A few odd jobs

This morning it was time for the weekly Sunday morning call to dear old mum in Perth, Western Australia.  She turns 85 later in the week!  Despite nothing of interest occurring during the week at either end of the conversation we somehow seem to be able to fill in an hour.  It’s comforting to hear her explain she is hanging onto life and despite a large number of physical ailments mum declares she has no intention of falling off her perch!  However being informed the temperature at her end is 30º+ isn’t that comforting when you’re looking out the porthole and the falling snow! 

After yesterday’s visit to purchase red diesel today was obviously the time to empty the container into the tank.  However the tasks was deferred until this afternoon because it started to snow in the morning.  Whilst the actual task of decanting the diesel doesn’t take much time the preparation takes considerably longer.  First the folding gangplank has to be moved as it is secured over the fuel cap.  Then the difficult part occurs…. unlocking the cap!  Getting the key into the lock in cold weather and then turning it is always difficult.  The actual lock mechanism has now received a squirt of WD40 in the hope it makes the process easier.

Paul (Waterways Routes) left a query on an earlier post asking if our 3V fuel pump would siphon once the diesel started to flow.  After testing it today I can confirm it does NOT!  However the two 1.5V batteries have now moved in excess of 150 litres so I’m impressed with the pump.

As it was Sunday we decided to treat ourselves to a “Sunday Roast” at the local pub (The Butt Inn).  Jan had the roast beef whilst I chose the lamb.  Jan doesn’t like the smell of lamb so it’s one of the few occasions I get to eat it.  We both opted for the fresh berry dessert served on a bed of crushed meringue and whipped cream.  The locals in the pub informed us such a savage start to Spring means we are going to have a glorious Summer.   They had better be right!  After stuffing ourselves we had to wobble back to Waiouru and collapse into our captain’s chairs to recover.

The outside temperature has been hovering around 3ºC whilst we stay inside Waiouru all “toasty” warm in T-shirts at 23ºC.  Jan has continued knitting her matching scarf whilst I’ve been reading my eBook Reader.  However at some stage we’ll need to venture outside for a brisk walk in a effort to overcome the delicious roast lunch.  Probably dinner as well because Jan has decided to bake scones which we are having with home made Aldermaston plum jam and whipped cream <burp!>

So not a hell of a lot happened today!