A much-delayed post - and an apology

There's very little - okay, nothing - happening on the boating front at the moment. All of our hectivity has been focussed on things domestic, and I quite forgot to post the following...

Arriving back at the boat on Wednesday, we were amazed at the temperatures registered on the max/min thermometers in the boat.

In the dinette...

the bedroom...

and under the cratch cover

Yes! 50.7° Celsius!!

Lee and Roy of "Days Afloat" visited to fit a new floor in the "cupboard" (I really don't know what to call it) under the well-deck. They did a really nice job, of course. It was good to be able to look under water tank before they fitted it, to see the internal condition of the hull at the front of the boat - some mild surface rust that doesn't merit any kind of treatment. Fitting the floor involved removing the safe from the cupboard, a 56 lb steel box that had been fitted when the boat was built. Having nothing of any great value small enough to put in the safe, we would rather have the space it occupied. We call this cupboard "the larder"; it's always pretty cool, and we store vegetables and fruits in it.

A tidy version of our safe!

Our water pump had been operating poorly for some months, and we were considering replacing it and/or the accumulator. Roy gave the latter a casual poke and, strangely, normal service was resumed! Magic!

Having decided that the stern gland greaser was definitely knackered, we drove out to Calcutt Marina's chandlery to buy a new one, still to be fitted.

Bob visited us on Saturday morning to regale us with horror stories from his BSS certification experiences. He tested Kantara while he was there, too. She passed. The next day, we drove back down the M25 to snorbans for more domestic stuff.

We might get back to Kantara some time!

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The apology.

I know that several of you are readers of my "Hints and Tips..." book, and I have in the past made a habit of telling you on this blog whenever I update the book's Addendum Blog. I fear I've not done that with the past few additions, so please visit the blog now (web address in the book) to see what you've been missing.

Now you see us...

After a week or so back in St Albans (cat-sitting while all of the kids were away on holiday in Scotland with a group of friends) and Luton (decorating) we're now on Kantara again. We were able to have our six-year-old domestic batteries changed without us needing to be here but, as I type, the chipboard floor of the "cupboard" under the well-deck - damp and mouldy from years of occasional unavoidable leaks from the water tank - is being replaced, and we wanted to be here for that.

It's given me the opportunity to remove our stern gland greaser and see if I can identify the reason for grease escaping under pressure at the bottom of the tube, where it screws into its base. There was no evidence that there were crossed threads as I had feared, but it's very likely that a lifetime of use has caused wear. I'll replace it, fingers crossed.

On Saturday morning Kantara will have her three-yearly Boat Safety Scheme examination. We don't envisage any problems. After that, back to the house, and wallpapering Steve and Karolina's house.

A day with Jacqui and a welcome break

Jacqui, a former student in the second school of my career, spent the day with us last Wednesday. She'd been a FB friend for some time, one amongst dozens of others from that school, and she's a reader of my books. She'd expressed a desire to come and see us on the boat for a couple of years or so, but we'd never been able to arrange it.

Finally come the day, the weather was perfect for the usual guest-trip up to Bridge 28, lunch, wind and return for tea. Except Jacqui couldn't stop for tea. Time had run away with us and she needed to get home. It had been her first experience of a narrowboat, and much enjoyed by all of us, though her time at the helm had been rather scary!

Trying to reverse Kantara into our berth failed because of a side wind that took us over to the service platform, whence Jacqui departed. A bow-spring was successful, however, and Grace drove the boat in forwards.

We came back to the house the next day. There was lots we wanted to do. The first thing was to visit the Luton house with Steve and plan the order of works.The kids set off for a week's holiday in Scotland on Saturday, a group of fifteen friends altogether. Grace and I set off to Luton to start work, and we put in five days in that week, preparing walls and ceilings, and putting up coving in the main bedroom.

We took a break from this on Wednesday to collect Jess's dulcimer from the guy who'd repaired it for her (broken when she fell down some stairs with it). From there, we went on to Anglesey Abbey, where we spend several hours. The house had never been open on the occasion of past visits, so we were glad to be able to take a leisurely tour around that as well as the grounds and the mill.

Then back to Luton!