Ep9. Narrowboat Sandbag Sundays - Towpath Tales

Welcome to Sandbag Sundays Tall Towpath Tales as I discuss stories I've had along the towpath as I wonder about. I also discuss my thoughts of the recent Royal funeral.

#narrowboatlife
#narrowboats
#canallife
#canals
#chrismearsinslowtime
#chrismears
#sandbagsundays
#royalfuneral
#chrismearsnarrowboat

[cynthiamalphrus]

Interesting vlog today, varied subjects. Enjoyable as always.

[grahamlewis]

😆 a true boater, talking pooh tanks, happens all the time!!😂. Great vlog, love your talking tales 👏🌟. Joan

[darrenking]

That story about the chap and the dried poo bucket had me laughing Chris. Very funny. Toilet humour - it never gets old. Stay safe on your next move along the canal. Oh, and it was Derek & Clive….

[stevegilbert]

Brilliant mate. What I like about you is you are just being yourself and not trying to be someone special cos you're on the telly like some other vlogers. Great shit story too!

[boblawrence]

It’s not just what you say, it’s the way that you say it, and you say it in such an entertaining way Chris, as I’ve said before ‘I could listen to you all day’ and I can’t say about any other vlogs. Did laugh at the joke, 😂 took a bit of thinking about, didn’t immediately jump out but was funny. Well done again. Just had a thought, how about a ‘go fund me’ and get this man a lens? I’d do it but don’t know how.

[garybevan]

A very entertaining Vlog Chris, we loved it. Have to agree, we’ve met some wonderfully colourful characters on the towpaths.
So now we have Sunday, Wednesday & Friday sorted, so what about…….
Music Monday……..what kind of music you’re into etc
Tidy Tuesday……. Trick & tips for keeping your boat spotless
Throwback Thursday……..more in depth about your military career
Serious Saturday……..politics/putting the world to right etc

Or perhaps, just stick to the 3 you’re doing😂👍

[jongibbs]

Chris - Loved it… your humor makes me smile every week. Loved you take about sitting amongst the poop - is this why it’s called “the poop deck”? 😅

Queen’s ceremony was a please to watch and all involved did an amazing job and they should be proud as I know all their family’s will be.

Just another little ditty you can tell people on the towpath is that now King Charles III is on the thrown, just as it will now be called the Kings Guard, Royal Mail are changing their name to Charles III Post Office - in short to be called C3-PO so expect your letters/parcels to be delivered by Jedi’s 😂

[Mr_Reaper]

Loved the gag about 'the' middle name :) - I was brought up to try and make at least one person smile every day. Manage it most days. Keep it up Chris

[johnhaase]

Greetings,
The shot of the bird in flight looked just fine that way, it captured the movement.
Hasta la Proxima,
John Haase

[andrewwheeler]

Thank you, Chris... enough said! I'll always stand by you and your values....

[garyhollywell]

Great Vlog Chris and I agree with your comment, Monday was both a Sad and Special day and the Pageantry was something unequalled around the world. I also agree ref the Royal Navy and the Lads carrying the Coffin were exceptional. We have tonight watched Goggle Box where they revisited it all and we shed a tear once again. Have a great week and thanks for your Vlog

[smullen]

That was a lovely background picture Chris. Someone once commented on searching the Queen Colour Squadren on Youtube and I came across that picture and a very good video of you handing over outside Wellington Barracks. Safe journeys

[Twinpot]

You are very entertaining…even Pooh talk is interesting. I looked in detail when the accruements were removed from the coffin. The sceptre had been screwed and clamped, the Orb had a piece of dowel attached to the bottom and a hole drilled into the lid. It was clearly a tight fit, as the bishop had to give it some welly to remove it. The crown was pinned as per. It was indeed a splendid affair. Nobody does it like the brits 👍

[martincooper]

Nice chat, the orb had a spike on the bottom and went through the lid.

[martinrubenstein]

Brilliant, Chris. Very interesting, entertaining and enjoyable.

[jamieg]

I was there on Monday, it most definitely was a great send off for an amazing lady

[ChrisHobson]

Morning I look forward to your Sandbag Sunday. Every time a little different.

[makinganarrowboatwithnannyandg]

Your looking very slim Chris, this Narrowboat business is suiting you well. Ady just said we need to do a starvation Saturday 🤣🤣🤣got any tips. Glad your settling in now 👍 Keep them coming

[greghilton]

Hi Chris. I've been a lens pointer for near on 50 years. The one thing I've noticed about modern day DSLR cameras is these automatic focus and exposure systems. And you are right. To get a good one you need buckets of money. However there is an excellent alternative. Its called manual mode. Most people get scared of it because they don't understand things like depth of field or EV bracketing. Focus is the easiest to begin with and its about how you hold the camera and where your fingers are in relation to the adjusting ring on the lens. With a bit of practice you can focus a shot manually much faster than the average auto system and get the shot long before the slow processor chip has even thought about it.
Exposure is slightly different. Remember in the old days when we all used film and there was a little slip of paper in the box that everyone threw away. On that bit of paper it had an exposure guide for the speed of the film in the package. If the film was 100ASA (100 ISO) At 1/125th sec shutter speed it was, bright sun f16, partly cloudy f11, open shade f5.6 etc. If you commit this to memory, you could look at a scene set the camera, focus and take the shot in about a half a second. The good part is, with modern day DSLR you don't have to wait for your shots to come back from the chemist and pay good money for bad shots. Just delete the bad ones and keep at it. You will discover there is a fair bit of latitude to move around in. If you are using your camera on a daily basis, give it a month or two and you will become a wizard at it. And I mean properly exposed, pin sharp focus and faster than any processor chip. I know professional camera pointers who deliberately under expose everything, so when the pull it up in Lightroom or Photoshop they can raise the brightness and make it perfect. We couldn't do that with film in the old days. So have a good play and learn how your camera likes things. Its not rocket surgery.
While I was watching this clip, I noticed that a couple of times your main camera hunting for focus. Put it on manual, try one or two stills to get it right, flick it to video and hit record. Job done. Its always better to have the depth of field forward a little, so if you lean forward your not going out of focus. (One third of the depth of field is in front of the focus point an there is two thirds of it behind the focus point.) Cheers

[JulianShagworthy]

As somebody who's been around narrowboats most of their life, this video reminds me of stories my grandfather would tell me as a child about the 'Mad Diaper of Stoke Bruerne'. Legend had it that Mad Diaper was an escaped insane asylum inmate in his late fifties who would wear nothing but an adult nappy with an industrial sized safety pin. He would stalk the towpaths and canal sidings by night, on the hunt for unwary solo boaters moored up to prey upon. Most of the time, he'd create mischief with a bump or a thud, just enough to unsettle the boater. Other times, he would develop a heavy thirst for the seedy, clandestine pleasures in life and would break into a narrowboat with a terrifying wail, like that of a newborn baby. He would then subdue the poor occupant before removing his nappy and committing illegal and ungodly acts on their bottom, all the time shaking a rattle in one hand and dusting talcum powder with the other. There was a short rhyme written about him - "Beware, Beware, the Diaper of Stoke Bruerne. Sleep for too long, and ye backside be ruined." I don't believe he was ever caught, but there have been alleged sightings of him as far north as the Lancaster Canal and as far south as the River Wey during the past 30 years. Beware, the Mad Diaper of Stoke Bruerne...