Ambiguity in Alrewas

We left the National Memorial Arboretum in thoughtful mood, like most visitors. For the most part wonderful in both conception and execution, it provokes reflection in the way that, presumably, was intended. But for me, as ever, it was ambiguous. Some might see a monument to valour, others to folly. It's easy, following the success of the Olympics, and the national pride they rightly engendered, to see these commemorated service men and women as having given themselves for the protection of worthwhile values. The elements of truth in that ensure that we shall going on remembering in the ways we do.

But as I looked at the names of those killed while on duty since the Second World War, I calculated there were between 16 and 20 thousand. Looking at the years heading each section I tried to think who they would have been, and the names of some trouble spots that I was aware of since childhood came to mind. Aden, Kenya… Do we feel the same today about the values we were fighting for then? The troubles in Northern Ireland still create their own discussions, let alone the political and economic complexities of the conflicts in the Falklands and Iraq. To get public support for fighting there is often the need to reduce the issues to something very basic, and sound-bites are the enemy of rational consideration.

The Chapel embodied some of these tensions. It is the "Millennium Chapel of Peace and Reconciliation". Not much to look at yet from the outside, but inside it is airy, and I liked the unusual tree pillars. It has two lecterns, and each has an embroidery – one with a quotation from Revelation 22:2 ("The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations") and the other with the BBC motto ("Nation shall speak peace unto nation") which is loosely based on Isaiah 2:4. But the Chapel also has that strange amalgum of Christian and military imagery that often seems to go beyond the rightful provision of pastoral support for those engaged in fighting. I never had much time for flags in churches ("God bless our war"), though this is not a church as such and I didn't actually check out what the flags were. But, in addition, the huge cross on the wall is in fact a sword, and the quotation underneath it is strange: "Raise up a living nation, a single sword to thee". I don't know if that is a quotation from somewhere, but it seems to be rather more militaristic than thousands of last-night Prommers singing "Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, till we have built Jerusalem in England's green and pleasant land."

War is a profoundly sorrowful thing, though I have come to think that sometimes it is probably necessary, and that there are things it is right to fight for physically. It's strange that I can mix all these thoughts and emotions with the enjoyment of books or films based in war-time or on the premise of conflict. But that's ambiguity for you.

Working windows

I take a lot of pleasure in seeing someone at work who knows what they're doing (with the possible exception of synchronised swimming), and especially in learning from it. Yesterday it was Lyndon of Aqua Boats taking out our leaky window, and re-working the way it was secured to the boat. The hull had properly tapped holes for machine screws, but at some point in the past someone had decided it was better to put wood screws through these and secure it straight into the wood of the internal window frame. Not particularly well either – one or two were too near the edge of the wood and made it split. No wonder I got confusticated when trying to look at it myself last autumn.

Don't think the window is completely water-tight yet. There's some light showing through one of the aluminium frame's mitred corners that needs some sealant, and where water had got in before there's a bit of steel that needs to be rubbed down and re-painted. But I do now know a lot more about how to work with windows, and have a much better idea of which bits I could do myself and which I should get someone more skilled to look at. I also discovered that you remove the opening part of the window by just lifting it out! Such a simple ruse had never occurred to this muddled brain – oh the sleepless nights wondering how to clean the bottom quarter inch of glass and the rubber it sits in! Just lift it out!

Lyndon had acquired his traditional engineering expertise the best way – starting with keeping his own motorbike running at age 7. Together we lamented the lack of incentive for young people to gain practical, worthwhile skills. He wondered, as he worked, where the next generation of engineers was going to come from, while I watched, and admired, and learned.

Willington WiFi

Mobile broadband isn't cheap (about £11 for 3 Gb at Amazon prices) and the connection can be a bit variable. So when you stop near a pub offering free WiFi, on a day when you're planning to do some internet work anyway, the eyes light up.

The Dragon at Willington seemed a friendly place, even if their bar food menu was a tad expensive, and they were quite happy to give me the WiFi key. Unpacked the MacBook and worked my way down the available networks to the one that responded. I could immediately see a list of connected devices, but internet connection there was none. The bartender was also trying to get a link on his iPhone. "Needs a re-boot", he said, "It was working this morning – it's a nightmare". With that confidence-booster, it was back to the table to wait, but to no avail. Since I'd yet to purchase any liquid refreshment I was on the moral low ground, so I packed up, went out to the garden and tried to get a mobile broadband signal.

Unfortunately Willington's Three signal was also rather flaky. Managed to get off an email, but there was no chance of doing any database work. Eventually thought I'd see whether the Dragon's link was working by now. Success! For about 10 minutes, and all rather slow. Just enough for me to make a couple of changes before the whole thing packed up again.

Free WiFi is easy to advertise. I doubt if you could get them under the trades description act, but you ought at least to be able to apply the Ronseal test. Perhaps there should be a universal understanding that if the WiFi doesn't work, it's the coffee that's free. Now to send this blog-post. Assuming Willington will let me.

Rocks, blocks and shocks

You can never quite tell what you're going to get between the water and the towpath. Last night, looking for somewhere to tie up for the night, we encountered long stretches (mile after mile would be an exaggeration, but that's what it felt like) of jungle – reeds and nettles and who knows what. Just above Wychnor lock we finally found a suitable place where the canal is edged with the sort of piling you fit a mooring hook behind. But this morning, pushing north-east in as much rural idyll as you can get 30 yards from the A38, it was disconcerting to see that for considerable distances it was lined with random blocks of stone, just below the water. I imagine it was originally above the water-line, forming a proper edge to the canal, and that its position now is due to subsidence. Horrible to run on to with a steel hull – lethal (I suppose) for a GRP cruiser.

Coming to Branston Water Park we pulled up to go for walk. Not so much subsidence here – just a nice example of a gravel pit reclaimed by nature with a bit of help from the Council. There we met Eddy and Jean sailing their boats. But these weren't children – they're 73 year olds, and the boats are radio controlled yachts. It was fun to chat with them about the stuff they and their friends do, though we were amazed that you actually need insurance to sail one of these models. It's apparently all about the possibility that someone keen to see what you're doing might get a bit close and end up with your antenna in his eye.

Bridge 25 on the T&M tonight. Food in the pot, it's stopped raining and we're looking forward to the Olympic closing ceremony. Happiness is…

On the water again

Spent some days commissioning the college database I've been developing. Now we enter the phase reputedly used by Microsoft – let the actual users do the beta-testing! More excuse for me, I think, since this has basically been a one-man project. First indications are that it's going pretty well.

So – back to Erin Mae on Thursday, and then yesterday we started out down the Trent and Mersey for our Tuesday appointment at Mercia Marina to deal with the leaky window. It's been briliant boating weather. Today we got to new territory, running past the winding hole at Rugeley which was the furthest we'd previously been in this direction.

We followed NB Barnaby for a considerable part of this morning, and discovered it can be very useful to have another boat 200 yards in front when negotiating a tricky section. Looking at his behaviour indicated potential hazards – not much traffic today but you can guarantee what there is will be coming at you just as you hit a narrow section right before a bridge on a blind corner. It was especially helpful to have him in front as we went through the rocky, single file section that used to be Armitage tunnel, and has a bend just before the far end. He was able to tell the hire boat coming the other way that we were following, so my best beloved was saved the exercise of walking through ahead.

On to Fradley tonight, a famous junction where the Coventry canal meets the Trent and Mersey. What will we do this evening, now that I've already done a blog post for today? Probably iron out a few database glitches via the internet, and then there's the little matter of the Olympic hockey medals matches, if all this boating hasn't got me in a muddle as to which day it is today.

Home again

What with all the showers it was touch and go to complete the varnishing of Erin Mae's front doors and frames, but in the end we managed it. That was the main target for the last week, in addition to making arrangements with Mercia. So we're well content.

There was so much sport on the radio on the way home, what with the test match as well as the Olympics. Comes from having DAB. In the end I had to turn it off because of the need to concentrate on the heavy traffic. So we've been catching up tonight. Pendleton, team pursuit, Jessica Ennis, Murray, Rebecca Adlington, and those are the ones I already knew about. How much more can a body take! Stopped for coffee on the M40 and had a good chat with a couple coming home from a holiday in the Dales. Hope you find the blog tonight, folks – enjoyed our natter (and hope the coffee spill dried out!).

IT work over the next few days – getting the database live and sorting out any initial issues. Then hopefully back up on Erin Mae towards the end of the week, and some more cruising.

Knots

At Greatwood camp when I was 11 we learnt to tie a round turn and two half-hitches (along with a clove hitch, reef knot, bowline, sheet bend and sheepshank). We were told it was used for mooring boats, because it stayed secure no matter whether the line was tight or slack. I've used it ever since whenever messing around with boats, and taught it to Lewis and Charis when they were on board Erin Mae for a day in June.

Yesterday I noticed Dawn of Great Haywood Marina using a different hitch when we tied up for a pump-out. I'd seen her use it before, but this time I asked her to show me. She said it was used by all the old working boats, so I've been busy rehearsing it (in my mind, at least).

Today I found it on a boating knots website. Unsurprisingly it's called a Lighterman's hitch, though it no doubt has other names as well. Dawn tends to tie it without a complete turn for temporary mooring. Another boater looking on said he always ties it with a complete turn, and that its advantage over the RT2HH is that it doesn't over-tighten under a day of other traffic moving you back and forth.

New skill – good fun. Now to build it into muscle memory.