Getting on with life after Sally

Elanor took Sally away yesterday evening; Sal was ecstatic to see her, but soon had to lie down by her chair, being too weary to stand. In fact, after a bit she adopted the roach position, inelegantly flat on her back with all four legs splayed out, a state which implies total relaxation as far as I know.

Today we made a leisurely start on a very fine morning, then took Sanity Again over to the service wharf for a pump out and diesel. It was ideal weather for the job, calm and sunny if cold, and I’m pleased to say that for once I managed all the manoeuvring with reasonable competence.

When I’d picked up the paper earlier I’d also collected a small parcel, which proved to contain a ceeform connector I’d ordered. There’s been some debate over on Canal World Discussion Forum recently about the tendency for the standard ceeform or caravan connector to leak in very wet conditions. The usual standard applied, IP44, is only splash proof. More watertight standards are available, but the ceeform is so ubiquitous that there’s not much point fitting anything else.

What had been discussed was a better sealed variant made in Austria and available on eBay for just £2.50, a lot less than the usual price. I bought one for the most vulnerable position, where the line plugs into the power bollard, and it is indeed a neat piece of work. The two halves of the body of the connector lock together with a bayonet fitting rather than being held by two (damp vulnerable) screws and the cable entry is a proper gland, not just a rubber sleeve prone to allow water penetration by capillary action.

The whole thing

Ready to fit

Cable entry gland

They are available from Blue Aran, a sound and lighting specialist.

After our walk round the marina this afternoon, we popped into Midland Chandlers and got some more kindling, a couple of strong shock cords for holding stuff onto the trolley and a fitting for the back of the sink cupboard door which takes a carrier bag as a rubbish bin.

Finally, I girded my loins and phoned 3 customer services to cancel the MiFi contract since the "all you can eat data" deal on the smart phone is working so well. It only took twenty minutes of refusing various other offers and repeating “No, I just want to cancel the contract, thank you.”

No matter it’s done at last.

Tonight we’re going to the Willow Tree for this talk on wildlife photography. Tell you about it tomorrow, probably…