The day was cool but fine as we prepared for the the arrival of friends and for our eventual departure from Agen. But first I had to visit the quincaillerie I had learned about yesterday, as I needed some washers and some more screws to reinforce the attachment of the Velcro to the edges of the wheelhouse roof. Entering the store was like walking back in time 40 years, as the shop had a real old-fashioned feel to it. I felt as happy as Rita does when she’s shopping for shoes!

As I walked back to our mooring, I saw that with Rovi’s departure yesterday, Kanumbra was looking pretty lonely all by herself (and that Rita was catching up on some washing and hanging out the sheets on the cabin rooftop).

In the afternoon, I caught up with some more primer painting on various rust spots. Then in the evening, we headed over to the railway station to meet up with Craig and Ginger after their arrival from Ireland, via Bordeaux. They are Americans from Michigan, and I did graduate school with Craig in Sydney in 1972. We have remained friends ever since, and caught up with each other a few times since then, mostly in the USA and once at our wedding in Melbourne. It will be great to have them on the barge for the week. We started out by having dinner immediately at La Grand Brasserie, the restaurant at the railway station. We have been there a couple of times, and heard lots of good reviews, and we were not disappointed. We then walked back to the barge, and yacked on the rear deck till late in the night. As often happens when you are engrossed in what you’re doing, we got no photos of the evening.