Today was the first overcast morning I have seen this year in France, but the coolness and calmness was appreciated. 9am came and went and still no sign of Gaétan, but a bit later in the morning I got an email from Florence, restating what the problem was and that their diagnosis was that the Mass Combi had failed and needed to be replaced, at a cost of €2600. They then recommended that all the batteries needed to be tested individually, to see if any or all need to be replaced. They then asked for authority to proceed by payment of a deposit of €2000. Why it has taken them 2 days to formalise what Gaétan had already told me on Tuesday, I don't know. They couldn't/wouldn't give me a time when the replacement might be fitted but suggested sometime early next week. While I had someone making communication with me, I raised the issue of the increased voltage but the reduced % capacity, and asked them to communicate my concerns to Gaétan. Later in the day, I got a response from them saying that "Gaetan indicates that the situation with the charger is normal. Fact is the temporary charger he fitted on Tuesday is not as powerful as yours". Frankly, I don't believe that what I'm seeing is normal, but until someone comes to the barge to check for themselves, we will be getting nowhere.

My day was made complete as I followed the WCC semi-final between England and Australia. Australia's batting collapsed for the first time in the series, and England made the required runs with ease. So, the 1st and 2nd teams from the preliminaries were beaten (and eliminated) by the 4th and 3rd teams respectively. It makes Virat Kohli's comments from yesterday all the more pertinent.

During the afternoon, I went for a walk around the port area to work off some of the frustrations I was feeling with electronics and cricket. I found out where the swans go when they're not swimming around the boats looking for food...

...and as I walked up the Canal de Bourgogne, I realised that we really are located in a fairly rural area.