We went to a friend's surprise 65th birthday party today, a
long way from the canal. Our mind, however, was still reeling with excitement
of our new girl. It was a job to contain ourselves when someone asked if the
canal was near us. Then came the question: 'do you have a barge?'
I almost combusted with the indecision of whether or not I,
or any of us should tell them. Instead of a wise and eloquent phrase such as
'oh, yes indeed we do, a 55ft by 12ft one, it just recently came into our
possession.', a feeble, 'ermmm, yes, um, sort of...' Escaped my lips. The
tricky subject was quickly changed as dinner arrived in the form of a hog roast
and our attentions turned to keeping the marquee tied down whilst balancing a
plate of food - no mean feat in 40mph gusts of wind kindly given to us by the
remnants of hurricane Bertha.
There was one advantage I did discover today - sit downwind
of someone else who is eating and receive seconds on your plate without needing
to leave your seat. There is a downside to this, however, when it comes to the
chocolate fudge cake pudding which sticks like shit to crockery and refuses to
budge, even with 60mph blast. A jet wash is required for these sorts of
occasions.
Earlier this morning we did stop over to check the boat
after last night's heavy rains - so far she seems dry - the engine bay may yet
need a pantyliner to control the small damp puddles produced by the pounding
rain dribbling under her hatch. Still excited over the dramatic increase in
space which we explored once more, we left wet patches of our own after
realising we didn't have any doormats (you need two on a boat, one at each
end). They're not only great for controlling feet-shaped puddles, but also
other oddities which may try to sneak on board undetected on the underside of
your shoe.
Curious, I had a brief rummage in the shed and found a large
china mug with 'first class Dad' written on it (guess who that now belongs to)
amongst other strange items, including a t-bar shaped key which I have
absolutely no idea where it belongs. The other t-bar shaped key is for the pump
out tank, but this one looks like it's important, mounted on its own special
little bracket. I'm sure we'll find a use for it.
I still can't believe we have a boat with a
proper sofa on. Wow.
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