The Tour Continued

My favourite place of all:  

We contacted a specialist Gardner engineer not long after our move to the marina. 
Ray arrived with a torch he had purchased for £1 in ASDA , a spanner and a white flannel.  
His examination was single-minded and silent.  After half an hour he looked at me, looked at the engine and incanted my name three times:
“Fleur, Fleur, Fleur.”
The tone of it suggested that he was actually addressing the engine rather than me. 
There was some further tinkering before his intriguing pronouncement:
“You know the story of Henry the Eighth and his six wives.  They were all lined up and he thought: Well, I know what to do but I don’t know where to begin.”

More comfortingly, he left me with: “I’ve never been defeated yet.”
In addition to the flannel which was no longer white.

 
He visited us again on Sunday. 
“I’m like an engine,” he said, “a little fuel, a lot of energy.” Accepting two warm mince pies and declining a fry-up.
Spoke wistfully of days gone by, apprenticeships and esoteric knowledge and of machinery, of his wives and adventures, a twinkle in his eye all the while. Has invited us to his workshop where he is reconditioning another old engine.
“People ask me when I’m going to retire.  I tell them my days will be numbered when, like an engine, the bits start falling off and can’t be repaired.”
Eager to tackle our engine and the steering gear, he will bring his friend to test the starter motors.  The engine will certainly work he says.
Davenham sailing under her own power. 
We cannot imagine any sight more beautiful, any excitement so thrilling.
 

Entrance to the Engine Room, portside



Down the ladder....



The Engine

The heart of our Gorgeous Little Ship.  

In the not too distant future, that heart will be beating again.