The berry run.

Once the calidity of the day had passed we followed the badger trails and failing sun along the river until we met the abandoned canal.

It once held the promise of connections south, but now it tells the tale, in sandy-silted whispers, of grand schemes lost and boats that never came.

Here, among the honeyed grasses, ghostly thistledown and dandelion globes, is the bramble larder we came to raid.

The blackberries were already fat and full, made sweet by summer sun. We filled our pot to the brim and gorged ourselves on the fruit, our fingers juice tainted and torn by thorns. Our willing sacrifice for such pleasure. Once sated we turned tail in the dying light and chased the night shadows home.

Island Constructed

You are the sea; salt wind

And endless in your pursuit of sandy cove.

You are seaweed and waves

Rushing at the shore.

I am the land; craggy

Rocks and fields of tilled earth,

Until in your sight I become beach

Welcoming your approach.

Within me you will find safe harbour

And in your embrace

 I become an island.

Anger in the hold

Two-toned timber, cracked and caulked

upon water, weighing heavy

as strides cause tsunamis

to flee your bow.

You are long-tailed and laden low

with laboured words carried as cargo

in a hull dark as the pitch

potted to protect it.

The rhythmic stutter of engine splutter

frightens fish from shadows

to shelter in the dun-coloured

depths away from you.

You drop anchor before me, bow now

sluggish in the silty slur and your

word-hoard hauled from hull is dumped

like fish fresh from the trawl.

They lie limp and listless between us,

whitebait words losing breath and beating less

whilst you fend off and slink slowly away

like the Mary Celeste.

Summer Sun and Painting the Roof

When we had the boat built we only had a holding coat of paint applied to her by the builders. We were't even sure at the time what colour we wanted the boat to be, so on a whim, and due to location, we plumped for Oxford Blue. We're really happy with the colour, but in the height of summer when the boat is sat in full sun the heat the colour holds is unbearable. During the last heatwave I left a thermometer on the gas locker on the back deck and it read 51.9C. It felt a tad toasty inside the boat too. So, we took the decision to paint the roof a more suitable colour, one that wouldn't soak up the sun's rays so readily. We ventured vaguely into this territory with The Green Man, but the red shade we chose wasn't really very effective. This time we decided to go all out and do it properly.

I sanded out all rust and primed where I had taken the paint back to bare metal. I then meticulously sanded the roof of paint drips from the original blue coat and tried to remove the drips of solder left over from when the boat was constructed. This was a fair old job, and after three hours I wished the boat was 50ft smaller and 10ft narrower. I had a little help, though.

There was a lot more rust spots than I was expecting for such a new boat, and the heatwave kicked in just as work started. The roof became too hot to stand on after 10am.

My friends over at the very lovely Green Boat Services recommended Jotun Marine Paints to us. Jotun have a much larger colour palette than International and are more affordable so we thought we'd give them a go. First we applied an undercoat of Vinyguard 88 primer/tiecoat (I exchanged kitty help for human help).

We're not sure which paint the builders originally used. I'm sure it's in our paperwork somewhere, but because we intend to paint the entire shell again (eventually) we thought a slight variation in the blue that we chose would be okay. We decided that it would be nice to keep an Oxford Blue border and use a lighter colour for the main part of the roof. The Oxford Blue Jotun supplied turned out to be a near perfect match (Jotun Pilot 2 BS381c Oxford Blue 105) and we thought their Silver Grey would compliment it (Jotun Pilot 2 Ral 7001 Silver Grey). The photos of the boat do not do the colours justice so here are the colours from the paint charts.

We painted the blue border first. I think we did two or three coats in the end. Another coat will be applied when we come to paint the sides to tie the sides and roof together, and to hide the silver paint I accidentally splattered onto the handrails!

The Jotun paints used in conjunction with their thinner was easy to apply. On the hottest days we were limited to painting only in the mornings. This caused my two week paint schedule to go completely awry, but with Rob's help we eventually got a couple of coats of silver-grey on too.

 Rain stopped play on a couple of occasions. It was lovely to see the high gloss finish repel the raindrops.

Our lovely high gloss finish was not to last though. It was beautiful to look at, but slippery as hell. Our roof is used a lot for access to the solar panels, the lawn, taking the water hose across, to sit on, and to lie on. I took the hose across in the rain to fill the water tank and it was like trying to traverse an ice rink. We always planned to make it non-slip but was originally going to use sand in conjunction with the paint. A fellow boater mentioned he had problems with his boat roof when the previous owner had used sand. It had cracked and rain had got under the paint coats causing rust patches to bubble up from below. In lieu of his experience and advice we decided to opt for International's Non-Slip Additive. It looks and feels like talcum powder (I don't know whether talc would be a cheaper alternative) and leaves a lovely non-slip surface.

The roof isn't completely finished as I'd like an Aegishjalmur painted onto the sliding hatch (and a Vegvisir on the bow locker), but we're sneaking ever closer to a nicer looking boat.

Lammas

We met together, the few of us, to mark the start of the harvest festivals. This is my favourite run, leading up to Samhain and Yule. I like the darker time of the year and Lammas signals that soon Summer will break and Autumn will return. Not yet, though. Not quite yet, but nearly...

So, we gathered on a warm evening for our hlaf-mas ('loaf-mass') on the water. Rob cooked a beautiful stew with blueberries and pork, and to accompany it our loaf, Barry Wheatycorn, our tribute to John Barleycorn.

Barry Wheatycorn (of the burned nipples).

'John Barleycorn Barry Wheatycorn must die.'

And so, only a head is left to be returned to the earth.

An Unexpected Guest

Our dinner was disturbed last night by a clatter from the back deck. Lolly was the first to investigate the source of the commotion.

This juvenile cormorant seems not to to have acquired a shyness for humans (or cats) yet. He sat, quite peacefully, on the solar panel rack that I left balancing precariously across the back deck when we painted the roof. Lolly wasn't quite so sure of our visitor. After poking her head out of the door she decided her best course of action was to sneak away and abandon ship.

The cormorant watched her slink by before closing his eyes for a quick snooze. He eventually moved away after dark to sit on the tiller of our neighbour's boat, and Lolly finally felt it safe to return.

Parallel Universe Saturdays? [ybw.com]

Strange things, they say, happen at sea, but that's nothing compared to the strangeness of last Saturday in our marina car park.

I was helping the manager out in his absence by manning the phone and computer in the little marina hut. Late that afternoon, just before closing between 3.30pm and 4pm, a couple arrived at the gate and enquired about moorings. The marina is full at the moment, so unfortunately there was no room for them, but we had a nice friendly chat about the marina and Lolly the flood predicting cat. They said a cheery goodbye, and everything seemed all right with the world.

A few minutes later two gentleman arrived at the gate. They called the office number and I went out to chat to them. They had come to view a boat. All the adverts for the marina state that boat viewing is strictly by appointment. This is because the marina is a key-holders only site and it is run by one person who may not be available at a drop of a hat to show people around. I explained to these two men that I was manning the office and the manager was away but would be back a week tomorrow. They were welcome to book an appointment with him on his return. The more talkative of the two said they'd travelled 180 miles just to be here. I apologised to them and as I was explaining that I'm not allowed to admit visitors onto site another man accompanied by a woman arrived. They too wanted to see a boat for sale but they couldn't remember which one or where they had seen the advert. I kindly explained again the viewing policy as stated on all adverts, and that I have no authority to show visitors the site or boats. The man who arrived as part of the later couple started to become angry and demanding. He wanted contact details of people with boats for sale, and became aggressive in manner when I declined. He started calling abuse about the marina at me, and the way it is run. The situation was escalating at a pace that matched the raising of his voice.

In the end I backed away from the gate because nothing I could say would calm him. He wanted access to the site and I certainly wasn't going to concede after such behaviour. The group of people eventually left and made their way to the car park where the loud shouts of abuse continued. I could hear it from inside the office, even above the sound of the radio. After five or so minutes they left the premises. I was considering calling the police.

Two days later I was shown a forum post

Strange, I thought, I don't recall three men as a group approaching the marina on Saturday, and the two that did travelled a great distance just to visit us, their only destination. I also never told anyone the manager would be away longer than the eight days he specified he'd be gone, but the forum post states 'a couple of weeks'. But yes, there were two other families, if he is indeed referring to the couple that arrived first and enquired about a mooring only, and also the couple with the abusive man. Can this really be the same incident? They were, after all, the only visitors that day and his post echoes some of the things the ranting man shouted at me.

If this is the afternoon and incident that the man in the forum post is referring to the 'unacceptable behaviour' in my own opinion was that exhibited by those on the other side of the gate. Not only the actions of the man who lost his temper, but also that of the three people who chose to stand and do nothing whilst I was verbally assaulted by a male in their company. Had the tables been turned I would have stepped in to try and calm the situation and defend any one of them, a stranger, from the onslaught of another.

But perhaps the parallels of this day and his post are merely a coincidence. Perhaps the gentleman is referring to events of a different Saturday, a day that I do not recall. A Saturday lost in time. 

I have dusted off this blog (I've been meaning to update for a while now my degree is finished) to take the opportunity to put online what actually happened that day. I think my side of events, the other side to his story, deserves to have a home online too - at least for as long as his does.