Mixing with the big boys

We saw giants today!

One of the zips in our cratch cover lost a couple of teeth a while back, and we finally got round to booking a slot on one of Harris Hood's occasional Repair Days. So today we drove off to Worcester with the cover carefully folded in the back of the car.

The DVD player in our TV stopped working when I dropped it the other day. Hardly surprising really. There's apparently only one TV repair shop in a 20 mile radius, Trafalgar Electronics, and that happens to be in Rugby, so we added that trip to our journey, setting out early to allow for that, and for any traffic problems we might encounter. Our repair slot was at 2:00 pm, and we arrived at 1:00.

Harris Hoods works out of  Upton Marina on the River Severn, and in the marina stood dozens of the big boys. (all photos courtesy of the marina)

OK, so some of these cruisers are small, but the largest were intimidating! They are huge! Narrowboats do feature in a small way here, but they're tucked away safely.

It's a very impressive site, with impressive facilities, including boat sales, servicing, and a chandlery amongst all the others you'd expect to find in any marina.

They also have a pub restaurant, and this is where Grace and I ate while we waited for our cratch cover to be repaired. The young man doing the job had several various covers and canopies lying on the grass outside his workshop when we arrived, but he said ours would only take about half an hour to do - he just had to replace the zip. Nonetheless, we were surprised to get a call from him just as we were preparing to leave the restaurant only minutes after 2:00. He'd finished. Furthermore, he didn't charge a penny. We were very pleasantly surprised.

I'd had another phone call shortly after his. We were still in the restaurant. It was the man at Trafalgar Electronics, saying that that job had been completed, too. That one wasn't free of charge, though. Never mind, it was a lot cheaper than buying a new TV. We collected it on the way back to Kantara.

And the icing on the successful-day cake was the lovely weather. Very warm, with clear, blue skies, though very windy.

OK, almost clear, blue skies!

Now we have to prepare for a visit from Frankie, Andy and Colin next week. It'll be the first time we've had five on board. It's going to be interesting! And fun, too, of course!

There and back again

Yes, we left the boat on Saturday, and went back to the house. It was so good, being able to leave things on Kantara without being concerned about damp and mould, safe in the knowledge that the dehumidifier's doing its job.

But we returned today.

Before we left, however, I thought it wise to go to Kwik Fit to have a slow leak from a front tyre investigated. My nearest branch was busy, and I would have had to wait for well over an hour to be served, so I drove a bit further on to another branch. They had no customers, so I drove straight in, and a guy got on with the job. It took almost half an hour to complete, then he came to see me. He told me that there was no problem with the tyre, but rather that the leak had been between the tyre and the rim of the wheel, which was a bit corroded. He'd smoothed the corrosion away and refitted the tyre, with a sealant around the rim for extra effect. He charged nothing. I was amazed, and quite chuffed!

On to Kantara, then, with just a few things packed for couple of nights' stay. The weather was cold and drizzly, the M1 slowed almost to a standstill just before junction 16. I took no chances, and left the motorway there, arriving at the marina by 2:00.

On our way here, we'd had a call from Pete of Harris Hoods, saying that he'd finished fitting our new cratch cover. And it's lovely! Made to a really high standard, and looking so good. We highly recommend the company.

And it's so much better than the old one; the way it's fitted to the hull, the wider doors with two zips each, the large window beside each door, the way the doors roll up tightly, inside or out of the cover. We're very pleased indeed. There's a possibility that we might want an additional fastener on each side, just to hold down the bottom of the back seam.

We'll see.

Inside the boat, the air was dry and not a cold as we might have expected. The dehumidifier was doing its job well, and the electricity consumption was pleasingly low. Of course, it was still cold in the boat, though. Several winter days with no heating except that provided as a side-effect of the dehumidifier leads to the warmth leaching out of the walls and furniture, so lighting the stove doesn't properly warm the boat for some hours.

Roy's due to come tomorrow morning, to re-fit and seal the sink. It'd be nice if Carl came, too, and put the Alde back together again! When Roy's gone, we'll load the car with any remaining bits and pieces we want back at the house, and the next day we'll winterise and leave the boat. We want to be with Said the Maiden at their last gig of the year on Saturday. It's at Barton le Clay's Christmas Tree Festival at St Nicholas' Church, and we pass very close to the village on our way down the M1, so it would make good sense to go there straight from here. A good way to start Christmas, too!