Another quick visit

We're fortunate in that Kantara's home mooring in Yelvertoft is only a 75-minute drive from our house, so it's no problem simply to drive up to check that all is well with her as she sits empty and cold in the awful weather. So we drove up yesterday. The weather was all right when we left St Albans, but it started to rain as soon as we arrived; sleety rain driven almost horizontally by a biting cold, strong wind. The light was gloomy, and the marina looked foreboding. Apart from the ladies in the office, there was no-one in sight.

Kantara was OK, though. There was a surface dusting of mould in one or two places, but that was all. We were glad to get back in the car and drive away again, but we would far rather the weather had been better, and that we could have stayed. We're missing her!

Back in our home from home, we're planning the new galley, and looking for the best priced fridge and cooker - there is only one model of each which is really suitable.

And we're getting through a number of domestic jobs on the house, too. We had 16 solar panels fitted last Saturday, a new shower pump the week before that, a damp patch on an bedroom wall investigated (no signs of ingress from outside), and a visit from a guy trying to sell us air-to-air heating (ugly, and of dubious value... the system, not the salesman!). Then, of course, there is always gardening and housework. How much easier it is to maintain a 60 foot boat! How will we cope, when we get back to the boat?

We're still looking at the end of this month to be re-starting boat life, but reports continue of rivers in flood and canal closures because of the freak weather. Our fingers remain crossed!