A good day for touching up!

Am I getting too worried about weather forecasts? I suppose if I was spending my days watching Cr*p in the Attic and Countdown to a Hip Replacement it wouldn't matter much but as a boater, I need to know what sort of weather is on the horizon. Well, we have been told a wintery blast is coming from the north this weekend and this could be accompanied by icey showers so, to get some paint on the boat, I had to make the most of the dull bit during the week.

So yesterday, I took Skylark just up to the GOBA moorings next to the Stretham Old Engine House, a matter of a kilometre or two. This meant I could rub down the various bare bits on the stb side and apply some undercoat. While I was there, one of GOBAs Officials introduced himself and checked my membership. We had a nice chat for a few minutes (as you do) and he went on this way. After an hour or so, I applied the top coat of Brunswick Green gloss Weathershield (to match the existing) and then went on my way to the next mooring which was just before the railway bridge at Popes Corner Marina. This meant I could rub down and paint the port side. At about 3pm, a few spots of rain stopped play and I decided pack up.

As I had other jobs to do on the boat, I went inside and pottered about in the engine 'ole. Not wanting to tire myself out with all this activity, I stopped at about 4pm and prepared for a quiet evening and night on the river, including making the fire, concocting what masqueraded as a meal and opening a bottle of cider. While I did this, I was not aware that one of my fenders had got itself into a squeaky position on the jetty. When I went to bed, I eventually got off to sleep but the frequent squeak, every 20 seconds or so, woke me up again at 2am. The only answer was to get dressed and sort it out, which I did. I should have had more cider with my meal.

This morning, the new paintwork didn't look like it had suffered from the light rain and as, the weather was starting to look grim, I up-sticks and headed back to Lazy Otter where I reversed in to my mooring. It's fairly easy to do this solo if the wind is coming directly from the north or south but virtually impossible if the wind is coming from any other direction.

Before I left, I cleaned the inside of the boat including a complete sweep of the floor and mats, and I did all the other routine bits and pieces including oiling the sterndrive. I was pleased to see there was absolutely no water in the bilges - what a pleasure it is so see a dry bilge!

I was home by 1.00pm which gave us time to visit Tescoland and then catch up with Tim Whataclot on Antique Roadtrip. What fun.

BFN