Up early to our benefit

We knew that we would need to pump out before Christmas and so have been watching the weather forecast for a few days. It's been quite or very windy for much of the time and this morning looked like a brief window of slightly quieter weather. So we leapt up as soon as the heating came on (I'd been awake for quite a bit having a little worry) and got breakfast in short order.

We'd prepared for cruising and were on our way before quarter to nine. There was still a bit of wind, but the fierce gusts had died away, thank goodness. There being no one watching, we managed a clean entry to the side service wharf and got busy with the pump out. At nine I called the office and Josh came over to work the diesel pump.

The effect of the falling oil price was apparent; the rate for domestic fuel has dropped to 79ppl from 84.

Still no one was about, so our return to the pontoon went smoothly too, despite a cunning bit of cross wind. We'd not yet had a coffee, so once Sanity Again was buttoned up and connected up we remedied that omission. That done, we ambled round to the front, feeling very pleased with ourselves. Popping into Still Waters got us some milk and I ordered some more coal as things are distinctly colder once more; we don't want to run out over Christmas.

Then it was into the office to pay for the diesel and to buy a new pump out token and back to the boat for some well deserved rest before lunch.

I had an email from the Japanese supplier of my new camera to say that it had arrived in England. Checking the tracking on the ParcelForce website showed that it was being held "pending payment of charges". I hadn't realised that the quoted price didn't include import charges, silly me.

When we collected the post, sure enough, there was a demand for just over £42 in VAT and a handling charge.

{Insert preferred expletive here :( }

If you burrow down in the supplier's info, it does say that extra charges will be applied and it's common to all the Japanese sellers as far as I can see, but it still changes the cost calculation quite a bit.

You are supposed to be able to pay online, but guess what, the WorldPay driven site wouldn't take my card, so I had to ring up (a geographic number, at least) and do it using an automated system over the phone. If you want Saturday delivery, that's another twelve quid, please, so it's coming on Monday.

A quiet night tonight, methinks; it's turned really windy again and cold with it. Tomorrow, scrub bashing in the morning and the Christmas Fuddle in the evening. I'm marinading some of the chicken thighs in a Madras paste and yogurt mixture. I'll spare you the description of what it looked like – I'm just glad I had the foresight to put disposable gloves on to squidge the meat around in it.

;))