Carnival

Went to Notting Hill Carnival yesterday. Great craic. Managed to squeeze in to Sancho Panza for the last hour and a half, a third of which I spent queuing outside some horrendous posh boy's house to use the toilet (and pay £3 for the priveledge of watching him high-five his friends at all the money he'd screwed out of people). The music and dancing was great though, and F started a crowd chant, which pleased him no end.

We were observed throughout from high windows by the most bored looking police I have ever seen. What a job. Reminds me of G being alone up a searchtower in Northern Ireland at Christmas, watching the family the army were observing opening their presents in front of the tree. What fun!

Actually it's really interesting going to people's houses to use the toilet at Carnival. The first one I went in to belonged to a middle-aged jamaican woman, and her daughter was there collecting the money (£1). The daughter was very friendly and chatting to everyone as they waited in the queue. Her 4 year old son, wearing a "mama ain't raisin no fool" t-shirt, helpfully blew his carnival horn outside the bathroom door if anyone was taking too long. It was a lovely house full of proud photographs of the grinning family, souvenirs from trips abroad, books etc. The bathroom itself was clean and had a stick of incense burning to make it smell nice. How thoughtful.

Needless to say, one of the highlights of the day was seeing the narrowboats moored at the Grand Union pub ;)

Danced until the pub shut at 11pm and got home at a civilised 11.30pm. How very pleasant.

It's not a holiday!

Going to Malaga for a conference. No-one is interested in my protestations that it's not a holiday. Will be giving a talk tomorrow at 11am, so think of me.

I actually went to Malaga on holiday at Easter. Here is a picture of that trip. This one will be much more lonely (sob). God life is hard sometimes.

I'm buying the boat!!

Just put down the deposit, so subject to a decent survey, it will be mine!!!

Extremely exciting. It's going to be called "68B" after 68 Grand Drive - our family's home whose sale enabled me to buy the boat, and B for boat.
Here it is .

Feel a bit feverish.

Just bought a copy of "Waterways world".

My brain says...

....BoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoatsBoats

Went to see a nice boat at a beautiful marina on Monday. Made an offer, was met halfway almost immediately. Haven't given my decision yet.

Just can't decide if I really want a boat. It seems so difficult to tell. I doubt I would have made an offer if I weren't serious, but I just can't trust my own judgment and feelings.

Also so so so busy at the moment, I haven't really got time to think properly. I am going to see it again on Sat I think, this time with F. Encouragingly he says he is really keen to learn all about boats and has committed to spending one weekend a month on the boat. So I won't be doing it all alone...

Also everyone seems very keen to come and stay on it - in the summer no doubt. Although I love the idea of getting the wood burner going and drinking cups of tea all wrapped up in the cosy cabin or on the bow.

a warning to the lazy/scared

If I had not left it 3 years between dental appointments, I might not have to shell out £600 for a root canal.

In other news, F won an all-expenses paid trip to South Africa!!

A weekend summing up

Lovely weekend. The weather is just how it should be in August. 28 degrees, full sun, deep blue sky. England raised the ridiculously small cup after winning the Ashes.

I ate out, drank out, went to the country to visit my Granny, admired narrowboats on the Kennet and Avon canal, walked around Bankside, saw a narrowboat chugging South Eastwards down the Thames, played a gig in Southwark Park with Nigel of Bermondsey (his home turf), saw Stringer Bell get killed.

Going to see another boat at Henley on Thames this evening.

But first the DENTIST this morning. AAAAAAAAARRRGGHHHHHHH

More houseboat

So, went to see the boat yesterday. I feel all mixed up about it. When I was there I was almost ready to hand over the cash. It's a lovely boat. Quite old (20 years) and a bit on the tatty side, but laid out really well with nice wooden walls, a good dry smell and a nice warm feel about it. We arrived just as the sun was low in the Western sky, casting a beautiful warm yellow glow over everything. And the massive plus point is that the marina is only 22 minutes from Paddington by train, and is also on the end of my tube line at Uxbridge.

The main problem is that the engine wasn't working. It needs new injectors and I noticed that the well deck had some oily water in the bottom. There are automatic bilge pumps, but when the owner ran them, no water came out. He said this was because there wasn't enough water in the bilges for it to come out.

I told him I really like it and would like to make an offer, but I needed a cooling off period. He said he would make a good working engine a condition of sale, but I think I need to see the engine fixed and go out on the boat before I lay down a deposit.

I felt sick when I left. Pretty terrified at making this kind of committment. What if I don't want to hang out on the boat all the time? I'd have to spend one weekend in four up there, and take at least one holiday a year on it. Is that what I want? I don't think I can really know until it comes to the push and I have to lay down the cash.

If he phoned me and said the boat had been sold to someone else I would be very sad.

More about boats

I'm going to see a narrowboat on Thursday after work. It's moored near Uxbridge, so easy to get to - only 22 minutes by train from Paddington. I'm ridiculously overexcited. In fact I'm a bit worried that the excitment really is ridiculous.

The last time I went on a narrowboat holiday I was three years old.
I don't know ANYTHING about boats, or engines, or pump out toilets. I'll have a survey, but what if I spend £25,000 on an old banger? Should I go through a broker?

I am learning though. I know what a British Waterway Safety Certificate and a Boat Safety Certificate are. I know I'll have to get insurance. I know the mooring costs £2,800 and they have 24h shower facilities.

I absolutely love the idea of having somewhere that is my own, that I can make what I want. I love the idea of cruising around the countryside, exploring, sitting in pubs, chatting to boat people. I love the fact that I could lend it (sorry, her) to friends for holidays.

I also think it's about time I took some proper responsibility for something. I can't run away from being a grown up forever. But is buying a boat responsible?

I'll go and see it, and see what I think. I'll also ask some people who own boats what to do.

Just because it's difficult, doesn't mean I can't do it, right?

What about a houseboat?

http://houseboats.apolloduck.co.uk/

Moored outside London. Adventures ahoy.

Go Ape

The skin on my teeth is rather ragged after yesterday's hectic but enjoyable adventures in Kent.

Eight of us were supposed to go to Go Ape at Leeds Castle yesterday afternoon. Four of us made the 12.18 from Victoria just as the doors beeped closed. Another two missed that train and ended up in a taxi from Maidstone East. Another two found themselves at an entirely different Go Ape in another part of Kent, misguided by SatNav (after they explained what had happened, Go Ape very kindly let them complete the course at the other site, free of charge).

Feeling sweaty, excited and a bit nervous, six of us strapped ourselves into our harnesses for a half hour briefing on attaching ourselves to cables, zipwires and tarzan swings, after which we were free to spend hours swinging about wherever we wanted in the treetop adventure playground.





Everyone's favourite was the zipwires - some of them so long you spent a good minute whizzing through the forest and over a grassy valley until landing in a pile of woodchips that ploughed their way into your socks, shoes and pants. Luckily it was a lovely sunny day. I wouldn't have fancied soggy woodchips in my knickers.







Other parts of the course were less challenging: there were a lot of rope bridges which we tried to cross without using our hands to provide an adrelanine rush. Also, having to attach and detach yourself from cables at every rope ladder at every crossing slowed the whole process right down, which meant there was a lot of time spent chatting as we waited for the person in front to complete the next bit of the course. It was a bit frustrating, but actually made it a chilled out sociable affair and gave less opportunity for the more macho amongst us - in which category I include myself - to rush through the course at breakneck (literally) speed.





After 3 hours monkeying about we unstrapped ourselves and headed to the pub to recover. Naturally we had to return to the pub after missing our train, running to the platform only to see it pulling out before our eyes. But trains weren't too infrequent, so only an hour later we were on our way home as the Kent countryside, beautifully bathed in evening sunshine, zoomed past.

Some pictures of Bulgaria

A hungry man and his hungry dog buying food in Sofia.

The Archangel Michael painted on the wall of the church inside the Rila monastery.

Rila monastery first thing in the morning.

F exiting a waterfall pool near Veliko Tarnavo.

Glacial lake on the way up to Maliovitsa Peak (2650m).

Do I really need to get on the property ladder?

As dedicated readers will know(you're out there, I can feel it...), I live in a housing cooperative in a lovely bit of London. It's very cheap, and if I ever multiply (you know what I mean) they will provide appropriate housing, still in the same part of London. I'm a lucky girl.

The housing cooperative I live in affords no right to buy. This I approve of. The right to buy council housing is one of the reasons for the current shortage of affordable housing in the UK.

I could theoretically however buy a property that I could not reasonably live in, and still remain in my cooperative. My job is in London with no possibility of transfer. Thus I could reasonably buy outside of London without compromising my London flat.

This would mean I would have to pay my London rent whilst also paying for a mortgage on a place outside London. I'm not sure I could rent a place outside of London and remain in the cooperative. Buying outside London would potentially have advantages for my extended family (there are various issues to do with care for elderly relatives who live outside London) and I could just about afford it at the moment - low interest rates and no dependents - but it would mean my lifestyle is quite restricted. At the moment I'm lucky enough to be able to shop in Waitrose, go on holiday, give to charity, buy nice clothes, and go out when I want.

Also I'm not sure I want to spend all my weekends visiting the same place.

So if I were to buy outside of London:
a) is this ethical?
b) would the financial and hassle aspect of it be worth it to get on the property ladder?

Farewell Bulgaria

Have spent the last 9 days in Bulgaria. Coming home tomorrow, which is a shame because I could quite easily see myself getting the overnight train to Istanbul instead...

Our last night in Sofia and I'm in the internet cafe...Got back from the mountains this morning and spent the afternoon wandering around, looking at and in churches and at late 19th c and early 20th c paintings by Bulgarian artists. Saw a sculpture by the man whose house we stayed in when we first arrived Friday before last: Andrei Nikolov.

My legs are still aching from yesterday's climb up to Mount Maliovitsa (2650 m). At one point we came across a huge boulder, over 30 ft high and 30 ft wide, which appeared to have been thrown off the peak by a giant. It had split to reveal a dark interior marbled with white quartz. It was very misty and foggy, so too cold for a swim in the glacial pools, which were so clear you could see the giant rocks lurking at the bottom like glowering beasts. Managed to get a bit surnburned despite the thick cloud.

How annoying to be leaving just as we start to master the Cyrillic alphabet.