Monday 11 August - toilet pipe suction, British passport, more toilet work

Nico came across to the barge early, and we tried sucking the toilet pipe with his Kartcher wet vacuum - it didn’t work, but at least I learnt how to use the wet vacuum. So I then used it to suck the water out of the bilge under the galley and in the engine room. We must buy a Kartcher wet vacuum - but with a 2m lift and a long hose, so that I can lift it out of the engine room and up to deck level.

I received the forms from WhatPassport.com to proceed with the Status check for the British passport. They stated that it would take 14-24 weeks for an outcome, or 48 hours on the Fast Track option. I need to think how quickly I’d like to proceed.

Nico and I kept working on the toilet, trying to unblock the outlet pipe. We even borrowed a flexible tube camera from Thierry, our plumber, to try seeing inside the pipe, but as soon as it reached water level in the pipe, the diffraction of the light with all the calcaire particles made it impossible to see anything. Lots of hard work for very little progress.