I don’t think there are any sharks in the Hythe Bridge Arm of the Oxford canal, there are ducks and the odd floating crisp packet, it’s just that I’ve had the Gruff Rhys song of the name in my head for most of the afternoon after seeing him support Dexys on Tuesday.

I’ve not been back to the boat since, a snuffling cold led me to run for the promise of strong chilli and warm arms a few miles down the Thames. This evening I was expecting to meet nice Josh on board. He promised to show me in detail how the coal burner works—it not only heats the centre of the boat but warms two radiators, and it is apparently the best way to make sure it’s not too cold in the morning. That would be nice.

I’d written a little list of things to ask him, nothing major but a few niggly bits that I’d quite keen to sort out. I couldn’t get the boiler to fire on Tuesday morning, I was wondering if the gas bottle was empty but the oven still seemed to work. I’ve shaken it and await my shower in the morning. The main thing is a bit odd: it’s just very hard to get the front door locked.

It seems that the lock is a bit lopsided—the boat doesn’t have a vale lock but a normal key-both-sides job. It opens fine, it locks—from the inside—without a problem, but from outside it requires a good spray of WD40 to shut up shop. When I’m in a rush that’s really irritating, and I’ve sprayed my shirt through the keyhole a couple of times. Still, that’s on the list to get sorted.

Living on a boat hits your brain in more subtle ways that I first thought it might, I’ve become incurably sanguine about different sorts of irritation (I’d have called a locksmith out to a house straight away). Because there’s an expectation that it’s a little more handmade it is just okay.

Also I’ve just been thinking that it changes your attittude to other things—with a no flush, cramped, toilet there’s just no ‘retiring to the bathroom’ with a book. All my reading is getting done on the bus at the moment.

Days at sea: 19

Rations: A pizza, when the oven pings.

Stowed: A new pump for the water tank (the one that was under the bed and makes a noise). This one is under the bed and also makes a noise, I’ll see if the noise is lessened enough so that reconnecting the water pump isn’t the first job every morning.