Firstly, a day-belated Merry Christmas to you all......... a grand day was
had by us aboard our boa complete wih frost and snow later in the day BUT.
today our peace was shattered as we were tucking in to another portion of
festive grub by our next door neighbour hammering on the bow doors screaming
that her boat was sinking!!!!
I phoned for her boyfriend as hubby was assessing the bubbles and smoke
coming out of the rear of her boat then it was over the decks to get as much
stuff out of her narrowboat before it settled on the bottom. First over was
the TV and DVD player then a fistful of Christmas cards to be followed by
handbags, coats and the rest of their clothes which at the end were soaked
through. Her boyfriend turned up and it was all hands to the pumps ( only
the one pump we had between us .ours. is for emptying out a small amount of
water..... not gallons of the stuff........) we stood in the bow of their
barge to try and bring the nose down again and lift the stern a tad but it
was to no avail..........and despite all our efforts we *lost* 5 gallons of
their finest red plonk as a plastic container was despatched into the hold
as the handles dropped off it..........( she did however rescue her
corkscrew???)....The boat is now nicely settled in about 5 foot of very cold
water with the insides under a couple of foot of the damp stuff......
bedding is well onto the soak session along with her carpets floating around
but thank God everyone is well even if a tad damp and cold. We offered them
our recliner chairs for the night along with a spare pair of my shoes and
Roberts fleecy jacket, but they refused the chairs and have gone to stay in
a pub for the duratuion it will take to dry their boat out. It appears that
the water tank which holds about 80 gallons of fresh water ruptured and the
weight of the water going to their stern brought the weed hatch below the
water level so the canal could flood in. Anyway we are all fine, and as I
sit typing this we have a pair of swans pecking at the side of our boat to
let us know we are late with their meal!
Have a wonderful time everyone and stay dry. Regards ConnieD.
PS this is all Andy's fault... he texted me saying. don't sink! He's a real
Jonah!