Repairing a water hose; the Amazon runs well

We were up early in order to drive up the M1 to Eastwood, Notts, for Jan to attend a committee meeting. Before we set off I gave the overdrive relay a few thwacks. This seems to have done the trick as it performed faultlessly the whole journey (more than 70 miles each way). I was a little concerned at the forecast of snow, but we arrived at 1100 having barely even used the wipers.

While the committee meeting was in progress I walked around Eastwood and, at one stage, became a walking snowman. I was glad of my overtrousers, and the coat from Aldi was very good at keeping the heat in and the snow out. My new Clarks waterproof shoes were warm and comfortable.

I bought a hose repair connector from B&Q (£1) and a double male hose connector from a small hardware shop in the town (60p - B&Q wanted £4 for the same thing!). Had I found the hardware shop first I wouldn't have bothered with B&Q, as all I wanted to do was to cut out a badly kinked section of the water hose and join the two ends together. I already had two female ends, so the double male connector was all I needed.

This shows the problem (the insulating tape was put on by the previous owner) ...

... and here are the various connectors. Centre top is the hose repairer; centre bottom is the male double-ender.

In the end, when we got back to Jubilee, I decided to cut out the kink and use the £1 hose repairer. Job done.

The repair is to the shortish length of hose I use if the bow is near the water tap. It saves the hassle of using the hose drum. Also, I don't need to run as much water through to remove the old stale water from the hose. At this time of year I keep it inside the cabin so it's reasonably flexible. At one recent fill up the hose resembled a stretched out Slinky across the towpath.

The drive back to the boat was, again, better than I had expected. No more snow fell, the spray from the traffic wasn't too bad and the 50 mph section for roadworks flowed smoothly. There were two or three slow bits but they soon passed. And the Amazon drove really well, happy to cruise at 60 mph. I think it likes the cold weather: the temperature gauge never moved from just below normal. (In warmer weather it tends to creep up into the hot region - sometimes I have to put the car heater on to dump some heat.) When I filled up in Eastwood I found it had dome 31 mpg. I'm pleased with that.  The car is 46 years old, after all.

Tomorrow is a "rest" day; no doubt I or Jan will find some jobs, though!