Thanks for the various suggestions (all helpful) about curing the water-maker problem. Major surgery has now been performed and all seems to be tickety-boo (for the moment, anyway).

It's been an expensive exercise mind, the Black and Decker agent didn't have a new battery pack for my cordless drill (why am I unsurprised by this?) so I brought the cheapest mains drill they had (£57.61p). Of course, I noticed they sold pressure cookers. I also noticed they didn't have spares for pressure cookers so I brought a new one (£138.91). OK, it is a 5.7 litre jobbie, but just think of all the beans you can get in there :). Oh yes, then there was the cold fruit punch back at De Big Fish bar by the dingy dock. £3.12p, because I'd walked to and from the hardware store, because it was bloody hot but mainly because I'm worth it.

Now, the SSCP may look a doddle for a lithe twenty something, it might even be a doddle for a lithe fifty something, but this fifty something is built more for comfort than speed, so it was a bit of a sod!

Neat job eh? No, OK then have it your way!!!

Just a bit cramped. I heard tonight at 'Happy Hour' that 150 boats had just left the ABCs for Cartegena, for Xmas. If you believe all these stories, it looks like we'll be at anchor and not in a marina (which I couldn't afford anyway ).