One of those days

I awoke yesterday "in the mood". Was feeling good, had good weather (if a little chilly) so I determined that we would push all the way from Gathurst to Crankwood in one hit. Nothing was going to get me down!
We started the day as we ended Sunday, that is, following some arse who was leaving paddle gear and gates open on the locks as he left. Did this bother me? No, I just tied up, jumped off the boat and helped Elaine.
At Henhurst services I emptied a toilet cassette to find there was still no running water despite me reporting it two weeks ago. Hey ho, no problem!
As we got to the first of the Poolstock locks some plonker was tied up on the bollards but I brushed off the inconvenience as the lock was full and I steered straight in. As Elaine emptied the lock I noticed water was still entering

It wasn't much but Elaine couldn't completely empty the lock because one of the paddles was padlocked shut. I was trapped and had to ring C&RT for assistance yet still my good mood persisted. Stuck there for some twenty minutes, I shouted up to Elaine, "Ah well, at least it isn't raining!", after which I reclined on the stern deck rail and snapped part of the timber! Just another job to add to the list, I told myself.

At the next lock Elaine (most unlike her) forgot to close the top gates before opening the bottom ones and water ended up boiling into the almost empty lock, almost necessitating a change of underwear. Still, that was all the locks done now so chill out and cruise to Crankwood I told myself.

Then it began to rain. That was OK though, a quickly deployed golf umbrella kept my spirits up. Then it rained harder. Then the umbrella blew inside out and I had to do a quick change on the move to get my Berghaus on. The rain continued and I ended up like this

and, this time, a change of underwear was required!

Eventually we made it to Crankwood and tied up. Only to find a tree blocking our Sky dish so we had to untie and move slightly. By now, my good mood from this morning was a dim and distant memory as I still had to empty the wood burner ash pan in the pouring rain before getting a hot, reviving shower.

With my stuff drying over the fire I was finally set to relax in my PJs when a reoccurrence of chest pains meant getting dressed, putting the soaking wet Berghaus back on, walking half a mile for the car then going to A&E for a good check over, getting back to Lottie at 2 am. As I said, it was one of those days!