Christie Chandler > Quotes

“on the longer pounds between locks they would usually have one of them out ahead of the boats, on the bike, lock-wheeling, with a windlass stuck in her belt, to prepare each lock for the boats, and today that task would fall to Avril.”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“for the first lock, on their way north. Mrs White was steering the butty and her husband was steering the motor, with Victor by his side. Avril sighed and stepped down”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“Whenever she mentioned that she worked on the canal boats she got an odd look, as though she had a contagious disease”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“Stoke Bruerne.”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“snubber, made of thick hemp,”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“They used their windlasses to take the weight of the paddles, slipped the pawl off the ratchet and then slipped the windlass off the spigot to let the sluice paddles close noisily under their own weight. They then proceeded to the gates in front of the boats and, using the windlasses again, they arduously wound the sluice paddles up. The dark green, filthy water, roared, boiled, bubbled and swirled into the lock and around the boats, bumping them against the lock walls. The boats rose, slowly but inexorably, on the rising water. The lock keeper and Avril, one on each side of the lock, kept the straps taught as the boats were lifted up to the level of the canal beyond the gates. The”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“They went up through the hatches to the stern well of the butty. Miriam stepped up to the roof of the cabin, and Faith tried to follow her, but slipped. Avril grabbed Faith’s jacket to prevent her from landing on her face, or worse still, taking a ducking in the disgustingly filthy dock water. ‘God Faith! You’ll fall and break your neck one of these days. You are so accident-prone. I’ve never known anybody like you.’ ‘Oh don’t make such a fuss Avril. We’ve all had accidents along the cut, not just me.’ Faith wrenched her jacket out of Avril’s hands and clambered over the cabin to join Miriam in the hold of Ceres.”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“She clambered down the greasy metal ladder, stepped across onto the counter of the motor and then onto the coaming of the butty and stepped down into the stern well to unlock the hatches, pushing back the slide hatch and opening the thin vertical doors. She threw her bags down onto the sole of the cabin before stepping down onto the coal box and into the cabin.”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“Avril let go the fore strap as Miriam turned the speed wheel again and the engine revved faster, and the motor slid along the length of the butty. As Miriam passed, Avril handed her the looped end of the short towing strap, which Miriam dropped over the stud at the stern of Ceres, and then Avril felt Iris take up the tow with a sluggish jerk. The boats were now moving in line astern towards the first lock, with the butty following in the wake of the motor. Avril”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1

“The girls then erected the stretchers, stands and top boards on the boats, to form the triangular section structure covering, or ‘clothing’, the loaded holds, by using the tarpaulin side-cloths and top-sheets. This was a tricky operation, as it demanded a lot of balancing and stretching to tie the knots in the strings, which laced the cloths together.”
― Christie Chandler, Cut: Max Eden Crime 1