Washing the breakfast dishes I seemed to have this strange sensation of falling forwards into the sink and looking out of the galley window I could see no fields - no horizon, just water !!!!!
"There is something seriously wrong with the boat! shouted Cap'n Denise from the shower.
"You are not kidding........what the hell is going on?" I replied with a slight tone of concern.
Rushing outside to make visual sense of my desire to fall-over, I realised we were hanging from our ropes at a steep angle, where just five-minutes previously we were at our normal inland-waterway horizontal situation.
Most of the water in the canal had gone and we were leaning alarmingly.
'Don't panic Captain Mainwaring' ........I thought.
"I suggest you get ready quick, we have a situation" ......I suggested to Denise with only the slightest hint of panic in my voice.
What the bloody hell !!! I mused appraising the rapidly disappearing water and throwing our dog 'Suzy' onto dry-land in an effort to stop her falling over. .
A few minutes before everything had been O.K and a hire-boat moored behind had sailed-off with no problems regarding water level.
Mobile in hand, I found the Canal and River Trust emergency phone-book number and hit the 'call' button.
"Hi..........you have no water in the Trent and Mersey canal near lock 60 " I reported.
"Trent and what ?" was the reply.
"Trent and Mersey !!" I struggled to keep calm and speak clearly.
" Sorry, computer cannot find it" said the voice
"What!!!!!!!!!! T-R-E-N-T AND M-E-R-S-E-Y !! one of your principal waterways!! slightly losing my composure.
"Sorry, for some reason it is not coming up on the computer, sorry - hang on" she said.
"Oh yes, I will certainly hang on.......my boat is at a very steep angle !!!" I said.
"At a steep angle, you say, oh right ? O.K putting you through" she said
"Hi" came a man's voice
I explained precisely as possible that the Trent and Mersey had drained of water above locks 59-60 near the M6 not very far from Wheelock and I was leaning at this crazy angle with the boat threatening to roll-over.
"Is that near Stoke?" He asked.
"Stoke????? No!! nowhere near Stoke" ..... I answered frustrated by my need to repeat my exact location regarding place names. bridges numbers and locks.
"Oh right, we will have to get somebody there as soon as possible" came a positive reply.
At that point a fellow boater came by and explained that he was a few locks down and had taken it on himself to drain the upper pounds ( including 'mine' ) to 'bring some water down' to his level.
Despite the upper pounds being reasonably long all this had done was leave them virtually dry.
I managed to make a cup of tea, by wedging a saucepan against the kettle so that it did not slide off the stove....... boat seemed to be wedged firmly without movement sideways, so we sat stoically at the steeply-angled stern with our hot tea. Very British.
" Shall I re-arrange the deck-chairs" ....asked cap'n Denise with a smile.
" What?" I asked
" That is what they did on the Titanic" came the smiled reply.
" No use doing that, they would just fall over the side...... lets drink our tea and put the life-jacket on the dog" ....I said
Time passed.....as time does.
" Hiya".........came the greeting from a friendly Canal and River Trust man.
He explained that they were bringing water from several pounds above and would have us moving in a short while.
He had come from the locks lower down and had got a good tongue-lashing from disgruntled boaters held-up there.
" You can only do your best, it is not your fault" I commiserated.
When we had sufficient water to float he came back and helped to move the boat off the ledge it had wedged on. He explained that a boat was coming down and would we wait to ensure a 'one-up, one down' regime to maintain the water levels.
We would like to say many thanks to this friendly guy and his colleague positioned a couple of miles or up the canal ensuring a supply of water. It is very frustrating to be in a 'no water' situation, but helps no one if you express your frustration in blunt terms to the guys trying to sort the situation out.........any problems caused by lock-gear failure ( principal problem on this occasion) was certainly not of their making. Apparently the low water levels had been obvious for several days but nobody had reported it.
We were very fortunate to make progress after only several hours, the navigation being restricted seriously for a few days afterwards whilst problems with paddles on lock 61 and the mitre-liner on lock 63 had been repaired. All the pounds towards Rode Heath were very low but we managed to keep moving in the centre of the canal and had to smile after saying 'hello' to the owner of a boat on a permanent mooring sitting on the stern of his boat with it's propeller showing high and dry..............
" Might as well do a bit of fishing............nothing else to do " he said with a resigned smile.
.....Always remember in life 'Seize the moment' if a Brandy is offered as the ship goes down, it is not the time to become teetotal........
and ......."He who is not panicking does not realise the serious of the situation" ( my favourite )
"There is something seriously wrong with the boat! shouted Cap'n Denise from the shower.
"You are not kidding........what the hell is going on?" I replied with a slight tone of concern.
Rushing outside to make visual sense of my desire to fall-over, I realised we were hanging from our ropes at a steep angle, where just five-minutes previously we were at our normal inland-waterway horizontal situation.
Most of the water in the canal had gone and we were leaning alarmingly.
'Don't panic Captain Mainwaring' ........I thought.
"I suggest you get ready quick, we have a situation" ......I suggested to Denise with only the slightest hint of panic in my voice.
What the bloody hell !!! I mused appraising the rapidly disappearing water and throwing our dog 'Suzy' onto dry-land in an effort to stop her falling over. .
 | |
| No wonder the kettle keeps falling off the stove..........!! Denise manages a smile despite San Serriffe being well and truly aground due to a lack of water on the Trent and Mersey near Wheelock |
A few minutes before everything had been O.K and a hire-boat moored behind had sailed-off with no problems regarding water level.
Mobile in hand, I found the Canal and River Trust emergency phone-book number and hit the 'call' button.
"Hi..........you have no water in the Trent and Mersey canal near lock 60 " I reported.
"Trent and what ?" was the reply.
"Trent and Mersey !!" I struggled to keep calm and speak clearly.
" Sorry, computer cannot find it" said the voice
"What!!!!!!!!!! T-R-E-N-T AND M-E-R-S-E-Y !! one of your principal waterways!! slightly losing my composure.
"Sorry, for some reason it is not coming up on the computer, sorry - hang on" she said.
"Oh yes, I will certainly hang on.......my boat is at a very steep angle !!!" I said.
"At a steep angle, you say, oh right ? O.K putting you through" she said
"Hi" came a man's voice
I explained precisely as possible that the Trent and Mersey had drained of water above locks 59-60 near the M6 not very far from Wheelock and I was leaning at this crazy angle with the boat threatening to roll-over.
"Is that near Stoke?" He asked.
"Stoke????? No!! nowhere near Stoke" ..... I answered frustrated by my need to repeat my exact location regarding place names. bridges numbers and locks.
"Oh right, we will have to get somebody there as soon as possible" came a positive reply.
At that point a fellow boater came by and explained that he was a few locks down and had taken it on himself to drain the upper pounds ( including 'mine' ) to 'bring some water down' to his level.
Despite the upper pounds being reasonably long all this had done was leave them virtually dry.
I managed to make a cup of tea, by wedging a saucepan against the kettle so that it did not slide off the stove....... boat seemed to be wedged firmly without movement sideways, so we sat stoically at the steeply-angled stern with our hot tea. Very British.
" Shall I re-arrange the deck-chairs" ....asked cap'n Denise with a smile.
" What?" I asked
" That is what they did on the Titanic" came the smiled reply.
" No use doing that, they would just fall over the side...... lets drink our tea and put the life-jacket on the dog" ....I said
Time passed.....as time does.
" Hiya".........came the greeting from a friendly Canal and River Trust man.
He explained that they were bringing water from several pounds above and would have us moving in a short while.
He had come from the locks lower down and had got a good tongue-lashing from disgruntled boaters held-up there.
" You can only do your best, it is not your fault" I commiserated.
When we had sufficient water to float he came back and helped to move the boat off the ledge it had wedged on. He explained that a boat was coming down and would we wait to ensure a 'one-up, one down' regime to maintain the water levels.
We would like to say many thanks to this friendly guy and his colleague positioned a couple of miles or up the canal ensuring a supply of water. It is very frustrating to be in a 'no water' situation, but helps no one if you express your frustration in blunt terms to the guys trying to sort the situation out.........any problems caused by lock-gear failure ( principal problem on this occasion) was certainly not of their making. Apparently the low water levels had been obvious for several days but nobody had reported it.
We were very fortunate to make progress after only several hours, the navigation being restricted seriously for a few days afterwards whilst problems with paddles on lock 61 and the mitre-liner on lock 63 had been repaired. All the pounds towards Rode Heath were very low but we managed to keep moving in the centre of the canal and had to smile after saying 'hello' to the owner of a boat on a permanent mooring sitting on the stern of his boat with it's propeller showing high and dry..............
" Might as well do a bit of fishing............nothing else to do " he said with a resigned smile.
.....Always remember in life 'Seize the moment' if a Brandy is offered as the ship goes down, it is not the time to become teetotal........
and ......."He who is not panicking does not realise the serious of the situation" ( my favourite )
No comments:
Post a Comment
click on 'comments' or 'no comments' for form to appear.