tales from the 1970s

[roya]

HI DELL,

hard old life mate ,

but we will come through

[delbuoy]

hi have a good one all.
del

[delbuoy]

22. 15-01-2015.
Hi all.
Another year begins,hope its a good one for all of you.
I was at a bit of a loss,didn't know what to do next,so I sat around for a couple of weeks.(pondering).Then came to the conclusion.move onboard.I put a few things in the back of the car and set out for Kingston on Thames.I knew what to expect to find on board,or thought I did,.There was an old kitchen sink unit,no taps of course and a bucket under to catch the waste.I had a small camping gas burner.I bought a cheap camping kettle from Woolies and with the aid of a water proof, rat proof container and a length of string to dangle it in over the side with.I had a fridge to keep the milk in.so I could at least make a cup of tea.For those of you that have never tried this method of keeping your milk cool remember to use rot proof string.Theres nothing worse than seeing your fridge floating down the river.Black tea again.
There was one thing I found on board I didn't expect,that was (Norman).
I will have to pay a visit to Barclays my pen is running out of ink.
Del.

[roya]

HI Dell,
happy new year mate,
I have the flu at the mo but will be in touch for a meet up soon

[delbuoy]

23, 5-03-2015.
Hi all.
When I got to Kingston on Thames,it was around mid day the sun was shinning perfect for the start of a new adventure.There was a narrow alley off the main road leading down to the river.It was just wide enough to get the car down but it was somewhere to park the car.I had to climb over a brick wall ( using the car as a step ladder ) onto some waste land there was a flag pole (which came in handy ) then a sort of jetty about 20 ft x 20 ft on massif piles.Under the jetty two old sailing dingies.Ponostis was tied up on the out side and on the out side of Ponostis was a steel boat about the same length as Ponostis.I got on board my new home, sat on the gunnel's and took it all in. Kingston bridge was only about a 100 yards down stream,opposite and right next to the bridge a little community of boats with people living aboard a river side walk grass mature trees.It was perfect.Then Norman tuned up ?.Who are you he said.Im Del isaid I bought the boat,who are you.He replied Im Norman I live on the boat.
MMMMMMMMMMMM.

[delbuoy]

24, 3-10-2015.
Hi all.
We were both a bit put out.
I felt a bit sorry for Norman,he was a bit older than I was and clearly on his uppers. He told me he had spent the winter sleeping on one of the sailing dingies under the jetty.He slept under an old tarp in the worst of the weather,so I had to feel sorry for him but this was my boat now and my home.We
argued for some time to no avale.Eventurly he said if he did leave he would take the sink.Eventuly
he left without the sink.I dont know where he went but I saw him some days later,he showed me a greasy spoon and I had breakfast there most mornings.He even took me to see another boat in a yard just down river.For some reason the money for Ponostis hadnt gone through so I could back out if I wanted..It was a realy nice boat about the same length as Ponotis but a proper river boat,long slender,center cockpitand engine you could get to and work on.i should have had it.It would have done what I wanted to do.Enyway I was stubbon and kept my word and carried on with Ponotis. Time drifted by a bit like the Thames under me.It was idylic really,apart from two things.I just couldnt get on with the locals.It didnt mater who I spoke to I was sort of cold shouldered .I dont know weather they thought I got Ponostis to cheap or it was I had condemd Norman to another winter sleeping rough or what.So it seems I had to leave town.First time ive been run out of town.I managed to get get the guys with the steel boat on the outsideof Ponostis to tow me to Oxford and another guy agreed to sell me a Bantam Tug.(a bantam Tug is a small pusher tug with a lister engen)
I used to drive one in the late sixties on a gravel pit near Sevenoaks in Kent.Wonderful little things,you drive up to the back of a barge and put out two wire strops to the bollards on barge whinch them up tight.Efectivly this makes the two boats one solid unit,great fun.I would have prefered this option as it would have given e a runabout when I got to werever I I
was going to end up.They both wanted £400,strange that.Of course I didnt have £400.
So in desperation I thought in for a penny in for a pound.
I went back to the bank.
Del.

[delbuoy]

hi all
hope everone is ok.can enyone tell me how to trancfer tex from open office to this site.ive got sa far as highlighting the tex but cant find the line,top right,to drop tex to bottom.this is on windows 10.

[SteveO]

You should be able to cut the text from an open office document and paste it onto a post on the site. I have done so many times, but only via Windows Vista or from Libre Office via Linux.

If there is a problem with this, it may be something to do with Windows 10, which I won't have in the house.

Cheers

Steve

[delbuoy]

testing

[delbuoy]

....................................................................................................................................................
25-30-10-2016
hi all
I hung around Oxford for a couple of days.Realy i was plucking up courage to go back to the bank.
I got up one morning and said to myself DEL just do it.So i went to the bank.I saw the manager he seemed really excited about the whole thing.He asked me how munch i had got it for and when i told him he said i dont believe it then he asked me what i wanted.I explained about the engine not working and that i needed another £400 to get a tow back to Oxford.HE didnt think about it he said lets make it a round £1000, give me a couple of minutes and you can cash your check at the counter.
So there i was set.Or so i thought.

[delbuoy]

................................................................................................................................................
26-5-11-2016
hi all
Back in Kingston on Thames and on board Ponostis things were good,the weather was great.I got up every morning to bright sunshine sparkling on the Thames, id have a cup of tea and of to the greasy spoon for breakfast.wander round for a bit.I would have liked to have stayed there but that wasent possible and i was running out of money.Time for a new plan.The only thing to do was to move under my own power.Yellow pages sorted me out with a used 60hp mercury outboard , electric start , with forward and reverse from a chandler in Henley o Thames.I didnt have the faintest idea if it would push a 50ft wooden boat. Espescialy on the non tidal Thames.For those of you that dont know the non tidal Thames its a bit of an enigma , above Teddington lock theres a constant downstream flow of about 2 or 3 knots so i had to do at lest 4 knots to get enywhere.A couple of days later with some old scafold plank 4”x2” and some studded rod I had bolted a crude outboard bracket to the transom of Ponostis.Luckely my friend Peter cane to help me get the outboard onto the bracket . Then it was the steering . Being a hoarder i had some pullys and some of that nylon cord used on pull switches in bathrooms . There was no ships wheel but the stanchion was ther , so a 3ft plank became my ships wheel so with pullys screwed every where cord and a plank we had steering .Peter started the outboard put it on full throttel and i watched the mooring roaps to see if they went slack eventualy they did that ment if the flow was not stronger in the middle of the river .We were ready to go.

[delbuoy]

hi all just like to wish you all a very good one

[delbuoy]

27-05-5-2017
Hi all
The next day,another lovely morning.We started the outboard had a cup of tea and set off.Peter was to look after the outboard and he had the chart.My job was to steer.We coudnt see each other so we just had to shout,All the locks are on one side of an island and and the weir is on the other side,even though they are clearly marked because of my steering i had to knowwell in advance which side to go.So when i saw one well in the distance i would shout island Peter would look at the chart and shout either left or right.The first lock was a bit of a challenge but somehow we got in it and they are all maned so we didnt have eny work to do.The lock keeper was very nice but he did tell us that he had been told we were comeing and we werent licecenced but there was no problem.WEWe went on till we came to the first bridge and moored for the night.Next morning we set about sawing afoot off the top of the wheelhouse to give us headroom under the bridge.We knew we would have to do this as all the way up river the bridges get lower and lower.

[Paul]

[roya]

Hi Dell,
long time no see,
great story keep it coming.

i dont know if you are aware that Hank has passed away,so im not sure of the forums future,
all the best
roy.

[delbuoy]

im so sorry to here about hank.