In getting ready to do some work at the house, I went down to the barge to collect some tools and other paraphernalia. While I was there I noticed that the USB socket light on the powerboard was not lit up. Since this was plugged into the 240V AC supply, I suspected that something was wrong with that circuit, and when I checked the instrument panel, it showed the house batteries as being 0% charged! I initally thought something might have been wrong with the inverter, but then remembered that I was plugged into shore power, which should have been feeding the AC power supply. When I checked the shore power connection, I discovered that our cord was plugged into a socket whose weather protection flap was missing. So I plugged it into the other side of the power box on the quai, and on going back on board I discovered that the AC applicances were now working. It must have been that no shore power was being fed on board since I un-doubled last Monday, and that the AC appliances were being fed from the house batteries via the inverter, which gradually flattened the batteries. I waited on-board for a little while and saw that the battery charge rose to 2%, so hopefully they will recharge fully over the next couple of days. I know such a deep discharge is not good for battery life, but hopefully no permanent damage has been done.

I waited till the painters had stopped for the day so that I could borrow their ladder to install some light coverings on the top floor, one of which was very high on the ceiling. Both the wall lamp and the pendant light over the kitchenette table looked OK when completed.

That evening we went up to the Sunbeam Cafe for a Karaoke Night, given that it was June 21st, and lots of musical events were happening all across France (I suspect our event was somewhat sacriligious, given the high quality of some of the other musical events taking place in Moissac; but since it was also Irene and John’s wedding anniversary, we felt we would be forgiven). About 40 people from various boats and the surrounding community attended, and the quality of singing was variable, to say the least. Our new port Capinaine Jim gave a good rendition of "Honky Tonk Woman" (without spilling a drop of his beer) while Dave from Liverpool surprised everyone later in the evening with his fabulous rendition of Meatloaf’s “I won’t do that”.

When Zorba the Greek came on, Rita could not resist the urge, and despite her asking others to join in, we were all enjoying watching her so much that we all remained seated.

Around midnight, we wandered home along the canal, and (after replacing a rechargeable battery earlier in the day in the solar collector for the light system on the verandah), I was pleased to see that they were working and illuminating the front door when we arrived home, with an eerie soft light illuminating the pale blue front door. Not that they are absolutely needed, since the path lights automatically switch on as soon as you open the front gates!