Lyra's Travels

Monday 08 November
We have been here a week now and things are settling down. Wow have we been lucky with the weather! I think it has rained more in the last week than in all the time we were out. At present it is hammering down outside and doesn't look set to stop. The barometer is firmly stuck at its lowest reading.
I have arranged for Lyra to be drydocked here at the marina on December 6th to have a new propellor fitted, the bottom rudder bearing tightened and the hull blacked. Our insurance company accepted the quote from the on site engineer after I managed to persuade them to drop their price to nearer the one we received from the dry dock in Stone as I didn't want to have to go all the way back there to have the work done, and also their price for blacking is cheaper.
I took a sample of fuel from the bottom of the tank the other day and frightened myself silly. We still seem to be getting water into the tank, and the state of the fuel was awful. I just hope that I can find the source of the trouble. One idea I have is that it is getting around the fuel filler fitting and I will seal that and keep my fingers crossed.
The list of small jobs we want to get done over this winter grows longer by the day. This morning I went into Stafford and raided B&Q for some floor tiles to replace the broken ones in the kitchen where heavy objects have landed. To try to prevent this happening in future I will be fitting a retaining rail to the shelf above the microwave oven to stop the slow cooker from slipping off if we ever get tipped over as far as we did the last time it crashed down destroying itself and another floor tile.
We have also bought a car to get us around while here. John very kindly ran us over to Stoke on Trent to view it and the owner offered to drive it to our marina next day while we sorted out insurance and road tax for it.
Yesterday we fitted the plastic film 'double glazing' over our windows, another sign of approaching winter. This was an idea I got from a friend on Saltford Marina, the stuff is dead cheap from Wicks and worked a treat last year, keeping the condensation out very well as well as holding the heat in much better than the bare windows were doing.
If the weather does cheer up I'll get some pictures to put on the blog.