Today has been great. Lots of friends have been over to see the boat and it has been quite heart warming to feel their love and support. Angus came back over again today with a beautiful surprise for me and Roy and that is a hand drawn picture of a Gardner Engine. It is a beautiful picture and it will take pride of place around our dining area. I am sure it will be quite a conversation point. Angus came over to talk man talk with Roy…..Engines! We all went through and started up Foxglove for the tirst time ourselves. Quite a scary moment. What a sound though. I still love the sound of the engine, it is fantastic.

One special guest who we have been eager to the show boat to is Wish, our border collie. It is the first time she has been back to the marina in weeks and we were wondering how she would react. It was q uite unbelievable because Wish has never been on this boat yet, but it is moored in exactly the same place as our old boat was in (Marpessa 2). Off she went down the jettie and stopped and waited by the boat. It was unbelievable. Have the video has proof otherwise I don’t think I would have believed it myself.

By the time the afternoon came we had a boat full of friends. The boat was still looking a bit of mess although we had managed to do a few jobs in the morning but it just did not matter as having friends over just made the boat feel homely.Haydn & Lynda (also boaters) took some photos of Foxglove as she had passed them on her way to the marina and so they gave us a selection of photos which was really kind of them. I am going to get some framed and put them on the wall. Gloria, who I think is an amazing woman,  who used to be our neighbour at the marina also came over. Gloria knows  me far too well. She made me laugh as she bought me some brasso and some metal polish to clean the brass window frames and mushroom vents with. Just what I needed. Only me could get excited about brasso, believe me! I always find Gloria quite amazing as she manages to cruise her boat on her own, opening the locks and everything single handed. She is quite an inspiration.

After they had left it was time to tackle to toilet. Roy had a bit of a problem to say the least. What a difference a few inches makes, and no I am not being rude but dismayed by the fact that toilet would not fit through the door. Only one thing for it, Roy had to get a saw out and cut it apart. Part of the loo is outside and part of it that looks like a big beer barrel is still stuck in the boat. Even though Roy had taken it apart it still would not fit through the door so tomorrow night he has got to take a jigsaw to cut it apart……..I do not want to be there when he does it as the toilet is full of compost and the barrel……Oh God I can’t even think about it. Anyway, tomorrow night disposable gloves and bin bags are definitely going to be required. Probably a nose peg also!!