A float on Miracle - 20ft narrowboat

Started the day wondering why my alarm hadn’t gone yet, it was light out, but only 7.50am.

Having gotten up at 6am the day before I decided to set the alarm for 8am. I’ve scheduled to stay at the boat yard today and do my work remotely. Having just hung the American Oak doors two nights previous, I want to finish my doors.

**I am enjoying my new routines immensely. **
I get up feed The Duck, put the coffee on and make my bed up, then do the brushing, washing as necessary. By that time the Bialetti has done its job and I open the doors to sit outside and have my cafine whilst staring at the beautiful, non dock side of the river.

It’s ace. I’ve created a time just for me which is *a first*.
Morning routine used to be roll out of bed, check blackberry, scramble, throw food at Duckie and scramble again.. this is way better.

So I’ve allocated time to each task I need to accomplish today, which is something I desperately need or I get nothing done and with the coffee empty and Duckie full, I begin.

I didn’t get far today; but I made a lot of tea.

I did however get to play with two new toys. A file sander and a nail gun.

First, I show Alan my piece of wood striping that I want to add to the doors. Then once I have explained that I want to cut it into sections, he blows his cheeks up and scratches his head. That’s not a very elegant way to do it, he says. The purpose of that strip is to keep the weather out; if you go and cut it you let the wet in. Its a bad design.

I get my other doors from the work shop and show him what I mean to do.
Like this. I point to the three sections.

Again, he blows up his cheeks and this time rubs his chin. No, let me see the wood. I hand him the wood. And the hinge locks. I hand him the hinge locks. He puts it all on the work shop table spreads his arm out and stares down. He plays with the hinge lock and sits it on the wood.

**I feel useless. My master game plan for the day has just been foiled. **

The man is pondering things unknown and I am just staring at him.

*Cuppa Tea Alan? *I am already walking toward the “kitchen.”
Yes Please. In the week or so that I have been here I have never heard Alan say anything other than “Yes Please” to every offer of tea. Amazing.

I like Alan. For the first two days Alan didn’t talk to me, unless I addressed him, he was listening though. Paddy and Alan look like laurel and hardy in a manor, Paddy is all angles and wiry and Alan is lumbering and round. I’m betting both of them are seriously strong though, i think you have to be here. It’s also clear that both of them are very talented.

Right. Yer gonna sand this down here, in a nice little dip then the latch will meet the other bit nicely and you’ll still have a single piece of wood to keep the wet out, see?

Ok, I’ll go get some sand paper then.

No. You’ll use the file sander. And with that Alan lumbers over to shelves that have machines and tools and boxes and rags everywhere and produces “the file sander.” When he turns it on to show me how to use it, all I keep thinking is how I want to do my nails.. it does look a lot like an emery board!

After a few corrections I have sufficient mastery of the file sander and I create the two dips required I am looking forward to using the file sander again on Friday (but that’s getting ahead of the story!)
My next job involved the nail gun. Gluing and then “pinning” my wood strip to the doors was easy, except that several times just as I was about to pull the trigger suddenly as if on queue Duckie would decided to walk between me and the doors and bump into me.

7 nails took 15mins. That has got to be a Guinness world record for the slowest job ever.

So, I didn’t get heaps done today but I did something. I also did all my “work for work” and I managed to explain to Jon Snow that i actually want to buy one of his Wendy stoves, which is good!
AND my solar panels will arrive tomorrow! Whoo Hoo.

Today =Win.