Festival time

Yesterday, Jodie and I went to one of Europe's great rock festivals at Werchter in Belgium. We mainly went to see Coldplay, who closed the day and were truly awesome again. They are brilliant at festivals because the carry the crowd with them, and once again, we left the grounds with everyone still singing the chant from Viva la Vida. Truly great, but no surprises about that. it was what we were expecting anyway.

The biggest surprises for me were Elbow, whose act we just caught the end of, and the Killers. Elbow are really different and very good indeed, playing a kind of prog-rock instrumental mix combined with Keane style melodies and soaring vocals. Yummy music. I like! The Killers, on the other hand, have a distinct new Wave feel and were EXCELLENT! It's not popular to like them it seems, but they were so professional and such great performers. They put on a fantastic show and I loved it.







One thing we both noticed was how pleasant and well organised the festival was. The market and food stalls were mostly lining the approaching road outside the grounds, and had places where you could sit down and eat or drink in comfort. There were also stalls inside but not so many, and it meant there was less of a crush. The crowd were peaceful, friendly and polite with young guys even apologising for being tall if they were standing in front of us, and asking if we could see properly. We couldn't of course, but that wasn't their fault, and we appreciated the kindness. As usual we had to rely on the big screens to see all but glimpses of the performers, but all the same it was great to be with such a nice crowd, and a very mixed one at that. I was definitely not the oldest there...amazing, hey?

In the trail of the Snail

Today was one of those days that will live long in my memory.

It started off as a disaster and ended as an adventure with new friends. The disaster was that the Hennie Ha could not be craned onto dry land for its much needed repairs. When Koos arrived at the yard this morning, the helling boss started the process of lifting it out of the water and then stopped. His on-board computer told him that our dainty little barge has a weight problem. It tipped the scales at a serious 19 tons, nearly double what we had estimated; the bad news was that their crane has a maximum lifting capacity of 15 tons. Even worse was that it had been towed to Zelzate yesterday because the oil cooler was leaking like a worn out tap and the repair to the steering had lasted about five minutes and then broke again. Now it would have to be towed back again to Sas van Gent as the only chance to get it out of the water again will be up the slipway in October. Our luck really sucks sometimes.

Our good angel-cum-volunteer for the task turned out to be the famous Wandering Snail of my previous post. Annie had picked up my note last week and sent me an email to say they would be in Zelzate visiting friends, and sure enough, there they were in the marina. Koos had already made contact, so when I arrived from Rotterdam, we both went onto their gorgeous narrowboat to meet them. What a charmer it is and what really lovely people they are too. They showed us around..or I should say along, because it really is very narrow... but it is beautifully fitted out by Oll, and exactly in the style that I love with quite a bit of canal boat art as part of the decor. Anyway, to cut a long (and narrow) story short, they offered to tow the Hennie Ha back to Sas van Gent for us, which they did, along with Koos and their two friends. I had to do shore duty as transport driver, photo taker and rope catcher, but I was very glad to be able to take these photos of a somewhat unique sight on the Belgian waterways! It was quite an adventure for the Snail, which looked very proud to be acting as tugboat to the stricken Hennie Ha. I think all concerned were also rather pleased with the neatly executed manoeuvring at the end of the journey (remember the Hennie H has no steering).

Well done and thank you so much Oll, Annie, Rikus and Nelleke. You were all stars. We are so very glad to have met you and are honoured to have been towed by such a waterways celeb ;-)

Vicarious adventures

So much has happened in the past twelve months that dreams of going faring for any length of time have had to be shelved along with my planned sabbatical. The dream will come true, but just not yet, so I'm having to satisfy my craving to go travelling by vicarious means (don't you just love that word? It's what Jodie would call a purring word ;-)).

At the moment there are three wonderful blogs that I'm following in particular, apart from my usual rounds, and they all involve long distance journeys on the waters. The blogs in question are NBHerbie, the almost daily log of a three month plus cruise round England's canals, rivers and Fen ditches; Blauwe Vis, our friend Philip's tales of his travels through France and Wandering Snail's Wanderings, stories and photos of an English Narrowboat's meanderings through Belgium.

Reading their stories has been fantastic. I've followed their progress and both laughed and gasped with them at every twist and turn. Neil of the Herbie blog writes in a lovely, friendly self deprecating way, but reading between the lines, you just know he knows how to handle his boat (and himself) in some pretty scary situations. He also gives heaps of information about the wildlife, countryside and birds that they see on their way. I never realised England had so much truly rural and unspoilt fen land, and I check his blog every day as I hate to miss an update. He takes some mean photos too.

Philip's blog is like following my own dream of going to France on the Vereeniging, but apart from that, his story telling is so vivid and colourful, it should be a book not a blog. Sadly most other people won't be able to read it as he writes in Dutch (naturally) and also in quite an informal and colloquial style. Sometimes I have to read his posts two or three times before I really understand everything, but all the same, I love them and it's like hearing him speak. He always was good at spinning a yarn..... And, these accounts are full of local life and characters, but with probably just a few small embellishments here and there to add a bit of sauce to the flavour! His photos are also terrific and tell the story of his travels really beautifully too.

The last one, Wandering Snail's Wanderings, is a recent find and I discovered them through Saltysplash, whose blog is another on my list of favourites. When I saw that Wandering Snail was a narrowboat cruising through Belgium, I read the blog from start to finish, and am now following it regularly. What was even more of a thrill was that we came across them ourselves when visiting Ieper last weekend. We'd decided to have a day out, and were originally going to go to Bergues in France on the strength of one of their posts. After slogging a hundred km's through the pouring rain, though, we decided to cut our losses and go to Ieper (or Ypres in French) instead. Well, imagine our surprise and excitement when we found the Snail herself moored up in the harbour there. It was like seeing a celebrity after having read so much about this most fêted of English barges.

The owners, Oll and Annie were clearly around but we couldn't make ourselves heard, so had to leave a note to say we'd called. Later that evening I got an email from them saying they'd been there but were watching the F1 racing so hadn't heard us! Who says that life afloat needs to be limited? Satellite TV and all mod cons, not to mention a stunning Royal Enfield motorbike. Of course I took some photos to prove it (see below). The good news is that we will probably be catching up with these two blogging boaters when they arrive in Ghent in the coming days.

You can just see my note under the mat there

The beautiful carving Oll did for their roof. The story behind it is on their blog.

The Wandering Snail from the stern

.........from the bows

And the Royal Enfield motorbike tucked into their foredeck

I can really recommend following the links. See what I see and see what I dream about too. If you can't go travelling, sharing the experiences of these three very different waterways cruisers will at least give you a taste of what it is to have this wonderful way of life that all we boat people aim for - always. These three have succeeded in making it happen. I wish I was one of them.

The good, the bad and the very very oily

Yesterday we moved the Vereeniging to its new place in the Oude Haven's neighbouring village, the Haringvliet. It's something I've wanted awhile too along with the changes to the Vooronder etc. This was the best thing, as well as getting the ship moving again, which always feels good.

Here are some pics of the move and its new place, courtesy of Mo.

The Vereeniging looking lovely in its new home.


Holly Houdini, the escape artist - one of Mo's Moggies


Do I look bored or what? Haha! This was when waiting for the reverse to be fixed



Koos playing at being DJ


The bad part was that I'll miss it. Stupid really. Don't know why as it'll hardly be a stone's throw away. I'll also miss Mo and Craig as neighbours. I'd got used to having them around and there was a big empty space next to us this morning where both my ship and my daughter should have been.

Bad too was the fact we had a slight problem with the Vereeniging's reverse gear system. This is my nemesis. It's the technical glitch I dread the most, and it's the one that always happens. The ship version of having no brakes....my imagination goes into overdrive just at the thought of it. Fortunately, Koos managed to repair the problem, but we'd both forgotten one very important consideration.

When starting out, we'd put Sindy in the car as she is not a happy camper on board and tends to be something of a distraction when she goes into doggie catatonia (excuse the pun - no cats are involved at all) and virtual cardiac arrest at the mere sound of a diesel engine revving up. However, when we had to stop to fix the reverse, Koos went back to get his tools and I asked him to put Sin back on the Luxor. Unfortunately she needed a pee before we got back and in her frantic attempts to find a way out, she stumbled into the Luxor's bilges.

We arrived back to find one very very filthy, oily Sin hugging the stairs out of the Luxor having destroyed a rug and splattered old sump oil all over the ktichen and shower area. The only blessing was that she hadn't gone into the living area. Her smart tan patches were nowhere to be seen. She was just one big black oily blob.

Needless to say we felt terrible for causing her such anxiety, but has anyone ever tried to get old sump oil off an already distressed, paranoid pooch? I've so far worked my way through six towels, a whole bottle of dishwashing liquid, a bottle of shampoo, three changes of clothes (for me, not Sindy) several throws to protect the furniture, three washing machine loads to clean all of the above and 24 hours later, my dog is still slick and greasy to the touch leaving large brown patches on everything she sits or lies on. Any tips would be gratefully received.

Ah well, life is never ever boring...is it?

The Vereeniging's new guest cabin

Ever since I've had the Vereeniging, I've dreamed of turning the space under the foredeck into a spare bedroom for guests. In the picture above, it is the area below the white hatch cover behind the chairs. Unfortunately, I never managed to convince myself that all the wood I stored there and all my tools could possibly go anywhere else, and so my dream wasn't realised - that is, not until now.

With Craig and Mo taking the Vereeniging over for a while, I've had to clear out all my things, including my tools and woodworking materials. I've been ruthless too and a lot has been thrown away, while the rest is either being stored at the cottage or housed in Koos's vooronder. I've mentioned before that they also wanted a guest room, so between the three of us - Mo, Craig and myself - we've worked our backs off to do the conversion in the last two weeks. I'm using the word 'backs' deliberately as there is nowhere of standing height in the vooronder so it has been very hard on us from that point of view. We've had to work in very cramped space, constantly bending over and bashing our heads on things, and I'm still in some pain as a result... but boy, the results have been worth it. The pictures below tell the story from start to finish.



The beginnings. Insulating the hull and starting the back wall

Cladding the insulated sides of the hull with flexible plywood


The plywood walls are then trimmed with strips to seal the joins and painted. The pine plinth is to finish the forepeak and provide a place for a portapotti.

The back wall is varnished with teak coloured finish and the floor is insulated.


The ceiling is also painted




The floor is then carpeted


Finally, we make two single beds that are built into the sides of the hull

The beds have mattresses cut to fit, then today, Mo bought duvets, pretty covers and pillows. With a small table (later to have the tiny basin built in) and two night lights, it's ready to receive the first guests. Tomorrow, my stepson (Mo and Jo's brother) and a friend are arriving for a weekend in the Netherlands, so we were just in time!

It's a busy old life

It's Monday again, and I'm left wondering where the time has gone. Everything's so busy at the moment, and it's not about work either.

We're back in Rotterdam after a weekend trying to sort out leaky gutters in the cottage and faulty steering on the poor little Hennie H. With the former, we've had some luck (I hope). On Sunday morning, the rain was streaming down the kitchen walls. VallyP was not amused, so I took photos and sent them to the builder. He arrived later in the afternoon full of apologies and promptly scaled the ladder armed with some serious skirting which he has now glued into place. I am fairly confident this will at last do the trick.

As for the Hennie H, Koos thought he had fixed the broken steering, only to take it out for a test and find the same problem occurring again - it can only turn in one direction...not very helpful unless we plan to confine ourselves to a a life of "go left, my friend, go left." so it's back to the drawing board and a new plan next week. It has to be fixed soon as it is going to the yard in Zelzate at the beginning of July, and we will have a lot of work to do there.

This week, the Vereeniging will be moving to the neighbouring Haringvliet. I shall miss seeing it here, but it will be quieter for Mo and Craig there, and when they buy their own boat - something that looks to be sooner rather than later - I shall have the pleasure of moving there myself. We have a new loopplank arriving tomorrow for the Luxor, so that the one we use now (belonging to the Vereeniging - see below) can go with it. Even so, it needs some welding to make a proper support for it. Anther wee job for our Koos...

At the moment, we are comfortable on the Luxor, and I still have plenty to keep me busy here too. Below is a recent pic of its interior and a couple of nice family pics that Koos took.







And here are a few more pics of the Luxor's interior with my 'office' space and the rest of it. Still lots to be done by way of fixtures and fittings, but it is fairly cosy now with a decent shower and loo too!







Sorry about the blurriness of the kitchen pic. I should have put it on a hard surface as I didn't use the flash.

Have a good week, all.

It's a banging good weekend

They weren't really on a collision course, but it looks like it. They are two identical transporters meeting each other in the Westerschelde estuary not far from Westdorpe

I know we live in the middle of a serious city. I know that. I really do. What I can't get to grips with, though, is the total and mind blowing cacophony we have to live with. I was going to say unbelievable, but it isn't. Unbelievable that is. It's only too real. 24/7, 7/31, 31/12 (or in some cases make that 30 and ok, in one case 28).

Nearly every morning I wake up thinking that WW3 has begun, or at least that we are under attack from giants with monster walking sticks thumping their way through the city streets. This starts at 7 a.m. Not so early you might say for a world war or crippled giants on the loose, but then this is after a night spent listening to riotous revellers who think that the people they are with and all the rest of the world as well are deaf.

Maybe I should backtrack a bit and explain that the dawn raids or in other parlance, early wake up calls, are from the pile drivers on the building site next to the harbour. Oh, I forgot. Not just one site. There are now..let me see...about four sites in very audible proximity to the harbour. They are all building ever higher tower blocks in competition with each other, and they all seem to need to start the race for pile driver of the day, every day and even on Saturdays, at the same time. (I wonder if there's a yellow jersey for the winner of each stage?). Anyway, the explosion of sound and vibration is worse than any rock concert ever, and what baffles me is that there are no government health warnings advising the local populace to wear ear protection when within five kilometres of such locations. Strangely, all the builders wear them, but we mere mortals are clearly unworthy.

As for the night time revellers, I'm sure they think everyone is deaf because I've stood outside in my PJ's at four in the morning watching them. Picture this. Two extremely inebriated students are standing less than a metre from each other. No closer of course. This is Holland, and not Italy, remember. In any other circumstances, they'd be close enough to whisper and still hear each other clearly. But no. They have to shout at the tops of their lungs, and just to make sure they've got their point across, they feel obliged to pick up a few tables and chairs and hurl them into the water for added emphasis. Vocal punctuation is obviously not enough. They need a few physical exclamation marks.

Sometimes, tempers flare and fights ensue. Given the state of inebriation, time is relative to the participants and what might normally be a few terse words is strung out into a long drawn out battle of howls of distress emphasised at intervals by the regulation chair and table throwing, and if things get really bad, then the bicycles fly.

This also goes on pretty much seven days a week.

For a little extra spice, call up the trams squealing across their tracks from six in the morning onwards and the testosterone-boosted boy racers screeching their tyres as they u-turn at the end of the harbour where the road meets its end. Not to mention, of course, the gangs of youths who arrive at any time during the night with their car windows down and their heavy rap music which resounds across the harbour and double flips back to meet itself half way - right over our barges.

"What a gezellig place to live!" my Dutch students say when I tell them I live on a barge in the Oude Haven. I merely smile vacantly, and ask them if they'd like to sample a Friday night experience. I see them thinking of the implications. Many of them are quick to realise that they might well be party to some of my night hour distress. Then I tell them about WW3 every morning. Aaah, they nod sagely. It's a bit noisy yes? Just a bit, I say.

I have escaped now to my personal 'haven', but this one is of peace. We are down in Westdorpe, affectionaly known as Westdopey, for some much needed relief.

On that note, I hope you all have a crashing good weekend. Love from all of us here in quiet, sleepy Zeeuws Vlaanderen.

Randomness

I haven't updated my blog in the last week, mainly because there's been almost too much going on and I haven't known where to start, but I thought I'd better get down to it now, otherwise it will be too difficult to pick it up again, and that would never do, would it?

Well firstly, we have made the move, and Craig and Mo are now living on the Vereeniging. Just beforehand, though, I managed to finish a couple of jobs I'd been meaning to do since last summer when I had to re-do the panelling after the new steel sides were put in. There were two window frames I hadn't made and I also had to repair the kitchen panel which can still be removed. Getting these things done felt good.

Mo and Craig have really changed the interior a lot, and although it's not me, it looks great. Very spacious and uncluttered (definitely not me!). Earlier in the month, I'd also got our Bruce to cut a small doorway through to the roef at the back behind the engine room, so now Craig has that as his den, and it's fantastic. I wish I'd had this done before as it's opened up the whole barge and made the roef part of the llving space. I'm already coveting it as my office. The vooronder isn't clear yet, but probably will be in the next week, and then we can start that conversion too.

I've moved my office and some of my other things onto the Luxor, but the rest has come south to the cottage. The living room here looks rather grand now that it's sporting two sofas. I managed to buy a nice old blanket chest to use as a coffee table instead of the slightly too large pine one I had - which is now redundant. I also had to buy yet another bookcase to house all my books and a whole heap of Koos's too. Luckily I managed to find one that matches the other two I'd bought before. This was was an even better bargain at €25, so I was really chuffed with that.

I do absolutely love Marktplaats. It's the Dutch version of e-bay, and I buy almost everything I need this way. Scouring the stuff for sale on the web is almost my favourite do-nothing pastime. An incorrigible bargain hunter I am! Anyway, the two pics below were ones I have just taken with my phone, so they are really current images of what the living room looks like now.





I also need to update my house blog, as there's been a lot of activity on that front recently, although the latest developments haven't been so good. I had the gutters replaced because the old lead ones were rotten, but now there's something wrong with the construction and I've got huge damp patches on the walls in the bathroom, kitchen and living room as a result. Needless to say, the builder has been summoned!

Anyway, back to the Luxor, I am hoping to do some 'modernisation' there too, and will be insulating the sides and building in some cupboards to make it more space efficient. Koos has plans to put into action too. Ho hum, lots to do. Anyway, that aside, I'm still teaching during the week and have been quite busy lately with individual coaching sessions. I'm also giving some business writing workshops, which are great fun, but come the end of July, I'll stop for a month and then hopefully go to France for a few days to see my sister in their holiday home down south. Really, really looking forward to it.

There are other things in the pipeline too, but I think this is enough for one post. I'll leave you with some photos I took last Monday from Fort Lievenshoek, an old 18th century fortified settlement on the south bank of the Schelde. Like its opposite number on the north side, Lillo, it's a charming historic oasis in amongst the industry of Antwerp's docklands. Have a good weekend everyone!

Changes

This coming week, life will change. I'm not sure yet how it's going to feel, but at the very least it will be strange for a while. Mo and Craig have been here for some months now (as you know) and have found that getting a home of their own is more difficult than they'd bargained for. They've been staying on the Luxor since they arrived and combining that with eating with us. But now we feel it's time Koos got his boat back, and as none of my efforts to help them buy a small flat, or even rent a place, have been successful, we are now doing a swap.

As of this coming Thursday, I am moving off the Vereeniging to let them have it for themselves for a couple of years. Yes, I know. Big move for me. But, I've done it before. About three years ago, Jodie lived on the Vereeniging for nearly a year too, and in that time, I spent the week on the Luxor and went to Brussels at the weekends (remember the Tenacité?). Well, Brussels was a phase that passed and now I have the cottage in Zeeuws Vlaanderen, which is where I am writing this. It is gradually becoming a home from home, and this weekend, we came down loaded with books and pictures and the stuff that has previously made my little barge so cosy.

One of the reasons for working so hard on both boats recently has been with this change in sight, and there are still jobs that I need to do on the Vereeniging, which will happen after they've moved in. They've planned some adjustments inside, notably to the colour scheme and arrangement of the interior, and they also plan to turn the storage space below the foredeck into a spare bedroom - a job I will help with. So I'll still be involved - for a while anyway. I have a feeling that after a year or so, they may well feel it's too small, but at least this will give them some time to sort out their finances, gain some credit history and get on their feet.

As for me, I shall focus some further TLC on the Luxor, and then of course, we have our escape as well......



Some random pics here. The first is of one of my favourite barges in the harbour, owned by friend Bas, who single handedly uses this beautiful Hasselteaark as his home, his transport and his workplace. He has no car, so whenever he has to go some distance for his work as a professional electrical engineer, he just takes his home and workshop with him.



This second is one I rather like as it's vaguely surreal. The child stopped in this street in perfect position against the looming presence of the bridge keeper's tower just behind the houses.



And this third is for me so special. To see Sin enjoying a really good roll, even these days when she's often very stiff, is great. I can almost feel her satisfaction. I wish I could do that too sometimes!

Beautiful and back...in the water

And look at lovely Sindy sitting on the deck of the Luxor....