Almost finished

So, the Government has told the public not to panic buy petrol and diesel in advance of tanker drivers threatening to strike, but it has advised people to fill up a few jerry cans just in case. Guess what? People are panic buying! The Post Office has also announced they are increasing the first class stamp from 49p to 60p to help make the postal service viable before it is privatised but what is worse than that, the VATman has been told to charge 20% VAT on hot pasties and pies. This is just about the limit. Ruin our economy, cut our jobs, slash our education, close our hospitals, pay lip service to the environment but, for goodness sake, leave our pasties alone.

To help us cope with this serious turn of events, Kay and I were painting for another 7 hours yesterday and again today. While there never seems to be much to see for all this hard work, I know we are making progress. The walls, ceiling and bulkheads are finished having had one coat of primer and undercoat followed by at least three topcoats - that's not to mention the primer that went on the back of the T&G and ply panels. The kitchen cabinets are finished in silk buttermilk and the scotia mouldings are painted and ready for Mick to cut and fit them into the frames. Everything is looking great, exactly as I visualised it.

We primed the door/hatch inserts but didn't have time to topcoat them so I took them home to finish.

While Mick is working on the wiring - connecting the mass of loose ends to the fuse box and switch gear - there's nothing more for us to do so we left at 4.00pm and agreed to go back early next week to complete the painting. This will be fairly minor compared to what we have done over the last 3/4 weeks.

Launch date is still between 9 and 16 April. If this looks like being delayed due to the next boat being late, Mick is considering putting Skylark in the water anyway and probably from Popes Corner rather than Earith. More about that later - if it materialises.

Now I must go and fill up with Diesel and pasties.