4th September - Foul Play

There was me today, sat minding my own business at my desk at work, when an email popped up on the screen. From the marina. To dog owners. Perhaps there was a new fashion craze with dog jumpers I should know about. Click.

Apparently there's been a lot of dog owners not picking up their dogs mess (to put it politely), and the warning came. Click. 'If you are caught in the act, you will be removed from the marina with immediate effect'. I'm not sure if that is meant to be aimed at the dog or the owner - either way, it should be picked up. It's not nice for us, or the marina managers, especially if your boat has cream carpets - and I did wonder about the funny stains on our mattress in the cabin.

If my dog crouched at the marina, there would be a disastrous effect, the equivalent of a Hiroshima bomb in dogs mess. We need bin liners and shovels for our dog, being a Great Dane and all that. It's a good job we ask the dog to hold it in. Her arse muscles are like iron after seven years of training where best NOT to go. Hence the message has got nothing to do with us, but I stored the email anyway so I could remember to write this later.

Dad's been to the boat today and discovered that now, after the leaky radiator was kindly fixed by engineer Dave yesterday, the other radiator is now leaking, so Dave will have to come back again on Saturday - he practically lives with us now. Soon he'll be keeping his milk in our gas hatch and mars bars in the bathroom.

The ceiling has also been fixed and now remains in place waiting for Mum to start painting - the green test swatches next to the window look like a modern piece of art. There may just end up a protest to protect them as a valuable piece of work by Banksy fans, so there could be some trouble before we get that far. If a rich American wants to offer us a few million for it, then crikey, it's staying there. They can scrape it off and we'll keep the boat and the money - sounds like a bargain to me.

There's more plans to continue renovations at the weekend and the hint of a trip out - for now though, it's back to work. The weekend can't come soon enough.