The first task was to empty the car so that there would be space for shopping, then off to the supermarket. Patrick prompted me to drive as I was pretty nervous, not sure why as I used to drive in Italy on business on my own with no problems, but that was many years ago. The car felt like driving a go-kart after the Land Rover and I was glad to arrive at the supermarket. Patrick took the kids to the playground while I made a start on the shopping, coming to meet me nearer the end so that the kids could have some say in what food we bought. It was lovely to run into Helen and Annabel as Esmé had been a bit disappointed that they weren't on their boat at the moment as there Grandma is over and so they are living in a rented house with her for a week or so. Might be a good option for when Mum and Dad visit in March.
Back to the boat and the mammoth task of stowing all the stuff from Christmas as well as the groceries. The kids disappeared onto other kid boats, for which I am always so grateful for as having other kids to play with means that they are happy, and we can get on with jobs. By tea time Patrick still hadn't found his phone which he thought he had left on the boat. He rarely loses anything so this really bothered him! He tried to check his bank account to see if anybody had picked it up and started racking up a large bill but the bank website was down which only added to his frustration.
After a late dinner of Thai Curry AJ announced he was tired and took himself to bed. Esmé was still bouncing off the walls so I got her Christmas Jigsaw out and started doing it with her, with Patrick soon joining in.
By 8:30 she was struggling to stay awake so we promised not to finish it without her and put her to bed.
Patrick and I had a somewhat broken night sleep as first Esmé woke with a wet bed and then Patrick couldn't get to sleep thinking about his phone. In the end we tried to call both vodaphone and his bank to check if somebody had been using his phone, and both had systems down meaning we could get no help until morning at the earliest.
Finally to add to the stress when we woke in the morning Patrick realised that the holding tank outlet was blocked.
Our priorities quickly shifted, and the laundry went to the end of the list. A 9am phonecall to Vodaphone told us the system was still down so Patrick cracked on with the horrible job of trying to sort the toilet problem out. I am forever grateful that this is a "blue job" on this boat!
I provided moral support and continued to tidy the boat while Patrick spent the morning prodding both ends of the toilet holding tank outlet trying to clear the blockage, first pumping up the inflatable canoe to attack the outside, and then by climbing into the cockpit locker and going at it from the inside. Not a pleasant job! And then the heavens opened and despite no rain forecast, it rained for most of the rest of the day.
By a late lunchtime it was fixed. Result! Not only that but Patrick had got in touch with Vodaphone and put a temporary hold on the account to give us time for a proper search for his phone, We all settled down to Pumpkin soup livened up with thai curry paste and coconut powder and then had 1/2 hour chill out time before cracking on. We had promised to print some pictures out for Lotty to help with the craft afternoon tomorrow and I took the opportunity to plan the weeks school and print out some resources while the printer was out.
So, the weekend is pretty much over and we're still not quite organised. I think it will take most of the week before we are in some sort of order! On the plus side we started our new regime of getting Esmé to read after tea while AJ is drying up, and then getting AJ to do some English while Esmé is being put to bed. It somehow feel less pressured and we made a start on A Pirate's guide t' th'grammar of story. before I read some of AJ's Harry Potter to him as he is finding it quite hard going at the moment but is keen to finish the book.
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