We are almost there.

This morning our post arrived, thanks to Tina, who packs up our post and sends it on to us from time to time. It always feels like Christmas when the post arrives, because we never really know what to expect. After I had unpacked the box which the post came in Marmite claimed it for her own and made herself comfortable. The past couple of days have been long days especially with Keith not feeling 100%. We continued doing the paintwork on the boat. It has been worth the long days because Hadar is now looking very splendid. Today I finished painting the stern. I then washed, T-cut and polished the cabin sides and cleaned the brass. Keith has continued to work on the two Buckby cans that we have, they are beginning to look nice now. He needs to add another coat of red and then the white bands.Keith then gave our summer chimney a coat of black gloss to refresh it a little, as it has spent the winter under the back counter. Tomorrow the brass on the chimney will be cleaned.Yesterday after walking into town and having lunch at the Tai Pan, a chinese buffet restaurant, which was scrummy, I set about washing down the inside of the back cabin, now that the stove is out. All of the ribbon plates were taken down one by one, washed, dried and put back after I had washed the walls down. It does get very grubby over the winter, because the stove gives off a lot of dust from the fire, so it is no surprise how dirty everything was. In the photo above you can see our latest acquisition of a new ribbon plate. It is just to the right of the glass globe of the oil lamp. It is a hand painted picture of Annie Sanders by Joan Wandsworth, and very pretty it is too, and a welcome addition to our collection. The stove was given a coat of stove paint and will then be polished in a couple of days. The final job of the day was to hang the new curtains I have made. I now have a winter pair and a summer pair of curtains.
Tomorrow will be a day of finishing off and then packing away the paint pots and brushes.
We have had a few visitors over the past couple of days. Daisy and JohnBSA from Boat and Canals, Daisy is looking to crew a boat with someone, as she wants to learn the ropes so to speak, so if anyone wants a crew member for a few days then contact Daisy through the Boats and Canals Website. Mike from NB Solveigs-Song also paid us a visit yesterday. Today Roy from NB Gerald No13, along with his whippet Thomas arrived in Uxbridge and came to find us. They are coming to the Little Venice Cavalcade which takes place from the 2nd-4th May. So after another long day, we are now settled down in front of the TV watching a DVD, I am quite sure we will be in bed early again.