We were just saying our goodbyes to Paul and Sally this morning, when a tanker arrived bearing the words Liquid Waste Removel. Having been the owners of two previous properties, both with septic tanks, we knew what this meant and I looked at Ian in dismay !!! The lane next to the towpath appeared to be blocked by a dirty great skip and as the tanker was heading for the bowls club,who needed an urgent pump out, there was no way the truck would be able to reach its destination. So it reversed back up the lane, turned round, and reversed all the way back down again.Next thing to be done was to run metres upon metres of pipe along the towpath to connect with the septic tank further down. Our boat happened to be right by the tanker and even stuffing towels up the mushroom vents, closing all windows and the doors, didn't stop the pong from invading our boat.
The smell was quite pungent and it seemed to hang in the air for a considerable amount of time. On a day when the wind would have been a blessing, there was none!
We had a bit of excitement later when a Canaltime tried to wind round and got it horribly wrong. I cant really gloat as in my early days of boating I did the self same thing. Instead of pointing the nose into the winding hole he tried to go stern first. Unfortunately he misjudged the curve, and with the wind now blowing towards us, managed to wedge the bow up against the bank. It took a lot of effort from the crew on board to get them out of the situation. Luckily no boats came along to hinder there progress and after several attempts managed to turn the boat round.
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