Dodging the rain

Thursday 24^th September; Worcester Pitchcroft

Rain was forecast and that’s what we got, overnight and for most of the morning.  Meg got a very quick comfort break before breakfast, and then when the rain eased off for a short while just after, I played ball with her on the racecourse for a while after disposing of rubbish and recycling in the council bins down the road.  Although the workmen had said yesterday they would be starting work at 7 this morning, they must have been doing something quiet.  I spoke to one today, who said they had been building a platform for a crane to stand – that must have been the noise we heard yesterday.

The steps are closed but you can still use the ramps

The Sabrina Footbridge is having major repairs this autumn and the deck will be removed using cranes, one on each side of the river.  The man seemed to think it would be lifted in a single section, which is surely rather unlikely.  I do hope they use the river for transporting it though.  It’s all due to happen from the middle of October, and I imagine the navigation and moorings will be closed while it's removed and then reinstated.  It will be the first major renovation since it was built 28 years ago.  I think this crane was driving piles, but by vibration not hammering – the noise was awful and we could feel the vibration on the boat.

Dave spent a large part of the morning under the tonneau cover at the stern, prepping the lockers and the inner sides for painting.  The locker tops and the areas above had got in a bit of a state where windlasses had been put down carelessly over the years.

Meanwhile I finished clearing out and cleaning the dinette lockers, including the one under the table.  Even lying flat on the floor I couldn't reach the accumulated dust at the back and resorted to using the long-handled broom which lives in the cratch and is usually used for the roof.  Dave came in for a breather – luckily I had packed everything away by then – and we had a cuppa and watched Edward Elgar, the big trip boat we usually see down at Tewkesbury, going by in the rain with a single passenger inside.

The preparation for the bridge work started up again, but on the other side of the river, so at least the noise wasn’t too bad.  The weather was so dismal we treated ourselves to bacon at lunchtime.  Then at last the sun came out.  I whizzed off over the racecourse to the shops for some food, pursued by some heavy black clouds.  Thunder rolled as I left the racecourse and as I turned down Foregate Street I looked round as lightning flashed in the blackness and an almighty crack of thunder sent people hastening for shelter.  I made it into the greengrocer before the hailstorm started.

You had to be careful on the streets to avoid slipping or getting wet feet in the streams of water rushing the hailstones down the road.  It was raining again as I returned to the boat but the heavy stuff waited until I was safely inside.  Dave’s back was complaining by now about his cramped working conditions!  But he had managed a coat of undercoat which should finish drying overnight under the tonneau cover.

 

 In a week or two it'll be just the railway bridge visible from here.