BRRRRR!

Bloody cold this morning!

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Smoke Free

Nearly 24 hrs since my last ciggarette, I thought Id be climbing the walls by now, but no, all is fine :-)
Here's to the next 24 hrs

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Night Cruise Pics

Not sure when I took these, but here they are anyway!

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2012

Moored next to the new Olympic stadium at the mo, It looks rather nice at night.

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Waltham Abbey!

Back in the Abbey with my mates Gordon and Peter, not seen them for quite a few months so it’s nice to be back. The weather on the other hand, what’s that all about? Clinging to a 125cc Vespa for 23 miles in the wind and rain this morning was not fun!

LIttle Venice Again!

Back in Little Venice for a couple of weeks, not been here for over six months. Nothing much has changed, The Waterway bar/pub/restaurant is still busy and overpriced, the food is good though, shame I’m too skint to go there what with the constant boat upgrades and all that! I’ll do my 2 weeks and head off to East London after that, I can afford to eat out there. 

The All New British Summer

Welcome to the all new British summer, It’s not that new but I think that the weather in summer has worsened over the past 20 years.

Here’s a rainbow in Hackney in August during a now normal rain shower.

What sparked this post about weather? It’s the 8th of August and I have stove lit. Bonkers!

Hot water!

For the first time in 4 months I have hot water on Jasmine, I’ve also fitted a new (non leaky) shower valve.
It all went surprising well with only one leak to fix, which is on the cold water in on the calorifier. I’ll add this to the list of todays jobs, which I shall start after a nice hot shower!

Harefield, Hanwell (again) and old age.

Took a cruise up to Harefield on Monday, and it’s very nice, very very nice! I think I'll be headed back up that way in a month or so.

I’m currently back in Hanwell as I’m doing some DIY and there is a Wickes just around the corner, result!

Volunteer lock keepers rock! 8 locks in 90 mins for 2 cups of tea!

And  on to old age.

I’m 40 today, not exactly old, but a milestone nonetheless.

Hanwell to Brentford.

Fin.

Hanwell

I’d not been to Hanwell before, mainly due to the fact there are 10 lock in a very short stretch, but also because I’d heard that the canal was full of rubbish and it was not worth it unless you were going out on the Thames,
Quite the opposite is true, it’s a fantastic stretch, and now one of my favourite bits of London's waterways.

Found this..

..on a hard drive I was clearing, it’s what faced me on day 2 of boat ownership.

Wildlife on the Lee

New Blog!

http://freeloader-steve.blogspot.com/

Here’s a link to my new blog, this is simply simply to document my attempts at harnessing the power of the sun, and to not crowd this one with technical babble about amp hours and voltage drop.

Me, green?

I’ve never thought of myself as green, you know, environmentally, not the colour. But I've realised that I actually I am rather green, all of my everyday electricity is supplied by the sun, I say everyday as I have a generator and need that to run the washing machine (with eco friendly detergent!), I travel to work on a 125cc scooter. I don’t waste water, I use 250 litres a week including the washing machine, I recycle where possible and half of my heating is provided by gathering waste wood. I use about 25 litres of petrol a week and about 15 litres of diesel.

Just knowing these figures seems odd to me, but now that I do I really want to improve on them and have the lowest impact lifestyle I can, whilst this is not possible for most people, I think I could learn and share a lot and am thinking of doing a separate blog on the eco living thing, what do you think?

While you are thinking, here’s some pics

Hello 2011

On the move!

Jasmine has her engine back and I’m on the move again.

Back to Greenford at the moment, but thinking about going back to Little Venice.

Decisions, decisions!

More progress…

2 posts in one day, can you tell I'm waiting for paint to dry?

Red, green and clean.

The engine in red oxide…

…the green coat being applied…

… and a clean half painted engine bay.

It’s all coming along quite well, the engine bay has taken at least one day longer than expected, and it’s still a work in progress. As long as it’s done by Tuesday, which is when the engine returns to it’ home.

Thankfully this is one time job (well is is on Jasmine anyway!