Further tiling progress on the rear of the roof

eBay

I went a bit daft yesterday on ebay, ended up buying a GPS receiver HI-204E Series which hopefully will plug into my laptop and be my navigation system both on the canal and in my car. I have also bought Auto-route 2005 which is supposed to be street level mapping for all of Europe and integrates with the GPS. Another purchase was some old canal books and although out of date, may prove an interesting read, they include The Story of Our Canals; Ladybird books. Introducing Inland Waterways; Charles Hadfield. Waterways World Guide to the Llangollen Canal. Waterways Museum - Stoke Bruerne. Brief Guide To Canals & Waterways; Charles Hadfield. Guide to the Waterways 5; The Midlands; Nicholson. Inland Cruising - Map of England for Larger Craft - 8 miles to 1 inch; Stanford Maritime. Outboard Motors and Outdrives; R.H. Waring.

Water refill at our farmhouse

Chispa left & Bonny

At last the roof tiles are going on!

F1 & Beer

Started the morning off fairly early by getting up at 7-15am to watch the Formula 1. The best race I have seen in quite a long time. Well done the Spanish driver Pedro Alonso for winning it from the start. I like the rule changes which have made the whole race a completely different affair. The day started sunny and when, after the race, we took the dogs over to our log cabin, it was so nice we got the deck chairs out and had a couple of beers with the temperatures reaching mid 70’s F. Whilst drinking said beers and the dogs off and away, we watched a huge eagle soaring overhead. The red legged partridge were also evident by their distinctive tk tk tk clucking sound they make. Bees and butterflies in profusion, the weather certainly has changed for the better after the snow just a couple of weeks ago.

Genealogy Team Blog

I am considering starting a genealogy team blog for the THURLBY surname. There are quite a few people who belong to my THURLBY mailing list hosted by Rootsweb. http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/t/thurlby.html
The discussions on this list are now quite rare and in today’s multimedia internet, seem a bit old hat, with no real opportunity for interactivity. I have been thinking about this for some time, and if there is enough interest, to start a proper THURLBY surname research group. The idea is to start an interactive web log, where anyone in the group can post items which can contain, photo's, video, sound tracks and links to other web pages. It could run in parallel with the mailing list, that way we could discuss an item on list and when the discussion was exhausted, someone (or jointly) could write up an article quoting all sources and including any multimedia items etc. and post it to the weblog. The weblog would hopefully be fully searchable in its archives, so when someone asks where is the basis for a particular point; it can be searched online and immediately. Each article can be commented on and added to by members. For instance if I posted all the THURLBY Bicker baptism's as an article and you found that I had missed one or more perhaps because it was spelled THURLEBY, you could add it to the article. I will have to wait to see if there is enough interest and if anyone will share the administration of it.

Communications

I bought a car charger for my laptop on American eBay. I won the auction on the 14th March and received it at my home in Spain on the morning of the 18th March. Worked perfectly too. Superb service from USPS, well done! I am trying to work out what I would need to be online on a narrowboat. I have an ordinary mains charger but as some hire boats only provide 12 volt outputs similar to a car, I thought that this charger would keep my laptop serviceable. The next item on the agenda is how to achieve a connection with the web. I am approaching the connection problem on two fronts because I am not sure how it all works. Firstly I have ordered for my siemens Vodafone (Spanish) A60 a USB data lead which I hope will be able to connect me. Secondly I have also ordered a Vodafone Data Connect Card which would plug into my laptop directly. It has a pre-paid sim card which would be independent from my mobile telephone. Hopefully I can test this out at the beginning of April when I have a week-end hire narrowboat booked.

Still much to do!

Maybe I'm supposed to be this big!

As a nineteen and half stone larger person, I am always going on diets to try and lose some of the weight. It’s a real struggle to lose more than a few pounds and always impossible to keep it off. It’s as if my body is programmed to be this weight and trying to deviate from it is a pointless task. But why do I try! Society says that you must be a certain weight for your height else you may be classified as overweight or obese. But now I am thinking maybe nature has designed it this way and the so called experts have it wrong. OK yes, a young man of say 25 should be a certain size for his height but is that equally true for 55 year old man? Look at nature and look at the other great apes, we have three other than human to compare with. First the orang-utan, as the male gets older, his size increases. The chimpanzee is the same. The gorilla is the same if not more so. Have you seen the belly on a silverback! Why should I waste my time and make my life a misery just to try and conform to what the experts say is the norm. As long as I have my health, I’ll perhaps stay fat and happy.

My first attempt at Cubism

Genealogy

I had an email from a relative, also a genealogist, about a pub in Lincolnshire which was previously run by two different a members of our Thorlby Family, one in the 1840’s before emigrating to USA and another outlined in his email which follows:-

The Red Lion in Bicker also has another connection with the Thorlby family. My G-Grandfather, John Edward Thorlby b 27/07/1870 was the landlord for much of his life. A transcript follows which may be of interest:

THE BOSTON GUARDIAN, WEDNESDAY 15 FEBRUARY 1939

THE SWINGING SIGN

THE STORY OF THE RED LION, BICKER
There is something of entrancing interest about the Red Lion at Bicker for it takes us back many generations, to a time when Bicker was a tiny seaport. To-day, with the village so far inland, that seems almost an absurdity, but if the old maps in existence in about 1600 are studied, it will be seen that there existed at that time the Bicker Haven, a wide expanse of water which opened in the Wash and terminated at Bicker.

In those days the old inn, tradition says, was the local lighthouse, while it is on record also that the house was at a later date named the Sailors' Rest and accommodated a good many seamen arriving at Bicker.

The Haven has gone long ago but on the inn there is a brief record -1663
- which, in a word, tells on the date of the restoration. The old inn retains much of its erstwhile flavour and although to-day its customers are more concerned with matters appertaining to agriculture it takes but little imagination to visualise it thronged by those who went down to the sea in ships.

The present landlord of the Red Lion is Mr. John Henry Thorlby (sic - should read John Edward Thorlby), who has been licensee for the past 40 years. His wife has lived in the house for over 50 years, and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Dalton, were in charge for 17 years. They took over from Mr. Aysthorpe, and before him, a Mr. East was landlord for 40 years.

Mr. Thorlby is well-known in the locality as a farmer, and specialises in dairy farming. He has a large and up-to-date dairy farm behind the inn. He is assisted in his business by two of his sons, Tom and Bert, and his other son, George, is in Canada. There are two daughters, Mrs. Drinkall, of Donington, and Mrs. Glassup, of Timberland.

Mr. and Mrs. Thorlby attend the parish church, and take a considerable interest in local affairs. Mrs. Thorlby is a popular member of the Women's Institute. She told me that when she first came to the Red Lion, it had a thatched roof, huge windows, and was surrounded by high hedges and many trees. The latter had been cut down and a new roof put on the house, but structurally, it had not been altered.

There were five large bedrooms, and many passageways. Although they did not cater for people staying the night, or lodging at the inn, there was an excellent business, and many of the local inhabitants gathered in the cosy parlour during the winter evenings. A prosperous pig club was run, of which the secretary was Mr. Croft, and the treasurer, Mr. Bennett.

Distant view to cabin

Rear of Roof progress

Narrowboats again

The more I read about the canals and narrowboating the more I realize that one of the main limiting factors is the mooring. I know there is continuous cruising whereby you don’t necessarily need a mooring because you are always travelling. Even so there has to be times when you need to leave the boat for some extended period of time. My own idea of course is to spend the winters in Spain so I would at least need a mooring for that time. It seems that winter moorings can be difficult to come by, I have yet to fully research this but from reading some of the mailing lists there are difficulties in finding a reasonable one. It may be that I need to buy a canal side piece of land with mooring rights but having spent a day looking online for such a thing, it is apparent that if these ever do come up for sale, they are quickly snapped up because I couldn’t find any. I did see a canal side cottage in Crooke on the Leeds and Liverpool with a 70 foot mooring at 179,000 pounds but this is just too much at this moment in time, even if I rented out the cottage. More research needed!

Global Warming, what Global Warming?

Urgh! More rain. No progress today as it is chucking it down (to be polite). What is happening to the world’s weather? It seems as though everyone around the world is experiencing strange weather patterns abnormal to the usual. Is it being caused by global warming or just a natural cycle that takes place every so many years? Different experts have different views. For my money, we shouldn’t take the chance and adjust our emissions just in case. I would hate to think we buried our heads in the sand and ignored the warnings. If the worlds weather patterns changed dramatically in just a few years, the Tsunami would seems insignificant by comparison with the effects of it.

Roof Progress

What a difference a day makes! Bright sunshine clear skies and temperatures in the mid teens. The workers are back at it now laying roofing felt and battens before the tiles can go on. Lets hope the good weather lasts because there is still much to be done. Diane was hoping to be moving in by May but I now doubt very much that we will be able to. After the roof is on, there are four gables to be built and clad, first floor to go down, windows and doors to be made and fitted, internal walls to be built, plumbing/heating installation, electric installation, plasterboard ceilings and walls, tile ground floors, tile 3 bathrooms and fit accessories, kitchen units to be fitted and I am sure much else which I cant think of for the minute.

Narrowboats and Canals
When I was a young lad at school in the late fifties early sixties, I used to walk home from school as often as not along the towpath of the Manchester Bolton & Bury canal in Salford. I also used to go fishing there with my uncle Roy and had many an adventure. I am sure that these experiences kindled my fascination with the canals. I had thought that this canal had long since disappeared but I find that it is to be restored as part of an urban regeneration scheme details at http://www.penninewaterways.co.uk/mbb/index.htm
After some searching, I find that it is to be connected to the waterways network on the river Irwell adjacent to Princess Bridge which means that access will be available from the Bridgewater through the MSC link lock at Pomona dock 3. One day I will be able to cruise all the way to Bolton retracing my past; who said nostalgia isn't what it used to be!

Chinese & Technology

We decided because of all the bad weather to drive down to the coast and have a meal. We drove to Mojacar, the weather gave us a passable sky eventually and we ended up in our favorite Chinese restaurant. We had a beer each with prawn crackers whilst we decided what to have whilst looking at the waves breaking on the beach. We had hot and sour soup, prawn cocktail, Beef chow mein, sizzling shrimps in hot sauce, a chicken dish, spare ribs in hot sauce and fried rice followed by vanilla ice cream with lychees. We had a bottle of house red with it and a liqueur after. The bill for two of us was an amazing 30 euros or about 20 pounds. Is that good value or what!

My son who lives in UK had previously asked me to set up Microsoft messenger so that we could communicate with each other whilst both online. I have done this a few times and was quite impressed with the program. Today I noticed that it had a webcam function, so I connected a cheap digital camera to the computer and tried it and it worked. My son could see me online but he didn't have a webcam. Later he went and bought one so tonight we had a silly half hour pulling tongues out to each other and other rude gestures. I also noticed it had a audio function, so I plugged in my microphone and lo and behold he could hear me perfectly although he said I sounded like Darth Vader. My son doesn't have a microphone either so tomorrow he is getting one and we are going to surprise the grandchildren after school with it. Isn't technology wonderful......

Snowed in.

Awoke this morning to snow! As we are in Southern Spain and it is early March we thought 'how unusual'. Even the dogs were incredulous. Franky cried to go out of one door for his morning constitutional, saw the snow and decided against it. He then cried to go out of another door and was appalled that there was snow out there too!

Log Cabin Yesterday at La Yesera

Rained off

The photo shows the log cabin yesterday in the snow which has now mostly gone but it is still only 4 degrees celsius. The work on the log cabin has stopped because of the bad weather. It is just too dangerous to venture on a roof but we are so frustrated at the lack of progress. Not the workers fault but the roof is not yet fully felted which means that no internal work can be done in inclement weather so nothing gets done. We take four of our five dogs by car to the log cabin every morning for a run on the hills and it also gives us a chance to check on progress. Our fifth dog Campo will not get into a car without sedation so until we move into the log cabin she stays at home.

9am at La Yesera 1st March 2005

Narrowboats

I read the diaries of Mike Holloway who has been literally living the life I would enjoy. Him and his wife Liz are a late middle-aged couple who sold their house, bought a 60ft narrowboat and on Good Friday 2002 started a four-year (or maybe more) cruise of Britain's waterways. His web site is at http://www.snecklifter.com/.

I told him in an email that we have bought a share in a new 58ft Carefree Cruising NB due to be launched in May. We already have a two week slot booked for the last two weeks in June. Carefree are based at Scholar Green on the southern end of the Macclesfield canal. We are going to cruise the Cheshire Ring anti-clockwise with some offshoots, Whaley Bridge, Worsley, Chester etc. His answer to my email has encouraged me to think about more than just a small share in a narrowboat but maybe owning one outright! The idea being to spend the Spring and Summer on the narrowboat and the Autum and Winter here in Spain. I think this would be kinder on my arthritis!