Back to normality

Jess in the ladies"powder room" The Ritz



Returned to the boat Tuesday after my 5 days at Jess's. Had a lovely time with the family and our day in London was extremely tiring but very enjoyable. We were so lucky with the weather as it was sunny and warm. We never made the London Eye but saw plenty of other things. Tea at the Ritz was an experience by the time we were seated Jess and I were starving as we had been saving ourselves. We did stop for a glass of wine en route as Jess wore heeled shoes so her feet need a rest and a pub seemed the best place. The tea was lovely and the waiters kept coming round to top up sandwiches, but after 2 pots of tea, sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam and various pastries we could'nt eat another thing. Every table was full which explains why I had to book up 6 weeks in advance. When we left the Ritz we crossed the road to another wine bar for our final glass of wine of the day, considering it was a Monday and 7.30 in the evening the place was heaving no signs of a recession there. We finally got back to Kent around 9.45 when we got home shoes were thrown in the corner and our feet heaved a sigh of relief.

While at Jess's I had been unable to contact Paul as the lady on the phone kept telling me "the person you are calling is unavailable at the moment" I had spoken with him Sunday evening so why not Monday I had visions of him in the canal and all sorts of other things, so I emailed him with the pin no of the phone as I thought he may have turned it off and as he always says he cant remember pin no's he needed a gentle reminder. I just kept trying with no joy. By the time I was walking the tow path at Rugby back to the boat my imagination was in overdrive. When I got to the boat he appeared all smiles. I calmly asked him what was up with the phone and he informed me he had stood on it and broken it in half, he did have the forsight to remove the sim card before he threw the phone in the canal. When I told Jess what had happened to the phone she said did he stand on it or throw it at the wall (she knows him so well). We have since replaced the phone so all is back to normal.

We are now at Hilmorton, had an Indian last night which was nice as usual. Paul has resanded and repainted the gunnel tow path side so that is both sides done now, he also changed the gear box oil. The list is a bit shorter but there is still quite a few jobs to do but we have the winter to sort them all.
For the past few days the battery warning light kept coming on after what seemed like a short time, so one day we ran the engine for 6 hours to top them up and still the light came on. So after testing 4 of the batteries ( we replaced 2 at the begining of the year) Paul found 1 was completely useless 2 were border line and 1 appeared to be ok so we took a walk to the yard at Hilmorton where they did us a deal on 4 batteries and delivered them to Bridge 72 for us ( we were moored up Braunston side of the bridge). I'm glad to say everything appears to be back to normal now.

We are looking forward to getting on the Grand Union, we have to stop at Braunston on the way through to pick up post we are waiting on our license to be sent, you can be your bottom dollar it will arrive at Jess's the day we leave Braunston but never mind there other Post Offices our mail can be sent to. (I hope).