We hope your Christmas was jolly and filled with good times with friends and family. Unfortunately, ours didn’t turn out quite as planned this year.
A pre-Christmas trip over to York was enjoyed to meet up with the London Leckenbys. As expected, plenty of yummy food, drink and conversation. We’d chosen to head over by bus, but after waiting for half an hour at the end of our road the Coastliner hadn’t arrived, in fact we saw it coming into the Scarborough, an hour late, so we opted for the train instead, for an extra £30!
Painting for the Leckenby flat in York of Lady Peckett’s Yard
Back in Scarborough I just managed to get back to the house to see our veg box being delivered. Each year the Tree Top Press kids help deliver Christmas veg and poultry hoping for donations to their chosen charity, this year donations were going to the local branch of Parkinson’s UK. I just managed to catch them to add our donation to their collection tin. Mick picked up our duck from the butchers, now all we needed was for the rest of the shopping to arrive Christmas Eve and a slight niggle in the back of my throat to be banished.
York Station selfie, the last time I went outside
Christmas Eve, I felt really quite ropey. Sausage rolls for lunch were made and eaten, by the end of the day a gammon joint and dauphinoise potatoes were cooked, but no prep for our Christmas Day feast was managed. Messages were sent to friends to see if Frank could join them, I really didn’t want to give Frank my lurgy. Thankfully space was found for him at a table and he suggested we postpone our festive meal. This was hardly surprising, it’ll mean he’ll get to have two Christmas dinners!
Pair 109 delivered in York
Father Christmas arrived, we’d been good. Lots of Dreamies, 15 pairs of socks between us, 2 chocolate oranges and some orange bites for Tilly, 4 M&S salted caramel millionaire bars and the usual scissors, post it notes (of the giant variety) and other bits and bobs.
Scrambled eggs and smoked salmon were enjoyed without the usual bucks fizz. Followed by presents. A goody bag from Hook Norton Brewery, a lovely weekend bag, new big thin mugs for Oleanna, a new outdoor sensor for the weather station (hopefully this one won’t end up in a CRT bin somewhere), a smart top I’d really wanted from Seasalt, new waterproof trousers, a very nice blue glass water jug, a carry bag for a water bottle, a Victron Energy IP65 SmartShunt 300A so that the bow thruster batteries can be monitored, an Ant Savage narrowboat t-shirt that looks a bit like Three Bridges, and a book on foraging weeds! Photos to follow if I can be bothered. A pretty good present haul. Thank you everyone.
Christmas dinner of left overs
Mid afternoon we enjoyed more of our Christmas Eve gammon, then some improvising was required for my birthday cake. In a drawer in the kitchen Mick had found some celebratory candles. These only lasted a short while before they extinguished themselves, even before being blown out! But one of the millionaire bars came in handy with the posh candle Mick had bought. Not quite the baked French cheesecake I’d planned, but at least I got to make a wish as I blew out the candle, I also got to eat the whole of the cake myself, so as not to share my germs with Mick!
Improvised birthday cake
Boxing Day. I was a touch concerned that should we leave the duck until I felt well enough to have Frank round it would have gone off, so I finished the Christmas Day prep, stuffing and gravy making and baked the cheesecake. Mid-afternoon 25 hours later than originally planned, we tucked into Christmas dinner. Mick said it was very nice, my taste buds had gone on strike so I couldn’t comment. No room for cake and in fact I seemed to take a downward turn in the evening and headed to bed early.
Yesterday we got chance to try the cake at last at lunch time. When in the oven I’d slightly panicked that the tin hadn’t been big enough for the mixture, but thankfully it had just risen up and not gone over the edges. I refrained from making raspberry coulis to go with it, even without it was very tasty, surprisingly considering it was made with sweetener rather than sugar so Frank could have some, at least I could taste it!
Breakfast in bed
Hopefully in the next couple of days we’ll get Frank round for a dinner, pull some crackers and consume the nice wine he’d brought round in advance and help us finish off my cake. We’ve also still got tree presents to unwrap when he’s here.
So we got lots of nice things for Christmas and one lurgy! We’re at least a day behind ourselves, maybe we’ll catch up before the New Year and get to go for a walk, my first time outside the house in nearly a week!
We’ve obviously been good this year as we all woke to very full stockings this morning.
There may not gave been any Quality Street, but there’s still Terry’s Chocolate Oranges, even though one of them is minty!
Tilly refuses to share her Christmas Dreamies with us and has already had two Webbox before getting up! Not sure what she’ll make of the Yorkshire Tea!
This morning we’re watching as photos come in of the breach on the Llangollen Canal that happened in the early hours of this morning. At least two boats maybe three were where the breach happened, those on board were evacuated by the local fire service.
Ambulances, police and fire fighters where at the scene very quickly, an emergency dam was put up presumably upstream of the breach. Thankfully because of the flow on the Llangollen levels came back up quite quickly.
There are several vloggers on the Llangollen at the moment, so I suspect they will all cover what has happened.
We’re thinking of all those affected, especially those who’s boats were bang on where the breach happened.
The other evening I came across a post on social media regarding CRT’s Reservoir Watch. This year, as all boaters know, has been a bad one for water levels around the network. The dry spring and summer along with some reservoirs being kept low for maintenance, halted navigation along many canals. Certainly, our plans changed because of the lack of water. Should the water levels have been better, then we’d have been able to head by boat onto the South Oxford Canal for me to commute to work on panto. Mick and Tilly would have had to have been north of Somerton Deep Lock to avoid being stuck whilst new lock gates were installed at the beginning of November. Then we’d have spent the last few weeks gradually cruising northwards, the aim of reaching Alrewas for Christmas. Our festive duck would have been ordered at Coates Butchers ready to be picked up Christmas Eve. Betwixedmas would have been spent, watching river levels and hopefully making our way to Redhill Marina for Oleanna to come out of the water at New Year to await her repaint in the spring.
Tree!A lot bigger than we’d have had on the boat.
But that just wasn’t to be. Instead, we’ll have a walk along the south bay beach, followed by Christmas dinner with our friend Frank. Our bird will come from TS Horsleys, vegetables provided by Tree Top Press, pudding will be my birthday cake late afternoon as usual. It’ll be a lovely time, but I will miss watching and smelling the braised cabbage slowly cooking on top of the multi-fuel stove and juggling things between the fridge in the galley and the overflow fridge at the stern of Oleanna safely tucked under the pram cover.
However, I’ve digressed.
Me! Never!!
The Reservoir Watch is interesting, levels having risen dramatically in some areas of the country after Novembers down pouring of rain. Did you know it was the wettest month of the year, so far? Not hard during a drought year. But hopefully things are looking brighter for next year as levels are recovering, except for the Huddersfield Narrow and the GU South which are both still hovering around 50% of their capacity. Some reservoirs are still having work carried out on them, Toddbrook being held at -12m below its top until work is completed, the Peak Forest and Macclesfield Canals will sigh a big sigh once Toddbrook is full again.
The cheese has arrived from Hebden Bridge
We’ve not had chance to visit Oleanna for a couple of weeks, she’s that little bit too far away to visit and have a bowl of soup whilst doing jobs. But as time gets closer to her repaint we’ll be visiting to empty cupboards. A chance to rationalise items on board that may not have been seen for years, but have been acting as handy ballast!
Now which one shall I do?
Christmas prep is well under way here in Scarborough. This afternoon will see me baking a spiced orange cake to enjoy with my family pre-Christmas. The choice of birthday cake this year has to cater for diabetic as well as gluten-free diets. I think I’ve decided between a rice pudding cake and a cheese cake.
Waiting to watch the SJT Christmas show
The decorations are all up, cards arriving, cards and biscuits delivered, annual hair cut and a visit to the SJT to watch our lodger in Sleeping Beauty, written by Nick Lane. For those who know Nick’s Christmas shows it doesn’t follow the usual story line. Hippos, Teddys and some wonderful lighting along with Annies very good badie made for a good nights entertainment.
Tilly watching out of the window
Thank you to the Cleddau and Tentatrice crews for your reviews of Beauty and The Beast at Chippy. I think you must have had the Happy Koala performance? Thankfully microphone problems they’ve been having recently had been solved before you saw the show. I hope you all booed in the right places and joined in with the song sheet and ahhhed when Les and Shelly snogged.
Little Ted watching to protect us from Badies in the house
Watching updates from Taylors Aboard about the Bridgewater breach show that the earth dam to the south of the breach has not been completed before the Christmas break. According to Josh it’s because the weather has been so wet. We watch Chris on NB Elektra who is on the Leeds Liverpool Canal and we read the blogs from those on board this Christmas, everyone helping to keep our boating habit fed.
Pair 109 coming along whilst watching films
0 locks, 0 miles, 0 trains, 1 duck ordered, 2kg potatoes may not be enough, 1 London Leckenby gathering, 1 cake to choose, 1 painting, pair 109 just about finished in time, 6 inches of hair gone, 1 Teddy for protection, 1.5 kg plums, 2 oranges, 7 eggs! 1 lonely boat by 8 cooling towers.
Back in April or was it May, we were looking for somewhere we might be able to moor up for several weeks whilst Mick headed back to Scarborough to oversee the building work going on at the house, waiting for roofers to have a working van etc, and for myself and Tilly to be somewhere suitable for the two of us. Tilly would need plenty of friendly cover to keep her occupied whilst I cracked on with designing the Chippy Panto. At the time we were around York on the River Ouse. The thought of mooring on the River Ouse wasn’t that appealing for me, over the last few days the river has shown its normal colours and is rising with the amount of rain that has fallen in the Dales. I ideally wanted to be off the river, maybe Ripon would be a good place. We tried contacting Ripon Marina, then considered Ripon Motor Boat Club. Would they have space for us? Would we need to be members?
Possible new curtain fabric for Oleanna
Years ago, Mick had come across a boat club for itinerant boaters like ourselves, one based virtually, affiliated to the AWCC (Association of Waterways Cruising Clubs).Cutweb Internet Boating Club was set up by Julian Tether along with other like minded boaters in 1998. We’d thought about joining, but this was when we were full time live aboards and we didn’t really see what we’d get out of being members. In recent years we’ve made friends with Brian and Jo on NB That’s It who are members of Strawberry Island Boat Club in Doncaster. Brian on occasion has asked if we’d like him to propose us to the committee to join the club. We’ve also got to know quite a few boaters at St Pancras Cruising Club, joining them on trips on the Tidal Thames. Did we really want to join one of these clubs? A mooring in Doncaster might be handy, but we didn’t really want to be tied to a home mooring.
Decorating supplies for the house
This year we wondered if joining Cutweb might have it’s advantages, we might meet other members and also be able to make use of the affiliation with the AWCC and be able to moor (if there’s room) at other cruising clubs around the network. Maybe being members might help us find a mooring in Ripon? We looked into it, a cheap joining fee and membership, it would be daft not to. We joined up, Brian (from NB Harnser) the Membership Secretary sent out our membership cards. Sadly, Ripon still couldn’t accommodate us, we were too long for their moorings.
In the end the spring had been so dry we didn’t worry too much about river levels and Tilly and I remained moored up along New Walk in York whilst Mick headed back to the house.
Scarborough South Bay
It wasn’t until much later in the year when we were looking for somewhere to leave Oleanna again that our membership came in handy. A couple of turn arounds of lodgers at the house, medical appointments in July and August meant it would be good to have somewhere secure to leave Oleanna. We’d headed for the Chesterfield Canal and thought of Retford and Worksop Boat Club. A phone call later we had somewhere to pull up that would be checked several times a day, being members of Cutweb meant we got several nights mooring for free and all we’d have to pay for was electric. Brilliant, and a very friendly bunch they were too, so much so we stayed a second time with them on the way back towards the River Trent.
Tilly guarding our coal and winning
Come October it was time for the Cutweb AGM. I was in the middle of Panto work in Chippy so I made sure that Mick voted for us. One committee member would not be standing again, the Treasurer, so they were looking for someone to take over looking after the books. I’ve been a Treasurer before for Crescent Arts in Scarborough many moons ago, but I thought being a newbie I wouldn’t put my name forward, also my mind was busy with the lack of props and making hundreds of roses for Beauty And The Beast.
Frank aghast that someone should have Mars bars and Golden Syrup suggested for their diet
Last week an email arrived to all members from the Commodore. Basically, unless a new Treasurer could be found then the boat club would have to be wound up. But we’d only just joined! We’d met with a couple of members whilst in Burton on Trent and taken advantage of the affiliation with the AWCC. What a shame if no one could be found.
Socks 107 and 108 finished
Hang on, just how much work could a boat club require with 96 members? I inquired, was put in touch with the outgoing Treasurer. My self-employed accounts and those I keep for the house are far more complicated. Yes this year had been a lean year for figures but still! I slept on it.
A touch moody to the south of Scarborough
At 10:32 the following morning I clicked send on an email to the Commodore offering to become Treasurer. Had I just saved Cutweb from being mothballed? An email came back would I be able to have a chat the following morning? A Whatsapp call to Italy early Sunday morning, a twenty minute chat with Ian, he seemed happy, so did I, he’d make a proposal to the committee. An email was sent out later that day and on Monday I was notified that the committee had voted unanimously for me to be Treasurer until the AGM next year when they hoped I’d stand for election.
Well you all know me and numbers! Looks like I’ll have a few more to look after from now on.
In other news the house is looking more Christmasy with each day. A new recipe for Christmas biscuits has been tried and rejected, not stable enough for gifts. I’m getting my brisk minutes in walking around Scarborough, the beach has been my main destination. Last week we celebrated being together for 23 years.
Foraged wreaths on the front doors
Elsewhere, there is a new episode of The Water Road to listen to. The latest episode is very Christmasy with Santa and Mrs Claus, plus if you listen to the end you’ll hear both of us. It’s a very festive listen, thank you Adam for asking us to contribute towards it.
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 new treasurer, 1 club saved, 23 years, 3 mice! 0 blind, 120m of lining paper, 2 boxes paste, 2 pairs socks, 50 Christmas cards, 2 wreaths, 2 recordings, 1 tree still to be found!
Those of you who subscribe to our blog by email will have received an email this morning, supposedly from us, regarding betting in Argentina. The IT department (Mick) are looking into this. A blog post had been posted by an unknown author causing an email to be sent to all those who subscribe. I have deleted the blog post but I can’t undo the sending of the email!
Security on the website doesn’t appear to have been breeched but investigations are ongoing.
Regular readers will know that I (Mick) have made a few visits to the marina recently to get Oleanna properly winterised.
In recent winters we have done fairly basic procedures before leaving the boat for a few months, moored in a marina. We would turn off the water pump, open all the taps, put the shower head in the shower tray and then turn off the stop cock from the fresh water tank. We would leave the water tank fairly low but not bother to drain it fully. The thinking behind this is that with the boat floating in the water the temperature of the water on the outside of the hull would keep the temperature of the tank inside above freezing.
We would leave the boat hooked up to mains electricity. Our Alde gas boiler can run on up to 3kw of shore power, if it is available, so we leave the heating turned on and set the thermostat to about 4°C. This keeps the inside of the boat warm enough to stop the residual water in the pipework from freezing. The water in the calorifier (hot water tank) is also kept above zero.
This year Oleanna is out of the water on hard standing located near to where she is due to be repainted next spring. Even though being out of the water means we can cancel our Canal & River Trust licence, it does have the downside that the fresh water tank is now above water and in danger of freezing.
East Midlands Parkway Station
On the day that we moved back to the house, Oleanna was still in the water near the slipway waiting to be pulled out onto hard standing, this happened after we left. Pip and I went down to the marina a week or so later with the plan to get hooked up and winterised. Details of that trip are here https://oleanna.co.uk/2025/10/23/the-hunt-for-oleanna-21st-october/. Our hook up cable wasn’t long enough to reach the nearest socket, a longer one would be required. First time unlucky!
Back at the house I purchased 50 metres of suitable cable along with a plug and socket. I try to avoid using Amazon for any purchases but in this case it was by far the cheapest option. Another visit to Oleanna was needed to connect to the power resources of the National Grid.
View from the bow
This second attempt failed. I took the heavy cable in a bag that clips on to the front of my Brompton bicycle and my laptop in a rucksack. When I got off the train at East Midlands Parkway I left the rucksack containing my laptop on the overhead locker above my seat! Luckily I got the laptop back a few days later at St Pancras station lost property office. At the boat I needed my laptop to programme the Victron inverter/charger with the correct values for long term connection to the grid. I don’t like leaving the LiFePO4 batteries on float for long periods of time. What I like to do in these circumstances is disable the charger function of the Victron leaving the mains power switched through to the domestic load and, more importantly, the Alde boiler.
So another visit was required. Attempt 2, unlucky!!
A week or so later the next attempt failed as well. I got all the way to East Midlands Parkway again before realising that I had neglected to bring the boat keys with me and they were back at the house in Scarborough. Whoops! I went to the boat and checked that on the previous visit I hadn’t left the doors unlocked. I hadn’t, luckily. Attempt 3, also unlucky!!!
Trains from Scarborough to Sheffield go via Hull
The fourth attempt was made by car on the way to pick up Pip from Chipping Norton. I had left the house extra early in order to give me enough time at Oleanna. But the A1 southbound was closed near Doncaster and robbed me of about 2 hours. I managed to get the cable connected, but the hook up point was dead. I went to see Mandy in the marina office. She sold me an electricity card but when I tried it nothing happened, the post was still dead. Mandy said that she wasn’t technical and I would have to find one of the chaps around the yard to help me. I couldn’t find one of them, probably because it was lunchtime. My own time was running short, I was meeting family at a Chipping Norton pub at 5pm for food before watching the Panto that Pip had been working so hard on. So I gave up the hook up attempt and headed off to Chippy. 4th time unlucky!!!!
27th November, the 5th attempt. Would this be the lucky one?!
I was on a 06:53 train from Scarborough which got me to the marina before 11. I managed to not leave anything on the train AND I had the boat keys with me. Result! The power socket was still dead.
Dead display
I managed to find one of the marina chaps to come and take a look. He declared the socket as “faulty” which I had deduced already. He said that there happened to be an electrician on site today so he would get them to come and have a look. Meanwhile, I started the engine and ran it for a while to get it properly warmed up and the starter and bow thruster batteries charged. These batteries are not charged by the Victron inverter/charger. Being out of the water I kept a close eye on the engine temperature, normally the engine is cooled by the skin tank which is below the water level. For 3/4 hour the temperature was fine. While doing that, I drained the freshwater tank by turning on the bathroom sink tap. After about 15 minutes the tone of the water pump noise changed, the tank was empty. I quickly turned off the pump.
I went to the marina café for a very nice toasted BLT with mustard mayo and a cup of tea. Whilst I was there I bumped into Tom who is going to do the paint job on Oleanna. I chatted with him and he is aware that our boat is there and if another boat doesn’t manage to turn up for its paint slot, maybe because the River Soar is in flood, then we are there ready and waiting to jump in. He tends to call round early in the new year to check that slots still work for people.
On returning to Oleanna I programmed the inverter/charger with the settings that would be required once the electricity is connected. I connected a short length of hose onto the drain cock of the calorifier and into the bilge under the stern gland. The plan being that the bilge pump would pump the water over the side. I opened the drain cock and left hot and cold taps open, but very little water drained. Our calorifier is horizontal and mounted on the swim in the engine bay, I suspect there isn’t enough height difference to make the draining work. I turned on the fresh water pump and while there was lots of gurgling noises not much water came out of the drain hose. I suspect I would have had to disconnect the hot water outlet pipe on the calorifier to get the tank drained. I didn’t fancy that and anyway time was marching on so I left things as they were.
New RCB and repaired wires
As I was packing up the electrician arrived. He found that the RCD on the post had burned out and the wires to it were also charred. He fitted a new RCD, cut back and re-terminated the wires and bingo, we had electricity. The display on the meter showed 381Kwh remaining, which is plenty for our needs.
381 Kwh
I set up the heating to work only on electricity rather than gas and set the thermostat to 4°C. Hopefully at that setting the 381Kwh should last us most of the winter.
We have power!
By then it was time to catch the train. I finished packing up, turned off the main water tank stop cock, turned off most of the electrical circuits, locked up the boat, turned off the gas bottle and headed to the station.
Nearing Sunset
The journey involves a change of train at Sheffield. The train from Sheffield to Scarborough (via Hull) was cancelled. There were various reasons cited for this, from a fault on the train, to trespassers on the line, to a faulty level crossing. I worked out that I could get to Scarborough only 20 minutes late if I changed trains at Doncaster and York. Luckily my ticket was valid for that route.
So the fifth attempt was lucky. Hooray!!!!!
I refrained from having a sneaky pint on the way home
There are a few things I’d like to do on our next visit. I want to connect up the inverter/charger’s secondary battery connection to the bow thruster battery bank. This is only a 4 amp output for trickle charging, but it should keep the battery bank happy. Pip also wants to take curtains down, some to wash and others to replace once she’s found a suitable fabric.
Tide’s out in Scarborough
0 locks, 0 miles, 5 attempts, 2 be lucky, 2 many trains to count, 2 many late 2, 1 step ladder aboard, 1 boat hooked up, 1 cold water tank drained, 1 calorifier maybe trickling empty? 2 episodes or Morse, 1 hibernating boat cat.
Monday morning we needed to attempt to catch up on ourselves and finish the technical rehearsal. The actors warmed up away from the stage giving the tech team some time to do more before we had to share the space. Time was taken to tech in two characters and we gradually made our way to the end of the show. Mid afternoon the Pippins arrived we could now tech the end of the show with them.
I took time to sit in the bar and do some flower arranging, well pulling plastic roses from bushes and replacing them with our paper roses. A lovely mixture of shades of pink was achieved before the bushes were handed back to Stage Management to be stashed somewhere on stage. Gemma had worked her way adding roses to other parts of the set so at least we’d get an idea of where more would be needed. The scenery was reset in the wings and behind the backdrop, then we did the first dress rehearsal. Mission achieved, we all retired to the pub for a well earned drink.
First Dress achieved.
Tuesday. An early start as this afternoon photos would be taken during the second dress rehearsal, so more things needed to be finished. Blueprints were added to sliders. Gold lines added to the plainer parts of the set, things were getting finished on the set front. One mannequin had some attention given to it, so at least it wouldn’t look too bare in the photos. A very busy morning.
Photographer starring in my photos
The dress rehearsal was photographed and filmed for use in a trailer. Sadly the mannequin that had started to be dressed ended up being used in a different scene by stage management, so a bare mannequin stood in full view for the photos.
From the circle
The second dress is when the ushers are invited in to watch the show. This gives the actors an audience and the ushers chance to see when and what they will be involved in during the show. During the interval I headed down to find Suzanne in the stalls, she was my previous host in Chippy. Suzanne moved house about a year ago just that bit too far out of Chippy to walk to late at night. We had a very good catch up before the curtain rose for the second half.
A view that is growing familiar
Today, Mick had been up even earlier, catching a train down to East Midlands Parkway with the aim of getting Oleanna plugged in, a second attempt. He’d not left anything on the train this time and headed to see Oleanna. However! Time had been tight this morning and he’d had to hunt round for bike lights before leaving the house in the dark, he’d got all the way to the boat without the keys. This also meant he’d got all the way there having left the house unlocked. Thankfully Tilly had been looking after the house, so all was well back in Scarborough. Mick made use of the shore based facilities at East Midlands Parkway Station and returned home earlier than originally planned, Oleanna still not hooked up and fully winterised with freezing weather already arriving.
The chateau
Wednesday. A morning to work on things, both on stage and in the rehearsal room. Some cuts happening to the script, a schools version of the show omitting a few bits to keep the running time down and make turn arounds easier on two show days.
Tornado!
I’d got a bit carried away with highlights on a signpost, so reduced them to make it easier to read the curly writing. The second set of sliders had their gold lines added, which was a bonus. More props were getting finished, but still quite some work to be done.
Possibly my favourite production photo
A crate was clad on three sides so it could be used in two different scenes, the paint needed some encouragement to dry for the show in the evening. First preview was done and dusted, still a list of notes to be worked through.
Oven gloves what else
Thursday. Mick picked up the hire car a day early as snow fell in Scarborough. Several inches were to fall today, and his possible plan of a day trip by car to Oleanna didn’t happen, he and Tilly stayed inside in the warm instead of venturing out. In Chippy the weather was trying to do the same, but thankfully the snow wasn’t sticking around.
I was in early again to tick off jobs on the list. A mid morning props meeting was had with Gemma and Min to go through notes from the show last night. Priority jobs were set, others not needed, we still had bare mannequins on stage and a touch of shine was needed adding to Les.
First night rose making at the back of the circle
A slower afternoon for me, most of my jobs now crossed off my list and there being limited room in the post room where Min was now having to work meant it would be hard to lend them a hand. Before the show I checked on progress, hmmm?! I checked if Stage Management could live without the Act 2 mannequin until the interval, this was fine, great Min could carry on working on it until then. Well, except they said they were going to watch the show!
In the interval I popped backstage to make sure the mannequin was given to Stage Management. No sign of Min and no sign of any more work having been done on the mannequin, in fact it looked less complete than when I’d last seen it. I wasn’t happy. The jobs that had been high priority hadn’t been achieved during the day, not sure what had! I took myself outside to cool off, after all nothing could be done now. Technical notes after the show, then we worked through a few jobs.
Friday. Mick set off early in the hire car, escaping the snow in Scarborough and headed down to visit Oleanna avoiding the route over the Wolds. The 50m cable was laid out and plugged in. He visited the office to buy an electric card, however the card or card reader didn’t want to work. It was suggested he needed to find one of the chaps on site to sort it, but time was ticking by rapidly. The boiler thermostat was set and left to use LPG rather than electric, the hook up would need to wait for a fourth visit. He then set off to head to Chippy.
Finally finished for Press Night
A few people were at the theatre when I arrived, Gemma heading off back to Bristol, Paul ready to fly in extra bits of scenery for me and Min doing their best painting things for the mannequins in the freezing cold garden. Once I’d finished on stage I leant a hand cutting things out, it would only save a bit of time, but would still be a help. Min worked through the school show early afternoon and we managed to get things on stage just about finished. However, I’d requested that the newest mannequin be painted quite brightly as I wanted it to stand out, but sadly it was now the same colours as the backdrop. I added some dark lines which thankfully did the trick.
Paints were seriously rationalised into a touch up kit. My painting kit packed up ready to be loaded into a car just as Mick arrived around 4pm. Painty Pip was leaving the theatre.
Blue Boar fish and chips are better than those at Checkers
There was time to head back to my digs, change and then head to The Blue Boar. Here we met up with Marion (Mick’s sister) and John, plus Andrew (my brother) and Jac. I’d not managed to have fish and chips at the Blue Boar on the first day of rehearsals so I had to have them today, better than those I’d had at Checkers.
All six of us sat in the balcony. I’m not sure how loud others were shouting during the show as my brother was being very loud indeed. Jac having grown up in Australia was relived that she wasn’t picked out for any audience participation. Family reviews came in quickly after the show. Marion and John said they were considering season tickets and Andrew asked if there were any tickets left for a show tomorrow. I think they enjoyed themselves.
Night Night Chippy Theatre and thank you
The Press Night party followed, a glass of fizz and pizzas all round. Lots of loud conversations and roses were handed over as gifts. A good night all round.
Brunch with bacon I think
Saturday. At my digs my bags were packed and taken down the low steep stairs. Time to say thank you and farewell to Rachel and Geoff. They have been lovely people to stay with. With the car loaded we headed out of town to meet with Andrew and Jac at The Straw Kitchen in Whichford. Mick and I had been there after opening night for Cinderella two years ago and it needed to be revisited as it was such a good brunch. We pulled into the car park in the pouring rain a while before the cafe was due to open. Then several other cars arrived and people rushed in, blimey we needed to get a table so followed suit just missing the table by the log burner by a few seconds.
Very nice, thank you!
Lovely food once again and time to catch up better with Andrew and Jac. Very sadly at the beginning of the week they had to say goodbye to their cat Ziggy. When we’d visited two weeks ago she was looking quite frail and I have to admit that when I said goodbye to her I thought it would be for the last time. Very sad, I hope Finn their other cat is coping okay.
Pip, Mick, Jac and Andrew
A quick look around the pottery next door for us all before we climbed into our cars to drive home in the rain. It had been lovely sharing panto with family for the first time. Thank you all for coming.
Back in the NORF
The rain stayed with us until we crossed the border into Yorkshire, then the sun did it’s best to welcome me back home. Drax Power Station sent out plumes of steam, not quite at full belt. As I opened the house door, Tilly walked into the living room quite nonchalantly, she then slowly allowed herself to be happy about my return. Once a roast dinner was popped in the oven I was pinned to the sofa. Tom is okay to sit on, but She has a far better lap!
Sunday. The usual Geraghty zoom, panto, prescriptions and boilers subjects today. A slow day of washing and pottering, getting the blog up to date. Then in the evening we drove to park outside my old house and walked up to Scarborough Castle in the rain. There was a chap singing with a backing track, a lady fire dancer and an LED dancer and wagons selling refreshements, we opted for hot medication as we were doing a good job of being chilled by the elements.
Hot Medication
The main reason for being there was to watch a drone display to mark the 400th anniversary of Scarborough. Our friend Nick Lane had written the words and another friend Georgie Samuels spoke them whilst the drones danced in the sky telling the story of our town. A great thing to do, but we were very glad to get home to the warm and enjoy a Mac Cheese and sit infront of the fire for the rest of the evening.
Panto is now running through to 18th January. Meanwhile I will be sitting on the sofa watching Inspector Morse episodes for a few days and hopefully very soon we’ll have a more sucessful visit to Oleanna to get her hooked up and finally winterised. Fingers Crossed.
First night roses
0 locks, 0 miles, 2nd and 3rd attempt failed at winterisation, 1 hire car, 4 inches snow, 1 tech finished, 2 dresses, 1 photographer in the way, 2 mannequins finally finished, 1 brother, 1 sister, 1 of each, 1 great brunch, 1 very soggy drive home, 1 cuddly cat, 1 drone show, 1 designer taking it easy for a while.
A bit of a lie in compared to recent times. A cuppa in bed and then it was time to firstly say goodbye to Mick who was on a booked train back to Scarborough, although a broken track north of Peterborough meant an alternative route and being over an hour late back. My morning was slightly more leisurely before catching a bus back to Stratford, then an Elizabeth line train to Paddington. Here I had quite a wait for my booked train, so I popped round to have a walk around Paddington Basin to get a boat fix.
Empty apart from the Go boats
Not one boat was moored in the basin, in fact I had to walk up towards Rembrandt Gardens before I got to see a boat other than the restaurant boats or those that are used commercially. I checked to see if there was anything suitable in M&S sad gits section, but there was nothing, I ended up treating myself to a festive sandwich and a salted caramel shortbread which is a serious treat nowadays.
My hosts Rachel and Geoff back in Chippy had insisted they would pick me up from the train at Kingham Station, the closest to Chippy. I’ve not done this route before, but it was very handy and with Rachel stood waiting for me meant I didn’t have to get soggy in the rain. A ten minute drive back to Chippy and I was headed for the theatre again.
The illuminated Snowman means Gemma is in office
Gemma was back with us for the week, my floor had dried well and despite it being the easiest floor I’ve ever painted at Chippy it got lots of lovely comments. A production meeting to welcome the new week was held, followed by a props meeting. A long list of makes, purchases went on the back of a door in the foyer, jobs allocated out to different people. Large proppy bits of dressing still missing from the list, it’s more important to get the props people use made and sorted first, we already had things to stand in for the dressing, hopefully these will get added later on, Hopefully!
Pond fogger experiments, food colouring, and lots of areldite filled much of the day, followed by panto equations. A swift glass of wine in the pub before returning to my digs to try to get the songsheet designed. My old laptop still in use for this as the new one doesn’t have the programs on it yet required. This made for quite a late night, the lack of programs has also made the delay to this Panto Postcard.
Tuesday, sadly I’d used an old version of the script to do the songsheet. Corrections were sent to me from John. Today we started the technical rehearsals. Yesterday lots of sound had been sorted, but more needed to be done so that the keyboard player (Musical Director) could hear and speak to the drummer, also so the actors could hear themselves sing, levels and extraneous noises needed to be worked on. This all took lots of time meaning there was lots of standing around for the actors and plenty of time for me to make more roses which will have built in lights. Notes were taken and passed on to those who would be doing the work. Paul busied himself on making items with electrics inside them, cogs and LED light bulbs, the bench in the technicians office was very full.
Fifi’s Kitchen
Wednesday, day two of the tech. More roses made and passed behind me for Gemma to add the lights into them. Min and Helen carried on busying themselves with the props, some items now starting to come through to the technical in all their finished glory. We got into the slosh scene without the Pippins, sadly not as far as John had hoped, problems with sound slowing down the technical rehearsal still. I headed home at the end of the day to rework the songsheet, coming up with two different versions, this meant I had an extra hours work at home despite an earlier finish to the day.
Thursday. 2D Chandeliers were finished being painted. It was only when one of them sat on the floor waiting to be hung that I could see that my trompe l’oil painting had worked. They got flown out to await their appearance later in the show. During lunch breaks I’ve been working on the band surrounds to tie them in with the backdrop. White, yellow, then orange, a bit more orange before I could start to paint in the roses. Not quite the same technique as with boat roses, but they came out quite a good match to those that are printed elsewhere on the set. More technical rehearsals, we got to the end of Act 1, returned to the start of the show when the Pippins arrived to tech them into the show too.
Smoke rings!
I had a list of jobs to do in the evening, but instead we spent an age getting everything on the laboratory bench working. John and Amy chipping in new ideas when we could see everything working. A few new items needing to be purchased and more things requiring arelditing down.
Friday. Oh, Panto technicals go on and on! Today most of the food was added into the show. The table we’d had made last week now filled with a feast of culinary delights. Polystyrene balls were threaded onto wire, hoping to add an extra something to the set for a scene, all whilst the technical continued on stage.
Saturday. What should have been the last day of the technical rehearsals, but putting the feast into the show with large costumes for the Pippins took an age, it’s really rather complicated. The day was then spent jumping ahead big chunks so that all the scenes with the Pippins in could be teched, we managed this apart from the finale! I spent much of the morning painting a part painted painting, hope I left enough unpainted.
Time and distance calculations required
By 2pm the actors were broken, but the technical team kept on working. Adjustments to the chandeliers were needed, some tidying of the portals up ladders. John did some speed and distance tests with two of the quieter characters. Then as people started to head home I managed to put the finishing touches to the floor with some gold lines and a coat of glaze to protect the final swirls. I still have a few bits I’d like to do to the set, but it’s now at a point where it looks finished, well apart from adding a LOT of roses everywhere!
Pizza for tea
Sadly by 6pm nowhere in Chippy would sell me less than 500 grams of mince, I’d fancied cooking up a bolognese sauce, but I really don’t want to be eating the same thing every day for the next week. So I opted for a pizza with extra toppings and actually managed to get a second sock cast on whilst watching the first episode of Game Of Wool, not too sure what I’d have come up with in 12 hours trying to knit a tank top.
Meanwhile in Scarborough, life for Tilly hasn’t been quite so boring. Somewhere in the house she found a mouse and took it to play with in our bedroom in the middle of the night. It has since been seen in the living room, but that was a few days ago and Tilly seems to have forgotten about it. Maybe it’s had enough of being a playmate and found a way out of the house!
During the week I’ve had some sock shots sent to me. Thank you for sharing your feet, it must be the cooling weather than has encouraged people to pop their socks on for a photo.
Aristotle Bridge moorings almost empty
Sunday. A much needed day off. I joined the Geraghty zoom, started to type up this postcard, then headed for the S3 bus to Oxford. Should I head into Oxford or alight in Woodstock to have an explore and something for lunch. Mick and I visited Blenheim Palace after the first year of working on Chippy Panto, but I’ve not looked round Woodstock. I decided that what I actually needed today was a boat fix, so I stayed on the bus and hopped off early at the stop closest to Aristotle Bridge. Only two boats moored up at the far end of the moorings. Since we were last here there are electric posts, it would have been a good place for Oleanna to loiter whilst I was working, however I think (I didn’t check the signage) the moorings are 2 days all year, so Mick wouldn’t have been able to loiter for long.
I walked down towards Jericho, the ditch alongside the towpath full of water, then Sheep Wash channel looked quite full the Thames would almost certainly be on red boards. Every boat I walked past was familiar from our winters on the South Oxford Canal. I nearly felt like tapping on roofs to say hello to them. At Isis Lock a boat was just going down in the lock. The chap picked up a rope and walked along the bank towards the pontoon, they’d be winding and heading back up the lock onto the canal again, the red lights on the board flashing away warning of the level and strong flow on the Thames.
I had a walk up to look round some shops, checked the menu at the Cosy Club. On Broad Street there was a Christmas market, lots of food and things to buy. I then headed to Pitt Rivers Museum that sits at the back of the Natural History Museum. A wander around the main exhibits, then extra time spent admiring a display of quilts from Hawaii. Symmetry, landscape and nature all featured in them.
A bit disappointingfor £30!
I headed back through Jericho looking for somewhere to eat, but ended up back at the Cosy Club. I’d had a nice meal there two years ago and hoped for similar. Sadly there wasn’t a table in the restaurant but a high stool in the bar. I ordered a burger as I was bored of chicken and the only fish dish had coconut in it. The novelty of having a bowl of gravy with my burger was interesting until I realised that the burger was rather dry without it. A mediocre meal, that I’d hoped would be a treat. Never mind.
Me out in Oxford
Back to Chippy on the S3 no view this time as it was very dark. Another episode of The Game of Wool was watched. It’s okay, but I doubt I’m going to be chomping at the bit to see who wins. Back to work tomorrow.
A suitable picture in the loos
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 delayed train, 1 storm, 435 holes in the theatre, 28 roses, 3 paintings, 3 molluscs, 1 mouse, 2 many days of tech, 1 evening off, 1 pooped designer, 3 versions of the songsheet, 2 buses, 32 familiar boats, 1 favourite museum, 2 Christmas presents bought, 4 added to a list for me, 1 disappointing burger, 0.5 of a sock knitted, 1 major store having stolen my rose idea!
