Bartimaeus

When we were in this section of canal coming the other way, we saw a hot air balloon in the evening.  There must be somewhere nearby convenient for taking off - last night we saw three powered paragliders enjoying the evening sun.

The clouds were perhaps unrelated to the rain forecast for the morning.  I decided to put the pram cover up at the back for the first time this year.  I've found it a useful spot on rainy days in the past, and I had a few small jobs I was considering getting around to.

The first was a small amount of woodwork in the saloon.  I wired in a high-power charging socket last year, but left it lying untidily because I wasn't sure where the best place for it was.  I had a different laptop then, but knew I was replacing it.  I haven't had a good reason not to do this job since last year, but somehow it never seemed to be the right day.

The first part of the job was to get the tandem out of the way.  I took both parts to the stern deck and then got Clare to help me join them together.  Like this I have found I can park it under the pram cover.  We can still get in and out and it stays dry.

I then needed Clare's help again because a very large spider had taken up residence amongst the wiring I wanted to re-arrange.  It was large and a fast runner, not my favourite thing!

Once the way was clear, it didn't take very long at all to cut a suitable hole in the side panel and insert the charger.  While I was at it, I found a better place for plugging my laptop charger in, and affixed the photograph of Bryn and Nye instead of leaving it behind the guddle on the shelf.

In the afternoon, I tried to join the scheduled chat with former colleagues.  Unfortunately, the network connection here is extremely poor.  I could hear them talking for a few seconds (long enough to hear them wonder where I was) but then it all failed.

The afternoon was dry enough that I was able to take advantage of having the tandem out to do a little maintenance.  There are two eccentrics on the saddles of most tandems, but ours also has two crescent moon inserts that are used to adjust the tension in the chains.  This job was overdue, but I remembered that it was significantly eased by using a mooring spike and hammer.  Brutal though it seems, these allow a carefully directed impulse to just the right spot.

It wasn't long before that job was complete too and the tandem back in its spot on the stern deck.

The bright but showery weather continued through the afternoon.  We took ourselves in to St Martins to get milk from the dispenser outside the supermarket.  We now have a refilled milk flagon and lemonade bottle sitting in the fridge.