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Carry On Regardless With L.M.S. Delhi


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Our first full summer to go where we please and do whatever we want with Delhi! A wonderful slow paced and relaxing little meander. It all sounded so idyllic. The possibilities were endless and we have been working out a plan for the summer since last autumn.

 

82781124_102293641326171_679360654670299

 

We need to get a few jobs done this summer. Dehi is booked in for a new frock in July (repainting) but before that we need to address the issue with some wooden hatches that are close to being past their sell-by date and so we booked her in at Paul Barber's in May to get the hatches replaced with steel along with what was supposed to be a couple of other little bits that would benefit from some fettlng but has ended up with a list of things we want him to have a look at while it is there. Mostly just little tweaks (we hope) but we want to make the most of the time she is in his very capable hands.

 

Once those things were set in stone we realised we had to plan the rest of the year around them.

 

The outline of our plan was something along these lines:

  • Leave The Chesterfield Canal
  • Leave the boat somewhere while we had a short family break in Snowdonia
  • Get Delhi to The Easter Gathering at Ellesmere Port
  • Back down the Shroppie to Paul Barber's boat yard to get some work done
  • Meanwhile, with Paul looking after Delhi there are plans for something in May that I must not know about but it coincides with my birthday
  • If time allows when the jobs are done head over to Bradley Basin for the BCNS Rally
  • Move to a secret rendezvous on the BCN to take part in the BNC Challenge
  • Head south towards Sharpness for a gentle bimble and back again
  • Back north to Middlewich FAB Festival
  • To the appointment with the boat painter
  • 7 weeks to amuse ourselves without a boat that may include taking the motorbikes to Scotland
  • Pick up the finished boat and take it to Alvecote for The Big Weekend
  • Possibly Village at War?
  • Consider starting the journey home to The Chessie

 

Time to break that down into bite size chunks.

 

Chapter 1

 

The Ellesmere Port Easter Gathering is something we have visited by car a couple of times and it decided it would be excellent to get there by boat this year. Of course it does mean a bit of an early season start to get there from The Chesterfield and to add to the mix we had already booked a week with family in Snowdonia. Checking Canal Plan we realised we didn't have enough time to get to Ellesmere Port after the Snowdonia trip so we needed to set off before and leave the boat in a safe harbour somewhere before continuing afterwards.

 

We thought that we would probably leave the canal around 18th March, just after the family return from their trip to Norway. I am looking after this pair in their absense:

 

89912706_10157906569404070_8671110032240

 

Once the in-depth study of the tide times commenced it was very soon realised that the 18th is not suitable to navigate the tideway. But when was? As if it isn't bad enough that we have had the wettest winter in living memory and with the ground so waterlogged and the Trent running so fast it only takes someone in Burton-upon-Trent to flush the toilet and the flood gates go on again. As if it wasn't bad enough that this week has seen one of the highest tides for - I dunno - did someone say a decade or so? meaning the flood gates were going to go on anyway (let's not mention the possibility of an Aegir eh?) With short hours of daylight to contend with as well there was just one window of opportunity - TODAY!

 

Of course there is no way I was going to be able to go with two dogs that have never set foot on this boat before let alone been in a boat with a JP2 powering it hard against a current and it is totally impractical to ask dogs to cross their legs for hours on end until you can get to a pontoon for them to empty their bladders so we roped in a victim in the form of Ian from Meadow Pipit and then realised that fellow club members Chris and Elaine were also after getting their boat to a boatyard in Nottingham where it was booked for blacking. You always feel more comfortable on the tideway with company and so the plan was coming together.

 

This week has been about trying to ensure the boat was fully provisioned with longer life supplies to last us through the summer to the backdrop of people panic buying in the supermarkets. That's been fun!

 

The tide was expected at West Stockwith at just after 9am today. We waited so long for it to arrive we thought it had been cancelled. With so much fresh water coming down the river it tends to cancel out the tide, making it's arrival later than expected and reducing any benefit that might be gained from it. It was a very long slog!

 

This was the boats passing through Gainsborough:

Video

 

and this was the boats arriving at Dunham bridge where they are tied tonight:

 

Video

 

For those who don't want to use their data on video here is a photo of them sneaking past Torksey

 

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The river is very wide today!

 

This is where the complications start to kick in.

 

Remember those bullet points up there at the start where I outlined our carefully thought through plan for the year?  ^ ^ ^

 

How many of those things might be cancelled because of Covid-19 Virus? I suspect many of the festival type events may have to be and if you bear in mind the only reason we set off this early was to try and get to Ellesemere Port for Easter which seems more likely to be cancelled as each hour passes we possibly didn't have to leave today at all BUT we know we want to go boating so we will carry on regardless.

 

The "week in May thing" was in two parts and one has already been cancelled I am told.

 

..........and those gawjus dogs I am looking after?

 

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The ones who's owners are currently in Norway?

 

Well within the last hour Norway has cancelled all flights as of 8am Monday morning. My daughter has tried to get an earlier flight out but there is nothing available. The only flight she could have got was an £800 one that would take them to Oslo - still in Norway so no help at all. So we will need to decide whether we introduce the dogs to Delhi or leave her safe in a marina for a while longer. I have no idea when they will escape or even if they will be back in time for our trip to Snowdonia - which is booked around visiting Zip World to do that scary zip wire over the quarry - which might also be cancelled!

 

The plans for this year are looking a tad on the shakey side I am afraid but I think everyone is in the same boat, well not literally of course because it would sink!

One thing we are certain of, the sooner we can get on board and go boating the better. The direction is not important. We can find an isolated spot to self isolate if we need to but nobody will stop us from boating.

 

We will just carry on regardless amending the plan as we need to.

 

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Where is this boat moored?   Sure I have passed it a few times but can't remember where. Its a very attractive boat, are you keeping the same colour scheme with the repaint?   Don't worry about the dogs, they will almost certainly enjoy cruising,  ours appears to have a map of the most of the canal system in her doggie head.

 

.....................Dave

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They may have other options.  But it depends where in Norway they are.

 

Train or coach to Sweden or Finland for onwards travel.  Coach or train within Norway to ferry port eg.

 

Ferry from Christiansand (the Baltic one) to Germany.  Denmark is closed so no direct ferry or bridge via Sweden.

 

Love those dogs.

 

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8 hours ago, dmr said:

Where is this boat moored?   Sure I have passed it a few times but can't remember where. Its a very attractive boat, are you keeping the same colour scheme with the repaint?   Don't worry about the dogs, they will almost certainly enjoy cruising,  ours appears to have a map of the most of the canal system in her doggie head.

 

.....................Dave

Since last September Delhi has been moored at Clayworth on The Chesterfield Canal. We only bought her last summer and prior to that she was moored for many years at Outrington on The Bridgewater (Near Lymm) so you may recognise her from there. Thanks for the kind comments - I have to say the first time we clapped eyes on her we were smitten and so we are pretty much keeping the paintwork exactly the same as it suits her so much

 

The dogs have boated many times with us on our previous boat which was a semi-trad. One of them was fine once on the boat but HATED getting on and off and would freak if she thought you were going to make her do it. They are both getting older and not as nimble as they used to be and not pocket dogs you can tuck under your arm easily to get up and down steps. We also have those unusual steps at the bow where you have to get your feet in the right order to go down them (that is a stupid description! I have to find a photo but you mightknow what I mean) There was some small hope that progress yesterday would be faster and they might get through to Cromwell which would have meant something like 8 hours on board which is why they didn't go. It did at least mean I could give chase by car and get a few pictures of the boats on the river which you rarely get. The thing is my laptop with the car reader is on the boat so I can't get the photos of my camera easily at the moment!

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1 hour ago, Grebe said:

They may have other options.  But it depends where in Norway they are.

 

Train or coach to Sweden or Finland for onwards travel.  Coach or train within Norway to ferry port eg.

 

Ferry from Christiansand (the Baltic one) to Germany.  Denmark is closed so no direct ferry or bridge via Sweden.

 

Love those dogs.

 

They are in Tromso in the north. They could have got a flight to Oslo at a cost of £800 but that is still in Norway and didn't help. The ferry ports are also closed.  The hotel are being brilliant but can't get any more information than them and the British consulate isn't open until Monday. My daughter is pretty resourcefull and a seasoned traveller so I know she will have been sussing out all the options. Their original flight is still not updated as being cancelled at the moment but they think that is just so people make other arrangements and cancel themselves so they don't have to refund them. I think they will have to enjoy themselves today and see what tomorrow brings

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Yes, I thought that where we had seen that boat. The LMS colour scheme is one of the best. There are maybe 10 to 20 boats on the cut that I really like and thats one of them. Is the inside equally nice...and what engine?

 

Trad sterns are not ideal for dogs, ours gets in the way but absolutely insists on lying at our feet when we are moving, traveling can be a big thing for dogs. Two would be difficult....but then some boats have 6 or 7 ?

 

Some steps are especially difficult for dogs. Last week we encountered some unusual open wooden steps up to an old railway bridge and ours really struggled, I think getting the back legs in the right places can be the issue. I know of one boat with an old greyhound who have to put a long ramp over the steps to get the dog in and out.

 

Getting on and off can be difficult, and if the dog falls in, or even stumbles, they get more fearful. Ours hates falling in (does not swim well) and sometimes struggles to get off,  but in the right circumstances (like escaping) is willing to do a significant jump to the bank.

 

.................Dave

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5 hours ago, cheshire~rose said:

We also have those unusual steps at the bow where you have to get your feet in the right order to go down them (that is a stupid description! I have to find a photo but you might know what I mean)

 

I think it's a most graphic description and I know exactly what you mean.

 

At least, I think I do.

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6 hours ago, cheshire~rose said:

We also have those unusual steps at the bow where you have to get your feet in the right order to go down them (that is a stupid description! I have to find a photo but you mightknow what I mean)

Space saver staircase?KHF3WOLnApMAaUNOcRiIq9qnpZOZCCtGmWYGHliU

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14 minutes ago, MoominPapa said:

Space saver staircase?KHF3WOLnApMAaUNOcRiIq9qnpZOZCCtGmWYGHliU

I call these a miss-and-miss staircase. 

 

It's like a hit-and-miss staircase but when you forget to put your best foot forward!

 

Looks quite a lot of steps to get into a boat from the tug deck though!

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20 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

I call these a miss-and-miss staircase. 

 

It's like a hit-and-miss staircase but when you forget to put your best foot forward!

 

Looks quite a lot of steps to get into a boat from the tug deck though!

 

My friend's boat has these. Zeus, my rescue GSD, was fine going down them, he just jumped down and bypassed them, but he refused to go up them. In the end I had to carry him up them, and at 40+kg and with him wriggling, it wasn't an easy task!

 

His predecessor (the one in my avatar) used to jump up the (normal) steps at the back of our old shareboat, a semi trad.

 

One day I was doing the daily checks in the engine hole and he just landed on top of me and the engine. He didn't  realise I had lifted the engine boards before he launched himself. Mind you he never made that mistake again! ?

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1 hour ago, TheBiscuits said:

I call these a miss-and-miss staircase. 

 

It's like a hit-and-miss staircase but when you forget to put your best foot forward!

 

Looks quite a lot of steps to get into a boat from the tug deck though!

Delhi must be deep draughted....about 9 feet I think...

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2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

 

One day I was doing the daily checks in the engine hole and he just landed on top of me and the engine. He didn't  realise I had lifted the engine boards before he launched himself. Mind you he never made that mistake again! ?

I love that, made me giggle

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Getting stuck in Norway won't be cheap. When the icelandic volcano kicked off eight years ago John Cleese got a taxi back from Oslo to London. I was stuck in Stockholm for five days. It's not fun being trapped. Hope they manage to sort something out. One way car hire might be an option?

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5 hours ago, cuthound said:

One day I was doing the daily checks in the engine hole and he just landed on top of me and the engine. He didn't  realise I had lifted the engine boards before he launched himself. Mind you he never made that mistake again! ?

The same happened to us, except that the engine was being replaced at the time. He jumped from the floor in the cabin up to the back deck (cruiser stern) and fell right down to the engine bilge next to me.

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These are the steps:

 

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11 hours ago, dmr said:

Yes, I thought that where we had seen that boat. The LMS colour scheme is one of the best. There are maybe 10 to 20 boats on the cut that I really like and thats one of them. Is the inside equally nice...and what engine?

We think so, it has been a labour of love for the last owner and it shows.

 

JP2 Engine that has just has a good workout running hard for 2 days on a very full Trent and it behaved impeccably :)

 

82923513_102694464619422_400263983887548

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Chapter 2

 

I wasn't able to be with them today, there are few places that are ideal to wait and watch the boats passing so I stayed at home but they made good progress and arrived in Newark earlier than anticipated.

 

I have now managed to get my photos off my camera and this one taken yesterday from Dunham Bridge makes the boats look so tiny is such a wide and swollen river

 

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The day didn't go completely to plan though. I only had a few things to do before heading to Newark to pick them up, the usual load of washing, walk the dogs, a bit of admin etc. I was just about to leave when I came out of the dining room to see something spin across the hall floor ahead of me. I quickly recognised the item as one of the "feet" on the grandfather clock. This though was quickly followed by a question, if the foor has just spun across the floor what is holding it up... as I turned my head to see the clock falling sideways towards me........... My attempt to try and catch it was quickly amended to an attempt to try and brake it's fall as I realised it was fairly futile me trying to catch the ruddy thing.

I am now left standing looking at the remains of a family heirloom with bits of mouldings that have pinged off in all directions and ... well who knows what other damage. Two dogs standing looking at me with tails between their legs wondering if they might get told off.

I managed to slide t all over to one side so the dogs could get past and went to Newark. I realised that whatever the damage me trying to pick it all up now was not going to repair it and it would be much easier to try and take it apart when there were two of us to do it. I picked up my keys, gave the dogs a treat and went to Newark!

 

I still managed to get there in time to get a photo of the boats arriving

 

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The gaffer says the clock has remarkably little damage (they made things properly back then) it seems to be mostly pieces of moulding that have come off where the glue has gone brittle over the years. We have been going to get around to getting it restored for at least a year and so as it will no longer stand up perhaps we will do it now!

 

I can't help but think it was fortunate it fell while I was there. There is some very old (treated many years ago) woodworm damage around the base of the frame and I think it has been moving a tiny bit with the flex of the floorboards and weakened the wood further. It chose that point to give way with the foot flying out across the floor first. I can't help but imagine how we would have blamed the dogs if we had come home and found it like that.

 

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2 minutes ago, dmr said:

Yup, those steps look like a doggie nightmare, you will just have to get a ramp.

 

Is that insulating tape in Lister Green ? ?

 

.................Dave

The tape is very, very important tape. We knew it must be important when we viewed the boat and then our surveyor mentioned the important tape when he surveyed the boat and when we were introduced to the boat at handover I asked what the relevance of the very important tape was.

 

Well, it seems there is a little pin in the throttle mechanism that works it's way loose with the vibration of the engine. Of course it is a really easy thing to fix buy putting a different sort of pin through that would lock it BUT the previous owner is a guy that likes engineering solutions to things and he decided to machine a collar that would drop over the pin to hold it in place which would look a lot better too. He put the tape on there to hold the pin in but more importantly to annoy him every time he saw it so he got around to making the collar. He never did get around to making that collar and so the tape is still there and we may get around to getting a collar made some time or we might just use a different type of pin.

Thanks for the reminder, we have got used to seeing the tape now and no longer "see it" if you know what I mean. Paul Barber is going to fettle the throttle a bit so I will add that onto his list (although he might just wind us up by using pink tape or something to see if we notice ;) )

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19 minutes ago, cheshire~rose said:

the grandfather clock ... well who knows what other damage.

I know a clock geek who puts the boat geeks to shame.

 

If you need his number, drop me an email.  Just make sure you have a week or so to talk clocks if it's anything interesting.  I never knew mine was an 1800s Parisien design using rubies as part of the visible escapement until Stuart saw it.  I do now, and the old clock my dad paid £2 for in the 1950s gets a bit more TLC than it used to!

 

 

Edited by TheBiscuits
Grammar
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3 hours ago, David Mack said:

 

...with lovingly hand-painted yellow coachlining...

 

Oh there has been no end to the time that the previous owner lavished upon this boat, he recounted how he was in the garage varnishing the wood for the fit out on Millenium eve listening to everyone celebrating on the radio :)

 

I suspect the VIT (Very important tape) may not have hand painted coachlines but we have been shamed into getting a better fix sorted soon :)

 

In other news.....

 

Daughter and son-inlaw have made it as far as Stockholm and their flight to Manchester that is due to leave there in just over an hour is on the board as scheduled so that means we might be doing some more boating soon :)

 

For those of you who use Facebook there is an album of photos from the last couple of days on Delhi's FB page:

 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LMS-Delhi-102291267993075/photos/?tab=album&album_id=137949501093918

 

I am sorry I have no idea if that will work for non-FB users but I think you may be able to view them? You may also wish to like the page to follow progress there which may be updated more regularly than this blog

 

 

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I better bring you up to speed with some of the questions that were posed in Chapters one and two:

 

Daughter and son-in-law managed to get back from Norway and are now home with the two dogs. 

 

The advise on how we should be dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic has ramped up several  notches since about 3 seconds ago so needless to say in the last few days things changed quite a lot and quite quickly

The skipper is deemed "vulnerable" and so we had to make a decision, lock down in the flat or lock down on the boat? That didn't take much thinking about! 

Instead of taking the train t get to the boat I drove him there then took the car home and got a train back myself.  The day wasn't the most pleasant experience, so many stark reminders of how serious this situation is. We had to cancel our trip to Snowdonia and the surprise that had been arranged for my birthday in May has also been cancelled. I still have no idea what it was but I do know it involved Eurostar which had to be cancelled too. Throughout the day more and more of the events we had planned to attend issued notoced they were either cancelled or postponed. People on the station platform wearing masks, cafe's that will only let you pay by contactless card, I popped into Waitrose on the way back to the boat to get a couple of items I had forgotten earlier to find they had no Heinz baked beans. I could have bought fresh oysters though! It all seemed so surreal.

 

We installed ourselves on board but the forecast for Wednesday was for it to be wet and miserable so, as we are no longer in any rush to get ANYWHERE we stayed put for an extra day. I ventured into Newark to buy some timeless DVD's from a charity shop and we watched Castaway which seemed kind of fitting! 

 

So, to refer back to the plan in my first post it is now significantly amended:

 

  • Leave The Chesterfield Canal  Tick
  • Leave the boat somewhere while we had a short family break in Snowdonia
  • Get Delhi to The Easter Gathering at Ellesmere Port
  • Back down the Shroppie to Paul Barber's boat yard to get some work done
  • Meanwhile, with Paul looking after Delhi there are plans for something in May that I must not know about but it coincides with my birthday
  • If time allows when the jobs are done head over to Bradley Basin for the BCNS Rally
  • Move to a secret rendezvous on the BCN to take part in the BNC Challenge
  • Head south towards Sharpness for a gentle bimble and back again
  • Back north to Middlewich FAB Festival
  • To the appointment with the boat painter
  • 7 weeks to amuse ourselves without a boat that may include taking the motorbikes to Scotland?
  • Pick up the finished boat and take it to Alvecote for The Big Weekend?
  • Possibly Village at War?
  • Consider starting the journey home to The Chessie

 

The New plan? 

 

  • Progress with our journey to get the boat off the river so we are not at the mercy of the weather God's if we get more rain. 
  • Hope that both yards that are booked to do works on the boat will still e able t slot her in at some point subject to their own health and that of the other staff members
  • Go for a bimble and relax while socially distancing ourselves from others

 

 

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Chapter Three

 

Upon settling up with Kings Marina for our berth the lovely new marina manager Scott (5 days into his job and overseeing the switch over between management company while dealing with how the pandemic is affecting his moorers and life in general) was incredibly apologetic about the fact that there had been a muddle over us being advised which berth to go to when we arrived (in his absense). 

He knows we are isolating on board and gave me a really thoughtful little gift:

90056084_10157922163089070_8411426439689

 

It's a perfect place for a stopover when we travel to and from The Chesterfield. You can never guarantee a place on the visitor pontoon and I am never fond of having to climb a ladder if we moor on the wall so we will be back! 

 

We slackened the lines and left, the levels are still high and there is a good current meaning the JP2 has to work hard to maintain 3-4mph but it's doing fine.

 

A very small boat approaching Gunthorpe Lock

 

90210377_139388844283317_578570919557568

 

There was a little less air draught under (very empty) Gunthorpe Bridge than we are used to

89840719_139439977611537_861162363138395

 

Top side of Gunthorpe Lock there was a broken down boat (flat battery) They had been stuck there two hours. Someone was coming out to them and we didn't have any jump leads to help them but they managed to get the engine started again and the followed us. 

 

The locks were all on self operation as CRT staff and volunteers are either working from home or seconded to water management etc due to the pandemic. 

 

The turbulence at the approach to Hazelford lock made trying to get close enough to either a ladder on the wall or the floating pontoon to put me off to work the lock rather interesting! 

 

90517447_10157923219059070_7609351394629

 

We finally moored up on the visitor mooring at Stoke Lock as duck was getting very close to dark:

 

90342589_139494300939438_319091365870410

 

There had been a lovely beef stew bubbling on the Kabola all afternoon so it was lovely to sit down and eat it while listening to owls hooting outside the boat.

 

As always we were blessed with sightings of a lot of interesting birds along the river yesterday. 

My bird list for the trip made an impressive start with 21 idetified:

 Little Egret, Goosander, Dunnock. Grey Heron. Tufted Duck, Greylag Goose, Crow, Pied Wagtail, Oystercatcher, Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Egyptian Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Buzzard, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Cormorant, Chaffinch, Robin, Blackbird and Song Thrush.

 

One of the sights that charmed me was a flock of Wigeon that flew up as we passed - such beautiful wildfowl

 

90676268_139684344253767_470036062618517

 

Sadly the light was not good so the photos are rather grainy.

 

One of the funny moments was when I spottted one of my favourites - the very colourful Egyptian Goose:

 

90106395_139685120920356_728701817498841

 

I was on the bow, Dave was steering with the JP2 beating out it's rhythm between us meaning communication is not always easy. 

Dave: What is that?

Me: Egyptian Goose

Dave: <Looking puzzled as he had not heard me>

Me <trying to think what sign language to best communicate the breed 

Dave <penny drops>

Me <has an idea>

Both of us - Simultaneously at opposite ends of the boat: 

giphy.gif

 

?

 

If anyone is interested there are a few more grainy pictures of the birds here:

 

https://www.facebook.com/pg/LMS-Delhi-102291267993075/photos/?tab=album&album_id=139683174253884

 

33 minutes ago, Cheshire cat said:

Glad to see you have got your family back together again. Norway is very nice but home is home.

Thank you - yes we were all relieved and she was so pleased to have the dogs back, they are her babies.

Edited by cheshire~rose
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