Jubilee: the hiccup earlier referred to

We've been rather busy the last couple of days with Ally and Ben on board, seeing their new home-to-be, and that's why I haven't blogged recently.

Lots of you have very kindly sent your congratulations on our new acquisition - much like you would if we'd had a new baby! In a way I suppose it is like that. It's certainly going to take a lot of our time and money; we will lavish it with our attention, care (and even love?); and it will reward us with, well, with just being our Jubilee.

Before I put up photos of the interior, here's another exterior. That's Ally at the bow.

I'm going to have to do something about those fenders. That's how the boat was when we took it, in its freshly blacked state. There are a couple of bonglers fitted with carabiner-type clips: I think I'll just use these when tying up for the night.

Here's a brief summary of the events of the last few days:

Last Sunday we returned to Shadow at Wigram's Turn, and sorted out the insurance. From my online bank account I paid the vendor the first wodge of money, phoned him and said he should have the cash, and (cheekily) asked if we could come up to the boat and stay overnight before making the next payment.

He said that that would be all right, so we drove up to Kegworth where the boat was.

BUT...

The money hadn't appeared in the vendor's bank account! He knew why, though: he'd given us the wrong sort code! My immediate thought was, of course, where is my money? Fortunately, when I looked at my account, it was back in there. Phew!

So I set up a payment to the correct account, but the rules of the bank meant that I had to wait another day, putting everything behind schedule. On Tuesday we drove to Sawley marina and Long Eaton. At the marina we bought a heavier anchor than the one on board, complete with chain and warp. Chris Nixon at the marina spliced it all together for us. Back at the boat I waited up until midnight, and then made the second and final online payment. Thankfully this went through without a hitch. We'd bought the boat!

Finally for this post, a photo of a heron by a weir. This was the river section of the Trent and Mersey between Wychnor and Alrewas.