Tom Bloor

at last

May 30, 2007

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Tom grew up in Birmingham, but I met him in the United States. It was through Tom that I originally became interested in the Birmingham canals. This is an old photograph of the Icknield Port Loop, hanging in the office of the boat yard.

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Tom came out for a ride by himself at the end of the day.

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I thought maybe he would be sick of the boat -after helping me construct it last month.

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But he still wanted to go.

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And it had turned into a pretty afternoon.

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I never noticed that before.

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We came out onto the New Main Line,

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and decided to go a way that I had never taken before.

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From here you can see how the canal is above the level of the street in some places.

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There is a towpath along this section, so I decided to practice pulling the boat along, for when I take the boat out alone for a longer trip this weekend.

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I asked Tom to experiment with the position for a fixed rudder- for when I am pulling the boat along by myself.

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He didn’t think that I should try and take the boat along by myself. Especially at night, outside the city.

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OK, fine.

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