A STORY

Since the last marathon effort at the laundrette in Portosin, I decided not to use laundrettes ever again. Seeing Dave won't go naked and is a bit unhappy at the thought of having to look at my exposed wobbly bits, it is wash as you go for clothes and whenever we can we get a laundry to do the sheets and towels. It was a bit of a surprise to find the laundry was sheaper than the do it yourself was, and they come back all nicely folded with no waiting around to stuff ever more coins in the dryers. So todays offerings are on the washing line between the backstays, all flapping nicely in the sunny breeze, the cabin is tidy and swept, so I thought it was time for a little story.
Picture the scene The little yacht is bobbing along in the atlantic swell, the crew watching out for ships in the fog. Dave has just yelled down that it us time for Jen to get up out of the bunk and come on watch. Big groan from Jen, can't really be time, surely. But it is. So up on the knees, leg over the leecloth trying not to take the sheet too, watch the lurch before standing up, shuffle off to the loo. Brain still not quite there, but realises that something is not quite as it should be. That's it, water coming out from under the loo door. Boat leans left, no water. Boat leans right and there is a lovely waterfall over the sill onto the floor and doown into the bilge. This fascinating sight is watched for a few more times until it registers that this really ought not to be happening. Question is, to open the door or not. Decides not, as the only thought to come to mind is that there must be more in there and surely it can only be something amiss with the loo itself. Best plan is to share the discovery.
'Dave'
'Yes, Jen'
'Can you come down here?'
'If you come up here'
'OK'
'Why Jen'
'You'll see'
Swap places, Dave comes down, Jen goes to look for ships. Surprisingly quiet from below, as usually things like this bring out loud cries of 'nightmare' or 's****' or worse. Jen waits a bit and then after a good look to see there are no ships in the couple of hundred yards she can see, dives down for a quick look. There is Dave getting towels out of the loo cupboard and throwing them in the next room.
'What is it?'asks jen
'Some idiot left the sink tap on'
'We haven't used the sink. It is full of the shampoo bottles and stuff to stop them flying around'
'I used the sink when you were asleep'.
'Oh' says Jen
That explains the absence of sounds. No buck can be passed.
Jen back up to see if anything has appeared, thankfully no. So being trapped she has to let Dave carry on. At least it is clean water and not from the loo which would have been a bit on the unmentionable side. So the water level was decreased by sucking it out through the shower drain tray which meant the shower grate could stop floating about, and then lots of wipes with the sponge.
Turns out there was a need for the loo that could not wait for the shift change, and in his haste to be as quick as possible to keep the lookout in the fog, washed the paws but forgot to turn the tap off properly, so it kept up a nice drip. Ususally we would have heard the pump but the motor was on, so it quietly overflowed.
There is an up side to everything. The loo floor got the good wash it needed and I was looking forward to (not) when I got to the next stop, and I was able to diagnose the casuse of another problem. For quite a while i had been trying to chase the casue of a particular odour that remained in the heads no matter what I cleaned it with. I had emptied cupboards, wiped out every nook and cranny, put smelly stuff done the loo - all sorts, and still it lingered. But after this epesode it was not more. It dawned on me that there must have been stale water still in the piping from the shower tray and since we haven't used this as a shower for ages it has been gently festering. So problem solved.
And another problem also was found and dealt with. Some of the towels stored under the sink were found to be wet, and as they tend to stay there undisturbed as we recycle the in use ones, they too would have begun to ferment and fester. This was easily fixed as all it took was a tightening up of the clip on the end of the shower hose pipe. Towels dried and sweetly smelling in no time, and order restored.

And so the little boat and its merry crew poddled along the ocean waves to Nazare.