THE YEAR 2001	OUR HISTORY FROM PREVIOUS WEBSITE POSTED ON 18 JANUARY 2002
						We have been thwarted throughout the year with problem after problem!
		I expect many of you will be wondering where we have got to in our travels. Well the answer is no where at all. After taking delivery of Jemima II on 19 February 2001 we were unable to get her craned into the Trent and Mersey Canal from a boatyard in Northwich due to the closures in respect of the foot and mouth disease-the canal being full of boats not going anywhere. So she was put on hard standing. We were not too unhappy about this as there were a few matters not quite right with the boat as we discovered on the day of the "hand over". We were told that the boat was 99% finished and that our Fitter from the boatyard that built her would be dealing with this final 1%. Our Fitter was under the impression that this 1% was to paint the stove flue with black and seal round the kitchen work surface. Well we thought differently! First of all how were we going to get down into the boat when there were no steps? Where were the kitchen wall cupboards? Where were the room divider shelves? Why had the gas hob not been installed in the right place? Why was the wrong carpet on the floor of the living area? Why were the curtains for the front windows of the boat too short and those to cover the windows on the front doors missing? These were some of the obvious matters which needed attention although Alan would be able to list a lot more to do with his "engine room" and technical things. Some of these got sorted whilst waiting for the foot and mouth restrictions to be lifted sufficiently to allow us to move the boat as intended along the Trent and Mersey up to Sawley Marina in Leicestershire (20 minutes away from our daughter Zoe's house) where we had pre-booked a space as far back as September (2000). Eventually the foot and mouth problem eased and we started our ten day journey to our mooring on 9 April. Zoe with husband Chris and boys Nathan then just 3 and Alex 15 months joined us for the four day Easter break. During this very fast journey we could not use the shower as the taps had been removed due to the leak. Although our stove lit and gave out heat, it did not heat the radiators and worse still, did not heat the water! Alan with Chris's help spent a lot of time trying to work out why. In addition the tiller was far too high and too stiff and it took a lot of effort to move it. Alan ended up with bruises under his biceps! We arrived at Sawley Marina on Easter Monday and moored our boat in the residential part which is very nice and very secure and we can park our car feet away from the boat. We then went back to Godstone