The heat is on, hurray.

Today has been a very rare day for us recently as we haven't moved at all. We were waiting for the mechanic from Calcutt Boats to arrive. We have moved far enough south to be within range of their call out service. Having spoken to their office they decided that Alrewas was the best place for them to visit. I must admit I was surprised that a call out didn't mean that they came when you wanted them. It actually didn't make any difference to us as I would have organised it for yesterday anyway. Chris turned up at 1145 after getting to the post code that I had forwarded. (The George and Dragon pub). I told him that he would need to find the canal, which I thought was fairly obvious, and directed him to the place we were moored with easy parking next to the boat. He had a quick look round the unit and we started it up. His initial diagnosis was that it was the air compressor. I didn't think that would be it as it seemed to be working fine. The pressure gauge showed it was fine. It didn't take him much longer to find that it was the fuel solenoid. This was replaced and it flashed up straight away. Before he arrived I had checked that the header tank was full and checked that all the radiators were bled and with the unit firing the radiators were soon hot.

Hurricane SCH 25 unit.

With the Hurricane working it means that I now don't have to get up and light the stove before Helen getting out of bed, and then running the engine for half an hour to heat up the water for a shower.

Last night we went to the George and Dragon pub. It is a Marston's pub and is in the 2014 Good Beer Guide. There were plenty of locals in and several eating too. I was not impressed with the beer there. I tried the Pedigree and the Burton Bitter and neither were very good. We will try the newly refurbished Crown in the village. I am expecting the beer to be a little more expensive though.

Opposite our mooring is a back garden. There are some chickens in a coop there and the bank of the canal is overgrown at the edge of their garden. This morning I saw a brown rat moving along the water line. As is watched more I saw the biggest rat I have seen out side of the Grytviken whaling station in South Georgia. It must have been a very old rat. There were were many of them moving around when we watched and I have seen them diving down and climbing trees today. Rats don't have a very good reputation but they are quite handsome creatures. I expect that they are sharing the grain with the chickens. I wonder if the householders, or the many dog walkers on the towpath know they are there. 

This wasn't the Grand Daddy of them all so I will have to see if I can catch it before we leave. I'll be washing my hands if I contact the water from the cut I think. I have no desire to catch Weil's disease.