Thursday 26^th August – Messolonghi (An early start)

38:21.668N 21:25.004E

For some reason I was awake early this morning, Richard was all for taking me for a check up.  By the time the bread man arrived we had already had breakfast and started on today’s activities.  Amazingly there were other people up too.  It was interesting, if rather sad, to watch the early morning scrum for the washing machine.  The temperature was cooler first thing, I almost put my dressing gown on before admitting it was still 25°C.  However, normal service was restored this afternoon with the sun hot and the winds light.

With our neighbours away, Richard has been able to get around Pyxis in the dinghy, washing and waxing the sides of the hull and then polishing out the odd marks we have picked up whilst travelling this year from tyres on the harbour walls or fenders.

We then re-furled the genoa to shake off some of the dust and make sure that the UV strip is doing its job; the hot sun is taking its toll on many of the deck fittings.

It was then time to sort out the dinghy… 

…it has been sitting in the water since we returned to Messolonghi as we have been using it for trips down to the beach or along the canal.  Unfortunately the hot weather has meant that the conditions have been ideal for the underside to become fouled.  Having lifted the outboard back aboard Pyxis, we lifted the dinghy onto the quay, turned it over and realised just how bad the fouling was.  Fortunately the two of us each going at it with a plastic scraper cleared all the growth off before it dried and turned into an impermeable concrete crust.  After that Richard washed and scrubbed the rest of the dinghy.  It is now looking considerably better and we have soaked the ropes to get the salt out.

The lorries have continued to deliver aggregate for the area they are levelling for hard standing for the yachts over the winter.  The grader and roller have been hard at work; the large umbrella shading the driver of the roller is quite fetching. 

This evening we have had a rematch of cribbage.  I made a strategic late comeback to just pip Russell to the end.  However, Richard then trounced us both at rummy.

Lucky has continued to supervise activities when not sleeping off the day in the shade of the catamaran; making sure he always comes to say hello just after he has either had a drink of water or has been swimming, and escorting us around the marina to ensure he is not missing out on anything.