Today I visited hell

The hell that is known as Ikea, the car park is a multi storey, bigger than some of the car parks in town.

The shop is clean, well laid out and the staff are friendly and helpful.

It is still my idea of hell.

But I did manage to buy what I went in for.

These will be fixed in the wall of the galley to hold the cutlery and kitchen utensils.

Brrrm brrrrm

We are having the boat engine serviced and Mark came to give us a quote, when I phoned him to make the appointment he was surprised when I told him what make of engine.
It seems the engine was designed for sea going vessels and can even cope with strong tidal waters. Even with the size and weight of our boat he said we could easily get up enough speed to tow a water skier!
I don't think we will be testing his theory out!

Show Boat

We now have all the paperwork connected with our boat, in amongst it there was a copy of a magazine article about our boat.

She was originally built as a show boat in 2006 and shown for the first time in 2007, there are photo's of her a the Beale Park Boat Show, this is just down the road from us.

And in a few weeks we will be bring her back to very near where she was first shown.

Simply the best.

We spent last night and this morning on our boat, someone has pinched the bedding but the kitchenware is all intact. All the stuff is from John Lewis so very good quality albeit a strange mixture.

In one cupboard there are three huge stainless steel casserole pans and a cast iron griddle pan, all are too big to fit on the hob or in the oven. Another cupboard contains a dozen mugs, 17 plastic bowls but only two plates.

Once we arrived I set to cleaning all the surfaces and walls in the galley, I've asked my L&M to paint the inside of the kitchen cupboards white as they are very deep and dark.

This morning was taken up with meeting the people who are doing various repairs to the boat. There are boat safety repairs needed these were started over the weekend whilst we were there, the pram cover is leaking and the engine needs servicing.

Prices were discussed and bookings made, the jobs can't all be done at the same time otherwise everyone would be tripping over each other but they will all be done before we bring her down.

I only took a few photo's as it was raining most of the time.

A small canalware jug, it needs cleaning up, but it will them take pride of place on the shelf unit.

Our mooring for this weekend, so pretty with all the spring flowers in bloom.

The view from the galley window, across the basin in the rain.

What can I do with?

Four cupboards, three drawers and a wine rack?
My new kitchen is 8ft 5 and I think I'm really going to resent the wine rack eventually as neither of us drinks wine, is just a wasted space, and space is somewhat at a premium.
One cupboard will be for food, one for pots, pans and crockery, the double cupboard under the sink will be for the bin, brushes and cleaning equipment.
One drawer will hold cutlery, one will hold teacloths, foil, baking parchment etc. that leaves me one whole drawer to get excited about whilst I wonder what to fill it with!
I'm hoping to fit some mug hooks but I'm not sure what else, maybe a spice rack.
I have a 1cu ft. freezer which is about the size of one of my freezer drawers and I can get quite a lot in one. I also have a 2.5cu ft. fridge, plenty of room for bacon, eggs, cheese and milk.
We will take stuff up with us each time we visit and gradually get it ready for the journey home.

It was a perfect storm.

You know, when everything comes together at the same time to cause the maximum difficulty.

First he had the MRI scan, which I know is worrying him.

Then the sprained ligaments that meant not only could he not go to work, he was stuck in bed with his foot raised.

He had his new hearing aids fitted and it always takes him ages to adjust to them.

It was completion time for the boat sale, so lots of paperwork/phone calls to be made to organise the re naming, license, boat safety certificate etc. etc.

All the reasons above are why I didn't throttle him when he was being a major pain in the arse!

Sleep

Last night I slept for 2 hours, that was all I could manage whilst clinging to the edge of the precipice known as 'my side of the bed' all 6 inches of it!
Once he realised I was awake my L&M wanted to know if I licensed and insured the boat as I'd claimed or had I just given up faced with the interminable page of bumpf I'd filled in. Then he felt the need to discuss the list of phone calls I need to make tomorrow concerning said boat. Then to tell me he couldn't sleep, no shit Sherlock! I'd managed to work that one out. Finally he complained that I was jiggling the whole bed when I typed or turned a page on my kindle. Incredibly, by 7am he was still alive and fast asleep, I meanwhile was half asleep and heading for work!