Yet more vacancies

Following our departure from the marina, a short cruise and a night moored without access to electricity, the morning indicated our electrical problems continue. We could not get the boiler to ignite and therefore there was insufficient hot water for a shower, even though we had disconnected the bow thruster battery charger in the evening as instructed. I emailed Eddie with the news and received the expected reply that we had not used the boat power and equipment in the best available way ! The suggestion was we should shower whilst cruising to utilise the waste engine heat and thus avoid having to use the boiler. A sort of boat-user manual for Sun readers ( we get our on-board news via the BBC and iPad ) to say we are disappointed is a major understatement. Following receipt of the shower advice Lynne phoned MCC and talked Paul and Eddie through the issues and it was admitted there is little more we can do to improve electrical useage. In other words, it was as good as admitted the problems are not the fault of anything we are allegedly doing and the central heating/hot water boiler would be inspected/repaired on our return to MCC. We have opted to continue our travels as we can "live with" the problems during summer months, but obviously not in winter. We pencilled-in a mini victory and set a revised level of our boat competence for future possible disputes. My health has taken a distinct downward trend over the last two days, with frequent mini fits and prolonged periods of vacantness. So much so that I was ordered to bed for a rest shortly after lunch by Lynne who had managed to get us to the River Trent and moored near Alrewas without incident.

On a brighter note the cats have settled back on board really well, Best illustrated by the number of mice found on the stern this morning.