Our Hero!!

It was a lovely morning so Al made a lovely fried breakfast to have in the cratch. We had just finished when walking along the towpath came Chas and Ann off n.b. Moore2life walking Molly the dog. They ended up coming on for a coffee and staying for a couple of hours. We all didn't want to move in the sunshine, and lets face it we didn' have to. Chas was getting hungry so they left for lunch and we did the same. Afterwards Del set about servicing the engine.
He drained the oil and then managed to get the filter off with the oil filter remover but it punched a small hole in it on removal. On opening the box of the new filter it looked a bit different and it turned out to be the wrong thread, yep it was the wrong one!!
Still never mind we are only a short distance from Tooley's boatyard and they should have one. "What engine is it? they said, Oh a Beta 50, you know the same block as a Beta 43 just rebored. "Um we will have to match it" they said "they are all different" "Are they" we said "Ok we will go and get it"
So we walked back to Derwent6 and gave them the filter with the numbers off it. Sorry we can't match it they said but we can order one from Beta and get it here for tomorrow. "Well we don't have much choice" we thought. So they got on the phone and Beta said it would be here tomorrow with a £8.50 delivery charge. "What" we said "Forget that then.....it's a standard item which should be in stock and you want to charge us delivery". I tell you what don't worry we will get the bus back to Braunston.
So on walking back to Derwent6 who should we bump into but Maffi with Sue on a day trip to town. After telling him the story he got on the phone to Phil and Oxfordshire Narrowboats. He was busy and would call Del back if he had one. We said goodbye to Maffi, and ten minutes later Phil called back with the news that he had one. It was two stops on the train, but they only run every two hours and we had missed the last one before they closed. Still never mind we will get it in the morning.
This meant we couldn't run the engine to charge the batteries, but they were pretty good anyway. Del carried on with the engine, replacing the oil and changing the gearbox oil. While doing this we got a call from Maffi saying he had picked up the filter and was on his way to deliver it What a Star!!! He turned up with Sue twenty minutes later.

Not only was it the right filter but it was a pucker Beta one and to top it all it was only a tenner, how good was that.... Del slipped it straight on and started the engine, time for a cup of tea. Maffi and Sue sat with us out in the sunshine and we paid them the ten pounds and they just wouldn't take any petrol money. "You will do us a favour one day"  they said, and we hope we can...
When they left us it was back to to the football with the engine purring in the background. Phew!!!