I thought this boating life was supposed to be relaxing and here I am trying to catch up on a weeks worth of blogging!
Our son Jeremy pointed out that there was still no photo of the completed ‘Wrens-Nest’ by Mike the signwriter, so here it is Jer, its the best I can do for the time being. By the way that’s ‘Aunty’ Carol’s hand in the top right before you ask 😀
Last Sunday afternoon we were pleasantly invaded by friends from church (Heyford Park Chapel) our minister Ian and wife Erika plus two children & a dog along with our near neighbour Nicky and her two children, we fitted them in quite comfortably and served them tea & biscuits.
Monday was spent sorting things which we had put into storage, visiting Screwfix (! this might become a theme !) planning DIY activities but mostly wasted trying to buy a 3G router (to share my mobile internet with Joy) from Currys which the previous owners of the boat had recommended, Banbury branch.. “No, we’ve only got what you can see’; Oxford East, despite having Superstore over the door was “One of the smaller branches” but their Harry did check stock at other branches and phoned up PC World at Botley Road to confirm they had one and would reserve it for me. That kind of service impressed me so we drove to the other side of Oxford to get it but on arriving there was met by blank looks and a total denial of receiving any such phone call! Hey Ho, I’ll order it on the ‘net then. HA!!! “Your payment card has been declined, please try another card” Three cards later still the same, so I phoned them up… “It’s because you have asked for delivery to a different address to the card’s registered address” Why offer it then!!!!!!!!!!! Can you take the payment by phone, “No, same problem”. By now I have three cards locked and have to make phone calls to my bank to unlock them! Do I then go back to Currys? Not blooming likely! Found a similar product on Maplins site and had it delivered (to the address I chose) next day… and it works too 😀
On Tuesday our old good friends, the aforementioned Carol and husband Ted came to visit, now we have known these folk since our kids were small and took our first narrowboating holiday with them in 1983! 
We even still have our log of the journey which we found when we cleared out our loft.
Oh.. My.. Goodness!
Don’t we all look young? Well it was 27 years ago.
Sorry Jer, Karen obviously didn’t want you in the picture 😛
After having lunch together, we took them on a mini cruise up through Somerton Deep Lock and back, it even stopped raining on the way back.
Left: Child Labour 1983 style.
The DIY has progressed throughout the week and we now have the washing machine & tumble dryer installed in the 2nd toilet in place of the vanity unit, which has enabled us to install our ‘Merchant’s Chest’ which has been in storage into what is becoming my ‘office’ in the back cabin of the boat. All I need now is a workbench for the other side which my friend Derek has promised to make me.
Yesterday I felt the need to take a break from exercising my remedial carpentry skills (My dad used to say “You’d make a good carpenter boy… make him B well cry!) so I decided to tackle something more within my ‘skill-set’, the non-working bowthruster (Gaythruster or Girly Button as my friends at the boatyard would have it) after a little investigation the cause of the problem became clear, the electric motor brushes were completely worn out to the extent that the commutator had been scored by the exposed brush-tails. A trawl of the t’internet revealed a price of £89 for a set of brushes, they’re having a laugh… I wasn’t in the auto-electrical trade 20+ years for nothing! I’ve ordered a set of starter motor brushes the same size, let you know next week if they work!
Jade (aka Catty) has discovered the Great Outdoors, after making an initial escape through the kitchen window, and has been enjoying herself in the nearby woodland, staring out large dogs and bringing us a present of a temporarily live mouse.
Today’s post has been produced using Windows Live Writer, recommended by Maffi (thanks mate) and seems to be a good piece of kit although it did take all night to download. He also brought us the not so welcome news that Bones was in hospital with a cut that has become infected. Get well soon girl, hospital is no place for a doctor 🙂