Christmas Day was a very special landmark for us. We took a bottle of champagne down to the beach and toasted a remarkable year. It seems almost surreal that we are here in Brighton. This time last year we had planned to be living in Hull for at least one year. That would have been achievement enough one would think, braving the River Humber. I remember leaving Goole for Hull. It was a last minute decision to go earlier than our planned date in March to take advantage of a good weather window. It was actually an excellent decision. The River was very kind to us that early morning as we plotted our way through the buoys. It was my first time at any real sort of navigation and made it all feel like a true adventure. There wasn’t a single ripple in the water as we passed under the awesome Humber Bridge. Many times I had looked out at that huge expanse of water from the car or the train and thought how intimidating it looked. That morning as we headed for Hull it was calmer than the Aire and Calder - how lucky we were!
We had our first ever Christmas day alone and on our boat, it felt strange not to be with family but it was a very lovely day. We were lucky with the weather, the sun came out as we sat there sipping champagne on the beach. People were out walking, one couple struck up the Barbecue and got out the deck chairs and we found ourselves reminiscing about the previous year, wondering what the next one will bring. We eventually stumbled back to the boat a little worse for wear and began our feast of Prawn Cocktail followed by Beef Bourguignon and chocolate truffles - topped off with The Royle Family! It was a lovely day. A very brief but enjoyable visit with family was next on the agenda rounding off with a hilarious, cheesy New Years Eve party at a local venue before we began a disastrous New Year!
We awoke on the 1st January 2011 to a somewhat chilly boat - it was only to get colder. I switched the diesel heating on and was met with a variety of whirring, clicking and generally scary noises as the Eberspacher tried to force itself to work. Happy New Year! It was clear very quickly that it was not going to work. Disaster! We have a back up plan but one that we have refrained from using whilst we have been here. The solid fuel stove was great in Goole where everyone else has them, not good when your surrounded by expensive white boats. We had no option though, Martyn set off in search of anywhere that might be open where we could get some fuel. You would expect it to be a difficult task on New Years Day, actually most places were open so he returned quite quickly with 2 bags of the black stuff…… the wrong black stuff!! Oh no, I read the label, then read again - not smokeless. Too late, it was lit….! There was only one option, let it burn out and go get a bag of the smokeless - if only things were that simple! Whilst Martyn was out the fire started to make some interesting noises of its own, a crack here, a pop there. Then the fumes started and the tar began running down the inside of the chimney. What should I do? I know, open all the windows then go and hide in the wheelhouse till Martyn got back. The cracking and popping got worse, eventually I had to venture back down to the offending article and peer inside - I nearly lost my eyebrows - it was raging! Now I began to panic, the chimney began to resemble that of an old mill, plumes of smoke filled the air. I must put it out…..! I am slightly embarrassed to admit this but I did probably the most stupid thing I could think of and got a pan of water. I had a feeling the outcome wouldn’t be pretty , even so I quickly lifted the lid on the stove and poured half the contents of the pan in. There was an almighty pop as coal dust exploded out of the bottom of the fire and covered the entire lounge - me included! Ooops! To make matters worse, as any normal person would predict it made the smoke situation even worse and the fire still raged! Heart in mouth I retreated once more to the wheelhouse and watched as people stopped to look at the smoke that was now coming out of any gap in the boat. By the time Martyn had returned the fire had calmed slightly and I had managed to clean up the mess, he put his head in his hands as I recalled the events that had just passed. By around 4pm my stress levels had reduced sufficiently to partake in some more champagne drinking and we finally toasted the New Year.
It’s been an interesting New Year so far, one thing I do know is that I love my diesel heating, I am sick of having mucky hands, breathing in coal dust and cleaning constantly. So when, eventually, the heating is fixed I will be blocking up the chimney and using the stove for decoration only! I guess it has saved me from freezing to death though and the heat from it is very cosy.
To top things off on Monday, the very last day of Martyns holiday, we awoke very late and feeling a little sad that the holidays were over. Martyn went out for provisions whilst I got his lunch ready for work the following day and topped up the water tank. It was getting dark by the time the tank was full and I came inside to make the sandwiches. At first I didn’t really think about the sound of running water, I assumed it was just running off the deck or out of the hose pipe, however it continued long after I expected it to. I switched of the T.V. and moved towards the noise, it wasn’t coming from outside…… It was coming from underneath the floorboards. I removed the floorboard immediately above the water tank and stuck the torch in. I couldn’t see a leak but the noise of the water continued. So I did the only other thing I could think of, ring Martyn! “Switch the tap off at the hose!” “I have, the waters coming from inside the boat!” Have the bilge pumps kicked in yet?” “No”….. long pause. “OK I’ll be home as quick as I can- do you know which isle the white wine vinegar is on?”. I received another call about ten minutes later just when I was reaching mass panic point and had every tap on in the boat. “It’s grid locked in Asda car park”. I thought I was going to go mad, were we filling with water from the tank? Could we make it round to the lock for lift out? How deep is this water? Why do I live on a boat?!!!!!!!
By the time Martyn returned I was reasonably happy that the water was coming from the water tank, happy is probably not the right word, maybe just more mentally stable. We located the leak in the top of the tank, which Martyn has temporarily plugged and around 7pm sat down to some food.
All in all 2011 has been a little more exciting than we had anticipated. When things go wrong on a boat the problem always seems to be 100 times magnified. We live in a much smaller space than most people do and the engines, water tank and heating system are all under the living space so trying to work on anything is a complete nightmare. I suppose the timing of all these events makes it all seem worse too. That being said, I guess it’s time to summon up a bit of the British fighting spirit and get on with it, after all, nothing quite like things not going quite right to make a good story!
