Where I love to be.

Friday 18th July.

It was the usual slow trip up the M1 from Kent. It always seems to be around junction 13, the traffic gets slower and slower, then its stop start, stop start. In the heat of Friday it was not a pleasant trip at all. Especially in a Polo with no aircon. 

In all, it took about 4 hours to get to Lichfield, then a wander round Morrisons for some 'vittals' and then on to Kings Bromley Marina.

How lovely to be back aboard 'Bracken'. Going down the steps into the saloon and opening up the boat was like stepping into an oven. Where all the windows and doors had been closed it was incredibly hot in there.

Once the front doors and rear doors were open a nice cooling breeze blew through the boat and it soon became more comfortable. I'm so glad that all eight windows on Bracken have hopper type vents on them, it lets a little more ventilation in, or maybe lets the hot air out.

Preparing to move.

I had a full car this trip. I've spent the weeks since my last visit clearing out cupboards at my bungalow and disposing of possessions in preparation for moving onto Bracken permanently.

 Hopefully this will happen around the beginning of September, but my god there's some stuff to move before then!

The logistics are simple, I'm moving from a detached, two bedroom bungalow with kitchen, bathroom and with garden sheds, to a 40 feet cruiser stern Narrowboat.... Simples!!

Sorting stuff is easy. You empty a cupboard....... you look at the mountain of stuff before you.......... you exclaim loudly " so that's where it went,"  'it' being an object you filed away so long ago you had forgotten you owned it! Then you wonder how you've managed to go so many years without said object, then you put it on the pile.

There are 2 piles,

Ist pile is  To keep.

Second pile is  To Dispose of.

Obviously the first pile should be the smallest, that way you have less stuff to transport 200 miles from Kent to Boat.

The second pile is the difficult one. This pile can be divided into numerous other piles. Like:-

Rubbish, take to the tip.

Rubbish, might be saleable though.

Junk,  might be saleable though.

Junk, see if anyone in the family want it.

Junk, donate to charity shop.

Not forgetting another slightly embarrassing pile.

Items you borrowed off your best mate all those years/months ago, and you were SO sure you had given him/her back And you told them repeatedly you'd given it back and they must have leant it to someone else who had'nt returned it cos you'd definitely returned it.

Now you have to make a decision, do you  (a) fess up and say to your mate "hey buddy, look what i found. Or do you say nothing, and place it on one of the other piles, after all, he/she had already accepted the loss and probably replaced it with a new 'it' anyway.

Decisions decisions :)

So i have brought with me numerous items from the first pile, consisting of Kitchen equipment, plates bowls etc. Also numerous items of winter clothing, tools, ornaments etc etc. 

Saturday 19th July

I've had a slight leak from the accumulator under the sink so On Saturday i removed it and took it over to Graham's house to make use of his garage/workshop.

After renewing the brass fittings and applying plenty of PTFE tape to the threads of the fittings i re-assembled it and Graham and I refitted it on the boat. Time will tell if i've cured the problem.

The red accumulator tank is in the water supply from the pump to all taps.

Inside it has a 'bladder' which fills when you turn the tap off which basicaly means if you only run the tap for short periods the pump dosn't keep switching on and off or 'cycling' until the internal pressure in the accumulator drops.

What it means is, you get a smoother flow of water, and it's better for the pump pressure switch.