Grey and overcast

It’s been a bit grey and overcast here at Norbury today, although the sun has shone on a couple of occasions and we have had a few short sharp rain showers. The wind has been quite fierce at times too, which has resulted in a number of the chairs outside of the tearoom being blown up the length of the wharf. I certainly wouldn’t want to be going across the Pontcysyllte aqueduct today…

Mick, Ralph and Graham undocked the two boats that were on the dock this morning and have docked a further two, both of which have had surveys. One has had an insurance survey and the other a pre purchase survey. Ralph has been down in the depths of the dock pressure washing this afternoon. Graham has recommissioned the domestic water systems on one of the brokerage boats and has been refitting the cylinder head on a private boat following removing it and replacing the head gasket. Mick has modified an alternator for one of our customers and has gone back to making the new cratch board for Falcon. Lorraine and Jay have looked after the shop and the tearoom today, with help from Jack and Caroline during the busier periods.

I couldn’t believe it when I was taking a dock booking this morning and looked at the calendar. The dry dock is now fully booked until the middle of July and we have got bookings all the way through to November. That’s the first time that I have known the dock to be booked that far in advance for six years. I wonder if the excessive number of boats that require blacking is a result of the ice during the early part of the year? So, if your boat needs docking and blacking I suggest that you contact us as soon as possible, to avoid disappointment!

I have updated the adverts for the brokerage boats, advertised the last minute discounts on our hire boats for next week (see here) and have still been generally playing catchup.

The wharf has had a steady flow of boats pulling in for diesel, gas, pumpouts and coal again today. Whilst talking to one of the owners on one of the shared owned boats that we operate, they definitely think that the canal is starting to get busier than earlier in the year – let’s hope so!

Well that’s it from me for this weekend. I am expecting the dayboats back about 9pm tonight following the corporate event that is being held at the Premier Foods factory at Knighton. Let’s hope that everyone has had a good day aboard and they haven’t been caught in the showers! In the meantime I’m off for a Sunday carvery at the Swan at Forton (which comes highly recommended) on the main road between here and Newport, Shropshire.

Until next weekend.

Regards,

David