Down South

Jan would like to thank everyone for their kind comments.  She is rapidly on the mend as a result of my physiotherapy regime which involves the continued completion of routine tasks.  The vitamin supplements (doughnuts) are also proving to be of value.  Jan should be back to full lock duties in a few days.  Meantime I’ve informed her to take her time and work the paddle mechanism slowly. 

Today has involved a three hour drive each way down to Staines upon Thames to see a very old and dear friend of the family.  On our behalf Hilda kindly accepts what little snail mail we have been unable to convert to email.  It’s been nine months since our last visit and a visit was long overdue.

 Jan & Hilda

We took Hilda to lunch inviting her to choose the location. She selected the White Swan Pub on the Thames in Staines upon Thames.

A nice pub with 100 metres of mooring in front.  Jan asked if boats could use them and was informed that was acceptable provided the pub was used for meals or drinks.  On the opposite bank is the local “Slug & Lettuce”.  It appears to also have moorings.

We’ve made tentative plans for Hilda to join us here for a day cruise when we take Waiouru south.

Whilst in Staines upon Thames we took the opportunity to visit the nearby Halfords store.  In a fortnight the engine in Waiouru will be due for a 250 hour service.  We already have a replacement oil filter so all that’s missing is the replacement oil.  I used Morris oil for the last service and have some left over.  The engine takes approximately 7 litres and a container holds 5 litres.  The end result is you need to buy two 5L containers and end up with 2-3L spare.  After reading the Beta manual it simply states to use a multi-grade SAE 15W/40 CF oil.  But it’s also a good idea not to “mix” new oils.  The plan was to buy three 5L containers of the required standard oil from Halfords.  This will give us 15L of oil which is enough for the next two services.  The gearbox oil also needs to be changed and I’ll us the remaining Morris oil for that task.  The good news was Halfords had the oil discounted by 20%.

The above photos were taken using the “problematic” Samsung S4 i9505 phone.  I tried to get a Vodafone signal in Staines upon Thames and managed to get one bar when I switched it to 2G.  Frankly I think Staines is a sufficient size for a better signal.

Jan decided to have a play with her new camera on the way home.  She did mention it was difficult taking photos when the car was going faster than ‘tick over’.  It’s been 10 months since I was last behind the wheel and cruising speed on the road is certainly different.  As we went through Birmingham Jan tried to get a photo of “Spaghetti Junction”.

It’s beyond the steering wheel and down.  Actually we could only identify the location by the adjacent large electrical distribution farm.

The car goes back to Enterprise tomorrow morning.  The following might be of interest to boaters who hire from Enterprise.  Usually we hire on a weekend to take advantage of their cheaper rate.  It also means you can return the car on a Monday morning as they aren’t open on Sunday.

If we booked a car for Sat and Sun (2 days) the daily rate was £24.31 or a total of £48.62.

However if we book for three days (Fri-Sun) the daily rate is £16.45 or a total of £49.35.

So we obtained an additional day for 73p.

The car we selected was one of their smallest and of course one of the cheapest.  We ended up being given a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2L  I’m not used to small engine cars.  If I was being uncharitable I’d say it couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.  Or as Aussies say…. Only milk and juice come in two litres!    At 1.2L it felt like we had a sewing machine under the bonnet.  But then UK distances aren’t vast and space is at a premium.