Christmas 2013–London

Before getting onto the important part of this blog an “unplanned event” happened at 1:30 this morning.  ONE OF OUR ROPES SNAPPED!

The wind was horrific and ‘Chance’ was moving about something awful.  All of a sudden there was a load ‘crack’ and you know darned well that you’re going to outside in your pyjamas in a matter of moments (that’s if you’re wearing any!).  Once outside it was obvious that the rear rope (and the steel cabled bicycle lock) had broken and the only thing holding us from being on the other side of the basin was a slack safety rope which James had put on in case of just such emergency (he has his uses!).

Pulling the boat back into the quayside with the safety rope was hard work due to the force of the wind, but we got there.  It was obvious that we were not going to able to hold ‘Chance’ on our own and sort out another rope.  That’s when an angel appeared out of nowhere and became last nights’ hero for us.

After much struggling in wet, windy and dark conditions the three of us managed to secure another rope and we were then able to battle through the rest of the night without too much else happening. All ended well.

We’ve only got daylight pictures of the rats nest of knots we concocted to hold us safe, as no one had free hand to take any photos of the rather comical looking (but rather more serious) situation at the time! 

The last picture goes to the spare ropes we dug out at 2 o’ clock this morning in case they were needed at short notice.

Now the important thing:- It’s Christmas tomorrow, and we would just like to sincerely wish it to be a GOOD ONE for all of our readers / followers / friends / family and to the hero who helped us last night.  We hope you are all safe and happy with whatever you’re doing.  We shall have a quiet day on ‘Chance’ as planned. ENJOY and be safe.