Taking Backbearings
There's always a prior job to do; a pre-task that needs finishing before the job that is actually next on the list can be attempted. It's usually a fix, or an assembly; I will have bought something to do a task with before I'm
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On Baked Beans and Productivity
I have a funny relationship with money. Love-hate, one might say. I love it, it hates me; or to put it another way, we are diametrically opposed in our outlook and aims in life. This year I've so far tried several different ways of charming it into my
A Winter Warmer
Bringing the sunshine to midwinter Funny how time is passing in a haze here. As I started to write this post in January, the opening line of 'Storm after storm batters us this winter, from the rains of the Autumn and pre-Christmas weeks, to the winds of the new
On Radio Silence
A Post For Rob and Lorna It’s been a while since I opened this page to type. Not that it hasn’t been on my mind throughout; and the lack of published prose has become a bit of a stick with which I have begun to beat myself; so
Welcome and Hello
The Restless Forge is- or will be- a working smithy housed on a narrowboat called ‘Murphy’s Game’ (nee MORLAS). This boat is a vehicle for many things; from the workaday minutiae of any forge- the commissions and repairs- to a base for teaching blacksmithing to others. It is also,
Autumn Stroll, Winter Walk
Let’s walk and talk for a minute, if you will. It’s been a month since I started writing this post, or almost a month; and quite a month at that. As I typed the first line of this post on my phone, I strolled up the towpath to
Aaand We Are a GO!
A not-so quick update
Meet me on the Ledge
A call to arms and hands
Fading From View
On temporality, and the passing fad of industry
A Homecoming... to Where?
On the conclusion, and on moving on in a different way
A Bostin' Blow Through Bandit Country
A big day of it, 8 and a half hours without a by-your-leave or a stop for coffee. 14 locks, three canals, the M6 and the Aston Expressway, and finishing the day digging down past the pilings to find somewhere to anchor the mooring chain. We did the Birmingham run
There and Back Again
An Unexpected Journey, or Getting the Run Around
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So Near And Yet Not So Near At All
So, that’s it then. The initial month-long closure turned swiftly into six weeks, and then just as quickly into three months at least. We all saw it coming; the diplomatic way that Waterways staff used qualifiers such as “hope", “plan", and “aim" were the giveaway. Well,
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'Til the Landslide Brings You Down
I've tried to write this post a few times; most frequently in the early hours of the morning when stress turns into insomnia and rest cannot be bought with care nor medicine. When reading the drafts back however, they strike me more as entitled whining than updates and
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Step into Christmas, Drift into the New Year
A bit of midwinter footage to finish off the story of 2023. Here is part of Christmas Eve’s afternoon run, itself cut short because I’d left the boat key at home and had to drag us both back down the bypass (sorry about that). I’ve already written
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Days that Vanish in the Gloaming
Here it is, the end of the year. Or, there it was, at least. It's already been Christmas and New Year, despite it still being a few weeks away just a few minutes ago. An entire week has passed in the mere seconds since I started this draft.
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A Late Summer Expedition
Hello all, well it looks like I’ve finally resolved the video upload glitch here, so in celebration here is a good 90 odd minute cruise through the Stoke area and into Staffordshire proper, coming to rest at a pub named bizarrely enough, after the actor Neil Morrissey. The mind
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Closing Chapters
The end of the Trent and Mersey
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To Absent Friends
Step aboard again, a short journey this time. The cool autumn air takes the comfort from the body; a little from the soul, too. Another year is on the wane, already; heady days pass into memory and away to the ether with falling housedust and retreating echoes. The clank of
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Into the Chase
Staffordshire always strikes me as a busy county. One of roadsalt-greyed grass verges and constant roadworks. Huge roadside pubs, always boarded up; nobody ever having time for a swift libation, I assume, it being so busy round here. This view is borne largely from experience; I've travelled through
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Past the South Portal
Into Stoke and beyond
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A quick update
Morning all This is just a quick post to keep everyone in the loop. As you have noticed, for the last couple of weeks posts have been a little more sporadic; largely a consequence of the huge demands on my time from work over the high summer period. August into
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Summer Holidays are for.... Other People
Apologies for the radio silence of late; it has been a hooly of a month. August started off routine enough, but as is always the way, that month runs away from one. Though I don’t work in farming in anger any more, I do get caught up in the
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On Reflection: Boating About Life
There is something mesmerising about this; about this activity, this way of life. I find the tactile nature of it seductive, there’s no doubt. Even the terrible days, the expensive infuriating days, even those days have something familiar and inviting about them. It is the first click in the