A big step forward

How lovely it is to come home and find the kitchen tidy. I did that myself this morning; I went down to the boat a little later than usual and enjoyed a peaceful morning – gathering my thoughts and sorting out my feelings, praying, tidying the flat, watering the flowers, sorting the laundry. With my weekly schedule being quite full at the moment, there’s been rather little time for that lately.

Then Bauhaus. I’ve just borrowed a friend’s car – and as much as I used to grumble about the new Bauhaus with its drive-in area when it was being built, I’m really enjoying being able to drive right up to the stacks of battens and load the car straight away. With 40 running metres of thick sub-frame battens, it really takes the strain off. And of course I’m making the most of the ‘women’s bonus’ and am happy to have a hand. Between the two of us, lifting three-metre-long battens from a height of 1 metre is a bit easier than doing it alone.

The slats were immediately returned by two women from a Serve the City Team We’ve been painting with linseed oil varnish (for preservation); one of the lads from the team was painting the foredeck, whilst the other four helped me clear out our current workspace, as it’s due to get a wooden floor soon. That’ll be a bit cosier than the bare steel.

To clear the space, we had to move about a tonne of wood, and the makeshift workbench – which had served us well for 25 months – was dismantled. For now, the finished !!!! berths below deck are being used to store tools, screws and so on. And a heating system that’s no longer needed – does anyone need a boiler? – is serving as a paint station. It was soooo much work moving all that stuff… and I’m soooo grateful that we formed a human chain and I didn’t have to make 1,000 trips on my own. What a blessing!

Even so, every bone in my body is aching now. I then popped into IKEA briefly to get a bit closer to deciding which lamps and kitchen fronts I want. On the way to the car park, a panel I’d bought at IKEA for the toilet door fell off the trolley and iI was so tired I didn’t react quickly enough. I hope I can still use it as a toilet door on the boat – there’s just a curtain there at the moment. It’s not exactly private! After that, I was so tired I missed the motorway exit for my place. Now I’m having a massage with my foot massager… and I’m going to make myself a cup of tea with fresh mint from the balcony, let the German footballers play today without my involvement, and look back gratefully on a tiring but thoroughly satisfying day. And I’m looking forward to a quiet day – apart from a birthday party!