Emmaus, spanners, splicing, and a brass coolie hat....

Jackie allowed me to persuade her to go up to Emmaus today to inspect the box and coal-scuttle. The former was pronounced 'too knackered, even for us...', and the coal scuttle was deemed too fussy and twee.

"Look on the bright side" , I thought, "That's £55 saved...."...

We still managed to come away with an 'as new' beach windbreak, a paper-back novel, a nylon rope with water-ski attachment, (what does she think I'm going to do? Turbo-charge Pippin???), an antique glass bottle with tea-spoon measures down the side, and an assortment of old spanners for me to care for.

£8 the lot? BARGAIN!!

I spent the rest of the morning cleaning the tools with wire-wool and WD40. A lovely job! They came up really well, and there is something most satisfying in restoring utility and purpose to something neglected and shabby.

No doubt Jackie feels much the same about me..........

Anyway, after a quick lunch, I drove us both into Cambridge, dropping off Jackie at Addenbrookes to give blood. I, meanwhile, scooted over to Mackays to buy some Useful Stuff.

73p bought a stainless steel bolt and nyloc nut which has now restored a broken pair of scissors (that could probably be bought new for 99p, but that IS NOT the point!).

I then spent a couple of quid on some fixings for James and Amy's Klaxon. Proper-Jobs in stainless steel, they are also M8, which is handy as I have a tap set the right size....

I then cast caution to the wind and bought a load of 80, 100 and 120 grit emery cloth so I can polish up the 22" propeller. I then added 10 metres of 16mm Hemp rope for good measure. (Our stern rope is a disgrace: a nasty birds-nest of strands at either end of some nylon builder's rope)

I was casting covetous looks in the direction of a very snazzy foot-operated log-splitter when Jackie rang to say all was well and I could pick her up, so I left quickly before the temptation to buy any more toys got too strong.

At Addenbrookes donor clinic, I did a quick test to see if I was eligible to give platelets instead of whole blood. Results in a couple of weeks....

I then drove a rather sleepy Jackie home for a rest. While she snoozed, I finished playing with spanners and had a chat with our neighbour, John III, from nb Montiezoomer. (There are now so many Johns on our mooring that we have numbers- I'm John I, only, I hasten to add, by dint of being here the longest...)

I mentioned the new rope to J3, and was delighted to discover that he is an expert in knotting and splicing! A quick lesson ensued, during which the new hemp rope received a loop at one end and a properly spliced plain end at the other! Brilliant! I am going to find some more rope to practise on.......

The best part was the nylon bird's-nest stern rope had been replaced with the properly spliced hemp job before Jackie woke up!! TA-DAH!!!

John III was tinkering on his own boat too, replacing the coolie hat with a new one, as the struts had started to come away. He very kindly gave me the old coolie hat which, as it is brass and better quality than the steel one on Pippin, I am going to polish up and fit as a "summer, dress-uniform" one. I'll re-fit the steel one come autumn, when lighting the stove again will render any shiny brass black in a matter of minutes.

Tomorrow, the assault on the brass propeller begins.........