Another sunny Sunday

It was a cold night last night, with a bit of frost around this morning, but nothing to suggest that we're going to see another freeze. After a glass of fruit juice, I cut the back out of the Squirrel ash pan – well, in fact I cut down both sides and bent the resulting tab of metal underneath. It now works with the Tippy a treat, and took less than twenty minutes to do with a junior hacksaw.

After a bit more pottering about, we went to the Willow Tree and had our last cooked breakfast of the winter. In due course, we were joined by Jayne and Stephen for coffee and hot choc, again the last one we'll have together for a while.

Back at the boat I removed the centre lines from the roof and washed them in the sink, using washing up liquid and following with three rinses. They're now on the roof again, drying. Tomorrow, I'll swap them for the bow and stern lines and wash those. They in their turn will become the new centre lines, thus evening out the wear on the ropes.

I took a newspaper reading break, then we had a stroll round the marina, chatting to various folk on the way. Finally, I did the checks in the engine hole, changing some of the nappies which had absorbed condensation and dipping the fuel tank. We're down to a quarter of a tank, but since the forecast is for a return of the mild weather, that should be enough to see us through to next Friday, when we'll refill on our way out.

Spatchcocked chicken marinated in chilli, garlic and lemon juice tonight; we skipped lunch after the pig out breakfast, so it will be very welcome.