Yesterday (Wednesday) we moved from Willington to Shobnall and are moored at Shobnall fields. There was only one other boat here when we arrived and they subsequently left so we were Billy No Mates. Ami Bovard (the Pakefield Pirate) arrived and moored briefly to go shopping. We had a bit of a chat before we went out. They had left by the time we got back so we were still alone until this afternoon.
We walked to B and Q for a few DIY bits and pieces which we had been unable to get at either Midland Swindlers or Wilko’s then we headed in to town and had a drink with Mick and Cathy.
When we got back we were having a cup of tea and a doze by the fire when there was a loud bang on the side of the boat. I leapt up to see what was going on and there was another bang.
This turned out to be the sound of our side hatches being banged shut by a small boy who was being egged on by 2 other small boys. By the time I managed to get out of the new cratch cover (it fits a lot better than the old one and is more difficult to open quickly) they had run away. Little buggers!
Today dawned bright and sunny so we decided that as we are moored the right way round we would paint under the gunwales of the Starboard side of the boat. Ken did the sanding and I applied the red oxide in the appropriate places then we waited for it to dry before doing the red.
I also put more anti slip tape on the side of the gunwales where I get on and off. We were getting on really well when we heard the ominous sound of a ride on mower. The grass along here looked fairly short so we thought it had been done recently and they were just going to mow the football pitches.
However eventually the mower was bearing down on us. I gave the chap on the mower an imploring ‘please don’t mow near our wet paint’ look and Ken gave him a ‘don’t even think about mowing near our wet paint’ look! To our relief he did as far as he could and gave the bit running the length of the boat a miss, for which we were grateful. Grass stuck to wet paint is not the look we were hoping to achieve.
By the time we had finished the painting the sun had gone in and the wind had got up. We were bloody frozen! It was a good job it hadn’t started off like that because we certainly wouldn’t have done the painting! When we leave here (Sat probably as our 48 hours will already have been exceeded) we won’t be moored on the right side to do the second coat for ages. Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow is not looking good.
When we had cleared up we went in to town for the usual (bread and a paper) and of course it started raining. Last time we did some painting (last year in Zouch) we had just finished and it pissed down making a very interesting pock marked effect. However this time we were lucky that the paint had set sufficiently before the rain to be unaffected by it.
Tomorrow, as it will be too wet to paint we are going to walk to the scrap yard to get rid of our old brass mushrooms. Then we are going to Willington to pick up some mail.
