19th & 20th December
I seem to be seriously dopey today, so apologies in advance if this post makes even less sense than usual. For no good reason, I woke at 2.30 this morning, and slept only fitfully thereafter, using the extra time to worry about the water pump, where we'll get a turkey from this year, whether Elanor got home safely last night, and a few other things I don't now recall.
I burden you with these insights not in a sense of whimpering, but just to demonstrate to my non-liveaboard readers that the fact of living in paradise (as we still see and experience it) doesn't free you from the ordinary fears and anxieties of daily living and parenting.
Howsomedever, on with the blog: yesterday we had a relaxed start, lying in bed for quite a while before, according to my notes, "the earth moving started again". No, I don't mean that, this is a family blog, just that after a while the noise of the mega machines working on the new building site started to filter through and we felt obliged to get on with the day.
This was our last chance to do serious shopping for a while, so we did it in two sessions, either side of lunch. By the finish, we'd completed all the present shopping for Christmas, and stocked up in most of the goodies we want for the holiday season.
In the afternoon we printed off the remaining calendars, and Sheila punched them and tied them up with her specially made crocheted string.
During her lunch break, Elanor gave us a call from work and, finding that we weren't too far from her route home, agreed to call in for a chat. This made a very pleasant end to the day, though she couldn't stay for dinner on this occasion.
This morning it was quite damp outside. No earth movers, it being Saturday, so we were able to loaf in bed even longer than before. I'd had this worry session in the night, as I've said, and as a result, decided that as well as getting the newspaper from Sainsbury's before we set off, I'd invest in a ham and a frozen turkey.
In the event, I bought a small Christmas cake and some toothbrush heads as well. On return to the boat, I found Sheila trying to do some money moving before we left the good internet connection zone. Ironically, the connection was seriously playing up, running very slowly. This always makes for a particular problem when trying to deal with one of the banking sites, with their highly secure and error checked connection.
She managed to get half of what she wanted done before my unexpressed (but I'm sure apparent) rising irritation and frustration got the better of her and we set off.
It was her turn to steer, so I spent a bit of time below doing other, routine internet stuff like checking Google Reader for my RSS feeds, and downloading a detailed weather forecast.
The connection had got so slow it wouldn't even achieve either of these, so I disconnected, unplugged the modem and left it all for a bit. On reconnection, it was back to normal speed. I'd assumed that the previous slow behaviour was down to the high levels of voice traffic to be expected on the last Saturday before Christmas – all those calls from the supermarket aisles about what they've got or not got in stock - but it may just have been a chance duff link, I guess.
No matter, I knew what Sheila had been trying to do, with one of my accounts as it happens, so I quickly connected to the relevant bank and made the transfer without any trouble.
Whilst ahead of the game in this way, I also found the Jabsco on line shop site, in case we need to change the water pump (it's a Jabsco ParMax 3). This prompted me to check the state of the accumulator, which, ahaha, had lost all the pressure I'd put in the other day. I've pumped it up again, but it looks like it'll be the accumulator to change first, and then see if the pump needs doing as well. (We're looking at £40 as opposed to around £100, so it makes sense to do the cheaper bit first.)
It being Saturday, there's nothing to be lost by waiting until tomorrow to check the accumulator again – if it's lost pressure in 24 hours, the diaphragm must be leaking, and it'll have to go.
We've tied just short of Huddlesford Junction for a quiet afternoon and night. A text exchange with Elanor established that she'd like to come for dinner tomorrow night, when we should be back in Alrewas, and would like spag bol, so I'll cook the piece of boiling bacon tonight, and then we'll have some to cut cold during the Christmas period.
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