Keep calm and go for a pump out

The new version of the Met Office website, though only officially a beta test site, is a lot more useful than the original, and more accurate than any of the others I've tried. For several days now, it's been forecasting quiet weather today, and so it proved. This was good, as the toilet tank gauge went into flashing triangle mode last night. In theory, this means about another three days capacity at normal rates of use, but for peace of mind we treat it as saying "get a pump out now".

/please

That way, if there's a last minute hitch, we've still got a bit of looway leeway. In the event, we toddled round to the service wharf just after ten, having got a batch of bread dough rising first, and had our choice of the two positions, across the front or down the side.

It's actually easier to get back if I reverse Sanity Again onto the one down the side of the wharf, so that's what I did. Dipping the tank showed that we had used ⅜ of a tank of diesel since last time, so we got that topped up as well. Whilst we were there, other boats started turning up looking for diesel and/or pump outs too, so we'd clearly timed it right.

(To quote the old working boaters: "You shoulda got up in the morning".)

Once sorted, back to our home pontoon we went; by the time we'd finished tying up and reconnecting the shoreline, another three boats had been seen heading for the services.

Whilst Sheila took advantage of the good weather and the rolled cratch to clean up the well deck, I walked round to the office, paid for the diesel and bought another £10 electricity card and a pump out token. The aim is always to have one of each in hand, so that when we go out of the marina, we'll always be able to get a pump out and feed the meter no matter what time we return.

After lunching on the freshly baked bread rolls, we settled down first to some dedicated reading and dozing, then to getting on with the book (Bruce) and polishing the rose bowl trophy (Sheila). The book is very, very nearly ready to go; I just need to pop in a few extra line throws at the start of some chapters, and I'll be able to publish it. In the end, I used the Sigil program to sort out the final tweaks and to put a picture of Sanity Again on the title page.

Then, I'll be ready to add my bits to Sheila's book, format that, proof read it and publish it. Considering these were supposed to be our winter projects, they've gone remarkably quickly.