Black Swans

"Black swans indicate deep mysteries within us that are longing to be set free to express themselves creatively."


Best of all, Reading has some rare Black Swans. Which, I think, next to Buzzards, are my favourite birds. Their comical trumpeting reminds me of a rusty garden gate hinge, which always makes me smile. And I haven't seen them attack anything yet, unlike their more aggressive white 'mute' cousins, which are always rampaging up and down the river.

Black Swan Wiki
Black Swan symbolism

* image pinched from Google Images.

Wehey!

The universe smiled at me this morning. I stepped off the boat, and found a £5 note. Would have been nicer, if it was a £20 of course. But I mustn't grumble at any gift from the river gods.

My opinion of Reading has changed quite a bit. The times I've visited it before, it's been viewed from a train window at speed, or behind the windscreen of a car. When thoughts of Reading popped into my head, it's invariably been associated with "concrete", "business parks", and "wall to wall traffic". But, down by the river, walking along the towpath, it's lovely. It has wide open green spaces, and more Swans than we can count on our digits. They're not all huddled together and hanging out for crumbs from tourists either, unlike the ones we saw at Windsor.

Cool Runnings

Spent the last few days flushing oil & crud out of the cooling system. Topped up with anti-freeze today, and negoiated ourselves around the marina, with Peter (from 'Big Baloo') onboard to assist us with his voice of experience. Thankfully, the wind was in our favour, and we didn't ram anything. It felt good that we managed to achieve it without bow thrusters. Pumped out our black tank, said our goodbyes, and are currently moored up on the other side of the river, just before the K&A canal entrance.

Quite a few people have said that it's very picturesque and well worth a visit. We watched Julia Bradbury's canal walk program about it, the other day. It does look nice, but we're not going to be swayed from our destination of Lechlade. We've paid for a thames license and want to squeeze the most we possibly can out of it. It will be nice to see Sue & Vic (Nb 'No Problem') again too. Almost a year since we met them at Cookham.

Bit noisy, here by the trains. But, a free 24 hour mooring on the thames, is a thing of great beauty and joy. Sumo had to walk 1/4 of a mile down some floating pontoons to get any sniffs in the marina. Where we are now, we just have to lift him off of the boat. The people in the marina (liveaboards and staff, were all very friendly, but it's good for the soul to be back out in the wild, and independent again.

Reading

ah. Spoke too soon. The engine was indeed, sounding sweet. But after a couple of hours, the lift pump was piddling diesel into the sump tray, and also needed replacing. Bukh wanted £107 for a replacement unit, but Chas (nb 'Long White Cloud') found us one in Birmingham for £20, including postage. Thanks Chas!

We shoved off from Sonning yesterday, and went down to Shiplake lock, to look for containers big enough to hold the 5-6 gallons of oily muck (contaminated cooling water) that we need to dispose of. No Joy. So we limped back upstream with our deckboards up, and a boiling hot engine. Luckily, we got ourselves a temporary visitors mooring at the Thames & Kennet marina in Reading. Where we're 5 berths away from Peter and Wb 'Big Baloo'.

Sheena says it reminds her of a tesco's car park. Getting into our berth took some nifty manoeuvering around some tight right angle bends. But, thankfully, we didn't ram anything, and the nice couple from Wb 'Laura Belle' (our neighbours) helped us to tie up. First impressions of the place, was that it was "massive", and "soulless". But, all the boat owners I've met so far, have been very friendly and helpful.

At least we made it past Henley, which is where people normally break down.

Sonning Lock
Thames & Kennet Marina

Gaskets

Our engine is back together again.
With no 'spare' nuts or washers.
And it's sounding sweet.
Sorted.

Head Gasket

Our head gasket has blown. It's been on it's way out for a while, because we've noticed that the engine was getting progressively harder to start. On the case, and carrying out riverside repairs. It only took us an hour to get the head off.

Bit of a PITA.
But not the end of the world.

Bank Holiday

No joy sourcing a fan belt from 'Toad Hall' garden centre. The assistant was very helpful, but didn't have a lawnmower belt the length we need. So, we'll have to wait until the Reading shops open again tomorrow. But, Sonning is such a beautiful place to be 'stuck', it's not a problem. In fact, we both consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have met such friendly and helpful people.

Strange weather today. It's fiercely sunny again, which is a pleasure. But, there's a gale force wind whipping up the river, causing foot high waves. Looks like the English channel out there.

Had a comedy moment yesterday, when I took the shower taps off, only to realise that the pump was on, and the water was still under full pressure. I got drenched. Felt like the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke. Or a submariner, from a WWII film. I've never seen Sheena move herself down the boat so fast. Good way to test the Whale Gulper shower pump was working, anyway.