We all know the Tax Man goes back centuries but in Bradford on Avon the evidence still stands today.  The Tithe Barn has been lovingly restored by the English Heritage.  Lottie and I cycled there today to have a gander.  It was truly impressive!

A spectacular 14th century monastic stone barn, 51 metres (168 feet) long, with an amazing timber cruck roof.  I bet it really stank back in its hey day

There are even workshops there producing all manner of arts and crafts.  You can book yourself in for an all-dayer in glass crafts too!  Lottie and I had never uttered so many ‘ooooh, I like that’ ever before.  And I was guilty of conceding on several occasions, handing over my debit card.

We cycled along the towpath which was lovely.  The Barn is sat beside the river Avon and the Canal runs behind it.  The river is very shallow where children and dog’s frolic in the clear water.  Very pretty countryside indeed

Anyway, I keep tinkling my wind-chime and we both keep writing silly messages on my new hardware… a slate heart that came with a stick of chalk

Plus the boat smelled absolutely beautiful following the purchase of some fabulous incense sticks and the lighting of my Lampe Berger (until Lottie burned her bloody popcorn that is!).

It’s ‘loo’ day tomorrow… another chance for me to test the endurance of my lungs as I practise holding my breath for as long as possible.  Yes, I could breath through my mouth but it’s still ‘going in’!

Mind you, the other slight irritation of filling the water tank will be a little more straight forward.  I’ve affixed my hosing so that it’s permanently in the filler hole and only have to attach to the tap and turn the bugger on.  Not particularly the work of Einstein but less of an irritation on a weekly basis.

It’s amazing how ingenious one becomes when necessary.  And tomorrow, for my finale, I shall be making a spiders gymnasium out of used ice-lolly sticks, straws and margarine tubs.

I’m also tirelessly practising chop-stick fly eradication.  It’s far more interesting than using Raid and a tad more satisfying.

My new job’s going well and it all seems straight forward.  Until I get to my permanent team I suspect.

Right… I’m back to flailing like an extra from the film Birds, only with flies and self harm by slapping various part of my revealed flesh… it’s almost a bit masochistic.. or is it sadistic?  I’ll go with the first one

Having had the new helm seats installed yesterday, partly painted, it was my task today to complete the job. Well, coat one of two.

However, in true comedy sketch style everything I painted ended up tainted as I foolishly leaned on it or brushed against it.

I don’t think I’ve uttered as many ‘doh!’ remarks as I have today

British Racing Green arms aren’t something I would recommend as it’s not that fetching really.  However, undeterred I proceeded to rub down and renew the varnished cratch board and bow doors together with the wooded seat pads of the new helm chairs.

I’m so pleased with the cratch board repair; you can’t tell that it was injured at all!  Mind you, balancing on the small area at the front was a tad acrobatic at times and the sun had heated up the metal so that I was performing River Dance toward the end of the job

May get round to giving the galley partition wall (bulkhead?) a going over tomorrow too!

There’s a lot of water-staining to the wood so it’s not that even looking but at least now they’re afforded an amount of protection for the coming Winter.

Whilst taking a break I had a wee chat with two British Waterway’s employees who were checking that we all had boat licences.  A really nice pair who chatted about the forseeable sale of BA, the overzealousness of parking ticket attendants and the possibility that BA will go the same way if privatised.  They were really only interested in ticketing those they knew could pay as opposed to those less fortunate than ourselves who really couldn’t afford anything.  I thought that was really nice and caring.