Friday 22 June - steel pan from Toulouse, arrival of Drumsara

Once again we hung around port all day, finishing some exams. Then Rita phoned a steelpan maker near Toulouse and found out that he had a second hand pan in the music store where he worked in Toulouse. He said it was OK except that the high notes needed some tuning. So we jumped in the car and headed to Toulouse. Found the shop on first attempt, right on the canal near the train station. Parked directly outside the shop! Huge range of percussion instruments. The pan was made from sheet metal (heavier gauge) rather than from a 44 gallon drum, but sounded quite good, apart from the high notes in the middle of the pan which had been damaged when the pan was dropped - will need to get them reshaped and tuned. 650euro for the pan, sticks and stand. Also bought a wooden shaker and a cuica (pr. queeka) for 65euro.

On the way back from Toulouse, we went to Intersport at Castelsarassin and bought another bike (same model as our two) for Emma to use when she is here soon. I then checked out Le Clerq (same as Carrefour but not as big a range of non-food items) and bought a few tools and stuff. Rita rode the bike back to Moissac along the canal to check out the locks for tomorrow. Rang me excitedly to tell me she had just seen another Piper Barge coming into Moissac. Turned out to be Drumsara, so we finally got to meet Mike, Jane and Black Dog. Went to the Sunbeam Cafe pizza place for a couple of drinks with them and some other of their friends (Laura and Donald, Irene and Richard Plunkett and a few others). Little did we realise that we were to meet Laura and Donald so many more times in the next couple of months.

During drinks, we found out that Irene had celebrated her birthday today and that, as one of her presents, she got a glider flight from the nearby airport. They had towed her up over Moissac and then she glided back down along the canal. Along the way she took many photos, including this one of the port at Moissac. Kanumbra is clearly seen as the 8th boat from the right at the top of the canal.