A trailer and a parental visit

I am writing this update on Monday afternoon as I sit inside being grumpy having being chased from my lovely sunny relaxing spot in the back garden by kids in the garden below screaming and shouting and then, even worse, a neighbour coming outside and putting music on. Why people can’t just enjoy themselves in quiet I do not know but never mind; I am late publishing and so being in here isn’t the worst thing. The reason for not updating this yesterday isn't actually because of the bank holiday; when I came to get my photographs off the camera I found that my cable had broken, fortunately this discovery came leaving me with enough time to go on Amazon and order a new one for delivery the next day. It has since arrived and so here I am typing.

 

The new trailer, with wheel clamp fitted

I cannot remember where I left it last week and am not going to go back and look; I will just pick up where my recollection of the week begins. I spent Monday continuing to go over the decision on which trailer to buy until I finally fell towards the expensive one that was pretty much new; this probably influenced by Harrison being cheaper and not being fit for purpose. I arranged to go and collect it after work on Tuesday but I had forgotten that a meal had been arranged with Lee, Ryan and Lorenzo that night. Unfortunately the meal had to be postponed in the end anyway so, mid afternoon and feeling like getting away from my desk for a bit following a terrible nights sleep with the gales, I jumped into Thomas and drove to see this trailer. I found the place OK and on first impressions the trailer looked like a good option. I had a poke around, asked lots of questions, was shown how to operate various of the machinery and decided to go for it. We hitched up, though I didn't have the right electrical hookup on my tow bar so couldn't have lights on it, wrote the number plate on a bit of card and tied it on, and I drove off home. I made it without having any problems and it towed well. I was even able to reverse it back onto my driveway which is not the easiest thing in the world.

 

A very nice dinner for me

It was proving to be a very spring day, with beautiful hot sun one minute and then sleet, hail and at one point even snow, the next. My first job was to put a wheel clamp on so no one could steal it and I achieved this relatively quickly with only a bit of swearing. After that it was time for me to have some food and get back to work as I had broken my day in the office rather soon. Dinner was some very nice burgers with fried onions made spicy with chili salt and then I settled down to a good productive evening of coding until about 10 when it was time for bed. The weather was still crazy and so windy but I think I actually slept better that evening.

One of the major things about this whole trailer business is me getting the correct driving license to be allowed to tow something substantial. There is loads of misinformation and confusion around what you actually have to have to tow a trailer and then, when you finally realise “right I definitely need a license” it is a real pain to go about getting it. Technically you can go to a driving test centre having just booked your test and take it and maybe pass. Technically. In practice this is not really possible as you have to bring a trailer (fine as you can tow below a certain weight, I think) but the trailer needs to be of certain dimensions and then on top of that you have to bring a load which pushes the weight above any limits without B + E. After much searching and stressing I finally managed to track down a driving instructor relatively local who did B + E training and would also book the test for me (I cancelled the one I had booked on my own) and I have arranged to have a driving lesson where he can assess me which will take place on Wednesday. What a pain. I will keep you informed of course.

 

Sandwich from the man with the trolley

I have been sleeping badly again this week, largely because of the weather, so my habit of taking breakfast and lunch in to the office has suffered from me not wanting to get out of bed. Wednesday was no different and this time I decided to buy something from the sandwich man. It was ok but certainly not up to the standard of my usual dinners and I won’t be doing it that often. This week has been a very busy one in the office what with various meetings and me being pushed to finish some code for a self-imposed deadline and there isn’t really very much else for me to say about the working week. It has been fun at times but I wish I could sleep properly.

 

The girls' new home

And so Thursday came and went and in the evening my parents arrived at their hotel and text to say they were and would be over for breakfast the next day. I had bacon and eggs and mushrooms and sausages to do for them and I hope it did not disappoint as I laid on a feast for breakfast. I certainly enjoyed it. They had come bearing gifts, mainly the stuff I had ordered to be delivered to them for the puppies, and so I put the new cage up and it looks really solid. I was aware, however, that it may be too big to sit on the passenger seat of Thomas and knew I had to get that checked out at some point over the weekend.

 

Finding the dry joint in the screw fitting

Another thing I had asked my dad to bring with him was his multi-meter so we could use it to ensure the track for my test oval created a complete electrical circuit. With the weather continuing to be dreadful I got the board down and removed the pins holding the track down. We established pretty quickly that maybe the quality of the actual track wasn't great either so I raided another box and pulled clean new track out to complete a new oval then, working with my dad, we went round and set the layout out again. It took some time, and we also found that one of the plugs for the controller was broken (I need to remember to buy some spares for that, just in case), but eventually everything was tacked down and the buzzer had confirmed that the signal from the plug to every section of track was true.

And so the moment of truth had arrived. I hooked everything up and got the Class 150 loco from its box and set it up. The controller found the chip in it immediately and so I switched to control mode and it was off, speeding around the track with no problems at all. Actually I am exaggerating slightly as I had to hammer the tacks in slightly more to stop them from causing a derailment but still. Here is a very excited video I took just as I got it working fully. After we had let this run in for an hour (the sound got very old very quickly) and gone for a walk to the shops for some supplies when the rain stopped for a bit I got the other locos out and was less successful. One of the freight locos worked for a bit then started smoking (we took it apart a bit and think maybe the conversion to digital has been botched) and the other didn't react at all and, most concerningly, the Virgin Voyager was non responsive as well. The steam loco which Bob had given me still worked though it derailed on the corners and I think it is just too sharp a turn for that train. I will be going to Blackpool after the driving lesson on Wednesday and I plan to go past the model shop there with these locos to see if someone can look at them and get them working.

 

Very happy dad with his pudding, and mine

The rest of the day was very restful as we stayed well out of the weather and late afternoon I prepared spicy pork pasta for dinner which was good but not as good as normal. We ate it happily though and they were very pleased with it and went back for seconds and then after letting it go down for a bit we walked round to the local for dessert and a pint. It was really nice to sit in there with the parents and chat and watch some wendyball and just relax. After a couple of hours it was time to walk home, though, and then they headed off leaving me to read a bit then try and sleep. We had big plans for the next day.

 

Scrambled eggs with crispy bacon bits

Saturday dawned grey and horrible as Friday had been but the forecast was for better weather so we were still hopeful our boatring trip would happen. I realised, just as I started to cook, that I didn’t have enough eggs for the scrambled eggs so sent my mother straight round to co op to get some more. The delay meant that the bacon bits had time to nicely crisp off and it was a very nice way to start the day. We had arranged to meet Ryan at midday and so set off in time to get there only to be informed they had moved and would meet us at a new place which I didn't know. Fortunately there were good signposts and so we found them, after my dad was able to do an impromptu cache find.

 

The sun came out and it was nice then

It was the first time my dad had been on a narrow boat and he really enjoyed it as I thought he would. We didn't got that far, just pootled along and then stopped for a refill of the water tanks and a rubbish drop, then continued through the lovely quiet countryside and, as promised, the day had brightened up and it was even warm when the sun came out. I spent most of the journey stood up with Ryan and Cat having a chat while my parents were also with us, making the driving position quite crowded but it worked well.

 

The Anderton Boat Lift; impressive

Our first destination was the Anderton Boat lift, an amazing construction which allows narrow boats to get from the canal down into the River Weaver. This has been around for a fair while and used to be steam power though it is now operated using electric. It is still very impressive. We registered for a slot a bit later in the afternoon and spent some nice time wandering around the grounds of the visitor centre; my parents actually went in to the exhibition but I was starting to feel quite tired and so stayed on the boat reading and resting.

While I was doing this my dad was able to get a video of one of the earlier runnings of the lift with some other boats in it. I have sped this up 8x and the original video was about 4 minutes long which is how long it takes for a full cycle to complete. Just as it was nearly our time to go through the lift Cat realised she had to leg it to get some stuff and so we had to push our departure time back by 40 minutes which wasn't the end of the world; it was a lovely spot to be.

 

A guillotine lock lifting up

Two boats pretty close together in the lock

Eventually our time came again and (with my parents and I sat down in the bows of the boat for this bit) we made our way round the sharp corner and entered the lift. We were shouted at to not go under the guillotine lock until it was completely secure (he pointed out how small the cables were holding up the huge weight of the steel gate which validated his concerns) and then made our way onto the main lift area. I was then shouted at for being stood up in the front as another boat pulled alongside ours (he was worried I would fall in) and after this it was time to sit and wait until the boat which would be coming up on the other lift finally got into position.

 

Tourist boat coming back up

Big cogs and wheels from the old steam lift

After a while I decided to leave my parents to the front of the boat and walk up to the back to talk to Ryan and Cat and find out what was taking so long. It was, indeed, us waiting for the boat from below to get ready so I stood waiting and watching and finally it pulled in and the process could begin. As you have seen from the previous video it is not a very quick trip but it was really quite amazing and I do wish I could have experienced it with steam power. When they converted it to electric they left all the old gears and pulleys up on top of the structure to show how it had been and it must have been an impressive sight when all of them were turning and grinding away. Now it is smooth, silent and pretty boring as a single huge ram lifts and lowers each side.

Pretty quickly we were out of the darkness of the bottom of the lift and proceeding slowly along the Weaver. This was a very pretty part of the day with lots of wildlife (we saw eagles, a cormorant sat on a sunk barge, loads of other water birds and a very fast drone flying around near the eagles) and the sun had really come out making it rather pleasant. We cruised gently towards town and before we knew it were pulling up by Waitrose in the centre and mooring up. By this time we were all hungry so after a fairly long walk we were pleased to find a Wetherspoons and go inside for food and a drink. My mum made me proud as we were ordering food by bantering along with some of the other people at the bar and the food wasn't great but it wasn't terrible and it hit the spot. We had to get a cab back to the car after which wasn't too bad and, other than me getting a little confused on one roundabout, we reached home without any problems. We were all tired from the day so after a brew they headed off and I headed to bed.

 

Sitting in the sun on a Sunday

Sunday they were at church so after a toast-based breakfast they headed off and left me to my working. I had a good day catching ahead of a few things and fixed a large number of issues that had been reported to me by the tester on Thursday, so that was good. I was also in charge of dinner which was a leg of lamb to be roasted so I put that in on a lowish heat while they were still out. After I had done about four hours work I decided to enjoy the sun which had come out and so dragged the recliner into the back garden, took a book, and was still out there when they got back from church. I continued to prepare dinner, adding tatties and then parsnips and then finally, very near the end, taking the juices for gravy and then putting the veg on.

 

Mother taking the time to rest as well

While I was doing this last my mother slipped outside and stole my chair but how could I refuse as she looked totally relaxed and peaceful. They had spent the afternoon walking and caching while I stayed reading and cooking, and had had a lovely time of it. You can’t tell from this picture but she was waggling her feet in time to something internal music. Brilliant.

 

Amazing roast lamb

Shortly after I took this picture I had to disturb her as food was being served. I had hoped that we could eat outside but we weren't able to get the table through the back door so we sat in the back and ate it and it was just as good as it looks here. We each had enough and there was plenty left over (I was munching on some cold when I started writing this update) and after that I went back outside to get the last of the sun. After a while they headed off to their evening church and I sat down to try and do this blog. It was then that I found that the camera wasn't being recognised any more by the laptop and after a fair while of panicking about drivers and maybe broken cameras I noticed a wire had come loose in the cable and was able to order a replacement which came this afternoon.

 

Back out in the sun

I went to bed early enough last night but not too early but unfortunately last night was a terrible night. I only read til midnight but when I woke up this morning it felt like I had been awake all night. I was not in a good mood and sadly I was a bit short with my mother as she tried to help me stack up plates to wash up. I hope my apology was enough but if not, sorry mum I was not myself this morning. After tea and toast they headed off home and I got back to work which was also good for me. I had some cheese on toast which completed me feeling like a human again though even now I’ve got a heavy head and feel battered. The cold morning once more cleared during the day and I was able again to drag the chair outside and spend several hours sat reading and enjoying the sun. This was spoiled first when some kids came screaming and shrieking into a garden nearby but I cope with that; what I could not deal with and did force me inside was my neighbour bring some rubbish music outside. Why can’t people just sit in peace and enjoy the weather? Why do you need inane music to exist?!

Anyway, grump over, I have eaten my cold Sunday roast and now I’m going to try and finish off the last of the work I targeted for completion this weekend and then it will be to bed and to try and sleep before a super busy week. Enjoy.