Topping up

There was a lot of rain overnight, so by this morning all the snow had been washed away. Although parts of the marina and the canal also looked clear, lots of it still had ice under the water — as demonstrated by the duck above, who is not in fact walking on water.

Adrian has a few things to attend to down south, so he set off in the car at about 9.30 to drive to Littlehampton. As the tap was unfrozen, I started filling the water tank (which had got down to about a third full) and put some washing on at the same time. It took about an hour to fill, and then I walked down to the marina office with the jerry can to see about getting some diesel. Last time, Darren the manger had said they have spare cans to borrow, so you don’t have to make multiple trips. He said I should leave my can by the office with three more he’d gathered up, and he’d drop them off full this afternoon.

With that now happening later, I thought I’d better get a walk in to get my steps done. I set off south down the towpath, all the way to Bridge 23 where I took a path across a field to Middlewood way — another link between the two that I haven’t done before. The farm appears to have access both across the path and underneath it.

By the time I got back to the boat there were four cans of diesel lined up on the pontoon, even though it was still morning! So I set about taking each one through the boat and emptying them into the tank. Fortunately our can came with a bendy spout, and we also got a big funnel that fits nicely in the filler. Still, each can is quite heavy to lift and pour from, and each takes a while to empty.

I took the marina cans back, and called in at the office to pay. The price has just gone down to 105p per litre basic.

After lunch, I’ve pottered about doing a few little jobs but not much. Adrian has arrived on the south coast. As I was writing this, there was a booming sound down one side of the boat, as it something was repeatedly hitting us. I popped out to see what was going on, and found the noise was coming from the far side of the marina, where a man was out bashing the ice with a pole. Those vibrations really travel.