Antwerp

A bit drizzly and rainy today.  However, the sun was shining when I got up and I put a load of t-shirts, etc, in to soak - to be hand washed later -  and took a load of bedding up to the laundry.  When I got there both machines were already in use. I eventually got my sheets in about 30 minutes later.  Meanwhile the rain had set in and I soon came to the conclusion that there was no way I was going to get my load of hand washing dry by hanging it out on the rails.  So I went to the office and paid another €3 for an extra dryer load.  When I went to check my washing in the machine it was done but the dryer was now already in use and the second machine which had also stopped was in the queue to use it before me.  It was after 3.00 in the afternoon before I got my first load of washing into the dryer, and that took an hour.  The second load that had been hand washed, no spin, took nearly 3 hours to dry!  From starting at 11 in the morning it was 7.30 in the evening before all my laundry was finally dry.  Kept me fit though, the laundry is about 150m from the boat and I walked backwards and forwards between the two dozens of times.

Meanwhile there was a marathon going on and part of the route came right past the marina.  All day there was a helicopter overhead, not always directly overhead but in the environs, loud speaker commentary and lots of noise from the start/finish area on the other side of the river.  Ian went for a ride to suss it all out and said there were thousands of spectators down on the waterfront, cheerleaders with all the accoutrements, press on motorbikes, etc, etc.  Here at the marina it was quite close to the finish and we watched the stragglers struggling home.  Some looked in pain, others looked as if they were about to collapse, a few looked hale and hearty.  Kept us entertained all day.

This evening a live band started up not far from the marina as we were barbying a flatty chicken (known to the rest of the world as a spatchcock chicken).   Lynn and Shaun walked over to take a look, and as they arrived the music stopped.  So they came home.  As they got home the music started again!  As soon as we finished eating Ian and I took a walk over, and as we arrived the music stopped and they were pulling all the plugs from the amps, etc. So we came home.  As soon as we got back to the boat the music started again!  So Ian and Shaun went off in a great hurry, determined to get to listen to some music before it stopped again.   They discovered it was a private birthday party and there were a number of different bands playing, hence all the stopping and starting.  They had a great time.

Here are just 2 pics I took today.

Evening in the marina on a drizzly day, no one sitting out at the pavement cafés

Flatty chicken for dinner