Sunday 25th March
I am afraid we are of a ‘little and not very often’ disposition when it comes to DIY but my plans to paint the side of the boat did come to fruition this morning! I did the prep while Ken went off for a paper and something for dinner from the shop in the village. B and B already did their painting at Welford (both sides too!) so they settled in their deckchairs to watch. At least, they would have had a chair each had Barry’s not have been rendered useless when it collapsed last night while he was fishing!
When he returned Ken did the rollering (is that a word?) and I did the cutting in. I also touched up the nose which had suffered some damage in a lock shortly after we left Thurmaston. It didn’t take all that long once we got started and it all looks really good again. We still need to do the black below the gunwhales and, of course, the other side but at least we’ve done something!
After we finished the painting we took George for a walk to the Royal Oak and sat in the garden. He enjoyed the walk which wasn’t too far but it was quite hot for him today. This weather has been marvelous for March, very warm, although the wind did have a bit of an edge to it.
When we got back I decided to have a go at painting one of the mushrooms. Our mushrooms are lacquered but it is coming off and they just look a mess really with shiny and dull brass. I have had the where-with-all to paint them black for ages (you might know) but I just haven’t got round to doing the job. This is another job which didn’t actually take that long once I got started! I took the top off and sprayed it and painted the upstand with black Hammerite. It looks really nice, so much better than before. Easy then, only another 4 to do!
Tomorrow we are going to Northampton on the bus because I need to address my trainer problem and Ken needs some new shorts (and wides!) because I threw his old ones out at the end of last summer. We are also getting dangerously low on wine (and food), a problem that also needs attention.
