There are jobs to do and there are jobs to do

Moored at Giffard Park, 0 miles, 0 locks

Although we are still at Giffard Park, we have spent the last week doing jobs. We will be here for another few days to allow us to complete most of these jobs onboard Brumpoolie before we set off cruising around the canal system. But there are also other kinds of jobs to be done, daily "boaty" jobs.

The daily jobs are things like buying diesel to power the engine,  so we can produce electricity and heat, emptying rubbish, the loo and filling up with water. Yes unlike being on land where there is an endless supply of these kind of resources, we have to go and fetch such things! The picture below is a typical British Waterways service point, where water can be found and the facilities for getting rid of rubbish and emptying the loo! These services are free once you have bought your BW licence (same as car tax)

The diesel is from a local Marina which is about 3 miles away by car. I take my two barrels in the car, fill them up and on my return pour the diesel into my tank. Because we use red diesel and it is for heating, I only paid £1.06p per litre. The tank on Brumpoolie holds over 200 lites of diesel,  so it takes some filling. You can also buy the diesel from certain boats on the canals that sell diesel and coal etc, but you have to find out where they are going to be first! Once you are cruising you have to look out for the services and make sure you are topped up and emptied. otherwise you might enter a stretch of canal where there are no resources for a while and you could run out.

The other sort of jobs we are doing is sorting Brumpoolie out so we are ready to cruise. The first thing was we bought a 12v television and indoor arial. Any items using 12v electricity will save our resources and use less diesel. We bought a Logik 22" TV from Currys and an indoor Moonraker Ariel from Maplins. Perfect. We also bought a small bookshelf for the saloon (lounge) Next up are some storage boxes for the wardrobes. Space is at a premium onboard, so anything that helps save space is good. A new kettle, a pump for the diesel tank, a couple of chairs and a small camping table for sitting outside when the sun shines, various clothes hangers for drying the washing, plus various other bits and pieces. 

There are two main things left to do. Sort out the washing machine and sell my car.

Now the washing machine does not work and will need a new inverter installed to make it work. We will have this done when we start cruising and reach Braunston. I have spoken to an engineer there who will sort it when we arrive in about two weeks. In the mean time, it's more hand washing for Lynne!

As for the car, we will be moving around and will not need this. I might put it into a big car auction that is held here in Milton Keynes twice a week. I will go and speak to them tomorrow and see what they say.

Tomorrow I will catch up with lots of pictures.