14th August - Hidden Surprises

It was Dad's turn today to go to the boat after picking up African Ron who came with his fierce set of spanners to inspect our girl from top to bottom, his nimble fingers searching her engine and advising us what the grease lever was. Apparently lots of boats have them and it was totally normal. Good job you don't have to give a couple of turns to one before you start and finish your car journey, or you'd be in the service station two hours spending a fortune on doughnuts whilst waiting for the engine to cool down.

Thankfully African Ron discovered a few hidden surprises including some scorched live wires which were touching the engine (we were lucky the boat didn't burst into flames) and some water under the floor of the boat which has built up out of condensation etc over the years and left a small pool a few goldfish would be delighted with. We've been told we need an aqua vac, the sofa moved to the other side of the boat to tilt it a bit and several elephants to stand on the gunnels for us. Apparently the elephants are to help with tilting the boat and getting the water to drain to the hatch where the water Hoover will go to suck it away.

African Ron was delighted when Mum popped up with a beer and a brolly for him, to keep him both wet and dry at the same time. Marvellous what beer can do.

After placing back the labyrinth of panels to cover up our girl's modesty (her private engine bits) Dad took African Ron home and Mum went to get some rather fetching tester pots for the interior paint. Amusingly they have ridiculous names (as all paint does) including 'acorn', 'kitchen green' and 'pea green'. There's certainly nothing green in my kitchen except vegetables and the odd bit of Stilton. We're going to try them out by painting teeny squares on the walls on Saturday and stare at them for half a day to work out which one would best suit our tastes. Knowing Dad, he'll pick British racing green whilst Mum and I stare at each other in horror.

We're hoping for a maiden voyage on our girl to Sells Green and back on Saturday, with a brief stop at the pub for some lunch and some careful steering back into the marina to moor up once more.

I can't wait to stay on her next year when our work is complete and, whilst lying in bed, we hear the owls in the night beside the towpath and the birdsong early in the morning coming through the mushroom vents - it's truly magical.