It was another Hot August Night on the barge, and the fan was kept going in the bedroom for most of the night. With a slightly cooler morning, we decided to take the opportunity to get in some more pans practice.

When we finished in late morning, we sat on the rear deck to cool off and noticed that Dexter had been joined by a number of friends on his logs in the river.

Around lunchtime, we met up with Stuart and Christine, who introduced us to the new owners of Hilda May. They seemed  to be pretty friendly and eager to learn as much about barging as they could.

In the afternoon, the temperature began to rise again, so we headed up to Irene’s house to prepare it for the imminent arrival of the band members who would be living there - it was also much cooler in the house, so we took the opportunity to catch up on emails and do a little blogging while we were there.

That evening, being Friday, we headed down to Le Sunbeam for drinks with friends. I think the new owners of Hilda May appreciated the opportunity to meet so many fellow bargees in one go. We are also getting a contingent of French friends showing up each week, including Bernard, a musician friend of Rita’s.

After drinks, we headed back to port and had dinner with Stuart and Christine on Hilda May.