Settling into Winter routines

The marina firework display was as good as ever last night. We didn’t join the scrum for the hog roast or burgers but could see both stalls trading briskly from our vantage point on the stern of Sanity Again. When the show was over it was very pleasant to retreat into the boat and partake of beef casserole and some red wine.

We might just possibly have overdone the latter a tad as neither of us slept particularly well. In addition, the mains electricity went off at five to seven; I investigated but it wasn’t our power pole, the whole marina was off. It came back on quite quickly and has stayed on for the rest of the day, I’m glad to say.

We made an early expedition to the village for bread and things, then joined Stephen and Jayne of Dolce Far Niente in the Willow Tree for hot chocolate and chat. They came back into the marina just the other day and this is the first chance we’ve had to catch up. We’re definitely getting into winter mode; there’s a Quiz Night later this month that we’ve booked a table for, and we’re going to a talk about photographing the birdies in the Willow Tree on Thursday. (Yes, I know; the talk's in the Willow Tree, not the birdies.)

After lunch we took our usual walk round the marina, calling in at Walnut to check how the central heating was behaving. I’m pleased to say it seems to be sorted now.

The grounds staff in the shape of Pete is pressure washing the pontoons; it takes quite a while to do them all, and the green stuff will inevitably recur, but with the marina’s commitment to sustainability and wildlife conservation it’s not possible to do much else.

We’re planning a quiet night tonight before dog sitting tomorrow and Wednesday. This means Elanor can get a decent night’s sleep whilst we help Sally cope with the final burst of fireworks. It seems she’s habituated to the herbal sedative and is getting very distressed by all the bangs in Burton. It should be quieter here and it’s less of a problem if we have a broken night, not having work to go to in the morning.