General Witterings -
French Lessons on Rosy

The weather now seems to have settled down to what I had hoped it might be.  The cold wet weather has become cold dry weather.  Three or four inches of snow has blanketed the ground for over a week now, and the ice in the basin is two inches thick.  Day time temperatures are less than 5, whilst overnight it drops to below zero - minus 9 last night.  In still air, it is not uncomfortable to stand outside, chatting, without a jacket on.  But if a breeze springs up, or if one starts cycling, then the cold cuts through any exposed skin.

And there was light ….

Winter is the time to get all sorts of things done on the boat - despite the cold outside, and the fact that much of the work inevitably involves going outside.

I've finally got round to installing 'corridor lights' on Rosy.  The trip from the front cabin (kitchen plus TV plus library plus computer room etc ) to the back cabin (sleeping) via the bathroom and engine room has always been a bit of problem due to a lack of electric lights to help in the navigation of the corridor.  All is now OK, thanks to some lights and switches at each end.  Each switch alters the state of the lights - so if they are on it switches them off and vice versa.

(4 days later ….  A slight design problem has come to light (tee hee!!) As well as a light switch at each end of the corridor, I need one in the middle.  This is because I keep forgetting that there IS a new lighting regime - until, that is, I am half-way down the dark corridor …)

We've also expended some effort on our barbecues.  Mike has made himself a new one, and I have modified mine.  Mine was a simple box (an ex-ammunition box) on legs (which stow inside the box) with a sheet of expanded metal mesh on top to act as a grill.  It was originally a beach bbq, and required a shovel-full of sand in the bottom of the box to bring the fire up near enough to the mesh to cook the food.  Additionally, the sand helped to stop the fire burning through the bottom of the box.

With sand, on a beach, the bbq worked extremely well, but on land, with soil in place of sand, it was a very reluctant cooker.  It now has a false steel bottom (2mm thick, so it shouldn't burn through) at a distance above the base of the box that will, I hope, ensure some good grilling.  I await some warmer weather for the field trials.

Mike has just saved me close to £1000!!  Rosy has an inverter/charger.  This magic box does two things.  One:  it can convert 12 volt dc electricity in the batteries to (something approaching) 220 volt ac (a process known as 'inverting').  Hence I can run the TV and other mains electric items using the 12 volt bank of batteries.  Two:  When we are connected to 220 volt ac shore-power, it will charge up the 12 volt battery bank.

I noticed that it was not functioning properly, in that when I switched off the shore power, the inverter did not start functioning.  This is serious stuff!!  A total lack of 220 volt AC electricity whilst out cruising would make life extremely inconvenient and miserable; whilst a new inverter/charger will cost about £1000.

Mike came to the rescue, and 'ran his test meter' over the inverter/charger.  He found that a short length of copper track had detached itself from a printed circuit board.  He replaced the connection with a bit of wire - et voila!!  Problem solved!!

Language

I've never understood those folk who, when asked what they would do differently in their lives if they could live it again, say that they would change nothing as they cannot envisage anything better.

I don't subscribe to that notion, if only because there are so many things that one could do.  I am lucky to have had a varied life, doing things that I thought were useful (being in the Army and teaching), but then there are so many other interesting and useful things that I could have done.

All this is a lead-in to linguistics, and especially the strange differences between related languages.  For example …

English French German

Now, why should the 'teenage years' start at 13 in English and German, but are delayed until 17 in France?

Rex Mackay

Those folk who have been anywhere near the French canal town of Briare may like to hear news of Rex Mackay.  His (rather dilapidated looking) boat Lapin d'Or has been moored there for some few years and he is the owner of Jess - sister to Fanny-the-Woof.  Rex has been poorly for a while with a heart problem (I think that he must now be 80 (+?) years old) and has been waiting for surgery.  He was heading back to UK to progress this when, at a Paris Railway Station, he collapsed … at the feet of the Paris Director of Emergency Services or some such equally useful functionary.  Asked what the problem was, Rex said that he was in need of catching the train to UK.  The Director said "For you, mon ami, there are other trains to catch on other days, mais, pour aujourdhui, it eez the 'ospital" (or words to that effect).

At the hospital they were bemused at his anxiety about getting to UK - why go there for a second rate service when you can have a first class service here!!  (No comment).

Anyway, he was kept in for a couple of weeks for rest and recuperation, then they operated on him replacing, from what I can make out, most of his major internal organs, and are now saying that he must stay with them for another month or two whilst they attend to his recovery.

It is a little known fact that the Mackays have a certain reputation in France.  The signed up with Joan of Arc, who, in a crucial battle v the English ordered them to advance.  The following dialogue then took place:

Chief Mackay (to Joan of Arc):  A wee problemette here Ma'am.  You promised us much gold for our services, and we hav'na seen any o' it.

J of A:  Advance mes braves, et tous le d'or dans le monde est pour vous.

C.  M:  Och aye.  Weel!  I dinna ken aboot all that.

Posh Voice From the Front of the English Ranks:  I say, Mackay.  I have a bag of sovereigns here for you if come over to our team.

C.M:  We're on our way.

The clan switched sides, Joan lost the battle, Mackays have been viewed by the French as curiosities ever since, and in several places in France there are an amazing number of 'Mackays' in the telephone directories.

End of history for today.

Toodle pip!!

Bill et Fanny-the-Woof