Something Lost, Something Found

Mark and Sandra came to help fire up our first barbecue of the summer.  In traditional fashion, the weather misbehaved.   

Between buffalo burgers and pudding we walked to the minesweeper to see if anything remained of the stanchions we had planned to purchase for Davenham.

Henry came too....

 Minesweeper 483 has been moved to what may be its final resting place...  

The scrap dealer who owns it, had given permission to go aboard to see if we could salvage anything that was left of the stanchions but most of them he said, had been pulled out during the move - snarled up in the tug -  and were now in the river. 

 Only two posts had survived.  All the steel wires and chains were gone.

Back on Davenham... 

Later that evening Boat Husband and Henry and I returned to collect a glorious find that had been lying in the mud... 

It is beautifully made, this  post pigeon hole - a few small pins but mostly holding itself together with tongues and grooves.  Not quite sure what to use it for....we thought a wine rack but we seem to have several already and none of those are full!  Still, a nail here and there, a lick of paint and it will soon find its place.

Something lost, something found & a lot eaten!

Impressions & Reflections

Moving Day

Sunday 14th July 2013.

The removal men deliver the Captain's goods and chattels.

Henry was on paw throughout, supervising...

..or otherwise.

Things were going swimmingly in the 28 degree heat until it became clear that the sofas, due to the odd angles and limited space for manoeuvring, were not going to go through the door.

Mike arrived.  "It's making me sweat watching you struggling." He said.  "I thought the least I could do was to come over and sweat with you."

Despite the very welcome additional brain and muscle power, the sofa just would not go in.

The only other option was entry through the skylight above the stairs.  Except that a security grille had been welded over the the hole.  

In Ridley Scott's film, "White Squall", one of the characters is trapped inside the brigantine as it sinks.  Her frantic husband can't rescue her because she is imprisoned by the bars across a skylight.  

This may be one of those strange misrememberings that police say happen to witnesses "recalling" an incident but I have hated Davenham's skylight grilles from the moment I saw them.

Mike went to fetch his angle grinder.

Rolf also came to offer his brain and brawn.

And both sofas were in!!

After lunch, a power nap....

Then, well, all I said was, "Pose by the sideboard"......

The art collection is brought aboard.

After spending a night cooking in the van, the dehydrated palm is carried to the wheelhouse where some first aid is administered.

Henry was pooped.

Luke,  Great Hero of Moving Day, before...

..and after.

The lock and the stock.  The piano - a little more of a challenge than the sofas -  will follow at a later date.  

But the MOST important good and chattel of all, the Captain,  will be permanently in residence by next weekend.  

Boat Wife and Ship's Cat, Mr Henry Davenham (MGP), can't wait!