The Boat that Guy Built - episode 5

The Boat That Guy Built

Episode 5

30th March 2011

Written as I watch.

Hey, the intro suggests some real boat building today. Not that all the industrial revolution background isn't interesting - its just not boating.

We start at Kidsgrove and the Harecastle tunnel and we are soon into historical facts that I don't already know.  I didn't know that the queues to get through the old tunnel could be 5 days long - no wonder they splashed out of a new bigger one 50 years later and what took 11 years the first time round was accomplished in three in 1847. Crash Bank Wallop go the enterprising pair as they shudder into the southern portal, leaving smears of paint on the walls in their wake.

An inspection ensues at the northern end, where the damage is surveyed and a repaint is deemed necessary. Have we hit another boat? asks an incredulous Guy. A quick replay of previous footage suggests that for Reckless at least, boating most certainly is a contact sport.

We are treated to insight into boating life as they travel up the Macclesfield, reflecting on the desire of the boating community to "paint their narrowboats like a rainbow". Guys take on all this is to create a "domestic palace with flames".

Another fascinating fact : did you know that at the time the Maccie was built it cost £6k per mile versus £2k for a railway. Its a miracle that this late addition to the system ever came into being at all.

Macclesfield Marina is visited / plundered for ideas on paint schemes. They settle on Oxford Blue and true to form, no sooner do they get the paintbrushes out, than the heavens opened. That is very true to life. It tipped it down and I think I would have been tempted to retire for a cup of tea and hope for better better conditions tomorrow.

Guy takes some time out to explore the concept of the turnover / roving bridge, an architectural novelty which is almost a trademark of this canal. Unlike the uninformed hoodie in Birmingham, all the locals know about these curious bridges which allowed horses to swap sides without unhitching the tow rope. As for Macclesfield itself, we learn that it was home to 120 mills, although just Paradise Mill exists today, showcasing the silk technology on which the town's prosperity was founded. 

Making silk is a precision job with 500 threads going into each and every inch of fabric. Production was slow with 12 hours manual effort offering just 3 meters of fabric, or enough to make a single dress. No wonder silk was a luxury item. The machinery was as impressive as the finished product, using a punch card system which in itself took 5 years to master. Powered looms speeded things up tenfold and suddenly it was a product for the masses. Guy walked away proudly clutching some souvenirs, a silk cushion and a couple of rather attractive silk canal scenes for the walls.

Back on board, Mavis was having a crack at the signwriting aided and abetted by the talented Meg Gregory. He was well up for a having a go but never mind the lines too much!. At least they got the spelling right.

Inside Guy is attacking the walls, covering them with hand printed William Morris wallpaper. But clearly Mr Morris's hand printing wasn't enough because Guy opts to add his own hand prints to the design - why doesn't he wash his hands before wallpapering? I have to say that his attempts at paper hanging are unbelievably lame - for a skilled mechanic I don't believe he is as inept as he makes out. Hamming things up for the camera I suspect? 

We then have a roses and castles masterclass with Meg doing the right hand side and Guy the left. This bit was really interesting, a sort of cross between the practical tasks from the generation game and a Rolf Harris - "can you see what it is yet?" moment.

The closing scene represented a show and tell moment when they generously offered each other a 9:10 for jobs well done. If I am being honest I am not sure that their attempts justify such a high score, but watching then try to master a skilled craft earned a 10:10 for effort in my book.

We see Reckless sailing away into the sunset and its final episode, resplendent in a deep blue paint job, sharp sign writing, gleaming artwork - and flames erupting from the bows. Somehow, from these lads I wouldn't expect anything less.

All in all the best episode to date. Lots more canal history, canal architecture and practical boat building stuff. Excellent.

Grants of Sheep Street - Stratford on Avon - restaurant review

Grants of Sheep Street

Stratford on Avon

Restaurant Review

April 2011

Pub and Restaurant reviews - a whole new genre of post for the Blog - how very exciting. 

The first review is Grants of Sheep St, a mouthwatering eatery in the heart of Stratford, about 100 metres from the Bancroft Basin moorings, which we sampled last night.

Grants of Sheep Street - Stratford on Avon

This is quite a new eatery for Stratford, but one which is quickly establishing an enviable reputation as "the" place to dine. It can best be described as urban chic, clean and minimalist but serving food which excellent to the point of sublime, but thankfully a visit doesn't have to break the bank.

Food Quality 5:5 - excellent without being pretentious

Service  5:5 - attentive, remembering Belle's name after a gap of 3 months

Toilets 5:5 - always a good test - Incredibly clean with individual real hand towels!


(I am using a 5 point scale with 5:5 being top marks - and yes I do you the top scale where I think it is justified.)

The is a fixed price menu which offers a three course meal with three choices at each course, all for £15 a head. Then we had wine and coffee and still emerged having spent less than £50. Not bad at all considering the quality of the place. If you have a bit more cash there is always the always the a la carte menu, which offers more choice but the quality remains consistently high.

I was particularly taken with a magnificent chandelier which cascades down the stairwell:

Chandelier in the stairwell at Grants

The secret is out about Grants and you will need to make a reservation of you want a table at the weekends. Its not just the regular punters that are flocking in - the thespian crowd have cottoned on, and there is a fair chance of some serious lovey spotting as the casts often hold their end of run parties here.

The chandelier from below!

If you do go, and you really should, make a point of going up to the 1st floor bar and then go out onto the roof patio. It offers a fine view of the new RSC theatre building.

The RSC from Grants roof patio

The Shakespeare Curse

The Shakespeare Curse

By J L Carrell

March 2011

I picked this book up in high hopes having thoroughly enjoyed its prequel, The Shakespeare Secret.

I shouldn't have bothered - it was twaddle from cover to cover and I would have given up on it had I not been stuck on the train for three hours with nothing else to read, except the London Evening Standard.

The plot follows the story of Macbeth, with the author exploring the possibility that the apparently incongruous insertion of the slapstick witches in the play (double, double, toil and trouble) and follows an assumption that Shakespeare was party to a black magic ritual which he inserted into Macbeth, only to remove it before the First Folio was published as he was in fear of the demonic spirits it conjured up on stage.

The plot then jumps across 400 years as the ancient past is brought to life with followers of the dark arts seeking out the original text to invoke an apparition of their own - leaving a train of sacrificial murders in their wake.

I started out assuming that the magic bit was a smokescreen for a more earth bound plot but it wasn't to be. It was hocus pocus from end to end, mumbo jumbo all the way - utter unbelievable bilge.

Maybe I live too deeply in a post modern society, where spells and magical arts are relegated to the childish world of Harry Potter. The basic premise was fanciful, lacked credibility and as a result the book was a bore, only finished by stint of skim reading and lack of anything else to occupy my time.

If you see this book lurking on a bookshelf somewhere, pass it by. 

The Boat that Guy Built - episode 4

The Boat that Guy Built 

Episode 4

March 2011

OK, there seems to be a view that I am dissing this programme, and that I really don't like it. This is well wide of the mark - its quite a charming series which totally  engages with the schoolboy scientist within. If I really found it annoying I wouldn't watch each week.

Mind  you, I still think there could be more about canals, but that clearly isn't going to happen so I will stop banging on about it.

Written as I watch:

So, tonight is on the theme of food - a subject which is close to my heart. First its make a can of baked beans, then make some cutlery and finally bake some bread and toast it in a 1st generation toaster. Lots of interest there.

Baked bean can

Baked beans in a can - how hard can that be? Well actually - very hard. Take a sheet of very thin iron in a Cannock "tinnery", do some magic with acid and water and then dip it in super heated and super expensive tin (£50k a drum). Cut out a top and a bottom, hammer the edges over and then solder the joints up. Its a slow job and 200 years ago a factory could produce maybe 60 per day, compared to 2,000 a minute today. Cans used to be a luxury item when they were invented in 1824.

Making the can, with its hole in the lid, was interesting but getting the beans in was pure slapstick. There was no way the beans were going down the funnel and in the  end they resorted to the time honored approach of stuffing them in with their fingers.

Cutlery

A quick shift up to Sheffield, cradle of UK cutlery manufacture - an area which used to make 97% of all the UK's cutlery. But wait a minute - did you know that to be cutlery the item has to "cut" so forks and knives are in but spoons are out. I never knew that.

Along the way they examined a spoon press and we saw a tiny reproduction of the Lords Prayer on a  pendant - a testimony to both Gods faithfulness and the quality of the Sheffield press setters.

The end result was impressive by any standard. I would be very proud of what Guy produced. Good on you mate.

Toast

Now this was a sort of a two part challenge. Guy was off to the Hovis factory where we learned about the hand mixing of wheat, water and yeast - oh and also the importance of washing your hands which probably isn't one of Guys strong points. I was particularly taken with the sight of the yeast being killed and reduced to a liquid by the addition of salt. Is there such a thing as the yeast protection league out there. 

My grandfather used to grow a yeast plant to supply his manufacture of ginger beer. Now Thomas W Cooke was a tee total man but with an inventive streak, and he loved making his ginger beer - and supplying me with a steady supply. What he didn't seem to realise (and my father found very funny) was that it had a super high alcohol content - on a par with the stongest beer. So there I was, an innocent little school boy downing half pints of a stong brew given to be by a very devout local preacher!

The bread looked excellent - as good as the stuff my mother used to bake. But of course, as a child I didn't appreciate it. It was so unfair - why couldn't I have plastic white shop bought like all my mates.  

And as for the toaster, Mave showed how to generate a stunning 10 milliwatts by turning a copper disc within a magnet. It wouldn't solve Japan's power crisis but it would be a whole lot safer. Then onto a rebuilt "Eclipse" toaster, manufactured by Crompton. I loved to see the bread cut with a tenon saw - I must try that at home one day, Belle would do her fruit!

The end result:

Beans - absolutely terrible but it was a cooking problem, not an issue with the tin.

Cutlery - a masterpiece of craftsmanship

Bread - superb

Toaster - well, it worked after a fashion

All in all - wern't those industrial revolution boyo's a bunch of clever chappies!

See - I can do a positive review.......

Ironbridge

Ironbridge

March 201

My visit to Blist Hill included a flying visit to Coalbrookdale, paying homage to Abraham Derby III's masterpiece - the very first Iron Bridge ever constructed.

Ironbridge - March 2011

This technical marvel was built in 1779 spanning the Ironbridge Gorge via an unprecedented 100ft cast iron span. 

The true marvel is that here we are on a cold and wet afternoon nearly 250 years later and still the bridge is pulling in the crowds.

River Severn south from Ironbridge

Sure the weary old lady is no longer expected to carry road traffic, but she is spick and span in good repair - thriving under its World Heritage Site status.