Foxglove Narrowboat

Today we knew we had to start some painting inside the boat as it was too far gone to be cleaned. We have put this off since we got the boat and hoped my “magic sponge” would have done the job but it didn’t. So off we set nice and early this morning (not) 10.30 am to start the painting……off we went straight past the marina and onto Midlands Chandlery. Far more interesting than painting.

We needed a new bow button fender as the one we had got looked like something Wish (our dog) had chewed. New fenders for the side (boring black). I wanted the marroon coloured ones as they would match the boat but Roy insisted the black as we would not see them and they would get dirty in any case. Convinced or talked around, I am not sure what he did, but we had the black ones. Bought another lamp for the boatman’s cabin as the one we bought a few weeks especially for the boatman’s cabin was too big so that has gone in the lounge (saloon) instead. Got to admit though it looks stunning. Got this months canal magazine and a lightbulb and then off we went back to Foxglove……….via the bread/cake shop. Bought ourselves some sandwiches and a
cake for lunch then headed back.

Finally around 1.30 pm we arrived at the marina to start the painting. 😦 Not before we had a cup of tea. So we put the fire on and boiled the kettle, sat down for about 20 minutes and looked at each other and thought…….we must start the painting.

We were dreading doing it because there is so much wood around the parts to be painted we thought it was going to take us forever. Anyway, team work went well. We got all the walls painted, radiator skirtings and even did the bedroom also to freshen everywhere up. We were all done by 4.30 pm and I have got to admit it is starting to look really nice. it has that “clean” feeling about it. Starting to feel more like ours.

We had our own personal firework display right next to our
boat today at the marina! Not impressed. Our new neighbour decided to get his angle grinder out and cut off the metal seats at the stern of the boat. Health & Safety was not his concern, sparks going everywhere. He really **ss*d me off.Come back Gloria!! You were our nicest neighbour ever!!!

Anyway, another day tomorrow, more jobs to do.
Looking so much better 🙂

We have found a new man to help us out on the boat. He has come to our rescue to do some of the big jobs on the boat whilst Roy and I are at work. The other man let us down which I am quite pleased about now as he was too expensive, so much so that when he quoted us for a few of the jobs I was gob smacked. That is quite a polite way of putting it. Anyway the man we found is Rob Shone. He specialises in narrowboats and undertakes any kind of work that requires doing. Anyway, he has already been over today and made a start. Well pleased!

Our toilet should arrive on Monday and he will be fitting that for us also. Never been so excited about a toilet. Roy and I will be starting some of the painting tomorrow. I hope it will all be finished by the end of the weekend. Lots to do but everything we are doing is making Foxglove look more like home. Hmmmmm. Nice thoughts 🙂

One toilet ordered today. Hurray!!
They came back in stock today and should hopefully be delivered next week. The generator has also been disconnected today ready for removal as it needs a new engine. We knew this when we bought Foxglove but we now have the difficult task of getting it out of the boat. Leave that problem to Roy.

Well done to all those out there who spotted Tigger on the “Whiter Shade of Pale ” blog. I don’t think anyone got the joke about the author was. Look again and see!

Lots of people now following the blog.

Over 1200 views, mainly in the UK, and some in USA, Italy, Poland, Australia and Netherlands.  Keep watching, exciting times to come 🙂

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Coming soon 24th November:

AWARDS NIGHT
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After waiting a few weeks the toilet that we really need for Foxglove will finally arrive back in stock. Never realised there was such a shortage of toilets. We have chosen to go for a cassette toilet because we are hoping to live on it we think it is going to be the best option when it comes to winter time. Don’t want to be stuck on a frozen canal if we had a pump out toilet, that could turn out to be very difficult whereas with the cassette type at least we can still empty what is necessary whatever the weather. Nearly weekend. Can’t wait. Making steady progress. Big changes though start next week!

I could give all  my blogs song titles but this one I could not resist. Just been to B & Q and I have never seen so many shades of white in all my life. Roy is of no help when it comes to colours as he is genuinely colour blind, so to ask him if he could see the difference between each shade of white was like ” mission impossible”. Some parts of Foxglove have got to be painted on the inside because they are too marked to be cleaned so I have tried to match the white as best I can with the parts of the boat that don’t need painting so I have chosen “antique white” . Theory to that being that antique is old therefore hopefully the same as the old white paint on there already. Convinced?? No? Neither am I but I am hoping.

The weather is starting to get really cold but this is one time of the year that was still enjoyable on the boat. When we had Marpessa we used to love taking Wish for a walk on a cold Autumn or Winters morning and then getting back on to the boat that used to be so warm with the coal, stove fire going and the evenings were even better with the glow of a real fire inside, it was really cosy and warm. I can’t wait for the next few weeks to pass by when we have finished the jobs inside and start enjoying the boat. Still lots to do before the flooring goes down. I am hoping the furnture will also arrive around the same time as the flooring goes down. Hopefully it will look fab. Still excited! Like a big kid at Christmas 🙂

Unfortunately not the kind of dirty weekend I would have liked. Roy and I have been cleaning up all weekend. The kitchen was disgustingly filthy. We have washed all the kitchen cupboards in and out and polished them all up with a wax cream. Roy has even polished up the granite worktops with a car polisher. It is starting to look a lot better. We have got rid of lots of rubbish of the boat even some folding chairs that had broken slats on them………we left them by the bins at the marina and within 30 minutes someone had taken them. Never thought they would have probably been great for firewood, at least I hope that is what someone has used them for cause they were in really bad condition. Still lots to before all flooring/carpet goes down. A think a few late nights and still busy weekends are ahead of us.

Tina Paramore came over today to give us a quote for painting the boat in 2014. http://www.canalnarrowboats.com/PAINTING.HTM It was lovely to meet her as Foxglove was originally painted by her. The boatman’s cabin that she also painted is still in good condition and we told her that we found a painting of a mole on there and apparently that is her trademark when she does her painting. Her husband came up with an excellent idea though…….so funny, we told him about the story of Tigger on the boat, he thinks perhaps Tina should paint Tigger somewhere amongst the roses & castles in the boatman’s cabin…….We will probably do this when the time comes!

We had more visitors this weekend at the boat. One huge family!

The Swan had come with her signets. They have grown so much. This is one of the nicest things about being on the canals seeing all the wildlife. All quite amazing.

Feeling a lot better today which is good as we have got lots to do on Foxglove this weekend and we are expecting some people to come over to quote for jobs. One visitor is going to be Tina Paramore. She is a very well known boat painter and she is also the same lady who originally painted Foxglove in 2005. Quite looking forward to meeting her and seeing what she thinks needs to be done on Foxglove. We have asked her to come over to quote for re-painting Foxglove as we will need to book this in as I think her next availabilty is May 2014.

We will be taking some more items over tomorrow so at least we can start to cook on the boat so it is going to be good fun sorting a few things out because the more we do the more like home it feels. I can’t beleive this time last week Foxglove had only just arrived back at the marina. Few more weeks and Foxglove will start to look fantastic.

We were going over the boat tonight to do a bit more but unfortunately I came home from work poorly and as there is not a toilet on board we thought it best that I stay at home. As the title of the blog says “enough said”. Hopefully will be feeling better tomorrow .

Well that is not quite true…..it is more “night of the round table”. Me being impatient as some might say, I just think I am excited, well I wanted to take the table over to the boat to see what it looked like as I was worrying that it would not fit. Panic over, it fits. It is beautiful. Tomorrow night we will take the chairs over, then at least we will have somewhere to sit and eat at when we are over at the weekends.

The boat is slowly coming together and whilst I think about, because I am still getting over the shock of it all, something else happened tonight very unexpected. We found a spider and I am slowly facing my fears. Roy touched it and it dropped down onto the seats in the boatmans cabin where I stood and watched for a bit and I put my hand down and let it crawl on my hand. It lasted for 5 seconds and then I started to completely panic shouting to Roy, ” Get it off, get it off”. Even thinking about it now gives me the shudders! Errrrr!