Honda genny on his back deck, and it sounds even worse than the petrol ones :(.

Mole plough

This is the mole plough attachment on one of the mini tractors. It's used to bury water and power cables around the site

Ready for occupation

And finally, a shot of the show field, all marked out and ready for the marquee contractors to arrive.

A damp day 3

2011-07-18T08:46:00.000+01:00

It didn't rain with quite the abandon of the day before yesterday, but it still drizzled on and off. It wasn't enough to impede the work, and the ground remains firm and hard; it's been such a dry year, there's a lot of capacity to absorb the rain.

We made several trips to the site; on the first, we heard that there had been some incursions overnight. The fence had been broken in four places, and youngsters careered about, but no damage was done. The fact that there were three German Shepherd Dogs commenting loudly may well have discouraged the intruders from hanging about.

First job for wrg, then, was to re-secure the line, and walk the whole of the fence checking that all the clips were tight. It may become necessary to use anti-lift clips, that tie the panels down to the blocks, as we did at Pendeford a few years back. Siting the Festival in the middle of a town should increase the footfall, obviously, but at the cost of greater security problems. The security firm, Intaguarding, will begin work today, so that should help.

Matters otherwise progressed steadily; the sense is that we're well ahead with the tasks, as it often is at the stage; it's as the opening approaches that the pressure mounts. The Site Director, Dave Hearnden, aka Moose, has arrived, and will be spending a lot of his time walking around, accompanied by two of the aforesaid GSDs.

Plumb Bob's Arch

This is true in several ways, but in this case it was his chosen solution to get the water supply to the far end of the field past the entrance to admin village. There's some discussion about appropriate decoration; fairy lights or a pair of amber beacons?

The Comms team

Peter and Pat are the comms team, running phone lines around the site. They're very shy, so I haven't shown their faces ;).

Workers' moorings nearly ready

An awful lot of strimming, scrub clearing and hole filling has been done in two days to make the moorings ready to occupy today.

Plumber in a tree

Plumb Bob asked me why I take so many pictures of him. He didn't seem entirely convinced by my explanation that the plumbing team works so hard.

Security encampment

The security team from Intaguarding will be living on site for the duration, enabling them to respond to any emergency mob handed.

Unloading a the big genset from the beaver tail.

Wrg has two gensets of its own, this larger one contained in a box trailer, and a small towable. When Bungle went to collect this one, he loaded it onto the beaver tail truck, then opened up the back doors to check all was secure inside before setting off. He was confronted by an enormous wasps nest, about the size of a basketball.

He's a very large bloke, but I'm told only milliseconds passed before he was back on the ground and moving away from the truck.

Later on, the seriously large generators will arrive from the contractor who's doing the main supply to the site.

The real day 2

2011-07-17T07:45:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Brian on Harnser who drew my attention to yesterday's deliberate mistake! It's this doing the blog first thing in the morning; not only am I having to remember that I'm talking about the day before, I have to have woken up enough to to cope with the time juggling. Anyway, on with the motley...

It was indeed very wet, yesterday, as forecast, and we were very glad that we could legitimately stay snug in the boat working on the newsletter while it hammered down outside. Talking to folk later in the day, I gathered that it had been too much even for the wrg team, who had postponed starting work until gone ten. (Thanks to Grumpy Nick for the info.)

Thursday's edition is now almost as far as we can get it without the last minute stuff, so yesterday's job was getting Friday's issue into shape. It may seem strange working so far ahead, but with just the two of us to do all the tasks involved in publishing a newsletter, there won't be any time to spare on the actual day of publication.

Last year, we had loads of stuff in advance, because the theme was anniversaries of various sorts, and Sheila had emailed the relevant societies and trusts and got copy out of them. The result was that we arrived at Beale Park with all the issues half made up. This year, much of the copy is going to be self generated, though folk are beginning to send in contributions, so more work is being done on site.

In the afternoon, the rain had more or less stopped, and we were able to get out on site, looking for stories, meeting up with old friends and enemies (mostly the same people) and taking photos.

Plumbing team in conference with Supplies

There are two Bradshaw golf buggy type transports about at the moment, one for the plumbers and one for the chippies. They can tow a trailer, and make so much difference to getting stuff moved around site.

Inside the Tardis

In effect, it's a mobile quartermaster's stores. John Baylis is the QM; least likely saying "Take as many as you want, we've got plenty!"

The pasty wagon

So called because it looks like a van that might be selling pasties. In fact, it's an ex-CEGB field vehicle, and is used by Bungle in much its old role, moving large amounts of cabling and connection boxes around for wiring up places like the admin village, the wrg compound and the workers' moorings.

Tardis compound

The workshop of the Festival, with a fully equipped chippies shop (goes with the pasties, I guess) and storage for materiel.

Who let the dogs out?

Woof, woof! Actually, it's the water supply. With permission, we've tapped into a fire hydrant, and a network of water pipes with radiate out from here to the entire site.

Day 1, good stuff, bad stuff

2011-07-16T09:24:00.002+01:00

As readers of my other blog will know, I don't think of Shobnall Fields as a particularly safe overnight mooring in normal circumstances, but we had hoped that the sheer numbers of us about would mean that we needn't worry too much just now. It transpired that this wasn't altogether the case, as at 2 am yesterday morning, one of the boats tied near the footbridge, Jenny Wren, got a huge lump of concrete on its roof, and another which smashed one of their windows.

The police were on the scene quite quickly, as the gang of yobbos responsible had already been attacking parked cars nearby. Jenny Wren's window frame will have to be replaced, as the bottom edge has been buckled by the force of the blow. Needless to say, she's moved to a location further away from the bridge.

The problem is that the footbridge is the walking route from a couple of shall we say down at heel estates on the park side of the canal to the city centre pubs and clubs.

Apart from this unpleasant start, it was a good day yesterday; the sun shone, the wind wasn't too bad, stuff started arriving in the right order, more or less. For example, this site has a couple of water mains and a gas main running under it, so we need to have tracking laid down over them before heavy vehicles can cross.

To everyone's relief, the tracking arrived before the Tardis.

That last sentence needs a bit of explanation to those not familiar with the IWA Festival. The hardware needed to set up and run the show is stored in a big pantechnicon, and kindly looked after for us by Andy Taylor, who runs a transport firm at Barton Turn. It's called the Tardis because you wouldn't believe the amount of stuff there is inside.

Here comes the Tardis, IWA style

First thing out once it's parked up? The step ladder to get inside.
Second thing? The gazebo that serves as the tea shelter for the workers in the Tardis compound, naturally.

The day's work had started a good bit before this, with the obligatory Health and Safety talk. It's one of the more sensible ones: don't do a job you are not sure about, remember the telehandler driver can't see you if you can't see him, a tidy site is a safe site, these are the first aiders, stuff like that. After the talk, we all signed to say we'd had it and were aware of the risk assessments, and were then issued with our "three week worker" wrist bands, which are in effect an access all areas pass.

We were also told a bit of news hot off the press. Because IWA has won the contract to manage the Olympic moorings next year, representing around six weeks work for the volunteers, there won't be a Festival in 2012. The payment for the Olympic work will replace the revenue from the Festival. There will, however, be an event in 2013. It seems to me (and note the disclaimer at the top of this blog) that this gives IWA a chance to take stock and think about the purpose of the Festival. I'll be returning to this theme as the next three weeks go on.

Dave Jones gives the H&S talk

Then the work could start in earnest:

Strimming the bank where the workers boats will be moored

Starting fencing the show site

The start of the admin compound, and a typical denizen of it

and still the fence grew and grew...

As forecast, it's turned wet today, which is hard luck on the wrgies who will be coming this weekend to help get the majority of the fence up.

Day 0

2011-07-15T09:01:00.001+01:00

We left Branston at half eight yesterday, the cunning plan being to arrive at Shobnall Marina just as they opened at nine. This sort of worked; we got there at ten past, only to discover two other blue shirt boats manoeuvring to get under the access bridge. These were Peter on Ehawee, and Dave and Beryl on Peddler.

Peter got in first, and we tied on the rings outside to wait. Peddler drifted about in the winding hole opposite the entrance, with occasional bursts from the bow thruster. We beguiled the time with shouted conversations with Dave and Beryl. Everything took quite a while, as both boats wanted to top up with water as well as getting diesel and/or a pump out, and the tap at Shobnall is quite slow.

By the time it was our turn, another three boats had arrived to join the queue behind us.

Boat juggling at Shobnall

Fully dieseled and pumped out, we came smartly backwards out of the arm, and I was able to swing Sanity Again round to carry on towards the show site without needing to use reverse again. This was a bit of a triumph; all boaters will tell you that such masterpieces of handling normally only occur when there's no one else to see.

There are lots of boats here already, double banked along the parkside moorings and some distance along the towpath. We just tagged on to the end, handily near a cut through into the housing estate, so that Elanor was able to visit us in the late afternoon, on her way to agility with Sally.

Earlier, we'd had a wander round the field, and I took the first shots of the space which over the next two weeks will become a little village within the town:

First arrival at the campsite

The clans gather

Just some of the fencing that will be erected in the next week

Smiling faces at the start, at least...

This is Sandy the administrator: she's got a lot on her mind...

Marking out the show field

Getting ready for next year

2010-11-05T08:34:00.000Z

We've just about recovered from the excitements of Beale Park, and we're starting to think about next year's event at Shobnall Fields, Burton on Trent. As part of that, I've changed the name of this blog, but not much else will happen here until we get nearer the time.

I'll mention relevant stuff over on my main blog, Living in Sanity Again, from time to time.

Third Sunday

2010-08-30T14:14:00.003+01:00

Another good day, except it rained quite spectacularly during the afternoon. This post is late and short because I've been writing about half of the spoof edition of the Newsletter that has a limited circulation tomorrow, and I'm a touch weary.

We got the Beale Park Bugle printed, folded and circulated with great despatch in the afternoon, and in the evening we saw the Parade of Illuminated Boats enter the lake at around ten pm.

They were very impressive, as far as the illuminations went, but the boat handling presented some serious challenges in the dark.

I've not got much more to say here; I'm going to take a break from blogging for a few days, then resume the Living in Sanity Again blog in due course. I may well just tweet for a bit, until we are settled back into our boating routine.

Doing the Newsletter hass been an interesting experience for us; we're going to give it another go next year in Burton on Trent.

Third Saturday

2010-08-29T10:01:00.002+01:00

Yesterday saw the Show open on time, despite the usual last minute panics. I haven’t got any figures for the first day’s entry, but the ground looked nicely full, given that it’s one of the larger show fields that we use.

In between going to the BW Q&A session and getting the Sunday edition ready for bed, there was time to wander round a bit, and to meet up with John and Nev Campbell at lunch time.

The final touches to Sunday were delayed by the need to get an account of the Opening Ceremony in, so it was ten to three, rather than half two, before the first copied emerged. Kevin used both printers, however, as the one normally kept for short jobs has much less demand on it when the Show is actually open.

We had less help with the folding at first, but later on, a team of experienced wrgies was recruited and things went faster. In addition, we’d agreed to insert a flyer about next year’s events, which slows things down considerably.

However, it was all done in the end, and by half five, all the copies were at their distribution centres. We’d printed and folded 1270 of them in a two and a half hours.

We’re starting to feel more relaxed about things now; just one more serious issue to get out, and that’s pretty well ready for press now.

This boat is for sale

The WRG bit of the IWA display

Eagle Owl on the Raptors stand

"Knights of the Crusade" base in the Arena

Thames Barge manoeuvring

Second Friday

2010-08-28T08:56:00.003+01:00

It's getting quite hard to keep going with this blog, as the fatigue builds, and a load of other stuff clamours for attention. The weather has improved, and we managed to get Sanity Again looking good in time for the judge's visit for the Marion Monk Award.

The wrgies worked amazingly hard yesterday, rising to the challenge as they always do. Mitch’s leadership has been very sure footed,but they still had to slog on until very late, eating lunch and dinner in shifts, and not finishing until after dark.

Elanor worked through until 10 last night, booking in late arrivals, and trying to sort out who should get the red WRG T-shirts.

Meanwhile, people continue to be kind about our efforts with the Newsletter, but we are beginning to get complaints from those who left it too late to seek an entry about their meeting or event.

Unfortunately, one of the groups who has had to be turned down will be judging us for the Cressy Award at 11 today, so we just have to hope they won’t let their irritation affect their judgement...

Bungle came round at 9.45 last night, the first time he could get away, and after playing with it a bit here, took the MiFi away to flash a firmware upgrade to it and to reset the password. What a star that man is, a Red Giant in fact.

Food Traders started

The Lavender Boat on its way out

(it provides refuse and Elsan disposal to the moored boats)

Helping to offload clothing at the Regatta stand

Inside Hall A

A weary wrgie

Don't know what it's for, but it looks fun

Second Thursday

2010-08-27T10:30:00.003+01:00

A short blog today; we’re being judged for the Marion Monk Trophy for the best private boat at the Show at ten, and Sheila and Elanor are busy putting the finishing touches to our boat cleaning whilst I write this.

Yesterday was wet again, and the site became soft in places. There’s still a heavy restriction on vehicle movement, so as the traders arrived, their vehicles were brought as close as possible to their stand without cutting up the ground. Then WRG teams carried (“handballed”) their stuff to the stand. They did 20 such yesterday; only another 120 to do today.

Fortunately, the forecast is for a slow improvement from here on in, with really good weather on Monday, but it rained quite hard overnight, so everything is still soggy.

The Beale Park Bugle is being well received, which is a huge relief. There seem to be a few glitches in the distribution system, inevitably; we will probably have sorted them by Tuesday.

We'd used KESCRG's marquee as our field kitchen, and now it had to be moved to become their Appealing Food stall in the Show. No need to take it down, if you have enough wrgies!

Entry to the Camp Site, showing the developing problem with access

Second Wednesday

2010-08-26T08:49:00.003+01:00

The weather broke yesterday with a vengeance, with torrential rain at times, and just steady rain for the remainder. Vehicle movement on site was severely restricted; since the hope is that the forecast dry period will turn up tomorrow, if only the team can keep the surface from breaking up too much, it will dry out again to be comfortable for the Festival visitors over the weekend.

It didn’t matter too much to us in the morning, as we were tucked up on the boat putting the final touches to the Thursday edition of the Beale Park Bugle, and progressing Friday’s nicely, but in the afternoon, when the downpour was at its worst, I had to sort out the print run.

This entailed going over to Admin village with a memory stick, from which Kevin printed 950 copies of Thursday, and one of Friday for submission to our Director, Gillian. (I must record that as far as that goes, my fears have proved to be totally unfounded; she’s being very reasonable about leaving us to do what we do, with helpful suggestions and the odd comment.)

Once printed, the copies needed to be taken to the WRG compound, a walk of around five minutes, for folding and sorting into bundles. We have one of those heavy duty reusable Sainsbury’s shopping bags, which happily holds up to 1000 sheets of A3, so I used that, making two trips, partly to spare my back, and partly so that the folders had something to be getting on with.

They arrived almost intact, with just a bit of damp on the edges on a few, well within the deliberate overprint numbers.

Earlier in the day, Bungle had arranged for a folding machine to collected from the guy who looks after the post processing of the Navvies newsletter which is WRG’s main organ of communication. The hope was that it would arrive in time for yesterday’s folding, but it was not to be, so we hand folded the lot, with help from Roger and Margaret who are the signs finishing team and weren't busy. We finished just after half four, with almost all copies delivered to their distribution centres like the Waterspace and Campsite Offices by five.

We then retreated to the boat for a quiet hour’s collapse, before attending the Chinese meal which is the Blue Shirts traditional get together on the Wednesday before the Festival.

Wednesday is also the day when the exhibitor's boats are craned into position:

Trombo wagons waiting with their loads

The first one goes in

Others arrived under their own steam

The Historic Wharf is nearly finished

A team of Blue Shirt ladies make the lunchtime sandwiches

Despite the weather, the marquee guuys work steadily on, here erecting the Bandstand

Second Tuesday

2010-08-25T09:34:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was another day given over to working on the Newsletters, though we took opportunities to get out and about when we could. The good news was that the latest strategy for printing the thing worked; I took a memory stick with the copy on it as a PDF of two A3 sides, and Kevin the Comms genius printed it on the duplex printer, resulting in a perfect reproduction.

Sighs of relief all round.

More pictures were taken, and information slowly acquired to fill in the articles we’ve already drafted.

The site team were cheered by the weather, which was dry and windy, and the ground has returned to a useable state. By being firm about not allowing wheeled traffic on site, it’s remained grass covered and good looking.

Elanor has been working hard as WRG administrator, though her job will, hopefully, get easier from now, as most folk have arrived Much of her work now consists of generating lists and numbers from her spreadsheets, such as those needed by the cook for food purchasing, and the list of those staying in the compound, which goes over to Admin every afternoon in case of fire overnight.

Yesterday evening was the Cheese and Wine party, when the Blue Shirts from the various Festival teams get together with the Red Shirts of the wrgies. As usual, it went very well, and even the obligatory talk by the ECO (Emergency Control Officer) about emergency procedures didn’t take too long.

The site is now becoming recognisable as a show Ground, with most of the marquees up, and the electrical contractors positioning generators and stringing cable. The WRG teams will be kept busy burying them (the cables, that is) for the next couple of days.

Fastening down the gazebo outside the WRG eating marquee, to stop it blowing away

WRG Admin takes a break from the laptop to help peel onions

Conferences on the go

The Show Field fills up

Second Monday

2010-08-24T09:23:00.002+01:00

Apart from anxiety about where my 3 data allowance has gone, yesterday went well, generally. Lots more work was done on the Newsletters; Thursday’s is pretty well all done, and Friday well on the way. The remaining ones have most of the stuff that we can pre-prepare done; other material can’t be written until the relevant events have occurred.

The printing problem is nearly resolved – we were presented with an A3 version of the Thursday edition last night. It still has a couple of problems, as in the image sizes have been reduced, so that there’s a huge margin round the outside of the text, and one side was upside down, but we’re getting there.

Essentially, the guys up at Admin village would really like me to be using MS Publisher, because that’s all they know, and providing the documents in such rare formats as PDF or a Postscript file is giving them trouble. Hey ho, it’s their problem, not ours.

I had a conversation with Bungle last night about the disappearing data allowance. As a systems development engineer with Vodafone, he’s a fount of wisdom on the subject, and immediately agreed that we must have been hacked by someone freeloading on our connection.

Since it shows on the WiFi list as “3Wireless-modem-xxxx” where the x’s stand for digits, whoever it was probably didn’t know it was a fellow boater – perhaps. In any event, they must have used password cracking software to get in, and if you are reading this, you’re going to cost me £15, since when the last of my 3 allowance is gone, I shall have to buy a month’s supply on my O2 PAYG dongle.

I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but in my book, this is theft, just as if someone had reached into my boat and helped themselves to a can of diesel. What really hurts is that the limited range of the MiFi dongle, used inside a boat, means that the culprit must be a fellow BOD boater.

Ever generous, Bungle has offered to come over later on and help me reprogram the 3 dongle to use a more obvious name for the connection, like Bruce’s Hotspot, and a more secure password.

On a more cheerful note, here are some photos of progress building the site.

Inside Hall A

The crane at the Historic Wharf

Touch of Pink Floyd; painting another brick in the wall

The BOD boats moorings

Second Sunday

2010-08-23T08:54:00.002+01:00

We had a very productive day on the Newsletter yesterday, spending almost the whole day on the boat working on it. Sheila made a couple of trips to Admin village, including taking the nearly final version of the Thursday edition on a memory stick to test the printing arrangements.

This didn’t go as well as hoped, but we’re having another try today using a different strategy. (For the geeks: saving to PDF caused problems on the laptop driving the printer between Adobe Acrobat and the Xerox printer controller, so we’re trying with the file saved straight to Postscript.)

As a result of all this office work, there’s not a lot else to say. We’ve got a few more pictures of the site coming together:

The three chairman of WRG. From the left, Alan Jervis, who succeeded Graham Palmer, here represented by his bust, and was in turn followed by Mike Palmer (no relation).

Erecting Hall A or the Premier Marquee

Entrance to the path to the BODs moorings, now suitably signed.

Main concern this morning is that the available data on my 3 account has nosedived again, without us being aware of any very heavy usage, raising the alarming prospect that someone has hacked into my WiFi connection.

Second Saturday

2010-08-22T08:39:00.002+01:00

Yesterday was the first day we’ve given over to the Newsletter entirely. Gillian Bolt, the Marketing Manager, came round first thing with her copy of the current draft of Thursday’s edition, and we spent a good chunk of the day incorporating her suggestions into it.

It’s always hard taking criticism of one’s creative efforts, but Gillian’s comments were pertinent and largely helpful, so we knuckled down and got on with them. I’ll be interested to see how she takes our interpretation of what she’s asked for. It’s the eternal tension between editor and proprietor, of course, and many a journalistic career has foundered on those reefs.

That first edition is very nearly finished; we’ll spend some time today polishing it, then it will be on to Friday’s effort.

We’d become anxious about the gas supply; the first of our two cylinders ran out a while back, and I’d postponed replacing it until we got here, so that the IWA would get the benefit of any profit. The concern was that the way we are moored, there’s no land access to the bow, and I really didn’t fancy struggling through the boat with a bottle of Calor Gas weighing around 18 kg.

When consulted, John Baylis the Quartermaster was forthright as ever (he’s from the North of England). “They float,” he said “tie a rope to it and chuck it in the lake off the end of the pontoon. Then you can tow it up to the bow, walking on the roof.”

Sure enough, this worked. I went to the Tardis and paid for a bottle, which was delivered to the nearest possible approach to the moorings by Bradshaw (the little four wheel drive golf carts we use for general transportation around site).

Sheila did the business, whilst I took photos:

Towing a full gas bottle

In the afternoon, we took a break to walk Sally and take some shots of progress on the field.

Warehouses appearing on the Historic Wharf

Still not much on the main field

The Bar, half complete

WRG was celebrating its fortieth anniversary in the compound last night; we copped out, I’m afraid, and had a quiet meal on the boat, followed by an early night. Elanor made it back by midnight, which was a bit earlier than we’d been expecting. I guess we’re all getting older.

First Friday

2010-08-21T10:17:00.005+01:00

After doing the blog yesterday, I spent the rest of the day working with Bungle on stringing power cables to the various cabins. I’ve worked with him before, and he’s a great guy, multiskilled and always ready to help out.

This can mean that you spend a lot of time as his oppo standing around, usually with a coil of cable on your shoulder, whilst he has a conversation, face to face, on the radio or on the phone, about some other aspect of what he's doing, but it’s still a pleasure to work with him.

By the end of the morning, we had the marquees and cabins in the WRG compound sorted, and the nearby commercial cabin done too. After lunch, we went over to the Admin village and ran cables from their genny to the various cabins involved.

The genny in question was in fact a replacement, the first one having failed quite quickly with what sounded like terminal engine problems. It’s not good when an engine that has been smoking like a fifties pit chimney stops with low oil pressure and a nasty graunching rattle, having sprayed much of its oil out of the turbo seals.

Delivering a replacement generator

The new one seems to be behaving much better, so we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

Whilst we were working there, arrangements were being put in hand to assemble and launch the shallop previously referred to on Tuesday. Unfortunately, by the time the crane was ready to put it in the water, I’d gone off site with Bungle and Malcolm, his colleague, to collect a Smalley Excavator.

Elderly excavator being unloaded from modern beaver tail truck

(sorry about the rain drops!)

These remarkable machines used to be the mainstay of WRG’s operations, and this last working example in its possession was wanted as part of the fortieth birthday celebrations for WRG taking place tonight.

Putting the shallop together

First Thursday

2010-08-20T09:26:00.004+01:00

Gillian Bolt, the Marketing Director, had arranged for a series of three minute interviews on the Radio Berkshire breakfast programme yesterday morning, and I was lined up to talk at 9.20 about living aboard. Since the interviewer was Maggie Philbin, one of my favourite Tomorrow’s World presenters in days of yore, I was quite pleased to do it.

We got up at the usual time, and I was just having a relaxing shower when Sheila came into the bathroom; Gillian had been down to the boat, they’d changed the schedule and I was on in 15 minutes. After a quick exit and dry off, I had to run over to where they had a radio car set up.

The interview was going quite well when the studio decided the sound quality wasn’t good enough and we wound up. All concerned were a bit irritated as it seemed that everyone except the producer thought it would have been better to prerecord the pieces, which would have made for a much better result.

However, Maggie did come and have a quick look over Sanity Again, our first celebrity guest, I suppose you could say.

After a belated breakfast, we got some more office work done, and ambled over to the WRG compound mid morning. Tasks for the day were erecting the crowd barrier around three sides of the arena and removing some more unnecessary fence. More fence panels have been ordered, as even scavenging them in this way still leaves us short.

In the WRG compound, the marquee company started putting up the eating and sleeping marquees, and had pretty well finished them by the end of the day. Both are floored, and the sleeping marquee will be carpeted today, after the wooden floor has dried, having been washed last thing.

Erecting the frame

The finished marquees

Inside the sleeping marquee

Elanor arrived just before dinner, and she and Sally, her dog, are now staying on Sanity Again with us. Elanor is WRG administrator for the camp this year; as I write she’s wrestling with the spreadsheets sent from Head Office, two of them in the latest version of Excel, which she doesn’t have. Fortunately, iWork Numbers could cope with them, so we moved them onto my machine, I opened them in Numbers and then saved them back to the .xls format Elanor can use.

WRGies ancient and modern; the bust is of founder Graham Palmer

No peace for the wicked; the QM interrupts his lunch to deny having the heavy duty staple gun.

Strangely, the fanciest pontoon leads to the chippies' boats.

First Wednesday

2010-08-19T08:55:00.002+01:00

The workers boats normally get shore power supplied on the evening of the first Tuesday, but there was a problem with the cabling and distribution boxes this year, and Bungle had to come back yesterday morning to get it finally sorted out. This he had achieved by lunchtime, so now we will have no need to run the engine for the rest of our time here. There’s a water tap within reach, too, so we’re set up for all our needs.

As I expected, after doing the newsletter and blog stuff, we found ourselves back on the fenceline. We’ve put up most of the night fence now; this is the fence which separates the exhibition area from the Food Court and Bar. Some of it can be left up,where it runs behind marquees but the rest will be taken down every morning of the Festival, and put up again every evening.

There’s to be a lot more fiddling about yet, but we are getting there.

In the evening, the toilets and shower blocks showed up to go in the WRG compound and campsite, and the marquees are due to arrive today.

I featured briefly on Radio Berkshire this morning, but that’s a story for tomorrow.

The view from our bow looking towards the Historic Wharf

Looking down the lake

Assembling the warehouses for the Historic Wharf

First Tuesday

2010-08-18T08:42:00.003+01:00

Those three week workers (BODS in the jargon; it stands for Build Operate Dismantle) with boats had been told that the swing bridge guarding access to the lake moorings would be open between 8 and 9 in the morning yesterday, and then again between 5 and 6. The big question was which slot to choose. The Waterspace team has installed short finger pontoons, with space for four, five or six boats between them as the bank edge dictates.

Moose as Safety Officer testing a finger pontoon

First thing, I went and spoke to Mike Moorse who was organising the whole thing, and found out that we were in the middle of a trot of five. This implied that we would be better to go in later rather than earlier, but on the way back to the boat, I saw Wandering Whimbrel, the boat we would be tied next to, heading in, so we decided to follow.

This would have been fine, but by the time we got into the lake, things had been changed from the rejig of the rejigged plan, as some boats had proved to deep for their allocated spot. Having come in beside Wandering Whimbrel as instructed, I had to pull out again and reverse into a different spot. Now we were against a short boat with a cruiser stern, and physically couldn’t leave Sanity Again. This was sorted temporarily, and during the day, the Waterspace team built a new pontoon between us and our neighbour, Amy Em.

This will be extended today, to give Amy Em a better exit, as one of her crew is disabled. We’ve ended up with a very nice mooring with a good pontoon, so all’s well that ends well.

Much of the rest of the day was spent putting fencing up and taking it down, as will today, I suspect. The other big task for WRG now is brushcutting around the mooring sites out on the river, and on the other side of the lake.

I must say, the fencing has been even more frustrating than usual this year. (Mind you, I say this every year.) Some of the adjustments have been as a result of conditions on the ground, but many of them could have been avoided with better planning and marking out. It sometimes feels as if the site team don’t appreciate the sheer hard work it is erecting long runs of Heras fencing.

The cabins have arrived for the WRG compound, being the one which will be the kitchen and one which will be the brew hut. Only cooks are allowed in the kitchen, except by invitation, but anyone wrgie will be able to use the brew hut. It will contain a pair of Burco boilers, toasters, washing up facilities and a supply of bread, biscuits and tea and coffee.

Positioning the kitchen cabin

Red shirt/Blue shirt liaison in progress

At the end of the day, there was a celebratory tea party for Alan and Rosemary Whiffen, two longstanding volunteers who have just celebrated their Golden Wedding. It’s typical of the Festival volunteers that such an event should not go unmarked.

Alan and Rosemary cutting the cake

Two halves of a shallop which will form part of the display on the lake.

A reproduction of Elizabethan executive transport on the Thames, this one appeared in the film version of A Man for All Seasons which starred Paul Schofield.

First Monday

2010-08-17T09:52:00.000+01:00

The fine weather continued yesterday, as did the work on site. After our first thing newsletter and blog session, we joined the WRG volunteers as they came in for their first break of the morning. On the way, we saw the swing bridge, which controls access to the lake, being opened so as to allow the exit of one of the work boats with its work platform alongside.

Although numbers are now much reduced, productivity remained high. The fence line which had had to be adjusted was completed, and much of the rest of the work involved improving the access route to the main entrance to the Festival. Uneven ground was levelled, undergrowth strimmed back and some potential hazards in the form of broken staples and ends of barbed wire removed from some fence posts.

As we were finishing this, it became apparent that another part of the fenceline needed to move. For some reason best known to the Site Director, although it was always apparent that this bit was in the wrong place, we had been instructed to put it there, and now its adjustment was urgent to allow the plumbers to run a supply pipe along it.This took up a bit of time after lunch, but when completed was hopefully where it will stay until take down.

Once more, we had a relaxed end to the day – things have been moving so smoothly, the WRG team keeps getting ahead of the supply of jobs. This will not last, on previous experience, but by the time the flow of work increases, we should be into the second week, with many more bodies available.

Three wise monkeys?

We’ve moved into the lake onto our mooring for the duration. This was quite an event in itself, but the tale properly belongs to tomorrow’s post.

The chippies workshop, source of a remarkable amount of sophisticated carpentry.

First Sunday

2010-08-16T08:19:00.000+01:00

The routine continued yesterday, though as it happens there wasn’t so much to do to the Newsletter, so the main computer work first thing was posting to the blog.

When we went over to the WRG compound, the fencing crews were in full swing, and after a brew break, we went out and joined them. By mid afternoon, we’d finished the main runs of fencing around the site, though, true to form, part was taken down again later. It seems that Hall C can’t go where originally planned as the ground is too rough.

This means that the boundary will have to be pushed back, so the fence has been taken down until the Site Team makes up its mind. (This is not an unfamiliar situation, I have to say. Indeed cries of “Situation Normal” were to be heard as the fence came down.)

Sheila divided her time between helping with fencing, taking photos of it all and sorting out some stuff about the Newsletter with admin and other contributors.

We had an early finish, so quickly had things got on, and spent the rest of the afternoon sitting around in the sun, bantering and pondering what the weather forecast holds for the rest of the week.

Team work on fencing

Filling sacks with sand to dress the Historic Wharf display

Pondering the plans. WRG leader Mitch Gozna on the right, Moose Hearndon on the left

The WRG team taking a break

First Saturday

2010-08-15T09:09:00.000+01:00

It was a really good day yesterday, despite poor weather for some of it. Having said that, it wasn’t impossible, just the kind of thing you expect at the end of a hot summer, with torrential downpours from time to time, but never lasting more than half an hour or so.

What was good was that Sheila and I settled into a routine which hopefully will see us through the Festival. The very first bit was a one off when we went to the Health and Safety briefing with most of the other volunteers. These have been refined over the years, such that we know most of it very well, but there's no really silly stuff, just the standard reminders about personal responsibility for safety, the need to draw attention to perceived hazards and the like.

The only oddity from our point of view is that volunteers working near the water must wear lifejackets, and we had some amused suggestions that whilst working on the Newsletter in the boat we should be suitably attired.

There may be a photo of this in a later edition...

After the briefing, we came back to the boat and worked on the Newsletter and blog until we’d done as much as we could for the day. That was all done by eleven, and we went across to the WRG compound to see what we could do there.

I spent the rest of the day fencing, very enjoyably, as it’s the straightforward stuff first. Mitch Gozna, the WRG leader, had persuaded around 30 folk to turn out for the weekend, so by the end of today, most of the heavy lifting fencingwise will be done with any luck.

This involves firstly fencing in the WRG and Tardis compound and the adjacent volunteers campsite, then setting out to surround the main site with fence. We’re using the standard “Heras” fence, about two metres high by four long, stood in heavy blocks and clipped together with a support prop every five panels.

Most of the people working on it had done it many times before, so there was very little need for instruction or discussion; it was just a group of people doing something they know how to do well, always very satisfying to be a part of.

Another team removed a post and wire fence that ran across the site, which normally comprises two fields:

The one hiding her face is Jenny, who is notoriously shy.

With a break for lunch, we were all pretty tired by half four, and knocked off for a brew. The weather then deteriorated, but relented just in time for a barbecue in the evening. The Sanity Again crew, not forgetting the dog, were all well exercised, so we retreated to bed not long after eating.

Plumbers in the rain; they don't like it wet, you know.

WRG compound behind its fence,

and the Tardis end.

Getting started

2010-08-14T08:34:00.000+01:00

Yesterday went according to plan, I’m happy to say. Making our early start at seven, we boated down to Reading, passing Mapledurham and Caversham Locks before the lockies came on duty at nine. A good shop at Tesco, and we were ready to return.

By now, there was a fair bit of traffic around, complicated by flotillas of kayaks with kids in them and leaders trying to herd them about. It was particularly fraught below Mapledurham; one bunch were hovering around the downstream layby, and another lot came out of the lock, following the five larger boats that had been in there.

There wasn’t room for Sanity Again, or indeed the boat in front of her to get onto the layby, but when the lockie started packing the lock, he signalled that we would all get in. Unfortunately, the boat in front got into terrible trouble trying to manoeuvre in, and ended up broadside on across the tail of the lock.

Her poor steerer suffered the ultimate humiliation of being told by the lockie to go round and rejoin the back of the queue. Heart in mouth, I eased Sanity Again into the chamber, fortunately making a half decent job of it for once.

There was another queue at the head, with Guelrose waiting to use the pump out that we also needed. The lockie asked me to go beyond the boats waiting, as he would get all of them into one penning. I took Sanity Again up river as asked, then winded her and came back to wind again, thus performing a 360º turn, finally tying ahead of Guelrose, who was by this time pumping out.

It’s a new and very effective machine, so Mike finished in record time. In fact, when he’d gone and we pulled back to within reach of the hoses, there was still enough time on his card to do us as well. I owe Mike a pint, I reckon, and we’ll have to find a buyer for our spare EA pump out card.

Arriving at Beale Park, we found a fleet of workers boats tied around the entrance, and breasted up to Tom Tug. We’ll be here for a few days, until the pontoons on the lake are ready for us.

We’ve made contact with Mitch Gozna, leader of the WRG camp, and spent the rest of the day on what will be the WRG compound, chatting and giving a hand with putting up the temporary coking shelter.

The site looks pretty empty at the moment, but that’s scheduled to change over the next two weeks.

Looking across the show field towards the WRG compound and Tardis* in the distance

The empty lake

This will be the last post on the Living in Sanity blog until after the Festival; I’ll be posting on the Beale Park Blog until then.

*The Tardis is the name of the blue painted artic trailer which contains most of the kit needed to rig the Festival. So-called because of the amazing amount of stuff that's in there.

A last quiet day

2010-08-12T17:10:00.000+01:00

We had a change of plan overnight; we’d originally been aiming for Sonning for tonight because we thought we needed to go further on down to Shiplake to pump out, but during the week we’d been reminded that a) Shiplake pump out is closed and b) there’s a new one at Mapledurham, between here and Reading.

So we’ve stayed on this pleasant meadow mooring, doing a bit of shopping in Pangbourne and washing the roof of the boat. Odd bits of work have been done on various editions of the Newsletter as well.

The only down side is that the river has been dropping a bit as the water from the rain earlier in the week ran off, and Sanity Again kept heeling over as her stern grounded. All this was sorted thanks to the arrival of So Far, Peter and Gillian Bolt’s boat. Their arrival was heralded by another blue shirt stalwart pair, Dave and Beryl Chapman in Peddler, who told us that the Bolts were looking for an overnight mooring.

Not long after Peddler had gone on, So Far appeared and tied outside us. Whilst giving them a cup of tea and showing off Sanity Again, we realised that it would make far more sense for So Far to be inside Sanity Again. They draw less, they don’t want to leave as early as us, and they have two dogs, one quite elderly and infirm.

So we’ve done a shuffle; So Far cast off and did a circle round, whilst I motored the stern of Sanity Again out, Sheila meanwhile holding her bow in. So Far came in and slid up between us and the bank, whilst Sheila paid out the bow line until the boats were parallel.

We’re now quite cosy; Sanity Again is floating well, the Bolt’s dogs can come and go, and we’ll be able to leave in good time in the morning without disturbing anybody.

The Blue Shirts are massing

2010-08-11T16:54:00.000+01:00

It’s been one of those days when things largely went to plan. We set off just on half nine from Goring, and had a steady run down river in pleasant sunshine, amongst a lot of traffic.

Things got interesting above Whitchurch Lock, where we had to hover in mid channel for quite a while, there being a queue on the not very long lay by. It took two lockings before we got onto the mooring, then on the third the lockie squeezed us in behind a large smokey cruiser.

Once down, we found lots of boats tied on Pangbourne Meadow, but recognised Slow Gin amongst them. A brief shouted discussion elicited the information that not only were they happy for us to tie outside them, but that they were going after lunch, so we could take over the space.

Di and Reece on Wandering Whimbrel were just in front of them (truly, the clans are gathering), so we’ve spent much of the afternoon nattering and showing off Sanity Again. There has been time, however, to polish the port side portholes and Incralac them, thereby completing the major lacquering jobs. There’s stuff like the tiller bar and fiddly things like door knobs to do, but they will keep for a bit.

Tomorrow, we’ll go on down to Sonning, then on Friday come back up, shopping at Tesco and pumping out at Mapledurham on the way, finally tying at Beale Park.

Creeping up on the Festival site

2010-08-10T16:36:00.000+01:00

It was only supposed to be a bit showery today, according to the Met Office forecast for Benson, but it’s been persisting down most of the day.

We set off just before nine this morning, and had a brisk, if damp, run to Cleeve, where we spent quite some time refilling the water tank. I’d started a washload of socks on the way down, Sheila being occupied at the back, but realised after the machine had filled that there wouldn’t be enough water to do the rinses. (The wool programme uses a lot, of course.) So I paused it after it had washed, then we restarted it once we were filling.

We got to Goring just after half eleven, and once more had a good choice of mooring. It gave us a chance for a natter with Ken Nelson on Ultima and Thule. Ken told us he’s been persuaded to organise the Historic Wharf at the National, and we heard with interest about what he plans for there. It should be quite spectacular.

Speaking to Elanor later in the day, she mentioned that Mitch Gozna, this year’s WRG camp leader, is planning to do food from Friday night this weekend, as part of the pre camp fencing session, so I’ve dropped her an email to confirm that we will be glad to partake. Previous years, catering has only been available from the Saturday lunch, so this is a welcome addition.

We only have a short run planned for tomorrow, to Pangbourne Meadow, so it means we don’t have to leave here before I get a chance to get bread and a paper. This saves a wet walk this afternoon, for which I’m grateful. We’ve spent the rest of the time catching up with various computing jobs; the Braidbar Quiz is in its final form, hopefully.

To Wallingford, and news about next year's National

2010-08-09T16:34:00.000+01:00

After a peaceful night on the meadow edge above Day’s Lock, we had a lazy start this morning. Sheila wanted to run the washing machine, as we’d changed the bed yesterday, and there wouldn’t be time for the full 60ºC cycle in the short run to Wallingford. We started the engine early and did the first part of the wash sitting on the mooring.

Since there was no one behind us, this wasn’t a problem for anybody. What was trickier was that we were just a bit aground, with the boat heeling ever so slightly. It took a bit of shafting and reversing to unstick her, but in the end off she came, and we pottered down to Day’s, where the keeper told us the reach had dropped two inches overnight, for no good reason that he could see. He’d closed in a weir, and the level would soon be back up.

By the time we reached Benson, the washing was done. It’s a lovely bit of river, this, especially past Shillingford, and the weather was spot on, with a gentle breeze and little fluffy clouds in the sky.

There were just a couple of boats on the moorings, the quietest we’ve seen them so far, so we had a wide choice. We’ve tied just below the Salter’s section, as the edge is at its lowest there, more convenient for a narrowboat than the higher stuff further down or on the other side of the river.

(Short pause here: we’ve got our “Feel free to moor alongside” sign out, and a socking great motor sailer has just taken advantage. The moorings filled up in the time we took to shop before lunch, once again showing the importance of timing in these matters.)

After a pleasant stroll round town, we had lunch, Sheila polished the port side portholes, and I cleaned up around the well deck, removing evidence of spiders, and some bird poo.

It’s been a quiet afternoon, helped along by the latest edition of Canal Boat. A news item in there confirmed something we’d been told in confidence a few weeks ago; next year’s National Festival will be back in Burton on Trent, at Shobnall Fields, which last played host in 2004.

That was the first National at which we worked as red shirts; it was one of the very wet ones, and the mooring arrangements were pretty fraught, with boats tied two abreast from Branston Lock to Horninglow, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out next year.

Ambling down the river

2010-08-08T16:25:00.000+01:00

Today was certainly the right day to start moving again, with very pleasant weather for the easy run down river through Culham and Clifton Locks to tie on the meadow mooring we used on the way up, just above Day’s Lock.

This time, and on John Campbell’s advice, we walked over the fields to Dorchester on Thames, a very pretty village with lots of thatched houses and stuff. It made a good four mile walk, taking one route there and another, going more directly back to the river, to return.

Although it’s Sunday, the Co-op was open, which was handy, as the weather made the prospect of an ice lolly overwhelmingly attractive.

John reckoned that he preferred Dorchester to Eynsham, further up river; I have to say we didn’t agree. They are both very attractive and well worth the walk to get there, but Eynsham is built out of the honey coloured Cotswold stone, whereas Dorchester is mainly brick.

The only other thing I have to report today, apart from a second sighting of Ken and Mary Nelson on modern pair Ultima and Thule, is that I took a bit of time to insert a photo of Tom Rolt into the piece Sheila has written about him for the Saturday edition of the newsletter.

We’ll use an occasional afternoon opportunity to tweak both the newsletters and the Braidbar Quiz this week. Once the donkey work has been done, it’s very pleasant to do a bit of gentle polishing in this way.

The atmosphere is now a bit oppressive; I shouldn’t be surprised if we have a heavy shower at some point, and indeed one would be welcome before we try to sleep tonight. Tomorrow, on to Wallingford, another short run.

A final day in Abingdon

2010-08-07T16:15:00.000+01:00

The weather forecast suggests that tomorrow will be better than today, so our decision to spend the full five days allowed here looks like paying off. We did our final shopping trip; as planned, we went to the butchers that doesn’t have a shop any more.

It was very efficient; you go to a hatch in the warehouse and ask for what you want and the guy brings it to you, and the pricing was pretty standard, but it still felt very odd.

You need to know what you are looking for – there’s no display – and you can’t see the meat before you buy. I don’t think we’ll bother again, not that we’re likely to be back in Abingdon in the near future.

This afternoon, we put in a solid hour's work on the quiz for the Braidbar Owners’ weekend in September. We know that we’ll be pretty tired after the National, and boating like fury to get from the Thames to the top of the Macc in the time, so it seemed a good idea to get it set up.

Forty questions (four rounds of ten) were generated in that time, so we felt pretty pleased with ourselves. Sheila had put in a bit of time before lunch analysing the previous two years’ results, so we had a reasonable idea of what works; there’ll be no picture round this year, some will be pleased to hear.

Apart from that, we had an easy day of it, reading the paper and attempting the quizzes which are a feature of Saturday in the Independent. Tomorrow, we’ll set off down river; we plan to stop above Day’s Lock, so not a huge amount to do, maybe two hours boating or so.

We've done as much as we can for now...

2010-08-06T16:25:00.000+01:00

We’ve had another busy day working on the Newsletter, after yet another visit to Waitrose. We’ve also discovered that the only independent butcher in Abingdon doesn’t have a shop any more, you have to go round the back to his wholesale outlet. I’m planning to explore this a bit more tomorrow.

By this afternoon, we’d done as much as we could with the stuff we had waiting for the newsletter, and had written what we can of the stuff we’re doing ourselves. Obviously, some things have to wait for the event, like the report of the Opening Ceremony.

There might yet be the odd further item which may arrive beforehand, but otherwise, we can leave it alone for a few days. This will leave us free to work on the Braidbar quiz tomorrow, so it’s all coming together quite nicely.

This afternoon, we gave ourselves a break by taking a walk up to the lock to buy a couple of EA pump out cards, then looped back down the other side of the river, past the park area and into the Abbey Gardens.

We finished by rewarding ourselves with a Thornton's ice cream apiece (yum) and so back to the boat for a quiet cup of tea. If this post seems a bit short, it might be because I’ve written around 600 words today already, and edited about the same again...

Another day on the newsletter

2010-08-05T16:47:00.000+01:00

There’s not a lot to tell today, as it’s been much like yesterday. We shopped and then settled to a day’s work on the Newsletter.

I’m gradually getting to grips with the iWork ‘09 Pages program in its page layout mode. It’s generally very intuitive for such a powerful program, but I’ve had to consult the excellent Missing Manual a couple of times, mostly reminding myself of tricks I’d learnt whilst working with it over the winter, when I was first setting up the layouts, but had forgotten since.

We’ve got maybe another day’s work to do with the material we’ve got to hand at the moment, which will hopefully leave us set up to plug in all the rest once we’ve arrived at Beale Park. There will be interviews, and news of events during the weekend, and things contributed by other folks which obviously can only be done the day before publication.

Once that’s done, we’ll take a bit of time to start work on the Boaters’ Quiz for the Saturday night of the Braidbar Owners’ Weekend in mid September.

It’s a case of going from one event to another, though hopefully not from bad to worse!

Working on the Newsletter

2010-08-04T15:45:00.000+01:00

As readers of my regular blog will know, we’ve settled down at Abingdon for the rest of this week; it’s a chance to restock, and to start serious work on the newsletter Sheila is editing for the National Festival, to be called the Beale Park Bugle.

I’m going to run this new blog during the build up to the event, and as a handover, I’ll publish the same post to both my usual blog, Living in Sanity Again, and to this blog each day this week. Then, once we’ve arrived at Beale Park, I’ll just be posting to this blog, hopefully with some photos of the event taking shape, giving an idea of the amazing amount of volunteer effort that goes into it.

Today, we’ve been concentrating on the Thursday edition; we’ve got some material in already, and we’re writing some stuff ourselves, of course. If anyone is going to be there, either on the site team or just as a visitor, and has stuff they think might be suitable (either because it’s informative or entertaining, or both) please feel free to email it to editor(at)nbsanity.me.uk, replacing the (at) bit with @. (This defeats the dreaded spam bots, which otherwise would detect an email address on a web page and start bombarding us with strange offers.)

There’s not a lot more to say today, really; there’s been a lot of coming and going of boats here at Abingdon, and a lot of very heavy showers; we obviously picked the right week to stay put.

Come back later

2009-12-10T12:58:00.000Z

I've set this blog up ready to describe our experiences with the 2010 IWA National Festival and Boat Show at Beale Park, Pangbourne, on the River Thames.

There won't be any posts here until nearer the time; the event happens at August Bank Holiday. If you want to know more about the Festival, or to volunteer to help, please visit the IWA website.