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!).

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

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.

Our memories nightmares, hyperventilation and stress-bedwetting incidents after enduring Little Venice are distant , dusty and thankfully dry… it was time to venture out and sample another of our new home-town restaurants!

Pizzeria Amici, Silver Street, Bradford on Avon, come on down!

I’d had a great day… had a haircut, dropped the car off to have the full works at our local Arc carwash and walked into Trowbridge for a spot of shopping where I acquired two super pairs of shoes and a fabulous pair of Bench Jeans.

I also took the opportunity to stock up on toiletries, water and adult fizzy pop for our forthcoming 6t’s Soul Weekender!

I was is a great mood

I even had time to waste lacing my new DC Pixie Swirls with an intricate and totally useless design

The Inga From Sweden Sweetheart Clogs are so gorgeous though… ever ever so comfortable and according to the blurb they’re also ‘orthopaedic’!  Seriously, well worth the money and hand-made too.

Even the car valet wasn’t a disappointment.  The young lad had polished his little arms off I’m sure… it was gleaming inside and out.  I’ll be going back there for sure!

Anyway, as usual, I digress… back to the food…

Amici, that’s Amore!  Lottie and I entered this bijou eatery and were immediately welcomed by a rather handsome young man with a massive smile. (tick).  We were seated on a table for two by the window and given menus straight away that doubled up as place-mats (tick).  Seen before but ingenious all the same.  The choice was authentic Italian, not your cheesy ‘we think we’re Italian’ but proper Italian (tick)  Judging from the young man’s looks and the older man (that made me dribble a little bit) who I think were related, looked Italian by decent (tickity-tick).

There were boxes of imported Italian water, bags of strong Italian flour and jars of stuff such as olives, peppers etc. for antipasti. Even as we approached the door the smell beckoned us in and our resistance was nil.

We chose a shared starter coming in at £10 that was enough to feed four… an assortment of Italian meats adorned a large platter of salad leaves and grissini… upon removing some of the meat I was presented with a generous sized bowl full of black and green olives gently floating in the most amazing suspension that contained the taste of tomato, citrus, herbs and garlic.  It was also served with a home-made loaf that had been quartered before being toasted.  Warm, fresh and delicious!

Our main courses were just as faultless with which I enjoyed both the house white and a bottle of S Cassiano still table water.

We weren’t able to finish our meals as they were so mahoosive, but that wasn’t a problem for the handsome Waiter… he whisked our food away returning a short time later with my pizza in a box and Lotties Carbonara in a take-away container packed neatly in a wee brown paper bag.

I think I need my hearing investigated though… I’m sure I heard the gorgeous Waiter say ‘can I have your number’ but instead he actually said ‘can you pop your number in’ meaning my PIN

Will we visit again?  What do you think!  YES!!!!!

Aren’t they lovely!  They’re quite iridescent so take on different colours in different light.  The photograph makes it all look quite bright but in reality, without the glare of a camera flash, they’re dark, opulent and cosy looking.

Because they’re late and came in dribs and drabs the maker offered me some free matching cushions.  Would have been rude to say no, so I said yes :)

The interior designer wont receive a link or mention though as I feel the service hasn’t been good so I don’t want to recommend them.  The internet is a powerful tool isn’t it!

My Sister and her Husband paid me a visit yesterday too.  We spent a lovely afternoon in the local having a natter and came back to the boat for more chatter. Here they are on the front of the boat. Sarah was scared she’d fall in!