Monday 18th November and Tuesday 19th November
Monday we had a trip on the bus to Cheltenham. The Stagecoach Gold no 10 buses stop just across the car park from here every 10 minutes so it was very convenient (£5 for a day rider for me). We did have to wait in town for a few minutes while the drivers swapped and the journey took about 40 minutes all together.
Cheltenham is a very attractive town with gorgeous regency buildings and wide streets. We had a walk round Imperial Park and the Montpellier (described as chic) area of the town. We were just getting in to it when it started drizzling and unfortunately this drizzle turned to quite heavy rain. We soldiered on as long as possible but decided discretion was the better part of valour and retreated to the pub! The pub we happened to go in was The Moon Under Water which is one of the two Wetherspoons in Cheltenham and I have to say it is far, far nicer than either of the two Wetherspoons in Gloucester!
We have decided to go back to Cheltenham again when the weather is better for another go and I want to see the Wilson Gallery as well.
Tuesday morning we had to amuse ourselves while waiting for someone from the Heart Foundation to come and pick up the freezer. I did mega indoor cleaning while Ken tidied the wires from when he fitted the new inverter last week. He also checked all the bolts on our doors and hatches fitting new ones where necessary. We decided that although we really like the mooring here it isn’t quite as secure as a marina like Mercia with it’s high fences and security key fobs to get in. Basically anyone can get on to the pontoons here but they don’t do it very often. There are security cameras and security guards who patrol round here regularly which is good.
As we are going away for a few days next week we felt that we need to do all we can to make our boat as impenetrable as possible, you never know. Obviously if someone is determined to get in they will but at least we won’t have left the door open for them!
All this took until well after 1 pm by which time we realised the Heart Foundation man wasn’t coming, at least not in the morning as we had requested. We went down the town and I went in the shop to enquire after him. He and his assistant were at the shop unloading and said we were next on their list after they had unloaded their morning collection. I pointed out that I wasn’t at home now, I was there and we arranged a time for them to come later in the afternoon, about 3-30 pm.
As we were returning to the boat about 3-00 pm my phone rang and it was them saying they had just made a delivery to the docks and were we there so they could pick up the freezer now. We said we were on our way and arrived a few minutes later. Reinforcing our belief that it would be easy to get onto the pontoon from the bank, rather than going round to the gate and coming along the pontoon, they came down the steps of the safety ladder and stepped across with ease. Then one of them climbed on the bracket which holds the thing which the floating pontoon floats up and down on (a bit complicated) to get up on the wall and the other one passed the freezer up to him. Then they both clambered over the fence! Hmmm.
Also on Tuesday we realised there was something wrong with our immersion heater. After Ken has his shower in the morning there is usually plenty of hot water left for me. Not so this morning so I left the immersion heater on until we got back in the afternoon but the water was still only warm. This was from the fire heating it up. Bugger!
As luck would have it I had written down the phone no of The Boat Man (electrical expert) when we passed his boat at Rea Bridge last time we came through there so Ken gave him a ring. He came round within 30 minutes and pronounced the element in the heater dead. He is coming tomorrow afternoon to fit a new one. That’s service for you! By the way, he also got to us on the pontoon by climbing over the fence and down the safety ladder. We wondered how he managed to knock on the back of the boat without us noticing him going past the front. Seems to be the normal route!
Tomorrow we are probably having another walk to the hardware shop.
