Saturday's pre-lunch drinks aboard Longfellow, the other narrowboat in the marina, turned into a 5 hour session, during which we adjourned to Patrick and Marie's boat when the heavens opened. Marie has a little English but Patrick has none. He was a very attentive host and was pleased to discover we shared a love of French cuisine. We spent the better part of the final couple of hours 'pre-salee-ing the ducks that gathered at the stern of the boat.

Sunday saw lots more rain but despite that progress has been made in readying the boat for casting off sometime early next week. MWNN has just turned the engine over for the first time in almost a year; she started on the first go and sounds as sweet as ever. I even managed to do a little stitching before lunch, under the cratch on the front deck where the light was a little better than down below.

I hope that all my friends in the South of France are safe. We have been hearing the horror stories of the floods in Montpellier and Nimes. The other English guests at yesterday's drinks 'do' ( a couple in their late 70s who live aboard permanently) could not get back to their home port and are waiting at Pont de Vaux for the waters along the Midi to recede before venturing home.

Please remember DO NOT email me unless the message is VERY urgent (apart from Gamiila with your news). It really does cost an arm and a leg to receive and send emails using an ENGLISH (why can't I format text for entries over the LJ email gateway?) pay as you go card and a slower than slow connection that comes and goes depending on the interference from surrounding signals.