Friday 8^th May 2020

Harvey has a routine in the mornings that we say falls into five definitive stages:

Stage 1: he wakens us by pawing away.

Stage 2: breakfast.

Stage 3: out for a short business walk.

Stage 4: plays with Penguin and his ball.

Stage 5: back to sleep.

Very occasionally, less than a half dozen times in his 9-year life, he is naughty, but it is so out of character, it is funny. He will then stand looking at you as if to say “it wasn’t me, honest”. This morning he picked a piece of kitchen roll out of the bin and ripped it up all over the rug.

The fishermen left at 10am after fishing all night and have left a bit of a mess, debris from a fire and a BBQ, but at least they took their rubbish home with them.

The day fell into what has become our daily routine. The poles were given a second coat of Grey paint, there was just enough left, and the mushroom vents also another coat of black. The black paint being used is Dulux Weathershield that was bought for the roof tools. The trouble with it is, it takes a long time to cure and it is not possible to apply a coat every day as it takes at least two days to cure sufficiently.

We walked to the chandlery. Susan has agreed to do some shopping for us and we picked up the in-line water filter that had been delivered. The fitting of the filter, along with the isolation valves, is going to be a balancing act. The tank will have to be empty and we will have to be by a water point, so the job probably won’t get done while we are in lock-down.
As part of the 75th Anniversary of VE Day, Susan was suitably attired in 1940's Land Girl clothing complete with make-up. The chandlery was decked out in Union Jack Bunting and all the windows were taped up in case ze Germans decided to launch a surprise bombing raid. Susan and BJ had planned a weekend of celebrations along with a party, but unfortunately, it had all been cancelled due to the lock-down.

The last 30ltr water container was emptied into the tank. We carry an extra 90ltrs of water in containers to supplement the tank, mainly for the winter but at the moment also used to extend the time we have to move to fill.

The afternoon was far too hot for me so I spent a while inside. The shower head and hose were removed and soaked in a Dettol solution but I didn’t dilute it enough and it stank the boat out, being strong enough to smell on the towpath.

We refer to the back end, under the pram hood, as my workshop and it had become very untidy and cluttered over the last few days with all the work in progress. Tins of paint, jars of brushes soaking in white spirit, bits and pieces of rope and tools. So the whole lot was tidied into some form of resemblance.

With it being so hot, we had a late dinner, Hake steaks Provençale.