Knock knock.... Who's in?

So headed off to Birmingham on Wednesday to visit my mate Fred at RBS - hoping he would share some of the £693K annual pension of his.
Actually visiting the head of Lombard vehicle management, owned by RBS, who is a friend of mine, hoping he would share some of the work he has on!!!
When I came out of their underground car park in the city centre, there was a sign right in front that said "gas street basin", so thinking, one friend to another, I set off to re-park the car, and walk into the basin. NB Mr David was easy to find, but alas David and Brenda were no where to be seen. I posted a card through the back cabin hatchway, but guess it will probably get lost somewhere!! Last time I saw Nb Mr David was at Lyons Boatyard when I picked up K2, a lot of water has gone under her keel since then.
At the other end of the walkway, away from the basin, is the home turf for the "Away for a while" holiday and restaurant boats. Andy and I met these guys a couple of years ago when out on Khayamanzi, they were filming for a Japanese TV show about quant little England!! Guess what - they weren't on board either!!
So a fruitless visit, and I drove the 27 miles back to K2, remembering that the trip took a week to complete a year ago!!

Warning...

7 people injured and 2 killed in the Langdales since 1st February 2009 - (Hang on, it's the 14th and I'm climbing them.) ""The use of crampons and ice axes are essential"" That was the stark warning nailed to the post at the bottom of the path. OK - sounds fun to me!

It actually wasn't too bad at the lower levels, the thaw well and truly on it's way, but most certainly the higher levels were a white out - where snow and cloud merge into one invisible path, walking becomes harder, and navigation a little more important!

The farm at the bottom of the Band had it's usual bucket out for collection towards the ambleside mountain rescue team - who by the sounds of it, have been very active over the last couple of weeks, and

need every penny we can spare. Still though, youngsters were walking past in trainers and no rucksacs - no wonder people get hurt in the hills. I had all the gear, could've stayed out for a couple of days, and still felt unprepared for the higher levels. These mountains need our respect.

The hotel maintained it's charm, and stories and song abounded in the hikers bar during the evenings idled away in front of the roaring fire, steaming clothes, and chilli-con-carne half 'n' half!! With no mobile signal, no WiFi hotspot, only a good old payphone in the bar, the place is a pilgramage for me in the "get away from it" bid.

This picture courtesy of the hotel

Where K2 went out, got stuck and came home!

The plan was simple. Saturday a nice run out, moor up below the locks, then on Sunday a nice run home.

For a change, the ice in the marina was thin and K2 popped out of there easily, and the cut was lovely. But as we went on the ice got thicker, and our pace slowed as we crunched through, leaving a smaller channel where we had been. South (or is it East) of cruisers, K2's bow rose up out of the water, slid along as if on skis and then stopped, stalling that old donkey of hers as the prop thrashed against its own water load. 28tonnes and she just remained there, not even cracking the ice across the canal!

So there was only one way forward, and that was backwards!!

OK - reversing through cut ice is easy, she virtually followed her path back, up the cut (ice) through the bridge, past the moored boats and to the winding hole that had totally clear water, and was easy to turn in.

In my turn, I waited for a boat to pass me. A light live-aboard seeking his 2 bridges. ""Can't get through"" I advised, to which the reply was ""It's been fine up to here so far"". Good luck, I wonder how far he got once the well known ice breaker K2 had given up!!

So back to home (easily as someone had sliced through the ice for me - hang on, that WAS me!) where the ice had thickened and made it difficult getting back into my pontoon where instead of the quiet night, it was a noisy one, as we laughed our way through the evening, mainly about ice and trainsets!!

73, 17, 1 and a few...

Crawled out of bed at the crack of dawn today. There was a conference in Oxford run by a software house who are thinking of developing a suite for vehicle remarketing. I fancied going. (well was invited!!) So 0600 on the road, that was a little white, crawling through the snowfall at 15mph. (I know Andy, but my 2 rear wheel drive car doesn't like ice) An hour after leaving I was 20 miles from home!

Every mile was covered with great concentration, and at painfully slow speeds, with an eventual halting on the M1/A43 slip road, Junction 15.

Look at the SatNav - every road off the M1 is closed, with queing traffic on every main road. 73 lorries parked (or maybe, slipped) up on the exit, the service station, and the roundabouts onto the A43, which by the way, the police had closed, but failed to advise drivers on the Motorway.

Eventually sneaked through the service station and back onto the M1 southbound to Junction 14, where exactly the same was happening. The A45 was closed, and lorries were parked all over the place, making it impossible to do the simple exercise of "round the roundabout and back"!! Here's the wonderful view out of my window that I gazed at for an hour and a half!!

When I finally got northbound on the M1, long after the conference had finished there was a 17 mile tail back from junction 14, glad I wasn't at the end of that!

So home exhausted and frustrated at 1600, having driven only 114 miles, and got within 43 miles of the conference.

B R

Board Room
Bed RoomBritish Railways
Hang on - how did that get in here?

Update...

Well, just to prove some people read this blog, comment was made that I hadn't updated it for a bit! That's because nothing news worthy had happened!! The Automotive sector is in it's worst recession, even given the early 90's, compounded by the recessed financial markets. So if you are in Automotive funding and leasing ....... you are probably, like me, not in it at the moment!! Many of our big players have closed funding lines, vehicle residual values are at an all time low, whilst maintenance costs soar, and to balance the books, companies are shedding staff like confetti, or like the snow that is falling outside.
K2 is being used only as a floating meeting room rather than the longed for elongated holiday, as the need to earn money is more pressing! The upside is, the snow is lovely, and I can sit in the warm and enjoy it building up on those branches until with a woosh they give in to the weight of snow, and empty themselves all over unsuspecting walkers and passers by.
HeHe!!