Wednesday 18 April 2018

Ra Ra Rugeley

No, it's not quite what Kate Bush was on about, I know, but ever since I thought of that title above, I've had "Rasputin" going on and on in my head as an earworm. Oh well, if all else fails, there's always Elanor's trick for dealing with such mental irritations... "Rupert the Bear"

Oh, no, what have I done? "Rupert, Rupert the Bear, everyone knows your name..."

Aaargh!

Must be the heat. That's right, it's been very warm today. I'd be tempted to leave my vest off tomorrow, if it wasn't for that wise old saw about ne'er cast a clout 'til may be out. Note the lower case 'm'. I firmly believe that the saying refers to the hawthorn blossom, not the month, since it appears when the weather has warmed up properly.

Any road, what about today? We made an early start having decided to top up the tank at Spode House after all. The cold weather meant wearing lots of layers which leads to lots of laundry and lots of water use, so we were down to half a tank already. Sheila steered and I did look out on a very pleasant morning, setting off as soon as we'd eaten breakfast and drinking coffee on the way.

Spode House and Hawksyard Priory were in fine Gothic form and we were soon tied on the water point which turned out to have a decent pressure today. Once filled to the brim, off we went again, meeting not many boats until we got to the shopping mooring at Bridge 66. It was now ten o'clock, so after another coffee, we made an initial trip to Smiths and Wilko, followed by an excursion to Tesco.

Here we surpassed ourselves. We don't often use a deep trolley, but the list was quite long, virtually Ocado standard, so there was nothing else for it. We did find almost everything we wanted and as a result filled the new wheelie bag, two day sacks and two folding bags. It was just as well that we'd been able to tie at the ideal spot, just through the bridge and right by the path to Tesco.

By the time we'd got it all put away, it was twelve and time for lunch. Once fed, we boated round to the visitor moorings at Brindley Bank where there were a couple of spaces.

I've done a bit of boat fettling this afternoon. The rev counter had started playing up again, so I took the engine panel off and found, sure enough, that the same earth leads as last time had come loose in their terminal. I've refixed them but the crimped sleeve of the female spade connector is getting pretty shaky. It will hopefully keep going until we're at Braidbar in September where they can do a better job than I can, having more potent crimping tools.

When I'd put it all back, I tested all the switches on the panel, just in case, and sure enough, the horn had stopped working. Pulling the leads off the back of the klaxon and sticking the multi meter test leads in the connectors showed that there was plenty of voltage getting through. After brooding on it for a bit, I tried scraping the connectors clean, especially the male spades, and got the thing working again.

It's in a pretty exposed position in the middle of the roof and is showing the results of our wet winter and spring. I think I might play safe and buy a backup, a handheld gas powered horn from Midland Chandlers as we pass on the way to Penkridge. With Harecastle, Barnton, Saltisford and Preston Brook tunnels on the schedule this summer, I don't want us to find ourselves with a dumb boat.

Tomorrow, on to Great Haywood and Tixall Wide, which should be just idyllic in this mini heatwave.

"We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave..."

Oh strewth, not another Ohrwurm!

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