Bartimaeus

Many different things can make you happy; a surprise or a plan going well. I am pleased that I seem to be fully recovered from the after effects of the booster jab.  We are enjoying looking out and seeing the trees and birds in this park. When I opened the blinds this morning, I saw some very neatly spaced out gulls, they were like a socially distanced queue.

Shane tried to get an autumnal picture of Bartimaeus but was photobombed by the swan family…though it amused, rather than annoyed, him.

An email from Ortomarine was good news, so we are hoping to get a few jobs and supplies soon. We had been pleased to find the little wharf with refuse and recycling nearby (an irregular and not well advertised facility – doesn’t smell good but always pleased to find it) so planned to go there and get water too. To get there we had to get operate two pedestrian swing bridges in the park. They are padlocked and needed a BWB key. I took it with me and some people approaching thought they might wait. I said they could cross as I hadn’ t opened the lock yet. They crossed, then stopped to watch. The key went in but then wouldn’t turn, despite much shoogling. Shane was beginning to pull out . I ran back and we swapped places as the boat was moving away from the side. He couldn’t get that key to work either, but had another on his own keyring and it did the trick. The people were still watching and waving to the toddler as you are driving through is obligatory!  Shane did the next bridge too. When he came back on we compared the keys and they do look the same but Shane’s had BWB on it and  the other didn’t. It was shiny and probably a copy. We got to the water point and it is also locked and needs the key. I tried using the copy key and it opened. While it filled I went shopping and to get in and out the wharf  on foot, you need to get through a padlocked gate. I used the same key – it worked! Not a useless cut, but adding an added air of tension each time …. will it / won’t it  work?…..All adds to the fun.

I wanted to get a picture of a mosaic on the way to the shop. I was not tall enough to get a full picture . I couldn’ t get the tablet high enough and couldn’t see the screen while I was taking it  either…perhaps I should have chosen a different mosaic. Droitwich has a few different artworks depicting the importance of producing salt in its history. Salinae was the Roman name for Droitwich.

Back at the wharf I found Shane had been busy giving Bartimaeus a nose job – he had managed to adjust the position of the front fender which has been a bit squint and low. He had also dealt with the rubbish. It was quite quiet but we had chats with a couple of people there. We stayed there to have lunch and may well come back to moor another time.

We had a stretch ahead of spaced out locks. I worked the first 5, running between them and by then was very hot. We didn’t meet any other boats at all. At the 5th a lady came out of the “Lock Cottage” to see us. She obviously enjoyed the social life of meeting and greeting those passing through and helped push the gates with me.

After those locks there was a bit of a gap so I got on and Shane wanted to go to the toilet so I drove. We have had this intermittent fault with sudden engine failure requiring a reset, which always seemed to  happen to me when Shane wasn’t there. We now know it is the toilet flushing that causes it, so as soon as he went in I was expecting it and  I felt much calmer about dealing with the reset when it did We expect to  have this fixed soon, but just knowing when it will happen and being ready for it, has made all the difference.

We had one more lock and got to our planned destination just as it was getting dark. Another planning constraint now is the short days. Still good news there is a green light shining suggesting  we will be good to go tomorrow, if we want to go on the Severn.