Monday 31 August 2015

A wet day but a good one

We dropped the cratch cover last night so that the overnight rain didn't make the well deck wet. This in turn meant that we could move stuff out of the saloon into the well deck to make the final section of the current phase of the big clean easier. Sheila dealt with the dinette whilst I did the saloon. The dinette is smaller but takes longer because of the more complex shapes involved. Most of the saloon is a matter of zooming along the walls and bulkheads.

By the time I'd finished all of it bar the bookcases, Sheila was about finished her end. We turned out the books together, I polished the shelves and then Sheila took batches of books in turn, dusted them and handed them to me to reshelve. My can of Pledge ran out as I finished, so I took the can of Mr Sheen Sheila had been using to do the reclining chairs. It was all done by coffee time – we had used two and a half cans of spray polish to do the entire boat.

The rain had almost stopped by now, so we went to the Trading Post for hot choc and coffee. Whilst there, the trip boat from the Ring o' Bells at Marple turned up, looking to water and pump out. Unfortunately, as the skipper aimed for the water point and went into reverse, the engine stalled out. A couple of restart attempts just led to it stalling again when put in gear.

By now, the boat's bow was over the other side of the canal in the bushes and aground on some of the sunken boats over there. Three of us managed to drag her off whilst her crew went down the weed hatch to find it choked with something filled with polyester padding. It proved to be a sleeping bag and took quite some time to remove.

After lunch and a bit of quiet time, I started a batch of dough (malted multiseed and oat) to make rolls for tomorrow and Wednesday, on the assumption that I'll be too busy in the morning to have time to do it. Whilst it was rising, we ambled back to the Trading Post. The rain had stopped by now and Martin joined us for tea. We got so taken up with nattering that it was four o'clock before I remembered the bread.

It was well risen and was soon shaped into rolls and put back in the just-warm oven to prove. I'll bake them in a bit. I'm having a lazy evening, cooking wise tonight, fresh pasta with bought-in sauce again.

Well, I've been working hard... ;)

No comments: