Easter holiday - Day two

Had a lazy start to the day! Woke up to a grey and cold morning with the rain lashing down so decided to have a full fried breakfast; bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms, fried bread! Finally left my mooring at about 10.30 to head up to the Battlefield moorings at Shenton. The rain had stopped but the wind and the cold were most definately still there! Arrived at the moorings and moored up being only the 2nd boat there. I spent the rest of the say working! Stripped off all the brass from the woodwork, sanded it all down and got the first coat of stain on. Window sills inside completed and dried quickly as did the surround to the rear hatch so I installed my bell as seen in the picture above. The other 2 pictures show the woodwork all rubbed down ready for their first coat of varnish. Due to the extreme cold and damp, that first coat is still very tacky so I have carefully shut the doors in the hopes that the fire will raise enough heat to dry them all off ready for the 2nd coat tomorrow. I certainly wasn't going to photograph the first coat as it looks a mess right now!

A second boat moored up in front and started carting large logs of wood towards their boat from the adjacent woodland where BW have undertaken maintenance. I decided to strike a deal with them with regard to using my chainsaw in return for some wood and it turned out that not only did they have their own chainsaw but there was plenty of wood for us all! We did join forces though and the three of us spent an hour carrying and cutting plenty of woodwhich now sits on my roof. It struck me how lovely it is in the boating community that I was working with a couple I had never met before in my life, chatting about all sorts and offering cups of tea and coffee between us - not to mention me using a chainsaw inches away from their hands! It turned out they were both teachers who had given up the 'rat race' to live aboard and now continuously cruised having just over-wintered in Warwick and worked at Warwick Castle for some 'pocket money'. It's lovely that new friends can be made within an hour of meeting complete strangers.

Objectives tomorrow: to be able to give all the woodwork the second and, (hopefully,) final coat of stain and then screw back all the brass ready for the roses decorations to be applied the next day. (Wow! just realised that I can't even write this entry without it sounding like a lesson learning objective!)