The Last Blog

Looking at the blogroll which shows the last post made by each blogger (on the lower, left hand side of this page), some haven't blogged for 2 years.

Whilst I'm sure that many just got bored or what seemed like a good idea at the time, lost its shine (the new fad became something of a fag), some have probably sold up.

Since my involvement in the netosphere aspect of canal boating (about 6 years), I've seen quite a few boaters come and go.

This is made quite noticeable by blogs, where newbie boaters spring up with their new blogs, full of enthusiasm, often looking for escapism and a new life on the canals of merry England.

At the other end of the "long cruise", boaters often have to give up due to ill health, financial problems or disillusionment with the way the waterways are evolving.

Inspired by the epitaph of comedian Spike Milligan, whose gravestone says in Gaelic "I told you I wasn't well", when I'm ready to hang up my windlass, I might be tempted to make one last blog:

"taking on water, am sinking slo"

The Biggest Big Top

We went to a Westlife concert recently at the O2 arena on the Greenwich peninsula in London.

It was our first time at O2 and we were quite impressed by the facility.

It's got to be the biggest "big-top" I've ever seen.

Not only is it absolutely massive, but its also a dream to reach and park at and there are lots of restaurants inside to keep you entertained, pre-show.

If anything, the facility was a little underused, as there are still large open spaces inside the tent and I'm sure it has untapped potential for the future.

I'm so glad they didn't demolish it after the Millenium celebrations.

P.S Sorry about the photo quality - I had my pocket camera with me and the light wasn't the best.

Sunk Without Trace

You may recall that we visited the National Waterways Museum at Ellesmere Port a while ago. I was very impressed by the museum and facility, but surprised at how many wrecks were lying around on the bottom.
Now I know that with wooden boats, this is the best place for them if you don't have the money to repair them and return them to their former glory. However, I was slightly concerned that visiting boats were navigating around the various basins of the museum and the wrecks weren't marked.
To a mariner like myself, it would seem sensible and quite inexpensive to secure marker buoys to each end of the wrecks, so that boats who are quite low in the water themselves would see them.
A recent comment on the blog of NB Caxton suddenly brought my attention to this here:

http://narrowboatcaxton.blogspot.com/2011/04/ellesmere-port.html