Thursday 18th March 2004
Getting cooler, but still a mild 6.9° C overnight, wind
picking up later in the afternoon. We’d put the central heating on overnight
expecting the temperature to drop lower than it did. The morning was misty. We
had showers of rain which left a film of dirt over the cabin. Mike went by car to get
some bread and took Bill with him as he wanted to get a Belgian ‘phone
chip. Mike bought a small bloomer-style loaf called a “ferme” from Pommeroeul
and they bought Bill’s SIM (10 Eu for the chip, plus 15 Eu worth of calls) from
Quiverain, where they also found an auto spares shop where he purchased some oil seals.
The oil seal for the moped wasn’t the right size, it was too big. After lunch
Mike set the welder up; he started by repairing the rear view mirror for the moped
by cutting the old threaded end off and welding a bolt in its place. While he
was doing that I noticed the lock lights had come on! There was a man in the
cabin - they must have to come and check the lock every now and again to make
sure it’s still working OK! (There are two locks, but neither are worked as the canal below them is inacessible as the VNF haven't dredged it since the Belgians removed Antoing lock which altered the levels) He left the lights on and also changed the lighting
around the basin so that the lights by the boats came on at night. No one said
anything about us running the welder on the approach to the lock! Next Mike
welded the plates together that he’d cut to make the flanges for Bill’s
replacement manifold. Bill came out to give him a hand and keep him company.
Friday 19th March 2004 Pommeroeul.
8.9° C chilly blustery wind, showery, grey and overcast.
Mike and Bill went shopping, (I stayed home), fetching groceries from Carrefour
at Condé-sur-Escaut in France. He posted some samples of oil seals that he wanted to Peter (for him to get some in the UK for us) and
found an MBK shop in Belgium and was told that they don’t make MBK’s for sale in Belgium with variateurs,
but the man had got an old one which he gave him. Mike bought three new engine mounts
- he told the chap we were going to Poland where the roads are rough and there
are no MBK dealers.
Saturday 20th March 2004 Pommeroeul.
Miserable wet and windy day. I went out with Mike in the
car to the post office in Blaton. It was shut on Saturdays. Had a look at the
moorings above the first lock on the Blaton-Ath canal - they were non-existent
and several cruisers had taken root next to bollards below the lock. Glad we
had decided to go on by boat to Pommeroeul. Found a phone box and Mike called
Glyn to ask him to look out for our invoices from the VNF. I tried ringing Helen
as she had said that she wanted to come by train to visit us but I got the Belgacom answering
service. Went to find the Super GB in Bernissart as we’d seen a few signs for it. We found it eventually. There must be a big rubbish collection due as there were
piles of old settees, mattresses and flower pots, etc, everywhere on the
pavements. Mike even slowed down when he spotted a PC monitor to see if there
was anything else left of the PC on the footpath, scavenger! Called in a bakery in
Pommeroeul for a loaf - whoa - expensive at 1,61 Eu and it was in a pink bag so
I didn’t see that it was already sliced (we prefer to slice bread ourselves as they tend to slice it very, very thin). After
lunch Mike decided to have a look at the water pump to find out why it had been making strange noises. First he found it was leaking - that would account for
why we’d got a lot less water in the tank than I thought before we filled up at
the bunker boat. It had a hole in the diaphragm which would account for the
noise and the slow rate of flow. Out came the two spares. Calamity, neither of
them worked properly either. Mike ended up having to seal one up with gasket
sealer as it was leaking too.
Sunday 21st March 2004 Pommeroeul.
Sunny spells, showery and still very windy. Mike went out
in the car to find a ‘phonebox and called his Mum to wish her a happy Mothers Day
(it’s not Mothers Day here in Belgium) and had to leave a message as no one was
at home. He tried ringing Helen and also got the answering service. When he
came back he checked her number and found we hadn’t been ringing the French
prefix - thinking it was a Belgian number - when it was a French one! He went
back to the ‘phonebox and called the right number - Helen said she’d been watching
the rugger all weekend and thought it best if she came to have a look at the
boat when it’s out of the water. I spent the afternoon cooking.
Monday 22nd March 2004 Pommeroeul.
6.3°C overnight. Sunny spells, showery. We went by car to
Blaton. Mike went in the post office, posted a letter (stamp cost 52c) bought
another ‘phone card (10 Eu) and the post from Glyn had arrived (for which there
was no charge! Whoopee!) Mike tried giving Glyn a ring to ask him to also look
out for the car insurance renewal from our broker, but his ‘phone line was
engaged. Mike had forgotten to bring the fuel can with us and we needed petrol
for the Honda generator, so we went back to the boat to collect a can and then went
searching for a filling station. Found one by the village of Thulin. Back for
10.30 a.m. After lunch Mike restarted
work on the final stages of Bill’s exhaust manifold. Bill came over to help him.
We moved the boat alongside Rosy to run our Markon generator to power the
welder. Mike packed up and we moved the boat back just in time to sit down and eat
dinner
Tuesday 23rd March 2004 Pommeroeul.
Sunny spells, cloudy. 3.5° C overnight. Mike took Bill in
the car to Peronnes as he’d made an appointment at the vet’s for Fanny. He
picked up a loaf in Peronnes, 1,53 Eu - bread seems dear here. The vet said it
might be something stuck in the dog's salivary gland - a delicate operation - but the
swelling had to be reduced first and he gave Bill a prescription for a ten day
course of pills and he just about got some small change back out of 20 Euros. They went to see
Majorie. The Luxemotor was due to come off the big trolley on Friday, so we should
be able to go on around lunchtime. She’d got a Surflo water pump, just what we
needed, so Mike haggled with her a little and bought it for 90 Euros. He hadn’t
got enough cash with him so she said he could settle up later. He went by car
to Blaton to post another letter, this time the postage to the UK cost him 59c!
(Cheaper in France 50c!) On his return he fitted the new water pump.
Wednesday 24th March 2004 Pommeroeul.
Weather much the same, grey clouds, sunny spells. Mike
repaired the moped, replacing the variateur, then put the bike back on the roof.
I got the sewing machine out and did a couple of patches on the bike cover,
which had ripped in the recent high winds. Bill’s oil pressure gauge didn’t
work after Bill had rewired it. He’d shifted the sender and the wire wasn’t
long enough, so he’d added two bits and now it wouldn’t work. Mike went over on
Rosy to help him put it right. Ran the boat engine and Markon and did two loads
of washing, as we’d got half a tank of water and would soon be able to refill
it once we get on the dock. After lunch we went out for a ride in the car.
First we went into France to Mauberge and went into the post office where we
queued for ages just to ask if the new postal tariffs applied to our cash machine
card (the super 24 card will cost 18Eu per year from July onwards) but the guy
said our 24/24 card would remain free of charge. Great, ‘cos our next question
was going to be “how do we cancel it?” We rarely use it, but it could have been
useful in an emergency when the post offices were closed and, of course, we
wouldn’t be using it anyway for the next two years as we shall not be in
France. We set off back on a scenic tour of the Val de Thune which was very pretty, but well manicured as there were lots of holiday residences along most of the
length of its banks. Where there were no chalets and caravans the stream had
been dammed to make fishponds. Into Beaumont and then north towards Mons, which
we avoided by skirting to the south west. We’d seen signposts for Cora so we
passed through Hornu to find it. It looked like a pretty large hyper, similar
to its French namesakes, so we decided to stock up with groceries from there the next
day. Cooked a quick dinner of egg and chips. Mike sat up late watching a
version of “Das Boot” dubbed into English (he’d seen it before but in German
with English subtitles).
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