And there was me thinking our pontoon mooring was just perfect, only hemmed in on one side and a good view on the port side looking towards the canal and basin. On this pontoon a notice stated there was to be no breasting up, probably because it's where the trip boat turns. Anyway I hadnt banked on hire boats and private boats trying to do daft things in this wind! First we got hit on the side by an Alvechurch boat. Lady had got off the front holding the bow rope and it appeared that he was relying on his wife to stop the forward momentum of the boat instead of putting the boat into reverse. He stopped alright....when he careered into our bow! Then he tried to wind the boat. By now I had gone out to see if I could help, no point in having a go at them when he obviously had no idea what he was doing. I tactfully ( well tactfully for me) told him he was fighting a losing battle and why not wait until the wind died down later this evening before trying. No, he wanted to wind now so I left him to it. After several attempts he gave up as a bad job. I would liked to have said to him 'I told you so' but I held my tongue instead.
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| What a nice mooring (or so I thought!) |
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| Kept trying but to no avail. |
I went out after lunch to the Butterfly farm. Left Ian to go shopping (he offered so who am I to say no) and it was on my return that Ian told me of the next incident. He had not long arrived back at FS when a private boat came off the river, headed for the canal entrance, changed his mind and tried to reverse back to an empty pontoon. The wind once more won out when it pushed his boat down the side of ours. Instead of his crew pushing the boat off he flung it into reverse, running his bow all along our gunwale and trying to remove one of our fenders in the process. This time Ian was furious. There was no excuse as he could have got his crew to fend off and to deliberately scrap down the side was unforgivable. Harsh words were spoken by Ian but no apology was forthcoming. Fair enough boating in high winds has it's challenges, and sometimes contact is made on another boat but at least one should try not to make the situation worse!
Then the third incident. Another hire boat, canaltime this time, came from the canal, tried to stop, failed miserably and what with the wind, once more hit FS pretty darn hard right up her bottom! I was starting to feel sorry for the old girl. Three smacks, bow, side and stern, gashes to her gunwales and paintwork scrapped. It's enough to make you weep. This time when Ian rushed out they were ever so apologetic. Couldn't say sorry enough, gosh will I be glad when this wind drops!
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| Waves in the basin |
.The wind seems to have picked up again. In fact it even pushed one of my herb planters on it's side! Quite a feat with the amount of soil and plants in there. More of the same tonight or so the forecasters say. So glad we ain't going nowhere until tomorrow!
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| Put on the sheltered side |
And some photos at the Butterfly farm. More will be put on my Wildlife blog at a later date.
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| Running loose in the butterfly house. |
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| Something cute under this Quail |
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