Today there was a knock on the hull followed by a quiet "Bruce" "Caroline"?

Caroline was out doing the laundry so I popped my head out of the companionway to find two people I didn't recognise. I apologised just in case I should have to find out that we hadn't met before.

It transpires that David & Marcia have been following our blog for some time having left Plymouth earlier this year following in our wake so to speak.... albeit somewhat quicker! During their time in Plymouth they met a good friend of ours David Beaver who kindly gave them our blog address and said they might meet us at some point - thank you David.

As is customary we talked for quite a while over drinks (the sun wasn't over the yardarm so just coffee)...but one tip that we shared that may be of interest to other cruisers is "how to make ice" if your fridge has an evaporator plate. It's something we've taken for granted for many years but we got the idea from the staff at frigo-boat (marine refrigeration specialists) following a call to replace our vertical ice tray. They advised us that they no longer marketed the tray because there was no demand - the ice bags you can buy at almost any supermarket had seen to that.

So the tip is if you want ice....fill your ice bag, seal the top and using one of your spare clothes pegs clip it to the evaporator plate. Obviously if you have a horizontally mounted evaporator plate just rest the bag on top.

....so there you have it ice for your all important G&T's.

Looks like an evening with David & Marcia is on the cards now to check it works ;-)