Hot boat, hot dog.

Phew, how hot it is in London! The thermometer in the cratch was reading 38 degrees, though that's an enclosed space and it wasn't so hot in the rest of the boat. Nevertheless, it's been more comfortable to be off the boat, in the park that I'm moored alongside. I was reminded of being along a treeless stretch of the north Oxford canal a few years ago in the baking heat and of hanging wet sheets and towels at the doors to cool the air. It worked pretty well I recall, so I might try that tomorrow if it's as hot again. I had an excursion to Walthamstow market which is Europe's longest street market and bought a hat! On the way back, I came across a cyclist whose dog (attached to the bike by a great heavy chain, probably a bike lock) slumped onto a patch of grass in the shade and refused to move. The poor dog, a heavily built fellow, was panting like mad. Of course I had to interfere and tell the cyclist it was too hot to make a dog run. I feared being told to get lost (or words to that effect) but to be fair to the guy, he agreed a bit ruefully and was allowing the dog to rest all the time I could still see them though he didn't seem to have a drink for the poor animal.. I don't think people realise how quickly dogs get dehydrated in this heat, running, with extra weight and wearing fur coats!

Next week I'll be camping at the Earth First! Summer gathering so I hope the fine weather continues. Blackbird will be in the capable hands of my lovely daughter.

Mice!

 I have mice. I had thought it might be creatures living in my wood store on the roof, or hungry nocturnal visitors that just came to investigate my planters but no, it/they are in the roof space, chewing on polystyrene :-(
They seem to have come in via the mushroom vents.
I saw they'd been in one high-up cupboard that's against the ceiling. Unfortunately there was a gap in the wood and they scoffed sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and linseed - trust me to live off mouse food! But they don't appear to have got into the main living-space, thank goodness. Anyway, I've sealed up that gap and stored everything edible in mouse-proof containers but am loathe to block off their escape route before they've left the boat.
So, I'm looking at humane mouse-traps on the internet at the moment, with a view to releasing them onto Walthamstow marshes. Not that humane as I've seen a kestrel nearby, intent on its prey.
There seem to be high-tech ones....

and low-tech ones..

 And being a cheapskate, I may have a go at how to Build your own mousetrap
One difficulty will be how to place a trap as I can't really get in that space between the ceiling and boat roof, though I guess I could suspend bottle traps below the mushroom vents if I remove the grills. It's a big faff, but I'd better get on with it because they keep me awake at night!

Thankful for rain

I finally got around to clearing all the wood on top of my rainwater harvesting roof and stacking it underneath, where it should have been. I couldn't find the funnel to channel the water  into the hosepipe so I used a She-pee or whatever it's called. Well it may as well be useful, I certainly couldn't manage its proper use! ("can you tell what it is yet?")

So now I have lots and lots of rainwater and am very glad of it because access to water in pretty limited on the Lea at the moment. The nearest water-point is in the Olympics exclusion zone, the next hearest is broken, awaiting repairs for a few weeks now, the third is several locks away so we are expected to call upon the coal boat to fill us up from their own storage tank. That's a lot of boats to cater for! So far, I'm ok as I'm only using my tank water for drinking and cooking and using rainwater to wash and wash up with. It all feels a bit basic but how glad I am that I did the rain-roof. And rainwater does make your hair feel soft!

foraging and friends

The other day, I had a wander in Osterley park and was reminded by the gorgeous honey smell under the lime trees that it was time to gather the blossom that makes such a lovely tea. I set out today to find some but it rained and I remember reading that you shouldn't forage for flowers etc when it's wet as they can rot rather than dry out. Buit I did walk over the marshes to explore Walthamstow and came to the market just as it had finished. There was plenty to forage there! I picked 3 onions and 2 potatoes off the ground, 4 peaches in a dumped tray of many, all a bit squashed but delicious and 4 plants in pots, in a bin. They'll have their day in the sun on my boat.
I like to support markets and small shops but I also hate food going to waste.

Later, I met up with three boater friends and through them, several other boaters, all welcoming and friendly. One lovely guy is also a keen forager and showed me 'the secret tap', a source of water that may well prove to be invaluable on the Lea, where BW have so far failed to provide enough working taps for boaters needs.
Defintely time to dust off the rainwater harvesting roof!
I enjoyed my years of travelling around the waterways alone with my dog and may well go back to that way of life in the future, but for now, I need and welcome the company and solidarity of a boating community.

dogs on the marshes

I saw a Canalworld Forum discussion about new regulations to keep dogs on leads along the towpath along the Regent's Canal, with threats of fines for non-compliance. You can see plenty of the notices on the Lea navigation, alongside the Hackney Marshes. The forum discussion seems to focus on the nuisance of dogs fouling the path (not sure how pooing on the end of a lead would be any different!), before drifting off into the nuisance caused by speeding cyclists.

I was wondering about the timing of these new restrictions. As many know, Leyton Marsh has been the subject of much protest recently, over the development of a basketball centre for the Olympics. The open land alongside the canal, where people and their dogs wander freely every day, has been dug up and built on, with heavy security keeping the community out. It's not the only shiny metal and concrete structure to have sprung up along that stretch of common land, close to the canal I see. Anyway, it seems that three dogs that walk that area had toxic poisoning within a few days of each other. Of course it may be completeley unrelated but about 3 weeks later, the notices restricting dogs went up all along that stretch of the canal.
I'm guessing that the marshes hold still water almost permanently and that disturbing the soil might release some of London's pollutants into surface, drinkable water.
Here's what a Guardian article said at the start of the year:
"The Environment Agency, which has worked with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), the London Development Agency and other partners on the site said it had helped the ODA decontaminate 2m tonnes of soil so it could be reused."
Another report says:
 "The main site for the 2012 bid, the Lower Lea Valley, is the largest area of derelict and contaminated land in the capital"
I'm just a bit sceptic about how efficiently you can decontaminate large areas of land without releasing chemicals and other pollutants into groundwater and air. We don't often see for ourselves the effect on wildlife, but I guess the health of our own dear dogs is very much noticed.
But hey, I'm just a conspiracy-theorist.

Poppies for Poppy

I'm on the river Lea now and starting to explore parts of my new stamping ground for the next two months. I took these photos of a gorgeous bank of poppies, using my phone. The quality isn't good but they truly were beautiful and it seemed appropriate to post them here in tribute to a much-loved greyhound called Poppy. Poppy was badly neglected and abused before being adopted by Sue and Richard ( nb Indigo Dream) and she must have thought she'd come to doggy heaven! They knew she probably wouldn't live long but as they wrote on their blog, "THIS LIFE MATTERED!" and they certainly made it a happy, secure and loving one.

Lock-in on the Lea

After much hesistation, I've decided to go up the Lea and Stort during the olympics. The exclusion zone, between Paddington Basin and Lee Bridge (or thereabouts) will be cleared on the 3rd July so I'll start heading off on Monday. I'm quite excited about it really because a) I haven't been there on my boat before and b) there are lots of lovely boaters who will also be hanging out there over the Summer. I've met a few here in London and shared enough chat and cider to know we will get on well in our 'lock-in' on the Lea :-)
It won't be very convenient for the bits of work I do off the boat, but I think that will be balanced by having good community around me when I am at home.
I'm also in a good work rhythm on the boat, greatly helped by having a proper work space and the warmer weather also helps. The back room is light and sunny for artwork with the back doors open and that bulkhead gone, it's brilliant. I need to think ahead to winter months and how to heat that space, but right now, I'm just enjoying it all.