Top 5 Songs I Grew Up To

This week I’m joining in with Kate’s Listography Linky, which has a kind of September Back-to-School feel as she asks bloggers, what are the 5 songs you grew up with?

1.       The Shadows – Apache

I love this still. It reminds me of living in a bungalow in a Devon village by the sea in the 1970’s. It’s Sunday and we’ve been for a walk with my dad across the fields. He casually chewed on a piece of grass as he walked; my brother and I did the same. We thought it looked cool. When we get home my Dad has a gin and tonic. My brother and I had a children’s version; tonic water with ice and a slice.

2.       Hot Butter – Popcorn

In the bungalow, in my bedroom, playing this vinyl 7” single over and over on a portable record player that folded up into its own box-shaped case. I would be younger than seven. I thought this electronic pop tune sounded hilarious.

3.       Adam and the Ants – Stand and Deliver

That’s the song that came up when I thought back to junior school. A singer who dressed as a dandy  highwayman – what could be cooler? I remember him swinging on a rope and crashing through windows in one of his videos. My older cousin put a white stripe on her nose and wore it in the playground.

4.       Bucks Fizz – Making Your Mind Up

I had the Bucks Fizz album and knew all the words. Me and my best friend made up dance routines to Bucks Fizz songs and then later, Bangles songs.

5.       My teenage years took me from Wham through Bros and anything you’d find on Now That’s What I Call Music Volume 1. But as I was leaving school there is one song that remained with me as something I really love. Dee-Lite –Groove is in the Heart. There she is in her psychedelic coloured cat suit on a TV in the corner of Charlie’s wine bar. I’m drinking Southern Comfort and lemonade or Rum and Coke. I feel incredibly grown up and I fancy boys from the local public school.

I used to have a friend who was a sound engineer. He said, songs are like desktop icons to old memories.

What are the songs you grew up to? Check out the other entries in the linky.

 

On Holiday

My feet: in Eastbourne... (happy days).

So I'm not on holiday yet but I'm doing lots of work for my clients so that I can take a short holiday at the end of the month. Sadly this means my poor little Narrowboat Wife blog gets a little neglected.

Until then, I will be appearing in the following (virtual) places:

Boatshed Grand Union - a blog about all things canal and boaty.

Canal Voyagers - a blog about places to visit on the canals and lovely things to see and do while on a hotel boat.

Boatshed Essex - The only way is Boatshed Essex - a blog about boating and sailing in Essex.

NCBA - The National Community Boating Association; find out about community boating on the canals and more.

Become a Mumpreneur - tips and business advice for mums juggling it all (mums like me!)

www.peggymelmoth.com - my own business blog about freelance writing, social media, business blogging and so on.

How to Get Fit on the Canals

I wrote this article for Canal Voyagers hotel boats, but I quite liked it and thought I'd share it here. I wanted to show that narrowboating can be quite active, contrary to the popular image of drifting lazily along on a summer afternoon...

Canal Boating is Not an Olympic Sport!

Did you see that picture in the Guardian of the narrowboat-shaped water jump as part of an Olympic equestrian event?! That may be as close as a canal boat has got to being involved with a sporting event this summer.

A few months ago I asked the wisdom of Twitter, what are the best things about the canals? Of course people mentioned peaceful moorings, a sense of calm, the sound of water running through a lock and the sun reflecting the pattern of the water on to the ceiling.  So I then wrote an article that described the freedom, tranquillity and closeness to nature that attracts me to the waterways.

However, an even better kept secret of the canals is that they have a wild side!

Here are seven ways to get active on the cut.

Working the locks. As you approach a lock as part of a crew you may be the one to leap to the bank holding a rope and haul the boat in, then tie to a bollard. To fill or empty the lock you will need to wind paddles with a simple device called a windlass, and some of these mechanisms can be quite stiff! Then there is opening the lock gates by pushing the balance beam. Some can be quite heavy and require you to put your back into it.

Lock wheeling. Traditionally this meant going ahead of the working boats, up the towpath to set and prepare the next lock ready for the boats’ arrival. This was often done on a bicycle but some people still call it lock wheeling if you charge ahead on foot.

Bow hauling. Not something that is often done these days unless you have a butty (a boat without a motor). Hotel boats usually travel as a pair; motor and butty. Occasionally manoeuvring the boats requires pulling the butty by hand, on a rope, to get in or out of a lock for example.

Walking. Take a picnic and ramble away from the beaten track (towpath) across buttercup meadows to discover ancient villages. Or stay alongside the boat and hop back on for tea and cakes when you need to refuel.

Jogging on the towpath. The towpath is such a picturesque running track, usually far from any noisy traffic sounds. If there are a lot of locks you may find yourself well ahead of the boats and need to wait a while with a cool drink in a canal side pub.

Mooring up. As well as leaping off with a rope and hauling the boat towards the bank, this can often involve using a mallet to bang mooring pegs into hard ground. Great for releasing any repressed anger by bashing that peg on the head!  

Barge poling off the bottom. Again, not so common if the canal is deep enough, but you may occasionally get caught on an underwater obstruction and need to push the boat off using a barge pole. This is done by standing on the roof of the boat.

Several of these perhaps should not be attempted for the first time without supervision. That’s where the secret of hotel boats is really revealed. Our skipper and crew have years of experience between them and are more than willing to show enthusiasts the ropes, if guests want to get involved.

So if you’re looking for an active holiday with a difference, this could be what you are looking for!

We are currently finalising and publishing our routes for 2013. Will you join us on an adventure?

PS. I also saw a bloke rowing on the canal last week, the whole length of the Grand Union (Birmingham to London). That'll get you fit! Rowing the Grand Union? Yes Really!

When I Ate Your Sweet Heart

Continuing the Narrowboat Wife Poetry Week, here is the second poem, which follows on from Monday's poem: Your Mind.

(It's funnier if you read the other poem first.)

When I ate your sweet heart

 

When I ate your sweet heart

I spat it disgusted

It was broken and twisted

And tasted like mustard

And so I repaired it

With patience and kisses

Now it’s shiny and new

For your shiny new missus

And mine is more bitter

Than a triple espresso

So now i watch my sweet tooth

And I watch what I swallow.

(c) Peggy Melmoth

Lyrical Loops

It's poetry week at Narrowboat Wife! Inspired by my recent discovery of Jo Bell, boat poet and writer of The Bell Jar blog, I am waxin' lyrical this week.

To kick off is a poem I wrote many years ago, and I will follow up with the sequel on Wednesday.

Peggy
xx





Your Mind

I want to walk through your mind

Leave no stone unturned

I want your life to unwind

To find the secrets that burned

You and when I do

I want to be amazed

To know you inside

And all of your ways

To explore every part

I want you surrounded

And when I eat your sweet heart

I want to be astounded.

(c) Peggy Melmoth

The Real Continuous Cruisers!

What do a peg doll, some fancy cheese, a fancy generator, painted roses, and Peter Froud have in common?

They're all part of my real life adventure when I met my clients Neil and Corinne Thomsett for the first time last week. As I'm a virtual assistant and blogger it is quite usual that I don't always meet my clients in person. But if your business is a floating hotel you can always cruise down the Grand Union to meet me on my boat!

Read the full story on the Canal Voyagers blog today. The Day I Met the Hotel Boats.

Disclosure: I am paid to write the Canal Voyagers blog. It was my choice to mention this article here as this particular episode crosses over with the real life of a narrowboat wife!

Life is Not a Rehearsal

I met this character, we were both boating alone. It was about eight in the morning and looking like drizzle. He’s got a denim waistcoat and long grey hair. He’s bringing his boat down the lock. Mine is waiting on the bollards below the lock waiting to come up. He knows this before he sees my boat because of the windlass in my hand.

“Early start for me” he says.

I smile and say,

“Where you headed today?”

“Oh I just carry on going until I get fed up. That’s just the way I am me. That’s what I’m like.”

He crossed the lock gate, windlass in hand and headed up to close the other gate.

“Life is not a rehearsal you know”, he called across the lock, grinning.

We worked the lock and he went on his way. Passing like ships in the flight.

“On your own?” he asks.

“No it’s me and my husband and two kids.” I said. “The kids are at nursery, it’s easier to move the boat without them sometimes!”

He smiles, understanding.

“You can just get on with it.”

I love those moments when suddenly everything seems simple. Just carry on going until you get fed up. I love the way you can discover morsels of wisdom from a conversation with a stranger. Have you ever heard a cliché, like “life is not a rehearsal,” but suddenly you hear it for the very first time? It was just an unexpected reminder to live in the moment. And for that moment, and for the next few locks, I did. I enjoyed the drizzle and the rain, the winding of paddles and the trees and the grass. I noticed the ripples on the water and a heron on a branch.

Just carry on going until you get fed up: my thought for the day.