Christmas Time

We had a pleasant surprise on Christmas morning to receive a phone call from Dan (son)at 8am, who was walking with Sarah and their dogs on Hayling Island - no Christmas Day lie-in for them! Dan, Hannah and Sophia (aged one year, one week and one day on Christmas day) visited for the holiday. What fun to see them, but Lynn, Lyd and Julez all had the flu!

Strange Day!

In the midst of this cold spell we are all enjoying with snow and sub-freezing temperatures, we awoke to an amazing sight a few days ago. Everything was bright white even though no snow had been forecast. As dawn brought some light, we realized that the earth was covered with a heavy hoar frost. Beautiful!

All hands to the pumps!

Last week was exciting! Vaughan, a fellow yacht taxi skipper and general good egg aided me with his superior knowledge and upper body strength in swinging the engine of Lucy Morales, our yacht (currently under restoration) with the ancient cranking handle and bringing the cold lump of steel to life. Flushed with success, I let the engine run for 40 minutes or so to charge batteries, give it a good run etc. As I closed everything down to go home I noticed a tiny trickle of water, which I traced to the stern gland (the area where the propeller shaft goes through the hull of the yacht). "Only a trickle" I thought, merrily going home. A few days later I went down to do a bit more work only to find the bilges full of sea water! Forty minutes later all was dry again - but ... oh dear! I gave it one more night to sort itself out only to find the bilges half full again. Time to sort it out. After a bit of contortion and the locating of a greasing nipple, a couple of squirts of grease stopped the trickle (now visually located) in its stride. A stern-gland greaser will be the answer - another little job to do. On a more positive note, Lucy M's new wash boards look splendid!

Christmas Concerts

Well Christmas has come and gone once again, or rather our Christmas Concerts. What was a sell out concert last Thursday became less well-attended due to a flurry of snow, rare for Dartmouth, that of course caused major upheaval to the transport system. The concerts contained usual pantomime with desperadoes, wee-willie-winkies and a trio of nuns to bring mirth to the assembled throng. More music this week, but with a jazz quartet.

Variety of life

River work has once again almost finished for the winter season with just the occasional taxi shift. Meanwhile the Volunteer Band is keeping me very busy with concerts and things to organise, rehearse and perform with the ever growing band. Five of my music pupils will be taking instrumental exams next week and I now spend nearly a whole school day each week teaching. The yacht Lucy Morales (!) is keeping us busy with tidying her up, and the Gypsy build is currently at a standstill until I can afford some more epoxy resin. Finally, the church seems to fill the remainder of my time. At least there is no time to get bored!

Sailing, yachts and things

Continuing the busy October theme, we used the last week in the month to help make Pinafore, Han, Dan and Sophia's yacht seaworthy and sail her down to Brighton, their new home. The voyage was a little lumpy, but gratefully swift. We thanks God for His gracious protection. My favorite memory of the sail was Sophia (aged 11 months) laughing at her mother trying to fill a bowl with the contents of her stomach!
Another notable event took place in October when a Lovely gentleman named Roger asked me to take possession of his yacht, as he was unable to sail her anymore. I look forward to tidying her up and taking some of the kids from the youth club out on the water. I may have to think about changing her name though (see picture).

Visit to Durham

What a busy October! Earlier in the month we departed from Canterbury (see below) to travel up country to Shropshire. What a lovely county! This was to deposit Lydia, our budding writer, at a creative writing course. From there the remainder of us completed a 12-hour drive to Durham. Here we had a lovely time with Mum, Hazel, Katy Tony , Joseph and Cloe. How the kids are growing! I was able to deliver a piano accordion, kindly donated by Ed, to my mother.