Talking of MmmmmmmmMMMMMmmmm...

My boat isn't there yet but might get over to the Nantwich Beer Festival at some point this weekend, as well as catching some live rock in Crewe and even in Wheelock!

Here's one I drank earlier...

mmmmmmmmEspresso........

Couldn't find it on the web but heard someone on Radio 4 last night calling for Espresso coffee to be certificated as authentic only if it can be shown to be a proper espresso. As a big fan of this fab little drink, I hope this goes ahead as I'm sick of asking for a watered-down tastless 'English' version.



Viva Italia!

Is it a bird, is it a plane.......?

no..........it's Granny Buttons!

A short while while still mooring on the Macc canal, ago I was walking home and came across this famous (certainly to the boat-blogging world) boat.

I also new from Andrew Denny's blog that he was intending to visit the Rising Sun in Kent Green, a pub I was also keen to visit as it used to be my local and I knew I wouldn't be in the area (at least not with the boat) for some months. It was a pleasure to meet him, Andrew being a lovely and interesting chap.

After some drinks I showed him where a particular canal-side property was so that he could go to work back in his journalistic role as he 'painted' his images using a torch and loooooooonng shutter-speeds to illustrate an certain ongoing story which I'm sure we'll hear more about soon. I can see now why Andy wears his fluorescent jacket when he's working like this in the early hours.

Another story - a very sad one for me.....Phil and Tray (and the inimitable Holly) will be leaving the Sun this winter. As I've said before, for me it's people, not beer that make a great pub (and I am speaking as a real-ale nutter) and this was why the Sun was my favourite.

See some of my other posts on The Sun here :(

Can I make some money out of this?

Apparently I'm a dead ringer for Seth Green.

It would mean dying my hair a bit gingery...

Last day of Summer 2007

...and an appropriate image to represent the last few months! (taken between Malkins Bank and Wheelock).

On the smaller shot the sun is lighting up the rainbow.

(My tiller-toad is not impressed by any of it though).

Gimme Shelter

If you find yourself in the Stoke-On-Trent area, and like me enjoy perusing charity shops...you must visit the Shelter shop in Hanley (that is -Stoke city centre, "Stoke" turns out to be a town further out of the city...oh and the "D-road" is not a country lane like anywhere else and double-oh the people here are dead friendly) which has an amazing retro section. I took this pic without permission but I hope they wouldn't mind considering I'm recommending them.

Looks like this guy needs shelter too! Though he seems happy enough watching the watery world go by.

Introducing Ethel...

Ethel is my Cheesy cheese-plant and is about as old as me...has reached the ceiling several times in various houses I've lived in and been hacked back, replanted and rejuvenated.

She came back to live with me on the boat last year and I was concerned she might not survive the winter, it IS very warm on the boat when the stove is on but I thought a couple of days away and she might perish if it gets too cold. But you can she she managed fine...

Ahh September....

Warm, dry days, cool, refreshing nights and the promise of so many colours that the words "brown" and "yellow" can't possibly do justice to....yeah.

Chimney Envy

A bit of extreme chimneyfication on this nice Dutch Barge (or Lux motor or whatever it is????).

Jumping Jacks

Jumping Jacks in Hanley on a Thusday night.

Wear any colour you like as long as it's BLACK!

Lounging around...

In a previous post I mentioned that the combination of a friendly impromptu book exchange and my liking of decent stand-up comedy resulted in me reading (unlikely though I would have thought) a crime thriller. Well now I have become completely addicted to Mark Billingham's Tom Thorn thrillers and am on the last one (oh no!), "Death Message". Well who cares?

By the way I really don't understand these boaters who spend a fortune on a bespoke boat and then have these two very upright-looking, individual pair of chairs in the saloon. Surely the saloon (or 'lounge' for land lubbers) is for lounging. I can't remember who said it but I try to live by the maxim "Never stand up when you can sit down and never sit down when you can lie down".

Bridges on the Macc...

I know the Macclesfield canal is famous for those turn-over bridges but this is my favourite. The extra buttresses on the right are a result of the high wall's collapse into the canal (blocking it) a couple of years ago.

By the way a lot of books about this canal are WRONG!...in that turn-over bridges are NOT unique to this canal. I saw one somewhere near Stafford.

Warning - Geeks only!

....and maybe some politicos, greens, feminists etc? I have started to put some of my essays and stuff here

I did warn you.