What a nice man...

Another few days away in the hope I could do some more painting but the weather was too unpredictable.

Ely was good place to moor, if a little busier than I'm used to. I bought some more bits and pieces for the Street Fayre in a couple of months (13th July in fact) and pottered about on board.

At the weekend, I had bought a 30m length of polypropylene rope from my local CBS for a few squid and, as it's brightly coloured and floats, decided it would be good to tie on the two Life Belts. Now, I'm not aware of any right way to tie this on (there must be lots of wrong ways) so I wound each one around my hand and elbow (turning it to avoid any twists), wound the loose end back around it and tucked the looped end in so it would come away with sharp tug - if its ever needed in an emergency. I'll have to research this now to find out if there is a better way.

I was interested to read the wrapper and what it said about knots reducing the strength by 40%. I know splicing is much better but 40% seems a lot.  Again, it's something I will have to read up on.

During one of my more leisurely moments with my feet up in the short-lived sun and reading the Railway Man by Eric Lomax...'Now a Major Motion Picture...' and highly recommended if you like real stories about how some people can withstand the worst of man's brutality, I got chatting to an elderly couple from near Orford.

He was a retired doctor and psychologist (think quickly - better watch what I say!).  He was a keen boater in his younger days and was very interested to know more about narrowboats and how they compared with his experience of sailing boats. I regret not inviting him in when his wife went off to look at the shops as I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing inside Skylark. Perhaps next time? Anyway, he was a very nice man and I enjoyed our chat.

I had another nice chat with the lady who runs The Eel Catcher's Daughter in Ely High Street. Having taken the plunge 6 months ago, her new shop seems to be doing well selling high quality gifts and other 'homely' things. Reminder: I must take Lady Saga there when she next has an outing on the boat.