Just after midnight, I heard Rita coming to the bedroom. Now, I have never lived in a boarding school, but I have watched movies in which one or more of the kids want to sneek out after curfew. And how they stack pillows under their blanket to make it look like they are still in bed. SO..., I did the same and waited for Rita. She came in without turning on the light, and pounced on me (i.e. the pillows) screaming "Pinch'n'Punch, No Return Tickets", but before she had finished, I had emerged from behind the pillows and pinched her on the arm. Victory for November to me - I was quite proud of my plan, but she thought I was cheating (again). But before long, we were both laughing uncontollably.

The next morning dawned fine, but during the morning the wind picked up and then the rain arrived. I watched the Matildas game against Taiwan (the World Cup enthusiasm has not dissipated yet) and in the afternoon had coffee with Pete on his boat. In the meantime, Rita had headed up to Besain again for her last visit with Sarah. In the evening, I watched a few programs on Iview then turned in for an early night.

Cyclone Ciarán has been ravaging the north-west coast of France this week, and its side-effects are being felt today in Auxonne, with strong winds and rain to greet us this morning. Luckily the weather cleared to sunny/clouds in late morning, to welcome Rita home from Besain to celebrate her 62nd birthday (in a decidedly low-key fashion - who really wants to celebrate a 62nd birthday?). We were meant to be joining some people for dinner tonignt, but we learned that Lisa was unwell and we didn't want to risk catching something now just before we get on the plane. So we postponed until a later date before we actually leave, when she might be feeling better.

With the increasing winds, port captain Alain thought it might be a good idea to tie-up the bows of the 4 Pipers, now that they are all in port for the winter, to minimise their swaying in the breeze.

So he tied the bows of the two outside boats back to the pontoon, and then used short ropes off each of the boats to tie them to the bow of their neighbour(s). Being in the middle of the bunch, Kanumbra is now safe and sound for the winter winds.

After having a sunny period during the middle of the day, the storms reappeared in the afternoon, with these approaching clouds giving us some warning of the torrential downpour that was about to appear in mid-afternoon.

Given the consistent rain over the past week or two, the Saone was starting to rise, and these cormorants were seeking a place to roost that was not already covered by the rising waters.

After the downpour, the skies cleared again and that evening we welcomed the full moon.

(One day I'm going to get an iPhone that does good moon shots!)

Rita took advantage of the drier weather to go out and attend a local Gospel Choir practice session. Nothing like a Gospel Choir for your birthday!

For a change, the morning started fine and sunny, and we just hoped it would stay that way all day. And so did the port swans, who had forsaken the cool water to bask in the sun at the side of the path, ignoring passersby as best they could.

Given the fine weather, Rita and I started taking down the bimini, and were soon helped by Pete, whose boat is moored directly behind ours. In a relatively short time, we had it down, turned around and roped up across the rear doors. This protects the bimini from the wind, but also protects the rear doors from the rain, wind and winter sun (look at all that blue sky behind the bimini!).

While we were doing the bimini, I couldn't help but notice the new paint-job on the rear deck, so I documented the new paintwork on the front and rear decks, and also on the cabin roof alongside the right and left of the wheelhouse. I guess we'll see how it has stood up to the ravages of winter in 6 months time.

In mid-afternoon, I noticed that Afghanistan had pulled off another victory in the ODI World Cup, when they bowled out The Nethlands for 179 runs and then got the required runs in 31 overs. Not the greatest of opposition, but now Afghanistan have two more victories than England!

Our hope for fina weather all day dd not quite eventuate as we got some light showers in the late-afternoon, bit at least it has been better than previous days. That evening, we had Pete over for dinner on Kanumbra and learned more about his life story enroute to his present situation.

We were led into a false sense of security, when the day dawned bright and sunny. Because within a few hours the weather had changed to heavy rain and strong winds, The winds worried us more than the rain, especially when we could look out the front wheelhose window and look under the canopy which was moving around quite a bit in the wind (as were the support columns for the canopy supporting structure).

After England's miserable run in the ODI World Cup, they copped the humiliation they wanted least today when Australia beat them. Australia made a not-very-impressive 286 all out, and then held England to 253 all out. In the other match today, NZ were robbed of victory after they made an impressive 6/401 in their 50 overs, and then rain interrupted play. As a result Pakistan only had to bat for 25 overs, so they could bat with gay abandon, and made 200 to beat NZ using the Duckworth-Lewis score adjustment system.

During the afternoon, Pete came over to check what needed to be done for winterising Kanumbra, and then stayed for a long cuppa. In the evening, Rita and I watched some Iview.

The strong weather from yesterday continued overnight, with lotsa strange noises keeping us awake for long periods, as the wind battered the boat and especially the canopy. I got up several times to check that everything was OK. And in the morning we could  see that everything was still in place (although it sure didn't sound like that last night). The weather of the last few weeks has convinced us that we made a mistake delaying our return home until November (although Rita was not to know that the November workshop that she was staying for would be cancelled while we were here, and had made travel plans). But next year we won't stay beyond October.

During the morning, after getting some water from the tap, the pump wouldn't stop running, even though no water was coming out the tap. This had us puzzled for a while, until we realised that the fresh water tank was empty. So we cut power to the pump, and then ran the hose into the tank for about 20 minutes just to give us enough water for the next couple of days (we almost timed it to perfection, but will still have to empty the tank before we leave, to cut down the time required for H2O staff to be onsite for doing the winterising).

I transferred all my handwritren logbook entries into the logbook spreadsheet, as a starting point for next year's logbook. I then went around disconnecting the batteries on the bowthrusters and generator, since we won't be using them again this year, and disconnecting them prevents them from going flat over winter (I hope). I then did a little work trying to catch up a little on this blog, which was (and is) way behind schedule.

In the evening, Auxonne did its best to put on a sunset show for us, as we walked down the pontoon to join Alain, Celina and Pete in a little farewell apero for us (Lisa and her hubby didn't join us since Lisa was still under the weather). We had some interesting conversations in French and English, and I was pleased to see that I was understaning more of the French than in previous years. I had an interesting discussion with Alain about climate change, but I think we finished by accepting that everyone is entitled to their own views on the subject.

The weather softened and we got a good final sleep on the boat. In the morning it was time for final preparations, including making a Red Cross donation to Pete, by giving him all our unopened food that would not last until we return next year. Then we drained the water tank, and said all our final goodbyes to Alain and Celina and anyone else we bumped into. Then it was a 3-hour drive to Lorraine TGV through the rain. The timing of this trip seemed all wrong this year, because normally I am catching the very early TGV for a noon flight departure. However, Singapore Airlines has changed their timing this year, and now I am taking a late-afternoon train for a late-night flight departure. Oh well, at least this saves having to stay somewhere in the Lorraine region on the night before my departure.

I waited 2 hours for the TGV, while Rita started on her way back to Besain with the intention of not driving in the dark. While I was waiting, I noticed that there were coordinated shuttle bus connections from Lorraine TGV to Metz and Nancy, both of which are on rivers/canals that we can boat to. This is useful information in case we need to meet up with visitors coming into France via CDG Airport. This makes for a very easy connection to us.The TGV finally arrived, and I had a nice 1st Class ride to CDG, with nothing to do except daydream.

Having got to CDG, I took the Shuttle to Terminal 1 (this year I read my boarding pass to see what terminal I should go to!). Having Elite Gold KrisFlyer status this year means that you are treated well at every stage of check-in (sadly I will lose it next year since I simply don't do enough trips/kms each year). Having got all my documents ready in a folder for the Customs interrogation, I was somewhet disappointed that I was through Customs in 10 seconds with no questions asked! But at least I have now got a headstart on preparing my documents for next year. So there was nothing else to do but go to the Star Allience Lounge and have a drink and some nibbles and wait for my flight, which was running 40 minutes late and departed just after midnight.