Getting stuff done

Although the weather's not been as encouraging, quite a bit's got done today. I did indeed manage to do another recipe this morning, so I'm keeping to the plan of one per day this month. Sheila has also persevered with her writing. I've had a sneak preview of what she's done so far, and I reckon it's going to be very entertaining, a light hearted description of many of the things that have brought a smile to our lips, or even a guffaw, over the nearly four decades we've been boating about.

Sheila had to set off for Alrewas after an early lunch; the bus connections weren't as good for her as they are for some of the other trips, and she needed to get the 12.24 V3 into Burton to be sure of being in Alrewas for half two.

After I'd had my own lunch and finished reading the paper and wrestling with the crossword, I set to to touch in a few scratches on the cabin side. Firstly, I cleaned the area with 3M Finesse it, to remove the wax polish. I was then able to use a fine artist's brush to touch in the scratches. You can never conceal the new paint altogether, but you have to know where to look to see it now.

We had some stale multigrain bread left over, so I went to the stern of the boat and fed it to a motley assortment of geese, swans and gulls. I didn't particularly want to feed the gulls, as they've managed to deposit some more dirt on the roof we washed just yesterday. I've cleaned it off again, as it's not good for the paint to have bird poo left on it.

Incidentally, I know we are being discouraged from feeding bread to the birds, but frankly I'm not convinced by the evidence that's been adduced, and I note that a lot of the arguments are coming from suppliers of specialist wild bird foods. I wouldn't personally feed white bread, which is largely empty calories – indeed, I don't eat white bread myself – but I really don't see the problem with feeding bread that contains a large proportion of whole grains.

Anyway, if feeding bread to the ducks is so bad for them, how come there are such large populations of ducks at places like Alrewas and Fradley Junction where they get fed regularly? I'm talking about water birds here, naturally; putting out nut and seed feeders for perching birds like tits and finches makes all kinds of sense.

Here endeth the lesson; I don't normally get contentious in this blog, but I thought I'd anticipate a few comments…

Having done the chores for the day, I took a walk round the marina to get a bit of fresh air and exercise. The poor old Willow Tree now has a sign up saying "Closed until further notice". Let's hope it's not too long.

We're dog sitting tomorrow, so I might get Sal to do a post on the subject of bunnies or something.