Why couldn't it have been like that through London? The train ride into Waterloo was, as always with the poor old Southern - (now "SouthWest Trains"!) - noisy and rackety if fast and non-stop. This was Jean's first main line train ride since steam - not a good advert! Underground to Paddington was, well, the Underground. Paddington is a quite a nice shock. Always my favourite station ,with "real" trains in the past, it has now had some good modernisation done to it, with the restaurant and W.H.Smiths swapping places, the restaurant being now on top, from where you can watch all the coming and going in comfort! Then G.W. Trains came up trumps - pre-booked seats that National Enquiries said didn't exist (on account of the Eclipse!) - a departure on time, a clean comfortable HST, coffee and some nice burgers from the buffet, and an arrival at Temple Meads dead on time. So much for all the public grumbles and grouses. The return train to London was a match in every way. Jean was surprised just how comfortable, clean, easy and painless rail travel has become, since the days of steam in the years after the war. The SW train from Waterloo to Surbiton was right down to bottom level again - stopping at all stations, with a bogie under our carriage that had a broken spring, and a flatted wheel into the bargain! A taxi to the marina took the pain out of the last stage of the journey. Even with mishaps like Clapham, Southall and the crash today, Tuesday the 5th of October, the numbers surviving a train crash are FAR greater than any Jumbo crash, so trains still are safer, and more civilised way to travel.
After the return to Thames Ditton, a lazy day was spent visiting Hampton Court, where Jean went round the maze, only to miss the middle altogether!
Hampton Court Palace.
Some miles westwards, one of the temperature gauges starting creeping up again - slowly its true, but cause for anxiety. Investigation showed that the large overhung pulley wheel driving the Jabsco pump, was getting wobbly on its shaft, and slipping. It was only held by two, not three grub screws, and its bore was getting bell-mouthed. We tried packing it first with card, then with shims of tin-plate (Andy found an empty Frey Bentos Steak & Kidney Pie tin!), held in by a Jubilee clip, but with no luck. It soon wobbled and then off the belt. So Sorrel breasted up to HW, and towed us up to Wraysbury boatyard, which we thought could do engine repairs. Turned out they couldn't - they had given away their lathe 10 years ago! BUT, they knew a man who might! As it was a Sunday, we would have to wait till Monday, and we could stay there on a mooring - only it turned out to be some folks mooring, and they turned up! They were very kind and understanding, having only a few days before had engine mounting problems on their own boat, and understood our inability to move. They let us stay there and found a temporary mooring for themselves - very nice people! Next day I removed our pulley, and it was taken away, given a nice brass bush, and returned for me to fit. It fitted perfectly and we were once more under way, with the wallet considerably lighter - if only there had been room for our lathe on HW! A quick stop at Kris Cruisers at Datchet, for a pump-out, proved eventful - they had lost suction on their pump, and had to apologise for the failure. From there through Windsor lock, it bucketed down, and stopped again above it! Ugh! We met up again with Sorrel, moored above the town.
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