Sunday 12th & Monday 13th September 2004 Schmergow.

Sunday 12th September 2004 Schmergow.

13.5° C Rain in the night. Very windy, cloudy with sunny spells. Mike finished clearing up the

Trebelsee - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

debris from the previous night’s BBQ, set up our other satellite dish to get French TV for the racing, then went to work in the engine room doing battery checks and trying to solve the problem he had found with unequal discharging from the two battery banks. Peter sent a text to say he was setting up his radio gear in the car and asked if we wanted to play HF. Replied asking him to try HF at 5 p.m. our time (after the F1 had finished). After lunch Mike went back to sorting his 12v problem, an imbalance of current supplied from the batteries which are connected in parallel but giving half an Amp from one bank and four and a half from the other. The Italian crowd cheered when Ferrari took first and second place, Barichello first with Schumacher second. The last of the camper vans left mid-afternoon. Then the windsurfers arrived and went whizzing across the lake at speeds of over 40 mph. Mike put the pole up and listened on 40m - no British stations heard. Tried 20m, it was quieter. Sent Peter another text to say try it and changed wires for a dipole cut for 20m. No good, it was busier when we could hear more via the dipole. Bill

Havel in Brandeburg -Wikimedia photo by Matthew Black

turned Rosy round as the waves from the lake were slapping under his counter making loud noises. Mike gave him a hand to tie the boat back up again as the wind was making things awkward. Mike decided to cook his favourite recipe - spuds, corned beef and oxtail soup (one he concocted way back when he used to have his school lunch at his Gran’s) - I made myself a sandwich. A clear, starry sky.

Monday 13th September 2004 Schmergow.

9.1° C Grey, overcast and breezy, sunny spells later. Went to Werder in the car, called in the town first for Bill to get some cash and Mike went in the Vodaphone shop to get a top up for our ‘phone (15Eu=£10). Then Edeka for groceries and collected the post. Glyn had sent

Trebelsee - Wikimedia photo by Botaurus

just the two replacement bank cards and our insurance broker in France had sent the insurance certificate for the moped. Bill’s post had arrived too, two packages from Veronica. Picked up some petrol for the moped and we were back at the boat for midday, stowed the groceries and made some lunch. Mike decided to do some welding, two sections of handrail and the exhaust pipe brackets for the moped. He welded the nut on the bracket the wrong way round and had to scrap it and do it all over again. I made a stirfry for dinner. Mike ‘phoned WWTelecom and gave them his new card number so we can get our call back system running again. Peter sent an text to try HF. We could hear him on 20m, but he couldn’t hear Mike. Sent text messages back and forth then Peter rang us - he’d given up on HF - and we had a chat on the ‘phone for half an hour. He was doing night driving all next week so he would be available to play radio. We took the pole and antenna wires down.