After the few cooler nights and days, it was starting to warm up again. Rhianna took the opportunity to take the early train to Toulouse for the day, to explore that city a little.

During the day an interesting series of emails started to circulate on the Can2Mers forum, concerning a passport mixup  on the barge Matilda, which really demonstrated the value of such a Forum. It seemed that there were 4 Australians on Matilda, and when two of then left to take a flight back home, they took the wrong passports with them (well, they all look alike, don’t they?). They didn’t realise the error until they presented them at customs on their departure. They were now trying to find where Matilda was, so that they could swap the passports for the correct ones. The Can2Mers grapevine went into action to find Matilda. And within a day or two, Matilda had been found and all the passports had been reunited with their correct owners. Now that’s how an online forum can prove to be useful.

In the morning, I got a phone call from Captain Jim saying he had been contacted by the St Andre operator, complaining that I was encroaching on his position on the quai. I explained to Jim why I had moved and how I had stayed out of his “red zone”, but it appears that he has painted multiple red lines on the quai and I was looking at the wrong one! I then explained to Jim about the damage that St Andre was causing to the borne.

Since other boats had now moved out from in front of me, I was able to move the boat forward again to reach the next borne. Within 30 minutes, however, Jim came down to the quai to inspect the borne and was surprised to see the extent of the damage, where the bolts that secure the whole borne were lifting out of the concrete on the quai. He then made a call to the St Andre operator, telling him not to push on the borne when leaving the quai. When they said that they never did that, and that they pushed off with their feet from the quai, he told them to stop lying because they had been seen by many people doing it. After Jim left, I made up a sign (in French) telling them not to push against the borne and stuck it onto the borne, just as a reminder of what Jim had told them. For a day or so, they stopped pushing against the borne, and then he resumed the practice, and by the end of the week the sign had been ripped off. And I guess he'll be real surprised when he is not as welcome on the quai next year!

My battery charger for the generator battery didn’t seem to be doing the job (it’s really a trickle charger), so I got a bigger charger from Iain, and tried charging the generator battery again.

In the afternoon, we returned the rented guitars to MusicenZone, and then collected the barge covers. As soon as we got back to the barge, I tried fitting them. On first fitting, the dogbox fly-tent looked like a perfect fit, although I will need to make up the new support system at a later date.

The sunscreens for the rear deck, however, were a fraction too small (in height) to fit in the way I intended. But I could make them work by securing them only at the top and letting them flap loose at the bottom. They certainly made a huge difference in cutting down the heat from the afternoon sun, and can hardly be noticed from the outside. Since we will only be using them on the hottest of days (of which we’ve had more than a few this year) the slight change in fitting procedures should not be too much of a hassle.

I wasn’t able to try fitting the big cover to be used for over-wintering, but I could get an idea of how it might fit by using the stretch cord that I bought for making bungee cords and simulating where the support pole might be, over which the cover will be draped and then tightened to the side railings. It looks like it will comfortably clear all the deck fittings (e.g. the lowered mast). One word of caution: be very careful when you have stretched bungee cord this much. If you accidentally let go, it can cause a nasty rope burn. Trust me!

Today, Rita got an email response from the supervisor at the Montauban Prefecture who had examined the PDF of all the documents we plan to submit at our Carte de Séjour appointment next week. She confirmed that the documentation was complete! We made a photocopy of the email (just in case it is needed!).

Being Thursday, we again headed to the Lauzerte Night Market since this would be the last one we could attend, and sample Miyu’s cooking, before leaving Moissac. This time we took Phil and Ruth with us. We got there a bit late, and parked a bit further down the hill. By the time we got to the square, all the seats were gone (even the ones near the band in the sun!), so we went around the corner to the alley and rigged up a four seater table and chairs from left-over bits and pieces, but totally suitable for our needs. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and Miyu’s food, and given the bottles of Rose consumed at our table, I figured this silhouette sign from the bar on the corner of the square was a fair reminder of the evening.