From cider to wine

Today we had a lovely lunch out with our two boys to celebrate son number one's birthday on Wednesday. We then went to the local pub for a game of pool.

After the pub we all piled back to the boat to watch the football and I tried out our newly bottled cider on the boys. As we were unsure of the strength we decided to measure one of the bottles with a hydrometer. It turns out it is about 9% proof!! We agreed it isn't really cider, but more like a dry apple wine and accompanied by a freshly baked mince pie which Jack's owner brought us, it went down very well.

Today was the day for Jack's bath and he appeared soon after at our boat. He was wet, bedraggled and very sulky. He made a beeline for his chair and settled down with a grump and a glare:

 

He was soon up though nuzzling my hand and shuffling backwards and forwards which I interpreted correctly as ..... 'you have the power to make me feel better, don't miss the opportunity', so a tin of tuna was duly opened and dished up for his nibs.

I think his body language after that said it all :

The weather is getting better and it will soon be time to take the canopy off and do some cruising. It is very hard going under bridges with a big canopy up although many experienced boaters do it. I find bridges difficult enough to negotiate without having to worry about what is above my head and around me that may snag on a bridge.

I want to go north but Phil is keen to get up to the sea basin by the bay. We will see who wins!

Al