The day started with a bang - literally! At 0700h, we were awoken by a huge thunderclap, which announced the arrival of a thunderstorm. So after the initial shock, we turned over and stayed in bed for a couple more hours.

On checking the news on my iPhone, I saw that one of the major stories in the Guardian was the unmitigated whinging  from many Poms about how unfair it was that rain had caused the 4th Ashes Test to be drawn, hence guaranteeing that the Ashes Trophy would be retained by Australia. Cries of "cheating" and "against the Spirit pf the Game" were emanating from across the Channel at regular intervals. All I could think was that that is what happens when you lose the first two Tests, and live in a country where summer rain is not exactly a rare event. No problems, the Poms can just come to Australia in a couple of years and do a better job than last year and win the Ashes back again.

The rain looked like it was setting in for the day in Scey, so we stayed onboard and Rita worked on her thesis while I worked on the blog. During the day we heard many hire boats leaving the port, after the hirers had been given some rudimentary training by the LocaBoat instructors. But apart from the shortness of the traaining period, the instructors set a very bad example by speeding past moored boats in the port. No wonder the hirers pick up such bad habits. In addition, there is no training as to how the handle the locks or even the twisters on the approach to locks. But this at least gave us some entertainment during the day as the hire boats cruised past the twister and stopped in front of the lock just south of the port, and wondered why nothing was happening. Eventually, they got the message and had to turn back and circle around the twister trying to reach it, before heading back to the lock.

Rita brightened up the rear deck by pickimg some wildflowers from the bank next to our mooring. And towards evening we were vistied by the cat we met last night at the cafe. He/she must have noticed where we went last night after we fed it at the cafe, and thought it might be work trying us out again. Well, it must have worked because before too long he was again nibbling on a little snack on the dock.

Mon 24 July - morning thunderstorm, whinging Poms, instructors, Bob visit