Plan D maybe?

Thursday 12^th March: still in the marina

This happened last year too.  Without bow thrusters it is difficult to manoeuvre in a marina in a strong wind, and we decided to get on with some more jobs instead of battling the wind and getting cold.

It was quite stormy last night, with heavy rain and strong winds biffing the boat about.  It was sunny when we woke up but the winds hadn’t abated one bit.  After breakfast we made a list of jobs, the most important being to get the Mikuni central heating working.  A water pipe had got dislodged yesterday, which Dave had replaced, but with the boat toasty from the fire we didn’t run it.  This morning, fearing he might have to get it out and take it home to repair it, Dave was relieved to discover, after trying several times, that it worked – it seems most likely that the stale diesel was working its way through the fuel pipe and eventually the fresh stuff had got through and everything was fine.  I took Meg off for a short walk and a game of ball.  On the bank below the motorway I noticed something very strange.  What is a Torbay Palm doing on a motorway embankment?

I’ve only ever seen them in people’s gardens, the parks in holiday towns and along seaside promenades.  There are still a few by a row of cottages partway down the Wolverhampton flight, where many years ago a couple used to bring one home from every holiday in Torquay and give them to their neighbours.  We met the old man, by then a widower, as we locked down many years ago. There was a whole row of them, but most gardens have been paved over for parking now.  Here, I suspect someone came along and dumped their garden waste while the M5 was still being constructed.

Dave spent quite some time dismantling the taps in the bathroom, which were all very stiff after the winter.  After a good clean they are working a lot better.  I went to buy a bag of coal, £10.50 for Excel.  After lunch Dave took Meg out for a proper walk.  I took my laptop to the boaters’ lounge above the office, where you can use the wifi – on the boat you can access the internet on your phone, but the signal is not enough to tether it to use your laptop.

It’s a lovely place to be up there – comfortable, warm, you can make yourself tea or coffee and borrow a book.  Which I did, and started it while my laptop was doing a long-winded update.

 And it’s got a nice view too, and a balcony for the better weather.

Later on we realised we had no spare batteries for the excellent motion-sensitive light in the cratch, so I walked down to Waitrose.  Luckily we didn’t need loo rolls, as the shelves were bare, but I did get some yeast and tomato puree which we are running out of and which had disappeared from the shelves in our local supermarkets at home.  The walk there was directly into the wind and I was cold.  The hawthorn leaves are emerging but of course the wind doesn’t show.

 

Even in their sheltered spot, the catkins were shivering in the wind.

When I came out of Waitrose a shower was just passing over and there was a splendid rainbow, but of course by the time I’d crossed the road and got the camera out it was fading.

The weather forecast for tomorrow looks much calmer.  We may go out for a little cruise, but it would only be for 2 days as we have to be back home on Sunday.