Caught in a Time Warp

We're back - and seemingly doomed to repeat last year's debacle. 11 months is too long to leave a boat completely neglected. Poor l'Avenir looked in a sad and sorry state when we arrived. This part of the canal de Garonne, unlike the Midi, is blessed with abundant, healthy, beautiful trees all of which drop their leaves in winter. L'Avenir acquired a winter blanket which rotted down over time into a gooey sludge, blocking drain holes and blanking out the sun from the solar panels. Result? Scungey decks and worse - flat batteries. I feel all the energy being sucked out of me as I write those words.You may remember that we had battery problems last year which led to other disasters. Well, here we are with the sequel and it's one of those really boring ones where it's just a re-run of the original.

After 2 days travelling all we wanted was a cup of tea and a visit to the loo both of which require elctricity. (Yes, even the loo). We connected up to the mains and crossed our fingers. For a while things looked promising but then the alarms started going off ( in the middle of the night of course). The new batteries we bought last year seemed to recover well but the big, expensive, domestic batteries were boiling up. They are kaput. When I say expensive I mean 2 batteries costing as much as the price of the second hand car with a for sale notice on it parked just up the street. It's quite a nice car actually.

 One of the many good things about being in this part of France is that there is a network of very helpful expats so we were soon put in touch with someone who could find and fit new batteries in return for a price. A fair one I'm sure. There's no getting away from it, batteries cost plenty and boat ones cost more. We are just happy to have someone to help particularly as along with the boat problems Rob is incapacitated with a gammy knee. He's in a bit of pain but he does get to lie around watching the general clean up. We are hoping our new batteries will arrive tomorrow but I'm pretty sure there won't be one to rejuvenate knees.

On the plus side it's been great to meet up with the other boaters in the port. The sun's shining and the birds are singing (although they do start at 5.50 am). There's a red squirrel floating up and down the tree beside us. In the village there's a great baker  plus a wine co-op and a couple of good restaurants. Last weekend was the Spring Fete so there were fireworks, a funfair, a buvette and singing and dancing. Should we be stuck here another week we could set up a stall at the hugely popular Vide Grenier (like a car boot sale) and get rid of some of the surplus contents of the boat. Maybe not much of a market for the locker full of English language books and certainly less for all the clothes that strangely no longer zip or button up. They must have shrunk over winter.
Next post we will be on our way.