Today we were running out of everything (e.g. internet, power) so when a mooring space became free on the other side of the port, we moved across and connected to a powered site.

By very careful monitoring and rationing over the past few days, we had managed to reach the refresh date for our SFR Webtrotter, having used 29.98GB out of our 30GB allowance - a bit too close for comfort. Hopefully, our 30GB (or maybe 35GB) will last a bit better next month. Our battery levels were also dropping, so we were glad to move to a powered site for a while. As soon as we connected to shore power, Rita got busy vacuuming all the bits of white paint that were still adorning the deck from after we Kärtcher-cleaned it a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, now that they were dry and flaky, they vacuumed very easily, and soon the barge was looking much neater as we awaited the arrival of guests Andre and Francoises (daughter and son-in-law of our neighbours in Moissac).

However, after finishing the vacuuming I noticed that the battery charge had dropped from 50% to 34%, instead of rising as I had expected after connecting to shore power. Examination of the borne (sp?) showed that the fuse switch on the back had flipped off while we were vacuuming, so maybe we had overloaded the circuit. So we switched it back on and waited to see if the batteries started charging. It initially showed that the shore power was Bulk Loading our batteries, but without any major load being imposed, and it again switched off 5 minutes later. We tried again, with the same results. So we disconnected, moved the boat backwards and change bornes. However, the same thing kept happening with intervals of shore power ranging from 5 to 30 minutes. We talked to some locals in the port, and they said that it was a common occurrence, so we stayed put and just kept checking the connection on a regular basis and flipping the switch back on when needed.

Around noon, we got an SMS from Andre saying that they had arrived in Toulouse, but were having troubles getting a hire-car at the airport, because they had not booked ahead and it was a high demand day at the start of the holiday period. They went from operator to operator, and eventually got a reasonable deal at half the price they were quoted at the desk, by stepping away and booking online with their phone, and then going back to the desk with their confirmed booking number (a good lesson to remember for the future).

In the early afternoon, Andre and Francoises arrived, and so with batteries up to about 65% charge, we decided to barge up to the Ecluse Ocean, and re-visit the Expo we had sampled a couple of days ago. There was a bigger crowd in attendance today (we later learned that they had had about 1500 people through over the weekend), and the range of exhibits had expanded. We enjoyed listening to a question and answer session with one of the sculptors outside the front entrance. Her range of sculptures, featuring small figurines, was interesting.

One exhibit that impressed both Andre and me was a charcoal sketch of a forest scene. The more you looked at it from different angles and distances, the more things appeared out of nowhere.

As we wandered around the exhibits on the upper floors, I heard the distinct sounds of a flute playing downstairs. So I walked down to the ground floor and found that Rita had started playing with guitarist Sebastian, who had just finished accompanying someone else in a different performance. I couldn’t recognise what she was playing, and this was little wonder as I later learned that she was just making up an improv performance on the fly. Very impressive. Neither of them were at all distracted by the son of Sebastian, as he tried to keep himself amused during the performance.

As we talked with Sebastian later, we learned that he had indeed seen Pans on Fire playing at the St Aubin Market in Toulouse in 2014, and had remembered the steelband sound ever since. Small world.

When we got back to the barge, we found that all the stakes had again been pulled out or over, and the barge was literally hanging to the bank by a thread. But since the locks had now closed for the day and no more barges would be going past, we decided it would safe to stay for the night, so long as we moved on before barges started going past in the morning. So we hammered the stakes back in, with our very dodgy hammer that was now losing its head every minute or so (luckily not falling into the canal, so far), and then settled down on the rear deck with Andre and Francoises for dinner, and drinks and chat that lasted till midnight.