Odds and Sods

I finished off painting the cratch yesterday ... if the boat wasn't a live-aboard it would make a very nice conservatory area with a table and chairs etc.  It would be a lovely area in the summertime - but at the moment we fill it with coal, wood, kitty litter and pushbikes etc!  It also has the hold underneath which we fill with spares, tools, paint, anchor and ropes etc, that way we can have a nice uncluttered roof.

Later in the day Elaine and myself did a few more little jobs on the van ... the dogs came along to hang around and look cute.



One of the things I wanted to check out was how easy was it to get at the spare wheel, as it has a bike rack attached the the stern of the van......

.... piece of cake!  You drop down the bike carrier, remove the cross brace with a phillips screwdriver and voila - one brand new spare!  I even noticed that it had a small hose attached to the valve that connects to another valve under the rear valance, so you can check the pressure without pulling off the cover etc.

I also checked out the one house battery as I want to add another one of the same type.


This is our marina parking spot, very handy ... saves putting in some storage yard.

Ray and Diane (NB Ferndale) came over to the van for a chat and we decided that as it was a Friday it would be rude not to go down to the Swan for a few swift ones!  Very nice it was too, they get a good crowd down at that pub.

Back to the boat in time to watch England vs Chile in the footie, say no more :-(

Today we went to Stoke to pick up the new battery for the van.  In a moment of madness, we then decided to have a look in 'Go Outdoors' to check out zero gravity recliners for next summer.  (Elaine wants a Lafuma chair as, when we finally settle down, she can use it as a mobile Reflexology chair - so we had to test out all the angles of all the chairs .... yawn!).

As were were in Hanley we popped into the shopping centre .... what a mistake!  It was full of Christmas shoppers, it was horrific - on many levels!  We couldn't wait to escape and head back to the tranquility of Aston Marina.  I dropped off Elaine to the boat then went down to the pub to watch Engand vs The All Blacks ... England got a bit closer than I though they would.

We have also booked up a campsite in London (Crystal Palace) in mid December, so we will go down for a few days to check out the Christmas spirit in London ... can't wait as we just love London.