Quieter days

24th & 25th January

It has been a much more relaxed couple of days after all the activity at the end of last week. We’ve been able to have something of a lie-in both mornings (by our standards, anyway) and we’ve taken the opportunity to get a little exercise.

Yesterday morning, I spent a bit of time online, firstly with an Ocado order and then ordering 45 metres of 14 mm black softline rope from Trafalgar Marine to make up into mooring lines for Sanity Again. Last week’s Ocado order was so successful that we have made an even bigger order this week.

After lunch, and despite continuous light rain, we went for a walk along the towpath to Mad Jack’s moorings and then across country through Jackson’s Brickyard, ending up on the Middlewood Way. Despite the weather, it was very enjoyable; the local council has invested a lot in footpath development around here, and it was good to see a reasonable number of people making use of the paths.

We actually ended up walking a little further than we intended (Sheila says: no change there) and so felt justified in a very lazy evening.

This morning I walked down to the paper shop and called in at Braidbar on my way back. Peter confirmed that we should be able to take Sanity into the yard tomorrow for a couple of jobs which need doing. They will replace the leaking water pump, and sort out the door between the bathroom and bedroom which has been sticking ever since she came off the dock last year.

Last time we shopped in Poynton I treated Sheila to a ripe Camembert, and it’s been a bit risky opening the fridge ever since. She tells me it was very tasty, and had the last of it this lunchtime. I don’t think that we should have another one on board until we have sold the boat; every time you opened the fridge you got the impression that something had crawled in there and died a while ago, and I don’t think that will encourage potential purchasers.

The weather threatens to turn cold again, although hopefully we are not in for such a serious freeze as the last one. We thought we ought to turn the heating back on in Just Siviting, just to be on the safe side. When we did so we dipped the fuel tank and found that it was a bit over half full.

Accordingly, we backed her down to the Trading Post and filled her up again. It’s always interesting manoeuvring someone else’s boat; the steering position feels all wrong but nonetheless we made it down and back without incident.

Back at our own mooring, we popped another bag of coal on board together with a supply of kindling so that we can, if needed, stay in the boatyard for a few days without running out.