Gas Street Moorings, Birmingham

 We have been on this mooring for almost two years now and as there was nowhere to tie the boat at the front we used the metal railing on the end of the next pontoon.  It was supposed to have been on our pontoon, but that is yet another story.

Anyway, during the high winds over the past few days the weight of the boat pulled it down.  It was 2am in the mooring and we reported it to CRT on the emergency line.  Our two trusty workers were around next morning and they fixed it.

We are too scared to used it again for tying up the boat, so now we are waiting for a new cleat thingy to be put onto the end of our pontoon so that we can tie the boat more firmly.

There should be fireworks tonight - I saw some men on the roof of the House of Sport.  It's usually a good sign.  We didn't get any last year, so here's hoping.

 I haven't made a new year card for ages, well 2009 actually.

So here is one I made earlier.

Hope you all have a happy and prosperous year ahead.  Give us a waive if you see us on the cut.  We are planning the Llangollen, Liverpool, York and back this year.

Gas Street Moorings, BCN

Gas Street Basin on a misty night.

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful New Year.

The fireworks were back last night!  Last New Year we didn't get any, so it was a surprise when the were set off at midnight.

Let's hope  the weather is better this year - though one of the advantages of living on a boat is that you don't need sandbags to keep the water out!!

I am getting really  frustrated with our internet link.  For some reason it does not like me updating the blog and keeps kicking me out so I have to start again.  One of the reasons why I have not been so up to date lately.  And, David is always in "my" chair, so I can't get to the computer.  Says "his" chair is too uncomfortable.

In the short space of writing this post the "error" notice has come up 5 times!  See what I mean.

Here is a New Year card I made for a friend.  The backing and topper came from Making Cards magazine.  I decopaged the bottle and added some glitter to the bubbles and a peel-off date.

Gas Street Moorings, Birmingham

Lots of yellow leaves in the cut. Shame about the rubbish. Just a few days ago Graham discovered a body floating around here.

Went swimming in the Hyatt yesterday (as I do every day) and shared the pool with Dwight Yorke and an actor from the REP and I saw the Manchester United team arriving for their match against Villa. Exciting or what?

Today Caroline came to sort out our tax returns. It only took her 3 hours (she charges £350 per hour when she is at work proper). Still, it's gone and hopefully won't come back again like the Companies House one.







A couple of New Year cards.

For this one I used my Nestability circles, squares and scallops. I printed out the date and sentiment on the computer using a font with stars inside and covered the letters and numbers with glossy accents.

They were then stuck onto the step card with silver stars wrapped with silver cord and blue star gems.




This one was made up in the same way but I made an easel card and added some yellow ribbon and some big stars.

Last Friday I attended the Hobbycrafts Exhibition at the NEC and bought some new Nestabilities. Must find some time to use them.

Gas Street

Last night we had a visitor who gave us this poster. He is looking for a couple who live on a narrowboat. He describes the boat as 62ft long with a green hull and red upper - but no name of the boat.

They have not heard from the couple since October and are worried about them.

Is there anyone out there on the Towpath Telegraph who has seen them recently?


We are iced in again this morning and it is foggy too. We had a slight flurry of snow around 10am. Not a good omen for the fireworks tonight!









All excitement 10 minutes ago. On checking my emails I discovered that I had sold my first card on the MisiMe website. Hope this bodes well for the New Year.


I had to make 4 cards for Baldish from our Doctor's surgery. She always sends New Year cards.

This time I made some lovely spiral pop-up cards. The idea came from Splitcoast Stampers here. I cut out the stars on my trusty CraftRobo and using different colour schemes roughly made the same card in 4 different ways.

I liked them so much that I made two more similar ones for Tom next door when I persuaded him that he needed New Years cards as well.

Gas Street, Birmingham

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL

I just love living in Gas Street - there is always something happening. For New Year we got an almost exclusive firework display, and we didn't even have to leave the boat.

While we were in town yesterday we were stopped by a couple with a camera who said they were from the BBC - had we made any New Year's resolutions?

"Yes, I have made one for my wife." Said David

"What is that?" Said the reporter.

"She has to give better sex!" Was the reply.

Enough said.





So, for the cards .... Two for the New Year - of course.

They were made by cutting a bottle shaped candle in half with a hot knife, lots of shiny paper and sparkling confetti and peel-offs to finish it off.