The folly of making plans, and a lesson in how to make things seem cheap.

It is a mere twelve days since I posted about how, if you don't make plans, then they can't go wrong.  Well I didn't not make plans and they haven't not gone wrong.  (pause while you work that one out).  It's all the fault of a pipe layer in Bracknell.

The idea was to set off on our cruise to Crick in the middle of next week after having helped our daughter Claire move to her new house this week.  However, said pipe layer appears to have bodged the job under a nearby house and the whole new development handover has been delayed by a week.  Being on screwdriver duty for curtain rails etc, I have to be there.

Never mind, we have a plan B, or is it C?  Well move on to Herbie this weekend (Hooray!) to get her packed and sorted, then move her down to Brentford and leave her there during Claire's move and then sail out on to the  Thames afterwards as planned.  Brilliant.  I wonder what will go wrong next.

Yesterday I made yet another call on what we laughingly call Herbie's Sinking Fund.  £137 for a new anchor, with the requisite chain and rope.  Journeying up the Thames without one is not a good idea. At first it sounded a lot of money, then on the way home I realised it was relatively cheap.  How?  I filled up the car with diesel, that's how. An anchor kit doesn't seem too dear when you know it cost the same as a couple of fills of car diesel.  Before we set off on our trip, we'll fill Herbie's diesel tank and get some coal and a new gas bottle, and that is sure to cost more than the anchor kit.

Having said that, we will use the diesel, coal and gas, and I hope we never need to use the anchor.  An anchor is like an insurance policy, except that you don't have to but a new one every year.