More toddling and a little bit of winter prep

After a couple of weeks in Hythe, the crew returned for a few days so we could celebrate an anniversary (big one) and birthday (semi-big one). We try to avoid mentioning the numbers now, they feel so wrong.

Before celebrations began, work was required.  We put the wrap back over the newly painted exhaust.  Always a tricky job and it was boiling hot to make it even more challenging.  Then it was time to drop the dinghy to polish the port side of the hull.  A perfect job to do in hot weather whilst in the shade.  It was satisfying to get that done.  Next we had to give the boat a run around the bay to warm up the machinery and flush some fresh water through the wing engine cooling system. It was a lovely calm day for the pretty boring trundle up and down. It might be boring but having the sheltered bay is so handy, it lets us exercise the boat pretty much no matter what the weather is up to during the winter period. The usual strange track from our AIS ensued:

However, the boat behaved well, the freshly painted exhaust silencer smelt of cooking paint and the electronics all behaved too. That was a good start. We even got the boat to turn and reverse onto our berth through the thick weed (low water levels thanks to no rainfall in ages) with no use of the thrusters. That was planned as we were worried about what vegetation they might suck up and jam on.

The anniversary and birthday forced us to suffer two visits to the Pilot pub in Penarth - great place, good food, sensible prices. Then the crew returned to Toddlerville to take over the looking after things role from her brother. The Captain did a home alone thing. Some polishing of the starboard side of the hull to protect it for the winter but the weather conspired against him. It was wonderfully sunny which prevented finishing off the starboard side as it was in direct sun all day. The transom could be done but only before around 1pm. Then, when the sunny spell finally broke, there were showers followed by direct sun. Far from ideal for polishing. 

The captain occupied himself by taking the bike out for some exercise, doing domestic stuff and a few internal maintenance jobs. An F pontoon impromptu party evening was good - several berth holders, fish and chips were collected and a little alcohol might have been consumed. Not by the captain of course:

The Nordhavn made a good backdrop to a sociable time. Simon and Nikki, who had joined us at the Pilot, kindly took pity and invited the captain for lunch on the bank holiday Monday. A very good curry and the chance to have some cuddles with their new hound. Sydney:

Meanwhile the crew was slaving in Hythe, cooking, cleaning and reminding Mrs Toddler about her recovery exercises which were going very well indeed. They were watching the cricket hundreds avidly as the captain cycled past the stadium in Cardiff:

where the Welsh team took on the Trent Rockets:

Big happy crowds filled the road and path heading to the venue. We guess they were less happy when they left as the Welsh team lost.

As a final hurrah before he headed to Hythe, the captain took the train into the city to do some footwear shopping. Big mistake, the place was crawling with bank holiday week vacation folks and the yet to go back to school ankle-biters. After struggling to find any floor space in a couple of shops, he had a semi-brainwave. Since Transport for Wales were offering a £1 flat fare on any journey, he took the train to Caerphilly which was way quieter and had a couple of "shed retailers" that might be useful. First of all, a visit to the castle was needed. We'd been many years ago before a big revamp and renovation was undertaken. It was a good wander around:. 

and the old moat area looked pretty good too:

Then it all went wrong - the shop didn't have the required shoe size in stock and back at the station it was the normal public transport carnage:

As you can see, the heading of "live trains" was a bit of a joke, they were all very very dead. We do wonder how nationalisation of the trains will help - Network rail who run the infrastructure are  effectively central government controlled. Transport for Wales have been run by the Welsh government for years too. 

Luckily, the captain returned to Hythe using a hire car. The only excitement to report is to tell readers not to buy a Peugeot 2008 unless they like a rather bouncy ride (spring damping is strange) and a clutch pedal so close to the footrest that can stop you from depressing the thing. Not ideal.

Back in Hythe we cooked, cleaned, shopped and did a few maintenance bits and bobs for the house and also for Mrs Toddler who needed a doctor visit to sort out some plumbing issues. In the boatyard was the strangest sight:

A tender from the passenger liner,  Queen Mary 2. We wonder if they missed it. It almost felt like our liner curse was appearing on dry land too. 

Toddling along

Upon our return to sunny Penarth we had a lunch break, then had fun washing the salt off the boat (there was plenty of it) and generally preparing for the crew to depart. The following day we both took the train into Cardiff.  We stopped for a coffee before the departure of the train to Southampton which the crew had a pre-booked ticket for. The so called advance ticket is the only way to do that trip at a vaguely sensible price.

Guess what, the train she was booked onto was then cancelled. As was the following one (they are hourly by the way). With her stress levels already through the roof, this really helped a lot but is typical for the horrid so-called service between Cardiff and Portsmouth. A nice lady in the booking office understood the urgency of getting to Toddlerville and gave her the OK to take the route via Reading which normally costs about twice that of the direct train (but is often quicker) thanks to our ludicrous train pricing. Perhaps they charge so much more as you are likely to get a seat and a half decent train travelling that way?

She finally made it and settled into a routine of hospital visiting / cooking etc. The captain joined her a few days later after doing some boat polishing  to remove more of the fallout from the Devonport fire we "enjoyed" earlier in the summer, It was in time for Mr Toddler's 92nd birthday. Despite the circumstances, this was celebrated in style. Fizz, roast dinner and an excellent crumble for pudding courtesy of Izzy's owner, Anne. Mr T looked suitably happy:

The round of hospital visits, small shopping excursions into Hythe (thank you Mr Lidl and Mr Waitrose), cooking for Mr T and general house stuff continued. Meanwhile, Mrs T was making an excellent recovery from her stroke, so much so that she just had to wear one of the many pairs of "distinctive" sunglasses that she owns:

The level of care and attention in Southampton General (OK, they have renamed it but the locals still know it under that name) was variable. Excellent for the stroke treatment initially. Good staff on the day shift but the night-time lot were more than disinterested. Naturally being admitted initially during the resident doctors strike didn't help. A microcosm of our NHS challenges was behind the bed that Mr T finally ended up in (after being woken up at 1:30am so they could move her, one of 4 moves that day. Er, is that any way to handle a 90 year old recovering from a stroke???? This kind of summarised  the messed up processes they operate:

At least they have a huge Costa in the entrance area, which we frequented regularly and didn't seem to be run with NHS efficiency.....

After a few days, the captain returned to the boat. Easier said than done as it was a hot day (30 centigrade outside) and the wonderful rail service that we might just have complained about before, once again delighted. Turning up, almost full already, to a packed platform in Southampton were three antique commuter carriages. The melee to get a seat followed. The captain had already sharpened his elbows and managed to so so. On the "sunny side of the train" though which was to prove a mistake. Why? Because the train manager kept on telling us to hydrate as the air con was not working on the train. He was not kidding. It was roasting and a rammed full train did not help either. We were kindly told that if the temperatures were too much for us to contact him. No idea how you could get through the carriage that was full with miserable folks standing for the 150 minute journey and their luggage / tents / sleeping bags which were everywhere. Apparently there was a festival starting. The only plus point was that the festival was starting, had it been the end of it, the folks might have been a little bit ripe

Maintenance news:

The captain removed the grills on the fibreglass stack, then the wrap from the exhaust silencer (or muffler as the USA folks like to call it) to inspect how rusty it had become. We aim to check and repaint it every 3 years to try and prolong its life. Amazingly it looks like it was in pretty good nick:

with some of the paint starting to flake but little corrosion on the top flange which tends to hold any water running down . It was the first bit to corrode through in the original silencer.  The sides were also pretty OK:

so the thing was cleaned up and given another couple of coats of high temperature paint. We took advice on which one to use from Michael, the owner of the N40 Coracle - he knows about that kind of thing having built and run a steam railway. It is a tricky job, the access isn't great but anything we can do to extend the life of the unit has to be worthwhile. Hopefully this one will corrode in due course from the inside out, not the other way around. Replacing it is messy. For proof have a look at this blog post

The captain could not refit the exhaust wrap alone, way too heavy and tricky to manhandle into place so that had to wait for the crew to return. It did mean that the nicely painted silencer was proudly on display for a while though.