Gentle work in the early Spring, and more about BW

28th February & 1st March

We’ve had a couple of comparatively quiet days; not totally idle, but not action packed. Both yesterday and today we had a relaxed start, with me strolling down the hill to buy a paper after breakfast and then a mixture of internet activity, and some more physical exertion.

Yesterday, this last took the form of a geocaching trip, our first for several months. It was only a stroll along the Middlewood Way to a cache near one of the car parks, but it got us out of the boat and we found a little woodland walk to explore at the far end.

Otherwise, the main excitements were wrestling with the Independent general knowledge crossword, and cooking a venison casserole.

This morning, on my way back with the paper I met Susan Mason arriving at the yard and told her of our concerns about Sanity Again’s BW number. Her immediate response was to ask us to pass her the documents and plates, and she would ring them up and find out what was going on.

This afternoon, she gave us a call and expressed an uncomplimentary opinion on the subject of BW having difficulty in distinguishing its gluteus maximus from its humeral-ulna joint. Apparently, the woman in the BW licensing office in Leeds had been very helpful, and had explained that the number had been issued to someone who intended buying a boat called Chloe and needed the registration number in order to book a mooring for it.

However, the deal had fallen through and the number had been returned. Since in BW’s view the two boats were “very similar” they had reissued the number to us. Chloe is a 20 foot GRP Norman cruiser and Sanity Again is a 70 foot steel narrowboat. I suppose that they are similar in that they both float and have engines but on this basis a housefly is quite similar to a tree, since they are both alive and thrive in the sunshine.

Susan, being strong in our interests, had insisted that the arrangement was not acceptable, and BW have agreed to take the number back and issue a current one. They have also admitted that, since Susan had already paid for the registration, they should not have invoiced me for it.

If you made it up, no-one would believe you, but thank goodness we are buying our boat from Braidbar.

Our activity for the day has been to take advantage of some fine early spring weather and wash the side of the boat. We also cut up some firewood and swept out the well deck.

Otherwise, it’s been another day for internet browsing, reading and, in Sheila’s case, working hard on the crochet doilies. She is now doing the penultimate doily for Sanity Again, and has an order for three more to look forward to immediately afterwards.