Those Jameisons are the business!

Well, nb Waka Huia finally left Debdale on Friday and I understand Rachel in the Debdale office was sad to see her (and, by association, us ) go. We are under instruction to visit when we are next in the UK. And we will, just not sure when that will be...

The trip up the locks was clearly a doddle for Irene as she took lots of photos of Ian working the locks, the views forward to the top of the locks and back down towards the Foxton Locks Inn and the side pounds. 

Ian took this photo - Irene looks quite relaxed. You can see her camera on the bench below the throttle. Safer there than where she keeps it on Free Spirit - on the stern hatch! I gave her a piece of drawer liner to put underneath the camera (and phone) so she doesn't lose them overboard...

 

You can see her post here. Apart from a possible hiccup of dropping Waka Huia off at North Kilworth Wharf,  she was successfully delivered to North Kilworth Marina by the inimitable 2IJ.

All the tasks were done and the boat is ready for some other family to love and enjoy her, and to build up their own treasure box of memories. 

Thank you, 2IJ - you know just how much we appreciate the time and effort you have given us. 

Waka Huia is now on the ABNB website here, albeit with the photos taken by their inspector prior to the new bowflashes and hearts. I will be watching closely to make sure those photos are swapped out so

• the boat looks at her very best, and
• those of you who read this blog and decide to look the boat up on the ABNB site, can see the lovely work that 2IJ have done, and
• point your boat-desiring friends to a boat that looks attractive, inside and out.

In the meantime, we can now focus on getting the house sorted - when we moved in, stuff was stacked in cupboards, not quite willy-nilly, but definitely on the principle of getting it off the floor and out of sight. Consequently there are some very random cupboard companions ...

And a big task is once more reducing the amount of stuff we own. As about to be previous owners of a narrowboat and current owners of a motorhome, we are well aware of what we don't actually need to live well and comfortably. And we have TOO MUCH STUFF!! We reduced the stuff mountain when we left Cherswud back in 2014, and we have already reduced the stuff set of ranges when we left Rata Street. And we now need to get down to a sizable hill - maybe a mountain in UK parlance would be OK...

We have already cleared the garage so the car can go in, and I do have to keep an eye on David as he is inclined to go out and start discarding stuff without consultation. And we know how disastrous that is in terms of required stuff disappearing and the subsequent strain on marital relationships...

This morning, David set the robot vacuum cleaner going on its exploratory trip around the house.

 

And into the bedroom it comes ...

Of course I was in bed - I had to keep out of its way, didn't I?

This kowhai tree is right outside our kitchen window and it is amazingly wonderful to watch the tui come and feed on the flowers. I have taken video of them, but do not seem to be able to get the footage uploaded here successfully, dammit!

 

This is Caitlin's rose, transplanted from Cherswud and then from Rata St. It is doing very well. And we are delighted to have it with us! Thank you to Shona for her skill and care!

This morning has already been quite busy, apart from the vacuuming happening without our intervention: I've made 5 seed crackers for David, and I've pumped up the spice quotient in the hummus I made on Saturday and turned some of it into falafel so we can have donor kebabs for dinner. We have measured the size of bound rugs we need inside the three external doors and David has put some of the leftover carpet into the car for me to take to the place that binds such rugs, I've cleaned the outside table (but not the chairs that have bird poo on them ...)