I’m enjoying a couple of days out along the Beeston Canal, only a couple of miles from my home mooring but it’s a change of scenery. I was going to continue to Beeston today, all of a mile away, but it has barely stopped raining all day so I decided to stay put, check through a few things on the boat and do some writing instead. So, in spite of the weather or perhaps because of it, I have had quite a productive day. I’ve checked and run the central heating (I’ve not run it from the batteries without the backup of the mains connection before) and the inverter (a device which converts the 12v battery power to 240v mains power). Both functioned exactly as they should, the first reheating the water tank and the second recharging the laptop. I bought a 12v laptop charger last year and haven’t tested it out yet, on checking the specification I noticed it draws up to 12A. I’m by no means certain that the 12v wiring running through the boat to the outlets is up to that sort of current so I’ll have to install a socket near the batteries to use it. That’s a job for another day.

As well as doing some writing I also spent a bit of time reading a superb ‘how to’ book, Writing The Breakout Novel by Donald Maass. I can thoroughly recommend it, a very accessible and practical guide. As I read each chapter I immediately become aware of things I need to improve in my work in progress. It’s leading to more rewriting but well worth it. By the time I’ve finished reading this book I’ll have completed another half dozen rewrites of my own, and it’ll be better for it.

After so much rain it seems only the water based birds are happy today, this family wandered past earlier, presumably looking for their next meal.