Yes, we had another day on the beach
on Thursday; however, it was busier than when we went last week. We were expecting it to be quieter as it was
later in the season, but it was still quiet enough for dogs to keep themselves
to their owners’ part of the beach and not bother other people (or each other).
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| We also weren’t expecting this when we got back to the car |
Unlike our last visit there was no
wind so there were far fewer waves, but they were still too much for Buddy.
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| Fewer waves but cloudier than the last visit |
It was still hot, and Buddy dug
himself a hole to bury himself in and keep cool:
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That’s my empty beer bottle and not
litter, by the way 😉
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| Still, not interested |
When we got back to the car we were
shocked to find the front nearside window smashed. It appeared that whoever it was hadn’t been
into the car and nothing had been taken.
It took a while to clear all the glass away until we felt it was safe to
drive and while we were doing that Karen noticed the portable solar panel had
gone. It had been hidden between the
seat and door so couldn’t be seen unless the door was open or the window
smashed. We suspect they probably
thought it was a tablet in a case so wouldn’t have been over pleased when they
realised their mistake.
Fortunately, it was dry and warm so
driving home wasn’t an issue. Before we
set off we got in touch with the insurance company to work out how to get the
window replaced. I have to add here how difficult
it is to get car insurance as a continuous cruiser if you need to move a car
around with you. We thought that moving
a car around the country as we cruised (as we did for the two years Karen went
back to work) would be just like people parking the car in a street if they
live in a house without a drive or garage. But no, fewer and fewer underwriters want to
accept the risk and when we renewed last time we could only find one company
that would cover us, albeit at more than twice the cost than it would have been
if we had a permanent address.
Thankfully, we no longer need to keep
the car with us, so when we renew in November the issue will go away as we will
store the car somewhere permanently as we cruise. Anyway, I mention all this as the address on
the policy is National Grid House in Warwick, which is where Karen worked. The guy at the call centre was intrigued why
we called our house that. I didn’t want
to get into a discussion about the fact it was a business premises and told him
that we didn’t give it the name – which was true 😉
Getting the go ahead to get the window
replaced was simple but it took all day on Friday to get an Italian window
company to understand what was needed.
At one point we were having a three-way call with my daughter Sophie (an
Italian speaker) and one of the glass fitters.
In the end, the best we could do was find somewhere that would do it at
5.00pm on Tuesday. We only hope that
they get the right piece of glass because it would be easy to get confused when
talking about nearside and offside etc.
We emailed plenty of pictures, so we hope they understood ☹
With all the hassle we forgot that it
was two years ago to the day that our current home was dropped into the water at
Wincham Wharf in Northwich. It seems an
age ago now but it was a weekend neither of us will forget.
Karen was at work in Warwick, so I was living on the old boat during the
week in Northwich whilst we waited for the final touches to be finished. When Karen came back on the Friday evening we
took the new boat away for the weekend and were fortunate to have fantastic
weather which helped make it even more special 😊
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| Chalkhill Blue 2 going in the water |
We were reminded about the event by
Facebook; I know people moan about social media but there are some things we
find it good for. When I was working at
Legal & General at the end of the 90s I often had contact with a guy who
ran a team of specialists. We never
socialised as we were completely different characters in the way we approached
our work. Saying that, we had a mutual
respect for our differences and formed a good working relationship. A couple of years ago that guy (Chris)
contacted me through Facebook as he and Sue were about to start living aboard
their narrowboat. We now get on really
well socially, especially having the same common interests which we would never
have known about in the work environment.
The same applies to other boater friends
like Mike & Lesley; although Lesley and I actually got on when we worked
together 😉 but lost contact after I retired. We too were reunited through social media when they set about buying
their narrowboat.
We will have to spend the next few
days around the house as we won’t be able to leave the car anywhere until the
window is repaired. Still, it means we will get plenty of walking in 😊
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