Days 133,134,135: 23,24,25th October 2017. Marina di Grosseto

Monday

A bit of a lazy day as the storm last night kept me awake until gone midnight. We've settled down into a routine of trying to do 4 sessions of learning in a morning for each child. One English, one Maths, and 2 that the kids choose. Today they were interested in electronics!

 Once school was out of the way we went for a walk to a small play area that Patrick had found yesterday.Once school was out of the way we went for a walk to a small play area that Patrick had found yesterday.

The place is pretty much deserted out of season with beach bars, restaurants and coffee shops all shut. I can't decide whether it's depressing or peaceful. One thing that is for sure is that the one grocery shop is extortionately expensive except for wine which is sold by the refillable plastic bottle!

The kids have signed up to a Med liveaboard kids challenge to buy groceries and make tea for under 10 Euros which is quite a challenge when the only shop has extremely inflated prices. In the end we were treated to hot dogs followed by fruit salad and yoghurt. It made a change from me cooking and I'm sure the kids enjoyed the experience... I think it will turn into a weekly activity.

Tuesday

A full on jobs day today, starting with hand washing. We had debated for days about whether to sail today but although the forecast for here was good, there were some strong winds forecast for our Civitavecchia so we decided to stay put. The weather was beautiful and we were second guessing our decision, however just because the weather turned out beautiful doesn't mean it was a wrong decision. We made the correct decision with the information we had at the time. 

Once school was done, lunch had been eaten, and we had had our relaxing time, I soon became bored and got out my speedy stitcher to repair our man overboard sling. The straps to hold it to the pushpit had become uv damaged and disintegrated, and the end of the rope outside the bag was also suspect. We had bought a replacement throw line but I like this system better so I set about a repair. Luckily the straps aren't critical to it saving lives, just hold it in place while it is waiting to do its job. I dug out my bag of old bag straps and webbing and found some suitable bits and pieces which I used to replace the old straps. I then cut the UV damaged end of the rope off and re-tied it to the bag. An hour and a half later and it was finished. Not very pretty but functional none the less.

Esmé also got her sewing out and did brilliantly.

Dinner followed by a lovely sunset.

Wednesday

More hand washing, school and other jobs. AJ had a bit of a paddy about some maths he was finding hard so  we took a break and then returned to it using lego and pretty tape before going back to the workbook. So glad we persevered!

 After lunch we had showers and I plotted our course for the next few days and booked some marinas. Lots of tidying up, putting clothes away, and then motoring over to the fuel berth where we managed to fill our tank for the first time in months. Other hose nozzles have been too big for our filler so we have had to cautiously use a funnel which doesn't allow us to fill right to the top.

Next I went to the crazy expensive shop to buy minimum supplies for the next few days, then leftover curry for tea, eaten in the cockpit while watching the most beautiful sunset yet.