As you may notice from my artworks, I am inspired to use various forms of arc in my work.

The geometry of the arc has many variations in bridges and architectural details, such as windows and doors.

I am fortunate enough to live in the beautiful city of Oxford and I can’t help but notice the shapes that are present in much of the brickwork around our streets.

I love to take Perspectief (my Dutch cruiser) downstream from Oxford to a favourite mooring near to Dorchester-on-Thames. The great thing about this location is that there are some wonderful walks around the village and, as you will see, a serious climb up to the top of Wittenham Clumps.

Wittenham Clumps are a pair of wooded chalk hills in the Thames Valley, in near to the village of Little Wittenham.

A beautiful walk that involves a bit of climb, but the view is worth it!

Welcome aboard Perspectief! This was an upstream trip that took 2 days with an overnight stay at Dorchester, however, this video just shows some highlights with some nice music. Enjoy!

Welcome aboard Perspectief! Wallingford on Thames isn‘t our home port but we often end up there from Oxford. In this video we cruise downstream through three locks to Pangbourne meadow. Once we moor up we take a walk back to take a closer look at Whitchurch bridge.

Come aboard Perspectief for a trip through 5 locks downsteam from Abingdon to the attractive town of Wallingford. Watch the video to the end because we go for a little walk to take a look at Wallingford Bridge.

Dorchester on Thames is a favorite mooring spot for Perspectief. Here follows a video that first explores the village of Dorchester (it has an Abbey) and then we make way upstream. Check out this video on the YouTube Channel.

Perspectief went back in the water today and is now happy to be afloat on her mooring.

Perspectief is currently out of the water on the marina trailer and ready for some underwater maintenance. This is also an opportunity to check out the stern gear (rudder, propellor) and anodes.

We must offer some admiration for those people who paint the text on the road. These letters (white or often yellow), are painted skilfully so as to read well from an angle. Of course, the letters need to be geometrically perfect, but some distortion helps the readablity from a moving vehicle.

New Betamarine engine arrived at the marina in a big cardboard box. Beautifully packaged and mounted on a wooden palet. Two control panels where taken home for safe keeping and for checking against the new dashboards that I had made.

Engines are very heavy objects being made from cast iron and steel. A typical diesel engine will weigh 140 kilos and a marine engine with a gearbox and heat exchanger attached could be up to 190kilos. So, how does one lift an engine from the boat’s engine bay so that it can be removed from the boat.

After a lot of research the decision has been made to replace the engine in Perspectief. Her engine is as old as the boat and maybe be even older. Here follows an explanation of why we need to get a new engine and also a narrative of the research undertaken. No doubt you will want to read on to find out the progress on the project, but this post is just about the research.

Matthew Arnold (1822-88) was familiar with this view from East of the city of Oxford and his poem, Thyrsis included the phrase dreaming spires.

We took an opportunity between the rain showers to take our friend Wilfried to Sandford for a picnic lunch.

The Hollywood sign in Santa Monica, California is a well known landmark and has an interesting history, because it was originally put up in 1923 as an advertisement for land available for building homes in an area known as Hollywoodland.

Of course we have been here before, but on this trip the weather was very hot and in spite of lashings of sun cream the skipper got a little sun burnt.

Those of us that like to take our boats out on the Thames are in lockdown like everyone else. We have recently learnt (15th May) that we may visit our boats at the marina, but the Environment Agency are discouraging cruising by keeping the locks without hydraulic power. Hand wind only.

So much to see in this small world between the fences. Plenty of time to get down and closeup to the world of plants and insects. Abundant greenness sprinkled with colour, pierced with sharpness. Home to our beautiful cat who is surprised that we are spending so much time on her planet.

So this self isolating is rather frustrating, I’m sure you will agree. But here’s the thing; if you are cooped up inside your own house maybe there are some details that you never really noticed. Maybe you just take for granted the corners here and there that might make an interesting picture.

Spending a lot of time in the garden because of the lockdown, I find myself looking skywards through the trees.

Just today we have been suffering from the onslaught of storm Ciara (edit) and now storm Dennis has arrived. Trees are down and much debris on the pavements. The chain saws are out and the branches are being shredded.

Walking around the town, I find myself looking down. Often this is because I need to tread carefully on the uneven pavements and kerbs, but often it is because I am noticing the rich variety of textures and shades.

I’m standing at the bus stop and I see an interesting pattern on the ground. I am mesmerised. Out comes the phone. I take a picture.

I’m on the bus, on my way home. It’s getting dark and it’s raining. I’m on the top deck at the front. I’m struggling see where we are (I’m looking for my stop). The bus is full and everyone is breathing; why shouldn’t they?

It’s the stuff that we use on boats to hoist our sails and to hold on to the wharf. It is an amazing material that we couldn’t really do without – not just in the marine environment but in construction, farming and the haulage business too. If you like climbing mountains then you depend on rope to keep you alive.

Some of us don’t like rust because it implies a deterioration of our metallic belongings. On the other hand, some architects like rust because it delivers a rich red/orange surface.

We might say “I like your blue sweater”. But we could instead say “I really love your “Pavilion Blue” sweater. Of course we would need to have memorised the Farrow & Ball colour card and have been brainwashed with these named colours.

Isn’t it amazing how there are so many ways to use letters, words and sentences. This is my space for collecting type on display, old and new, large and small.

This is the ceiling in the Halles Laissac in Montpellier. The ceiling is a glass dome and :

As we cruise up and down the Thames, we are struck by the variety of scenes that drift past; marking the boundary between the water and the land.

On a very blustery day, we took friends Benno, Birgit and Maria for trip downstream to Nuneham. From Oxford to Nuneham was a popular excursion in Victorian times.

The Botley Road in Oxford crosses the Thames just beyond the railway station. The road is carried by an iron bridge constructed in 1888 after the previous stone bridge had collapsed killing 3 people. Apart from this tragedy, it is also a great shame that the bridge is so low (2.28 metres clearance) that it prevents many craft from navigating further upstream than Oxford.

From our Osney Moorings to a view of the Carfax Conduit at Nuneham, takes us through Iffley and Sandford Locks. This is a favourite excursion because it gives us a chance to get back to Sandford in time for a lunch at the fine establishment of the King’s Arms.

Our cruise downstream gave the crew a slight case of sunburn in spite of lashings of sunscreen. We were fortunate to be able to find good moorings for our nights but we have learnt to arrive early at the popular locations.

Phew… sunburn and swimming after a great trip down to Abingdon reach.

Late April and we take the train to Wargrave for a trip upstream to Oxford. The mooring at Osney awaits! Our first lock was Shiplake. Here the crew is holding on while we wait for the lock to open.

The rubber boot that enclosed the CV joint was torn and grease had been flying out from this joint. The survey had picked this up as a necessary correction.

The oil pressure gauge at the upper helm position was displaying near to zero, when the engine got warm. This was worrying. At the lower helm position the oil pressure gauge seemed to indicate a normal reading. So what was going on?

The canopy is stretched over stainless steel hoops which are then hinged at 2 points on the top deck. Because the canopy needs to come down and be detached at the main hinge point, it was felt essential to change from a slotted bolt fitting to a quick release pin.

Perspectief has a Ford Diesel engine 1.6. This is a marinized Ford Escort Engine from 1987. This apparently gives around 40hp at 3000rpm.

Barry Burnell of National Marine Surveying came to the marina, the boat was hauled out and the survey took place over one day.