Too much excitement

Windy, wet but secure night. Got up and started the engine to charge the batteries and get some hot water. It was during breakfast that the fun started. The view through the window had altered. The rear mooring pin had pulled out of the ground, and the strong wind was swinging us right round across the cut. Bashed my head (again!) getting out in a hurry. Fortunately the canal is wide enough here for us to go all the way round. The couple from the boat behind us came out to help, and between us we pulled Erin Mae backwards until she was back in position, but now facing the opposite way.

Had a coffee and listened to Scriabin's Piano concerto to return adrenalin levels to normal, and thought about how I was going to turn the boat again when we leave Middlewich on Sunday. Then I went off to the chandlers to buy another mooring pin – you can put in two together, one through the other, so it's far harder for them to come out, even in soft ground.

We walked into town and had lunch at the White Bear, because the first session of the FAB Festival was due to occur there at 2 p.m. What a time that was! Lana, Callum and Stephen of "Unboxed"  played some Shetland sets, and the whole afternoon turned into an all-comers session as more and more people turned up. Lana's accordion playing reminded me of Phil Cunningham's (for those who know), and Callum has a Bourgeois guitar (like mine). As the session developed I borrowed a guitar and joined in, sitting next to Robbie, a lad who's a genuine genius on the fiddle. Agony for the still-recovering and un-exercised wrist. Pure ecstasy for the musical part of the soul. It took the whole half-mile walk home in the rain to come down off that high.

Tonight it's off to "The Cheshire Cheese". England vs Sweden in most directions, and The Crazy Folk Band in the covered area at the back. This is seriously problematic, and I'm not sure my heart can stand it.