Blowing a gale

It's unbelievably windy tonight! The boat is rocking all over the place. The television reception is copping a bit of interference and the rain is being whipped against the windows.

We've had a quiet day in today. Mick took the shower screen apart to replace one of the hinges on the door. It had snapped and although the door still worked, Mick just can't leave something "broken".  He needed a short handled screw driver and called to Barry across our shared jetty.  Carol appeared shortly after at their side hatch to pass it to me.  Now our side hatches don't line up when we are moored side by side. They're near enough that we often chat across the jetty through them but passing something across wasn't so easy. We all got a giggle at the arm stretching but we managed it.  We actually chose our berths based on our side hatches facing the jetty between. Very convenient it is.

The marina got a new washing machine the other day as the old one couldn't be repaired when it broke down. I thought I'd take advantage of it being new and put our sheets and towels through a really hot wash. I went up there with a big bag of bath towels, tea towels and hand towels. I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the lid of the machine. I don't know what someone had washed in there but it was disgusting. There was a wide scummy tide mark around the drum and bits of black gunk hanging out the drain holes. No way I was putting our towels in there. I came back to the boat and put them all through our washing machine in smaller batches.

I had gone out last night to collect Barry and Carol at Stone from their trip to Birmingham. I couldn't leave them walking back in the cold and dark when we had a car sitting in the car park. Carol said to come for lunch today as a thank you. It was a nice lunch and a nice chat before we all go away for Christmas.

This afternoon Mick went into Stone to the hardware store for some silicone, taking Barry and Carol with him for their little grand daughters school concert.

The wind had increased as the day went on and by dinner time we couldn't leave the hopper window in the kitchen ajar as the rain was being forced in by the wind.  I think we're in for a wild night.