Now that the plan is for both of us to return to Edinburgh next week, we are starting to organise ourselves a bit.  When we left Edinburgh, I was working on the assumption that we would be living on the boat and perhaps taking short “holidays” elsewhere.  Now that we anticipate a longer time away from the boat, we may need to take away more than we can easily carry.  So this morning we packed a box with various items and I posted it to Edinburgh.

The breeze was cold, but the sun had some warmth in it.  There was no rain forecast, so we concluded this was probably the best chance we were going to get to touch up the paintwork on Bartimaeus.  We last did this in October, but we’ve managed to collect a few more scrapes since then – some of them in places that seem almost impossible.  We concluded it was best to try to paint the sunny side of the boat – it would be warmer and easier to see.

I started by sanding the “dark” side which was next to the bank.  We then cast off and let the wind do most of the work to get us to the other bank.

Safely tied up to the opposite bank I sanded the other side of the boat.  Clare meanwhile followed along with the paintbrush.  The owner of the  boat moored next to us hailed me from across the canal to ask about mooring restrictions.  He was pleased when we said it was the standard 14 days at this time of year.  He went on to say how much he liked this spot – because it was very handy for the skate park.  Perhaps looking for a phrase such as “it takes all sorts” he said “Swings and roundabouts.” – “Oh those too!” I responded.  He chuckled.

With the painting done, we cast off again and headed to the winding hole at Shobnall Marina.  In the light wind I managed a very smooth and swift turn.  There was a boat just about to exit the marina, so I was pleased to look competent.

We came back to the sunny side mooring again, but by now we were ready for lunch.  After lunch I had a scheduled chat with retired colleagues, so I left Clare to finish the painting on her own.

We’re not sure if we’ll have the time, inclination or weather to put a proper coat on the patched up bits, but this should at least stop any further spread of rust.  It’s been a busy day – which suits me well just now.