She's looking grand....

We didn't manage to make it up to XR & D this week as other commitments got in the way, but the lads have sent us some photos, and she's looking great, all decked out in her 'battleship grey'. Note that Gary managed to avoid being photographed this time. (Shame on you, Gaz)

Almost ready to go now. The move to Beacon Boats for the fitout will be on Tues 18th November. Unfortunately, it looks like Rog won't be able to get the day off so it will be up to me to go and record the occasion for posterity. I'm not very good with a camera (either behind it or in front of it!) so I think I'll just take loads of photos and hope that there are one or two that are fit to go on the blog. Watch this space....

S.A.B. signs

In the post that I did on 10th October, I said that I'd post some photos of the excellent work that Sheila of S.A.B. signs had done on Beacon's current boat 'Merryweather'. I have now got the photos from Ali and here they are :

We think that the little Cornish 'piskie' is absolutely beautiful, and we are planning to ask Sheila to paint something similar on Windsong - not sure what yet, but we have some ideas floating around! You'll just have to wait and see....

Update

Just a quick post to stop the blog dying on its feet!!

The shell of the grand boat Windsong should be moving to Beacon Boats around the middle of November. The fit out will then commence.

We hope to be able to be there for the arrival and get some photos to record the event

Nearly there...

We paid another visit to XR & D yesterday, maybe our last visit as the shell is nearly finished - only about another week or two's work left to do now. However, we may go up again during the last week of the month to see her fully finished and decked out in her 'battleship grey' before she moves to Beacon for them to commence fitting out.

The bow

'Superbuilder' Gaz almost managed to avoid being photographed this time!

Chris & Lee - Lee is not in overalls because he's recovering from a back injury and only allowed to do things like paperwork and make tea

Bow well deck

Recessed panels where the boat name will be painted

How sad is this!! - Rog's engine still encased in plastic

Don't think much of this cafe - I had to carry the tea!!

After leaving XR & D we then went to Beacon of a 'fix' and to have a look at the progress of their current boat, 'Merryweather'. This is also nearly finished, and will be out of the workshop soon to make room for 'Windsong'. Sheila from S.A.B. Signs has made a superb job of the boat name, with a gorgeous little Cornish 'piskie' sitting on a toadstool underneath. Unfortunately, we forgot to get a photo before we left but will try to get Ali to take one and email it to me. Sheila will also be painting our boat name, and I am now desperately trying to think of a picture that we can use to do her beautiful artwork justice - all ideas will be most welcome!

Sorry Ang, I lied!

I had a call yesterday lunchtime from our friends Ang & Tony who live in Kings Lynn. 'Are you doing anything?' says Ang. 'No' says I. 'We thought we might come over and see you this afternoon'. 'Ok' says I, 'see you about 2'. At about 2.20 the phone rang - the car had overheated on the A1, and they had pulled into a petrol station not a mile away from us to let it cool down. The A1 outside our village is a nightmare at the moment due to a contra-flow, and the traffic was solid and hardly moving. An hour and a half later they still hadn't appeared, so I phoned to be told that it had overheated again, they had abandoned it in a layby, and were walking to our house! Five minutes later they arrived - by this time it was nearly 4. The traffic cleared after 6, so Rog took Tony back to the car, and they managed to get it to our house without it overheating again. 'Stay the night' say I. They didn't need much persuading, and so, after a few phone-calls to cancel their evening arrangements, and to their grown up daughter at home, to check that she would be in to look after their 14 yr old son, they did!! A huge Chinese take-away and much alcohol was consumed, and we had a great evening. What could be better than spending an unexpected evening with good friends? Not much I say! So, knickers inside out, and with the coolant on the car topped up, they left at about 10.30 this morning. No trouble with the car at all on the way home, Ang says it must have been sabotaged! 'Not guilty' I cried - but sorry Ang, I lied - I put the fluence on it from afar!! Thanks for a great evening - see you soon.

Does the NeoCounter speak with forked tongue?

We have been watching the NeoCounter with interest since we started the blog - and are beginning to doubt it's reliability - 515 hits from 41 countries?? We know who some of the readers are from other countries - family members and friends who live abroad, but I seriously doubt that it is of interest to any of the visitors from places like Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand etc. Some we know are from 'Comment spam', which we had a bit of trouble with at first before we discovered how to keep them out, so I suppose that they are still visiting. Can anyone tell me, do the automatic computers they obviously come from pick up on certain words in the blog - like 'pretty' for example - we had a huge jump in number of countries after the last post, which contained the word! Makes you wonder doesn't it ? There are some weird perverts out there!!

And, while we are on the subject of comments - come on you lot - those of you who know us, and those who don't, we would like to know what you think. Are we doing it right, or is it boring you senseless? (Lesley from nb Caxton is excluded from this - as is Greygal from DogsOn Tour, and Chas and Ann from Moore 2 Life - thanks you lot - you are the only readers that we've had comments from - keep 'em coming)

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No it's............

SUPER-BUILDER!!!!!!

No sooner had I posted the last progress report than we received some more photos from XR & D and I was moved to doctor the above photo and send it to Gary!! Still a shame about the pose though!!

Cabin sides - and portholes!

And again

Gary working!

How pretty is our bow-locker?

And fireworks to celebrate!!

Thanks Gaz - you're a 'Super-hero'