This is how the day started out. I got to the yacht club early for a meeting w/ the Transport Canada rep Gavin. While in the club I heard there was a dump of soot last night from the mill just North of the club. (they blow out their stacks usually after dark so the locals don't see the black smoke.) Unfortunately they picked a night when the wind was out of the North and it was raining which caused the soot to fall all over the boats in the basin. Usually it's invisible so we just inhale it without knowing it. Some of the boats had just been detailed to the tune of several hundred dollars. This soot I've been told is caused by the mill burning surplus used oil in their furnaces but not all of it is consumed which accounts for the difficulty in removing it. Plain water and scrubbing doesn't cut it. This means using some form of cleaning agent which also removes any wax on the boat. The mill has never taken responsiblity for the soot and one excuse they've used is fuel from jets passing overhead. They sent one of their guys over to inspect the damage as well as the environmental officer came by from Pentiction. He'll probably say they're within the guidelines set out by Environment Canada. Maybe they should both have to clean the boats. Anyway this is how I spent my whole morning trying to clean the mess before picking up Graham and Sara.