The New Year Freeze Part 3

[Happy Jax 3]

Part 3

We moored up on the staithe at Horning adjacent to the electric post at 2.10pm, Lou sent Jay up to the post office to buy some electric cards. Guess what, it was closed. Tuesdays they close at 1.00pm. Only had 1 card left, had to make it last.

Heard a rumble coming down the river, looked up, yes it was Terry & Sheila in their Bayliner fitted with twin 7.4 litre V8’s. Helped them more up and got them connected to the electric post. They have two Golden Retrievers, Barney & Snowy so Buddy will be in his element.

Took a walk down to the New Inn with the dogs to have a chat with Gus and see how they were getting on with the quay heading. Couldn’t have a pint as they were closed until 5.00pm. Run the dogs up on a local field and went back to the boats.

Went over to the Swan for a pint or 3 with Terry to keep the festive season going. In the evening we all went down to the New Inn for our evening meal.

New Years Eve arrived and the boys were both getting excited about going to the Swan Inn for our celebrations in the evening. Sent Jay over to the post office to buy 10 electric cards, the weather was on the change, it was noticeably warmer although it had become overcast, no ice. We noticed Roland from the Horning Marina towing his boat over to the staithe. He asked the people in the boat in front of us if he could split into their electrics with a splitter box, just for an hour so he could charge his batteries.

John arrived in his boat, but the staithe was full, John Moored up alongside H J II, we split into our electrics to give him heat for the duration. It was then I noticed that our old faithful Webasto was starting to smoke when closing down as it reached temperature, other wise it was working fine.

The evening arrived and I looked down the staithe to see Roland’s boat lit up like Blackpool illuminations with Christmas lights. That did amuse me, considering he told the people that he was just charging his battery. He did put electric cards in though. Very festive.

Mike & Sandy, some friends of John drove down to join us for the evening, they bought with them their grandson, Jack, so Jay & Connor had a new friend to play with. We all had a few drinks on H J II before going over to the Swan Inn. We had an alcove in the Swan put aside for us all which was very cosy. Had a few drinks and ordered our meals, I must say that the food was excellent, even Terry, who is very hard to please, had no complaints. Terry went back to his boat to get his camera, I also followed shortly after to get mine, to be met at the door by a Golden Retriever, at first I thought it was Buddy, but no it was Terry’s dog Barney. I was taking him back to their boat when I see Terry in a panic looking for Barney, he was relieved to see I had him as he was thinking the worst. It turned out that his other dog snowy had chewed up a £30.00 led torch and his wooden flag pole. Dogs Eh!

Back to the Inn for more drinks and we all started setting our New Year resolutions. As the evening went on, I was surprised that people were slowly leaving and considering the Ferry is now closed it was generally quieter than expected. I got talking to Roland on the door who told me that the maximum amount of people allowed in during the evening was 120 and this number was met earlier in the night.

Before we new it, the New Year arrived, hugs and kisses all round and we all went outside to watch fireworks all around us. We then all went back to H JII for more drinks, surprise, surprise….

New Years day and we was awoken at 9.30am by a huge rumble and vibrations through our boat, it was one of two things, an earthquake or Terry firing up his Bayliner. Knowing they were leaving early morning it was the later of course. Got up to see Terry and Sheila off.

Lou and Connor left to drive home at midday, whilst we were seeing them off two cars parked on the green adjacent to the staithe had had their rear tyres slashed. They both belonged to employees of the Swan Inn who were organising replacement tyres. I guess locals upset of them parking on the grass as no other cars had been touched including lou’s

John left shortly afterwards and me and Jay decided to stay up for a couple more days, went into Boulters to have a pump out and fill up with water, and wish them Happy New Year. Then off to Potter Heigham for the evening.

I will post up some pictures shortly.