A few more shiny bits

After a long, long week at work, I got the train back home.  Getting off the Metro at Bury, I was really tired, but I had tickets to see Vin Garbut at The Met.  I thought I would go in, and, if I was too tired, I could always disappear during the interval.  Very, very funny.  Although exhausted, I actually laughed myself awake.
What a superb evening. I love the way he tells his jokes, but doesn't explain them, and doesn't bother with some punchlines.  I found myself laughing, with loads of people around me wondering what I was laughing at.  Just fit my sense of hunour perfectly!
"Thomas Moore, the Irish poet.  His family were very big in Yorkshire, you know. You must have heard of them!"  Brilliant!

Got back on the boat, and started laying the floor proper.  Once the boards were cut, I treated the underside with a preservative called PK31 given to me by Scouser J.  this soaks into the wood and gives maximum protection against any moisture that may get in.



While the boards were drying I fit the Stainless rails to the rear hatch runners by drilling and tapping for Stainless M4 countersunk bolts. Nice shiny Steel rails - much better than brass!

I fit floorboards to the front third of the boat until the battery went flat in the DeWalt.  Drilling the holes for the hatch runners took too much!

I tried fitting the water fill pipe, but it was so cold it was very difficult getting the (not very) flexible tube over the fittings.  I will leave the other half until next time when I will remember to bring a kettle.

Had a look in J's boat, where he has built a very smart woodburner, with a stainless steel boiler on top.  Very smart.










Walking through Radcliffe on Sunday, I took this photo of the Former Radcliffe Times building.  It is such a shame that these buildings are allowed to deteriorate until they end up being demolished and replaced with the pre-fabricated monstrousities that are taking over Manchester these days.

Best meal of the day.

What is it with the full English Breakfast ? 

Why do we bother calling it English, when the English seem so crap at making it ?

Full English Breakfast.  Nobody seems to know how to make one these days. Just another symptom of the decline of social interaction I suppose.  The family unit is in decline, so nobody learns how to cook as a matter of growing up anymore. 

Now you have to be some self-important "celebrity" chef lording it over the common plebs.

I had breakfast in Heston's' Little Chef at Popham the other week and never again. It was terrible. They didn't even manage to cook the baked beans. How to take the successful Olympic breakfast, one of the better and more consistent breakfasts available today, and completely balls it up takes some skill.  Highly trained to be completely useless to man or beast.

Next was the "Full English" at the Holiday Inn at Stevenage.  Burnt, cold bacon, awful cold, cheap and nasty deep fried sausages, cold beans and scrambled egg that looked like something out of a 70's low budget sci-fi movie.  At least the plates were warm, so they managed to get at least one thing right in a pathetic insult of a meal at TWELVE QUID A GO!!!

Not quite up in my neck in it

Well, the plan was to use a bit of free time over christmas to get on the boat...

Unfortunately, Lady P's father is terminally ill, and she had to fly half way around the world to spend christmas with him.  All she needed was a "volunteer" to luck after the five puppies...



So, instead of spending my few work free days on the boat, I spent the time feeding five "cute little darlings" and the rest of the time cleaning up the after effects of feeding the "**** little darlings".

No music over the holiday, unless you count the bijou little Brass bandette that came into the pub one night playing christmas carols.


Spent New year up at the Old again, a great night and this year it was above freezing. By the time I got home the snow had set in though.

Managed to get an afternoon on the boat, and took delivery of loads of sheets of marine ply.  I should now have enough to finish off the floor with 18mm, and under the gunwhales with 10mm ply.

Scouser J bought himself a christmas present of a battery powered circular saw.  After a quick measure, I borrowed this to slice all the sheets into the required width to make it easier to manhandle then in through the front doors.

Note to self: Measure up in advance next time and get the timber yard to chop the plywood up for you! Another hour spent pulling splinters out of my hands!

I've got a new phone, a waterproof Samsung, which is quite robust but horrible to use.  Anyway, the upshot of this is that I need a new adapter to get photo's off the phone onto the computer - so no pictures for the next week or so...

The last concert...

 Thursday night, I went back to Union Chapel to see Lau playing.  What a crazy night.  Aiden and Kris now seem to be watching Mart as if they're worried what he is going to do next!

Back up north in the freezing fog, and we went over to St Helens to see the Family Mahone. Absolutely, definitely their last gig.  A real shame because they are just so indescribably good entertainers, amazing music, and so utterly funny...

"Are you ready to rock?"  
Cheering from the crowd
"Well, we're a folk band so you might as well $$$$ off now!"

A great entertaining night, with Donal headbutting a guitar, Jock Mahone playing in the second half, and Kat Mahone singing "You scumbag, you maggot, You cheap lousy faggot" to DJ as if she really meant it!

What!, December already ???

Working down south again, but managed to see the last 15 mins of Vin Garbutt playing at Hitchin Folk Club at the weekend.  Very Funny.

I've decided that I must get to see the boat (and maybe get some work done on it) in the very near future.

While "stuck in the south and a long way from home, where the air tastes of smoke and the beer tastes of foam" I have planned out all of the wiring and plumbing.  Now the boat is sealed, I want to get the floors down, then I can make an accurate plan of the walls, and start some serious fitting out.

Food, Beer and puppies

Busy, busy. Working Down Salisbury area for a couple of weeks, still I managed to get some great food where I was stopping at the Swan at Stoford.

At the weekend I was working at Bury Beer Festival which was good,

and then Lady P's dog had Puppies on the Saturday night.  Why do they always decide to have puppies at 4 in the morning, why never at a quarter past two on a Sunday Afternoon?

:-(

I was supposed to see Lau in Ely this week, I had tickets and everything, but I ended up working instead :-(.

Thursday went down to Manchester to judge at the Manchester Beer Festival.  Fantastic festival with all of the beers on handpump.  Had a wander down the Irwell Riviera and had a couple of pints while I was in the area.

Managed to see KAN at Bury Met on the Friday night.  They started later than I thought, so had time for a quick bite to eat in the Automatic, which was very good.