Handrails: Day 3

I had a very nice evening yesterday with Catherine, Nigel, Grace, and Matthew.  Getting to their house was a bit circuitous as Towcester High Street is closed for several months of road works.  It was good to see them and hear about their trip down the South Oxford Canal.

There’s not much to report today, because putting a second coat of undercoat over the first leaves things looking pretty much the same as they did before.  The job was done by mid morning, when the sun started to come out.  While I was painting, the Braidbar boat, Burnt Oak, went past and I had a quick chat with John and Martina.  We last saw them in September, when we paired up with them for our very rapid decent of the Hatton flight.

A lady who single hands her boat, and sells from it, had stopped to talk yesterday and today while out walking, so when she went past on her boat I went to help her up the lock.  She’s on her way to the Village at War weekend at Stoke Bruerne.  Another single hander arrived to go down, so I worked the lock for him too.  The garden next to the lock still has alpaca and goats in it — and I was particularly taken by one goat which appeared not to want to come out of its little house.

While I was at the lock I walked round to the shop at the caravan park to get some bread rolls for lunch.  This afternoon I’ve been working on boat tests, as they’re mounting up unwritten.