Thursday 14 April 2011

Anniversary Thursday

Day of chilling out and relaxing after all the effort of doing very little on the Erin Mae. Returned a call from Kitchen Science to check about the delivery date for the washing machine – they assured me they would be in touch to arrange a day once they had the machine at their depot. Ordered a cover for the new duvet, together with a sheet and some pillow cases.

And booked a table at the Wok'n'Spice for an anniversary meal, to be shared with Simon when he's finished recording for the day.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Weathered Wednesday

In the event, the weather wasn't too bad, but it still felt the right time to be going home. Managed to clear up without getting wet. I left a plastic bowl to catch a drip from the blanked off port in the underside of the expansion / pressure central heating tank. That's been getting bad since we've run the heating. Hopefully it will get sorted out when they install the calorifier.

Mgt managed to get out at the cratch, so I could sort out the tonneau a while before we left. As we were locking up, Steve and Sue on Pitch came in next door, down from Ripon, so we chatted for a while.

Home via Penkridge to see whether the chandlery had replacement bulbs, but drew a blank. Great bakery in Penkridge, with what we bought eaten in the grounds of Rodbaston College, with coffee and cappucino cake to follow in their tearoom. Then on to the M6 – when will we learn? Probably only about 20 minutes lost in the jam down to J8. Thereafter a straightforward journey, partly wet. Stopped at Warwick services, where I bought a hat, and at Abingdon for a cuppa, courtesy of the Tesco superstore which also provided some meat for tea. Home just before 6.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Turbulent Tuesday

Much more comfortable night – thumped down the edge of the bed and then stayed away from it. Again slept in longer than Mgt. We're getting used to the overhead cupboard.

The day was still too windy and occasionally wet to think about taking a trip out. Told Engineering we'd ordered the washing machine. Inspected the leaky window to see how it was constructed and make a guess about how to deal with it. But this only amounted to removing the neoprene sealing strip and half a dozen screws from underneath. Couldn't remove the frame – the sealant seemed to be well set. However, it looked as though the 19 mm butyl strip we'd seen would be the right dimensions.

Bought sandwiches from the Spar for lunch, and then drove over to Midland Chandlers at Penkridge. Bought a roll of the butyl strip, and an extending boathook, in spite of the warnings following my query on the JustCanals forum. Nice to have a browse round a chandlery. Then we returned to GH via Stafford to get some stuff from Boots, and something for tea from the Coop.

Since Wednesday's forecast was wet, we decided we would clear up and get away home in the morning.

Monday 11 April 2011

Mixed Monday

Not a comfortable night. Possible the 6" section of the mattress was sticking up slightly. I felt rolled towards the centre. The size of the single duvet did not help - I definitely need something longer to be snug. We also need a better solution to the how the sheets fit. Always conscious of the cupboard overhead, on which Mgt bumped her head in the morning. Outside the night was really cold. Mgt got up for her tablets at 7 and 8, whereupon I went back to sleep till 9.30.

Went to see Engineering about the calorifier - really useful chat with Jenny and Jon. They had received an offer on calorifiers from Midland Chandlers. Jon also was feeling bad about the process leading to the current situation, and will try to do the replacement for a really good price, especially with doing the washing machine at the same time. Rang New&Used, who reported the factory had said they were now using 11 gallon calorifiers from Midland Chandlers, code HC-049. Checked it out but decided to go for the SureCal 55 litre, HC-064. John came to check they could get it in.

Quite a bit of rain about midday, but we decided to stay for at least one more night, in spite of having no water on board. Sandwiches from the Spar for lunch, and a lasagne for the evening. Decided to get the fridge going.

Bought 24 hours of WiFi access and ordered the washing machine from Kitchen Science.

Sunday 10 April 2011

Sunny Sunday

Hot sunny day. Left Bransgore after coffee. Decided to stop at Cherwell Valley for lunch, as Mgt needed some tablets, and found the Fox and Hounds at Ardley just off the roundabout. Sunday roast – welcome though not the best food. Over to Cherwell Valley for coffee and some M&S provisions.

Went via the A446 and A38 to Lichfield – avoided the M6 Toll and not all that much slower. Got to GH late afternoon. Margaret's knee had done pretty well, though she thought two stops might have served better than one.

Put up the curtains, and put away all the kitchen gear we'd brought up. Mgt sat in the sunshine on a folding chair on the cruiser deack, with her leg up on one of the footstools. Saw ducks, a heron and a couple of hot air balloons against the evening sky.

Tea/supper was soup from home and M&S sandwiches.

Thursday 7 April 2011

Calorifier

News from Engineering that when they pressurised the system they found a split in the calorifier. Jenny said it must have happened between the survey and Jon finding the water filter split but there was no way of knowing at the time because of the freeze. Doubt whether I have any comeback at this distance. Have to check with Ellie.

Manual says the calorifier is 13 gallons. Chandlers don't seem to have that size. 55 litres = 12 gallons. Contacted Aqualine who will let me know which make to go for, and whether to go up or down in size if that needs to change.