Loading a boat and good friends.

Hi Friends.

Wow what a fantastic day I have had.

It all began with a cup of tea in bed whilst watching the morning news. Yes I was sat in bed watching TV, such a treat ;0).

On getting up, I took Paddy for his walk and bumped into Roger, who asked if we could move out of the basin and on to the towpath because Historic Working Boat Tench, owned by Matt Parrott was coming in to load his boat up with Lime Stone. So having had our breakfast, we poled Hadar out of the basin and on to the towpath.

"Why pole her your ask?"

Well yesterday we had disconnected the prop-shaft, so that Roger could check the wear on our drive shaft, so we could not use the engine.

Once moored up on the towpath, I then walked down the town to get a few food items, as my main food shop does not come until Tuesday. Whilst I was down the town Keith went back to the basin where Tench then arrived. By the time I got back to the boat and had put the food away, Keith had come back for a coffee, we then both went back to the basin to watch Tench being loaded with Lime Stone. Roger lifted the 1 tonne bags of Lime Stone with his crane in to the boats hold and Matt and Joe guided them into position.

It all worked like a well oiled machine.

The main thing was to make sure Tench sat level when loaded.This was the last bag to go into the hold. So with smiles on their faces a good job had been done for the day.
I have watched boats being loaded before, but it was nice to see another done from start to finish. Matt was extremely happy with how it went, in fact he was wearing a broad smile all day. he has not had Tench for very long, so he is a very proud owner.

With the loading done, it was time to have some lunch as Keith and I were hungry as the time had crept on to 1.30pm.

After lunch we walked back to the basin and got chatting with Roger, Joe and Matt who were moving the boats around, so they could get some photographs done. We all ended up on the towpath taking photo's and Roger checked our drive shaft for us, giving it the all clear, which was great news, Roger had expected there to have been some wear after four years, but was happy to see it was in good condition. With that news Keith connected everything back up and we fired Hadar up and moved her back into the basin.

I put dinner in the oven and then got a wonderful surprise when my best friend Tina popped round to say hello. It was lovely to see her again, as it had been a year since we last saw each other, when she went with me to the hospital when Keith was very poorly and had to have an operation. I am so looking forward to having a few days here, so Keith and I can catch up with Tina and her husband Rob.

After such a great day, I am now watching the football on ITV 1, hoping that Manchester United can beat Barcelona.

I hope you have had a lovely day.

Chat soon xx