Another full day

After keeping busy with Sally yesterday, we've had another full day today. After a bit of a lie-in, we got up and on with things; I made some bread dough before breakfast and then we pottered about in the boat most of the morning, apart from me making a trip to the shop for more milk.

The bread was a success, I'm told. I'm calling it a "best of both bloomer", a white dough made with two thirds milk and the rest water, together with a cup of oat bran. I shaped it, surprise, surprise, into a bloomer and it baked up with a nice crispy crust. The Paul Hollywood book is very good at showing how to achieve the various loaf shapes; they're not always as obvious as you'd think.

After lunch, we rendezvoused with Elanor and drove over to Go Outdoors. Elanor was looking for some minor riding kit and both Sheila and I wanted new boating trousers. This was only partially successful – Elanor found what she wanted but none of the trousers managed the twin requirements of being the configuration and price we were looking for as well as fitting.

On the other hand, we got two replacement folding chairs. Our old ones have been showing the strain for a while and will be dumped before we leave the marina. These new ones use the same frame type, square and compact so that they will work in the boat as well as on the bow, and very comfortable. At £70 for two with the Go Outdoors discount, we've got a decent bargain we reckon.

Back at the marina, we had to visit the lodge to do some running repairs; the last tenants, for reasons unknown, had cut the draw cords for one of the Roman blinds. We were able to fasten them up OK, but I'll need to go in tomorrow to finish the job by taping over the knots so that they run through the loops on the back of the battens.

It's not worth making an insurance claim, but we've blacklisted those tenants.

Finally, Elanor and I took Sal for a game of copse and rompers before retreating to the boat for cups of tea and family gossip.

It'll be a quiet day tomorrow, hopefully, apart from finishing off the work in the lodge.