Thursday 7^th May 2020

Hallelujah! The photos of other documentation of our lives, have finally all been put into albums. I seem to have been doing this now for months and am very glad it is now completed. It is one of those jobs that is rewarding to have done though. Now perhaps, I can move on to the Family History.

Brenda had been noticing a black gunge occasionally hanging from the bathroom tap. There is a filter fitted in the tap so this was removed and found not only to have gunge sticking to it, but also a number bits of hard lime-scale. No doubt this had been causing the problems with the water pump cutting in and out. The filter was washed and soaked in a solution of Dettol and the kitchen tap also checked and cleaned.

The black mushroom vent was refitted and we both agree that we like the colour, so now it is on with the remainder of the coats of paint.

The French Grey paint for the poles had a thick skin on top and lots of bits in the paint. What paint there was left was sieved which resulted in there being less. The poles were then given a coat of paint but there may not be enough left for a second coat.

The boat was then turned to fit the stern wrap-around fenders to the starboard side and then turned again so that we, once again, face away from the marina. The view in the opposite direction is so much better with no boats. We are very pleased with the resulting fendering but the starboard side bow fenders will have to wait until Susan gets more rope. The fenders require huge lengths of rope. The stern fenders alone, use 3 lengths, 11.5m long plus the core.

Brenda meantime, fitted one seat cover and then, with a pattern that works, quickly made another.

A busy enough day.

The weather forecast for today was supposed to be for back-to-back heat, but the sky clouded over and it started to rain just as the fendering was being finished. However, it did not last, the sun came out again and we had our planned BBQ.

There was not so many people passing as yesterday but still a significant amount. Most days there have been guys baiting up at the winding hole a few hundred yards behind us and in the late evening, two guys started to set up for a night’s fishing. At the present time it is actually illegal to fish and we know that above the lock, people have been reported and given spot fines. Personally I don’t see the harm if they are in the countryside, unless they are blocking the towpath, but it is illegal nonetheless.

We heard off Matt again. At present he his off the north east coast of South America en-route for China from Texas via the Atlantic, Cape of Good Hope and Indian Ocean. An epic journey at the end of which, he will have circumnavigated the globe twice this trip alone. He went away on 14^th December for what should have been a 14-week trip. So far he has been away for 21 weeks with no reliefs despite being in the UK twice since his due off date. His ship is not due into China until 24^th June, a further 7 weeks away, meaning he will have been away for over 6 months. Hopefully he will pay-off there.

We were also in touch with CJ and Ian to try and arrange to meet up when they travel to Liverpool, post lock-down.