The next 10 days were relatively hum-drum, as we didn’t cruise anywhere and I stayed on the boat most of the time. So instead of a page for each of these days, I will just provide a summary of happenings, for each day.

Monday 10 September

I spent most of the day writing the Blue Flag article about the Moissac Fêtes des Plaisanciers and emailed the draft to Chris Grant, editor of Blue Flag.

I was rewarded for my efforts with a nice sunset over the canal.

Tuesday 11 September

This morning I watched a replay on YouTube of the Slovenian SGP, in which Jason Doyle came second and was top-scorer. Interestingly, the Free Mobile connection gave me no problems whatsoever, even running high-resolution on full-screen, with no buffering or drop-outs. Quite impressive.

In the afternoon, I constructed the frame for the dogbox fly-tent, and made short bungee cords for connecting the fly-tent to the side rails on top of the cabin. All looked pretty neat when competed.

Wednesday 12 September

In late-morning, the hotel barge Savanna came onto port to moor between us and the lock. I was impressed when the skipper, Adrian, apologised to me for coming close to Kanumbra because of the cross-wind and for causing some (small) waves. Such a professional, and so different to the tourist boat drivers.

As they passed by, I noticed that they had real terracotta tiles on the deck (I checked them later by hand), something I have never seen before. They gave the deck quite a cosy non-barge feeling. I guess when the barge weighs over 100 tonnes, a few more tonnes for flooring won’t make that much difference.

I could tell that the skipper and his wife were a nice pair of people, when the first thing they did after mooring was put their kitten ashore so that he could have a run around. This was reinforced later, when Adrian came down to Kanumbra to again apologise for any turbulence as they were mooring. Sadly, they will only be in port till the end of the day, after they pick up their new guests.

The proximity of Amethyst, Kanumbra and Savanna gave a good indication of the range of boat sizes on the canals.

In the afternoon, I unpacked the swim ladder that Serge had bought for us, and tried various adjustments for the feet that hold the bottom of the ladder away from the hull. It looks like it will work OK, but only time (and usage) will tell.

Later in the afternoon, I saw a boat with a familiar name (Red Jim) cruise past and enter the lock. This is the same boat that we saw just south of St Jean de Losne just three weeks ago. This shows just how quickly you can get from north to south if you have to.

As I was working on this blog, I heard the characteristic noise of bow-thrusters from a hire-boat. Since it was going on for quite a while, I went outside to inspect and saw a hire-boat trying to enter the lock. At this moment in time, he was at 45 degrees with the nose just poking under Pont Marengo. He then tried to use the bow-thruster to push the nose around, but this also brought the stern around until it hit the inside of the bridge on the other side. An application of bow-thruster in the other direction swung the boat through 90 degrees till the stern hit the other side of the bridge. He proceeded to wiggle his way under the bridge and into the lock using the bow-thruster and with the stern alternating from side to side. It only took about eight bow-thruster applications! Clearly, no one at the hire-boat company had told them that you steer from the back, using the prop and rudder to steer the boat, keeping the bow-thruster in reserve for delicate manoeuvres.

By comparison, a little while later, Savanna was leaving port, and by going very slowly and using the rudder for small corrections, they entered the lock like a cork in a bottle, without touching the sides.

Thursday 13 September

While working on the blog, I got a Facetime call from Ian McCauley, the Editor of the DBA eNewsletter, saying that he wanted to include an article about the Kanumbra.com website blog in the next issue of the eNewsletter. He just wanted to check that I was still maintaining it. So I explained that he had actually interrupted me while I was working on it, but that I would ensure that the website at least covered to the end of the Fêtes des Plaisanciers by the time the eNewsletter was released.

In the afternoon, the wind picked up considerably, so I was happy to be inside in the warmth of the wheelhouse working on the blog.

Friday 14 September

For some reason, I woke early. But rather than lie there waiting to go back to sleep, I got up and captured a delicate picture of the sunrise down the end of the street opposite our mooring.

In the morning, I went shopping for groceries and other essentials, and then followed the Elimination Final AFL game between Hawthorn and Melbourne. And sadly it was the Hawks who were eliminated for 2018 when they lost 71-104. But, all-in-all, it hasn’t been a bad year for the team in what was supposed to be a “rebuilding” year, after losing several experienced players and recruiting a bunch of rookies.

That evening, I did a bit of binge watching on YouTube and caught a number of performances and Tonight Show interviews with Robin Williams. What a talented comedic improvisor he was!

Saturday 15 September

I had been pottering around inside for a while this morning, and must have missed the arrival of Rovi - a barge also registered in Melbourne which we had moored together with many times in Moissac and along the Canal de Garonne with friends Rob and Cherie Mitchell. Rovi was meant to be going up the Rhone this year, with the ownership partners at the helm.  But for one reason or another, they had changed their minds and were now headed back to Moissac for winter. So, on my way to the Saturday Market, I went up and introduced myself to Australians Laurie and Judy Ford and was soon invited on board for a coffee.

As we chatted away, Judy asked if I knew anything about Pans on Fire, the steelband. She was just a little surprised when I told her that I was a member and co-founder of the band! When I asked how she knew about the band, she said that she had heard a lot about the band, but had never heard it play. So I thought that Rob must have told her about the band, but she said no, she heard about it many years ago from a person she had sold a horse to! This had me puzzled and I tried to think of anyone who knew about the band and also owned a horse. That’s a pretty wide group, I expect, but locally I could only think of Judy, Vicki or Cassie. And it turned out to be Cassie Fraser, wife of our baritone player Lachlan Fraser. Turned out that Judy had sold her horse Jack to Cassie in 2014 while Lachlan was in France playing with Pans on Fire! It’s a small world!

And it was about to get even smaller when their Australian friends, who had been on board with them for a week, returned from buying train tickets at the station. We talked about barging things for a while, and then the subject of steel pans came up. At which time, their friend asked if I knew any of the steel pan players in Paynesville. She was just as surprised as Judy had been earlier, when I said that we knew them all, we trained them to play, and they were still playing on pans borrowed from us! It’s an even smaller world - what are the chances?

After an hour or so of chat, I continued on my way to the Market. I didn’t particularly want to buy anything, but I just love walking around markets and watching the locals going about their time-honoured traditions.

In the afternoon I continued with updating the blog, and was rewarded for all my hard work with a colourful sunset.

In the twilight of the evening, I saw about six small coypu wandering around on the opposite bank of the canal.

Sunday 16 September

More work on the blog in the morning, and then in the late morning Serge arrived with my new rope and balloon fenders. He then left me with the invoices for the remainder of the drydock work and the material he bought for us. As he drove away, I heard a rustling sound and looked around just in time to see a gust of wind carry the invoices away into the canal. I tried to rescue them, but naturally the wind kept blowing them further away into the centre of the canal. So I sat down and wrote an embarrassing email to Serge asking him to send me copies of the invoices.

In the afternoon I started sanding and other preparatory work for varnishing woodwork on the wheelhouse and elsewhere. I then finished the blog covering the Fêtes activities as I had promised Ian.

That evening, as I sat on the back deck having dinner and a glass of red, the light I had placed on the table gave an artistic view of the glass of red wine.

Tuesday 17 September

Today dawned cool and overcast, and got more windy as the day went on. I went into town and proudly bought a baguette! When I got back Rovi had left on her trip west.

Did more sanding, and then removed the spotlight and wiring from the mast in preparation for varnishing. Given the cooler weather outside, I stayed indoors and did some thinking about the future of the MicroGrid project back home in Taggerty. As I was coming back inside after some more sanding, I noticed some papers slid into the gap near the wheelhouse window, and closer inspection showed them to be some of the missing invoices - someone must have fished them out of the canal and seen the name Kanumbra on them.

The wind was playing havoc with some hire-boats trying to tie up while waiting for the lock to open, thus providing ample entertainment for the afternoon.

Tuesday 18 September

Given the better weather, today was the day for varnishing. No photos today, because it literally was as exciting as watching paint dry. While it was drying, I continued work on the blog.

Wednesday 19 September

Today was the day for some second coats of varnish, which are as exciting as first coats, so again no photos - but more work done on the blog.