Musings

Despite the cheery picture I uploaded yesterday (which did make me laugh a lot because it does actually look like us), I have woken up feeling ever so anxious.  Last night I did some working out of accounts and what’s been spent and worked out that we have already spent over what was quoted for this first stage.  A third over the quote.  Which is quite a lot, and suddenly I’ve got the FEAR.  Anyway, Pat and I have decided we need to discuss details with Tom.  I am being ridiculously meticulous about the amount we are spending and putting everything into folders and making endless spreadsheets, like some sort of lunatic.  I’m probably panicking, but I do worry about that sort of thing.  Also we looked up the boiler that Tom wants us to get and it costs almost £4,000!  Just the boiler.  So we’re not sure we’ll be able to do that.  Anyway, I will do an entry about Kabolas: ‘to Kabola or not to Kabola’.  (They are very serious marine boilers for trawlers and yachts that rich people own and fishing boats which people live on in the antarctic). It’s not so much that I’m worried we’ll run out (there is that) but that I genuinely don’t think we should spend over what we’ve got because it would be silly.  As I was saying yesterday.  It’s the old thing of pouring your money into a big hole.  And that’s quite literal at the moment what with all the holes we’re making.

look, it’s me and pat! (I’m the green one on the right)

The sun has finally come out!  This is good.  AND there are two other good things that happened yesterday: a birth in the family (little Max, Pat’s an uncle- yipeee!), and the bulkhead has been removed!   Tom and Stuart have cut out the bit of metal between the main boat at the front cabin, and apparently (I haven’t seen it yet) it looks AMAZING!  Tomorrow I shall go and take pictures of it.  I’ve been a bit low on pictures lately, must be ever-so boring.  That’s what happens when you have to go into work instead of spending the day being freelance and drawing things.  (Actually I might start drawing the boat instead of taking photos- or maybe as well as- that would be quite good).  Also Tom has advised that we get a Kabola boiler system for all the radiators which is much more expensive than what we’d planned- but apparently essential.  AND we’ve found a beautiful red stove which we want for the main living area- it’s also quite expensive.  Hmmm. At least I’ve got some work on, I suppose.  And we’re still waiting for the darned scaffolding planks which don’t seem to ever arrive.  Perhaps plan B will need to be instated.  Tom also mentioned something about Portholes for the front cabin, which could be interesting…  There will be a big skylight over the bed also.  I’m a bit jittery.  Must be the excitement of the film I’m currently editing.  It’s called ‘Insurance: the Big Opportunity’.

I popped by to do some small things that needed doing and it’s been raining a lot so a bit leaked into the boat where the chalet (also known as the hump) was cut off.  Have I ever mentioned the chalet/hump?  Maybe… Well anyway, it was a steel hump on the boat (you can see it on the pictures) so that you could get over it in the days when it was a conference boat.  We decided to cut it off as this would also be a good way to get the new tanks into the boat without having to cut a hole out the side windows.

Anyway it feels very rainy in London, and the sun is trying to get out, but not really succeeding.  So I walked over to the boat and when I got there I felt lazy and looking round at the general mess and state of it all made me a bit defeated.  I know it will get there eventually, just feels like a long way away today!  Hmmm… then I tried to get some more water out of the bit where the water lives (between the hull and the re-plating) and instead I think I hoovered out a load of waxoyl that Pat had put in- so I’m not sure my effort was very successful!

It’s very windy today so the boat was moving quite a lot and because there are no tanks in the bottom (all the diesel drums are on the roof) it feels very light.  I love the movement of it- I wouldn’t want it all the time as I might get sea-sick, but as the boat is only entirely out of the water for a few hours a day it’s kind of special when you feel it.  I imagine lying in bed with the skylight above me, the little stove going in the bedroom, the boat swaying away.  Pat will be outside making something, like a floating platforms for birds.  And I will be reading a book, and there will be lanterns and the smell of wood smoke and cups of tea and red wine when it gets dark.  And then friends will come and we’ll all sit in the kitchen around the wooden table and look at the reflections of the lights on the water.  That will be good.

I am stunned to find out that a few people are actually reading this!  SO. This weekend I obtained some feedback on the blog and the consensus was that I needed to include MORE information on the overall process of what we are doing and what it’s all about.  Jonny Pollard suggested that more in-depth analysis of the processes and the challenges/decisions etc was needed at each stage.  I have therefore decided to include more information on the ‘about’ page.  And I’m adding a post to follow this one which re-caps the general idea.  Also, more video content was recommended.  (At the moment there is none).