Goole
Yesterday wasn’t quite a day off. It was time to put a coat of paint on the bathroom walls. As I opened the tin of paint I’d bought about a month ago I realised I’d bought a tin of butterscotch angle delight!
Mick drove to Hessle to meet a man about a chair, then went to say hello to his mum at Hessle Foreshore, a rather lovely place to rest close to the Humber Bridge. It did also mean he got to see the next couple of ships heading for Goole and Howden Dyke too.
The second coat was done this morning, the edges cut in whilst Mick cooked breakfast and then the roller came out to fill in between. The floor just needs a good clean now and that room will do.
We collected together the visitor bedding for the boat, all of which has had a good wash this week. The dinette cushion covers had come up clean, but sadly a seagull had decided to leave it’s mark on one of them! Tilly was left in charge again as we drove over the Wolds back to Oleanna.
The sun had gone in and there was a keen chilly wind, a shame the first job was to do a second coat on the tunnel bands. I’d bought myself a couple of brushes this week, one for cream one for red, to add to the collection, one for each paint or varnish.
Sadly even though I thought I’d cleaned them out well the new brushes were not nice and soft. By the time I got towards the end of each tunnel band they were just starting to soften up again. Not my best purchase, so instead of cleaning them out they headed straight for the bin. I’ll hunt out some better brushes with thinner bristles next time.
Inside Mick was starting to battle with putting the dinette covers back on. The fabric was dry clean only, but we’d risked a gentle wash in the machine. They were certainly a tight fit. Unfortunately once the cushion was back in the first cover the zip broke, this happened on another one, so with the zipper that had come off when we removed them the other day there were now three cushions to sew back into their covers.
The fabric had grown over the last four years and by the end of the evening thankfully they were settling down again.
Mick put the bow fenders back on. Having the chance to stand and fit them in front of the boat meant it was easier to attach them, altering how the lower fender sits to give better protection to the lower bow when we go up in locks. There had been a bare bit of steel on the stem which is why we bought the extra fender. Hopefully the bare patch won’t return.
Duvets and pillows were returned to under the sofa in their vacuum bags. Air sucked out as they went in to aid them fitting into the space.
Then all the paints, sandpaper everything was sorted through. Excess white spirit and the sander boxed up to head back to the house. The bow locker where paint is kept had a sort out, job done.
All afternoon cars had been turning up and people were enjoying a drink or several at the Boathouse club. As the afternoon progressed so did the merriment and the noise. Looking over at the marquee alongside the bar it looked chocka, where had peoples social distancing gone? We were very glad we’d taken a bottle of wine with us and could stay well out of the way.
They got louder and louder, one lady in particular could be heard above everyone else. We’ve once been into the club for a drink with the Margees several years ago, the beer was nice and it was a pleasant quiet atmosphere. Today was completely the opposite. There are a few minutes of Line of Duty we’ll have to watch again as we couldn’t hear them it was that loud. I personally don’t understand why they all hadn’t gone home to watch the TV!
0 locks, 0 miles, 1 bathroom painted, 5 cushions squeezed in, 3 seams sewn, 2nd coat, 1 full sofa, 1 list of missing items, 1 tidy paint locker, 2 chillis, 1 bottle wine, 1 extreamly noisy pub, 2 quiet boaters, 2 shots, 1 body, 1 high tide, 1 scrapyard fire finally out.