So here goes...
Spending quite a time in Ely meant I could pop into the nearby Maltings Conference and Wedding Centre on the waterfront. They put on films, shows, concerts and the like during the week and at weekends. The films are usually middle-of-the-road light comedies and appear a few weeks after their general release to keep the cost down. I've seen quite a few but the performance I'd mention was a short-one-woman-show called The Novice Detective. Sophie Willans presented an hilarious 'help me find my Dad' show with tons of audience participation, songs, dances and current jokes. If she gets the right breaks, I could see her making it big...
In my diary I often make reference to 'pottering about on the boat'. This can involve anything from cleaning, sweeping, polishing, repairing, improving, painting and lots more. It's all part of the boating thing.
For instance, one day the 'coolie' on top of the chimney fell off.
With the fumes that come out of the chimney and the fact that its open to the weather, it only lasted 2 years so I bought a new stainless steel one to replace it in the hope it would last a little longer. We'll see.
I decided it needed fixing to the chimney so I set about drilling holes into the end of the leggy things. Unfortunately while I was doing this, the drill slipped and I took a 4mm drill bit into the back of my thumb. I was not pleased. By the time the blood had stopped spurting and the pain had subsided to mere agony, I had had enough. So the new coolie is fixed with just one small bolt. I'll have to hope it stays on. I'm not drilling any more holes even though I've almost got the feeling back into my thumb.
While thinking about chimneys and the like, I decided to spruce up the stove. It was beginning to look a bit tired so I dug out some stove blacking and gave it a coat. What a difference it made.
When the temperature perks up and all the fire paraphernalia is put away until next winter, I'll probably sweep the chimney. That might be a good time to replace the top bit so I start next winter with a shiny new heating system.
Another bit of pottering about came as a surprise. On a particularly challenging day last month, the wooden handle grip of the brass tiller broke off. The wood was more like soft balsa wood than tough pine. Anyway, I whittled away a couple of inches (see below) and refitted it.
It's obviously 2 inches shorter but you wouldn't know it...
By the way, you'll see I've covered the handle with para-cord. It makes it warmer to the touch and easier to grip when it's wet. I also fitted a screw-threaded black Bakelite door knob on the end so that when I'm standing with the tiller resting in the small of my back it's more comfortable.
I mentioned this was a challenging day. Obviously we all have to deal with things going wrong every so often but on this particular day lots of things seem to conspire against me.
Not only was it cold, wet and windy when the tiller handle broke (not the best sort of weather for boating I might add) and my thumb was still throbbing from the 4mm drill but my calor gas bottle ran out during the preparation of a slap up Cup-a-Soup. I also lost a mooring pin in the river, a fender melted against the exhaust, my umbrella pole bent in the wind, wet grass and mud was carted everywhere, and, to make matter worse, I bashed my head on the rear hatch opening. I don't know why I'm mentioning all this now as I would rather forget about it but I suppose it's a good reminder than boating is not all sunshine and calm waters.
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