Still at Brentford.

It was dark before I got moored up on the 6^th so this was the view from the side hatch on the 7^th.

I decided to stay here yesterday it’s quite a nice spot, 14 day visitor moorings with all the facilities you need and will be even better soon as Canal & River Trust along with a developer are putting in shoreline facilities with water taps at each mooring position, there are all in position just not functioning at the moment, I would hope it will still be 14 day and not change once all the work is finished, they may struggle to get boats to move on, but they have an on-site mooring monitor, he does not like being called a warden, a very helpful man as well for the reasons that follow.

So yesterday was great, to begin with, I had a wander around, picked up some provisions, read a book, then at 2pm decided to start the engine to charge the batteries, to my surprise and disappointment the battery was too weak to even turn the engine over although it was showing 12.4v on the Smart Gauge, so down the engine hole, the terminals were not very tight, removed the battery and checked the acid levels, a bit low but not desperately so, topped up with distilled water, repositioned and connected the battery, left it half an hour, tried again, still dead, I think it had passed on, this battery is no more, it has ceased to be, it was an ex-battery.

So as luck would have it a quick chat to the mooring monitor and he informed me there was an MOT/tyre/battery garage across the road, so took a photo of battery and noted numbers etc. and off to said shop, the man was totally bewildered, I know he’s not a narrowboat specialist but when I explained a little that it was just a starter battery albeit a biggy he said that cannot be correct a 110ah battery would be enormous the size of a wheelbarrow, so long story short much too-ing and fro-ing on foot I found another garage and bought a similar battery, there are heavy! had to carry it back to the boat on my shoulder, by now it’s 4:30, connected it up, and started the engine, my sigh of relief was followed by another free shower, it had been a stressful afternoon.

This morning I fully intended to move on, this was my view from the side hatch,

raining persistently, but I said to myself, imagine you have to move because you are on 24hour moorings and get going, enter the wise mooring monitor, he very kindly came along to enquire if I had sorted my battery problem, after thanking him I explained my rationale re moving and he said.....
“but you don’t have to move on, you are not on 24hr moorings, narrowboat life should be enjoyed, not endured”

Now thinking back to when this was all just an idea, I used to read other blogs and think why do people get so tetchy about busy locks and rush about, I won’t want to be in a rush, so again I have decided to stay put another day and see what tomorrow brings.

Time for a cuppa I think, stoves on, I have coal, gas, water, food and diesel, don’t worry, be happy.

Totals this entry: Zilch.