Sleep Deprivation

On our recent adventure into Essex and Suffolk, we loved this village sign for Tollesbury depicting the horse-powered ploughman (2 horses.... deux cheveaux?) but also, top right, a "stackie" barge. Stackies were Thames sailing barges employed in the agricultural sector, bringing hay for horses up to London (all horse-drawn transport in those days, of course) and bringing back the horses' waste products for spreading on the fields.

Most farms near the sea or near to the many creeks and inlets of Essex and Suffolk would have had wharves or "hards" (hard standing at low tide) from which to load barges and unload the horse muck from London. London bound the hold of the barge would be loaded with something heavy like mangolds, but then an entire haystack would be built on the decks, stacked half way up the main mast. The Mate would then have to sit on top and shout instructions to the skipper down at the back about where to steer, as he couldn't see round the hay stack.

For Dad another weekend of weekend cover at work, and another dose of sleep deprivation, not only covering the emergencies across both days, but also in from 0100 to 0800 to nurse-maid a computer outage while some electrical work goes on. Just have to catch up on sleep afterwards, Dad.

Deefski

More Signs of Spring

Now that the local Daffodil Show is well and truly over, the daffs all decide it's now OK to flower. These rather nice collection of Tete-a-Tete are in one of the big pots which were originally a birthday present from Mum to Dad. They are too big for Mum to lift but she used her womenly wiles and the 2CV (and a handy bloke with strong arms) to bring them home from the garden centre when Dad was out of the way.

Since then they have contained a variety of ill-fated plants, a Japanese maple which died, and a philadelphus which fared little better. Now they are full of daffs while they decide what to do with them. The other pics (if we can get them to show - this website seems tyo be having a hissy-fit and will not show them, so we have no idea whther they uploaded successfully or not.

Dad has survived another weekend on call and we've had plenty of good walks. Mr H, says Dad, is definitely starting to slow down now, the old fella, and an hour and a half of fairly gentle is enough for him. I am, of course, fit as a flea at 3 years old, so there is talk of maybe replacing Meggie with a fit, young third dog to give me a run for my money and let Haggis have a gentle retirement, like they did for Meggie. Maybe not a pup. Maybe not even (gasp) a Westie.

We'll see. Now we want to try publishing this and see what the website makes of it.

Deefski

Butterfly Wharf

Dad takes a lieu day back for the weekend cover he did last weekend and, fortunately it's a blue skies, sunny one. We have a leisurely awakening and a long slow breakfast. The garden is full of birds enjoying the spring sunshine. At one point we are let out and we disturb the sparrow hawk down on the ground by the bird feeders. She shoots off down the garden curving away towards the trees round the Rec - we don't get a clear enough view to see whether she has anything in her clutches.

We head for the Terrier Heaven of Conyer creek - all low growing thorny scrub, rabbit-grazed sward and rabbit scrapes. Dad is curious. He knows of two Thames barge hulks rotting away against the seawall, now visible only as the skeletal remains of stem, sternpost and a few bottom frames. He'd been told these were SB Landrail and SB Kestrel (SB is Sailing Barge), but now finds that there are 4 barges listed as hulked at Conyer in the records, 2 "above Butterfly Wharf" and 2 below.

We are not 100% sure where on the ground Butterfly Wharf starts and stops, but it may be the sticky out bit you can see in my 2nd picture, which is on the very end of Conyer Creek before you get into the Swale proper. Dad's two barges are definitely "above" this (ie further from the sea) and might therefore be, in fact SB Dabchick and SB Band of Hope. If there were 2 barges below this "sticky out bit" they are long since almost destroyed by time and tide.

Right adjacent to the lower end of the possible wharf is a sticking up chunk of well rotted serious wood which might just be a stem-post/apron, with a few planks leading off which might just be planking around a barge's stem or transom. One other sliver of metal sticks up which might just be a shroud-eye fixing. Who knows? We're not even sure the sticky out bit is Butterfly Wharf.

Ah well - keeps Dad amused for hours and gives us plenty of time to scurry around the rabbit scrapes and thorn scrub.

Have a good weekend

Deefski