As we told last week we arrived in Gouda on Friday the 30th of July. We were ‘forced’ to moor on the west-side of Gouda’s Turfsingel (‘peatmoat’) because the east-side was fully occupied. We prefer the east-side, as there is electricity from the shore available without(!) influencing the, already attractive, mooring-fee. On Saturday we noticed someone across leaving and planned to make a crossing. Well, our neighbour appeared to have exactly the same idea (he was probably already on the look-out) and outsmarted us. Bad luck! The next morning, on Monday, we approached two across (next to each other) moored boats and discovered they both planned to leave in, say, an hour. To make sure no one else would be too quick for us again we left early and breasted up to one of the two boats (in a way that blocked the second space, too) that intended to leave….

…and this is the result. For at least 27 days our residence.

Of course we need water – say once in 10 to 12 days. Our water tank is really huge but we want to refresh its contents in time and not wait until it’s close to being (almost) empty. For this occasion we wait until after 8 o’clock PM, because then the boat movements stop (closed bridges) and no one can take our place – we hope. Then we put down some chairs to make clear the space is occupied (we should buy a roll of red and white ribbon, too). After that we cruise some 100 meters (over 300 feet) in reverse, reach a tap and top up our water tank. That takes some 1,5 to 2 hours(!). One is supposed not to moor in front of the tap but because of the limited space there’s always someone who does. Therefore, after contacting the (friendly) owner of the boat who ‘broke the rules’ we breasted up and refilled. This is a panoramic picture of the scene. Our little ship is visible left and (yes, AND!) right. You also see the water hose (and the route from tap to water tank) as well as the tap, inside a closet, itself. After almost 2 hours we safely returned to ‘our’ space. It’s quite an undertaking!

English sinks now. Not always, but too often, the English way of constructing a sink is quite puzzling. Think of taps close to the back of the sink, making it at least hard to accomplish something simple – like washing your hands. Not to speak about two separate taps, hot and cold, with unworkable space in between… Our little ship, fitted out in England, admittedly is equipped with mixer taps but it was always difficult to use that taps: too close to the back of the sink. Recently we noticed an advertisement that really closes a gap in the market. So we ordered two of the devices as shown with this picture. Adapters of all sizes are included. As we say in The Netherlands: ‘a child can do the laundry’. Problem solved! (At last.)

A picture of a boat, breasted up to ours. This picture was made today. Last week we’ve had a boat breasted up to ours three times. Gouda is that popular!