The Greek Goddess of Fixing Things........

is called Araldite........

Sorry.

This came to me at work today, quite why, I know not.......

(And given the badly broken state of the Greek economy, may Araldite smile most beneficently upon them and restore them to robust financial health.)

Okay, so you may well imagine from the rubbish I've just written that I may, of late, have been working too hard.....

Nope.

Just finished another week of annual leave, returning to Hole-Making wizardry this very Solstice day......

Annual leave was fab, by the way, and of which, more another time.

It also explains the absence of any posts since June 7th......

Amonst other things, I mucked about a bit at Emmaus doing-up old bikes and neglected tools, prodded some old bikes of my own and visited my Mum and Dad in Bournemouth.

My Mum has not been very well and is recovering from some fairly major surgery. We await the outcome of histology......

Were I of such a mind, I suppose I could use this Midsummer Solstice to offer a libation to Araldite, in the hope that she might see her way clear to fixing Mum.

Now, I try to be respectful of all faiths and faith in no faith. (Like Bob Hope, I don't wish to be ruled out of Paradise on a technicality), but on further reflection, I think I'll stay firmly within the strict precepts of the Anglican Communion on this one.

This means forgetting about a libation and drinking it instead.

Cheers, Mum, and God Bless. xx

In The Gallery.......

Anyone remember 'Vision On' with the late great Tony Hart?

Cue South Bank Five (Dum de dum dum, dum de dum, dum de dum dum dum) on the xylophone.

Lets go and see whats in The Gallery this week......


Pippin's wind turbine has acquired a 3G antennae


Some shots of the nb we are repainting


The latest batch of cygnets have arrived. Our swans, Flanders and Swan, seem to have learned from past mistakes and haven't yet taken them too close to the weir........



There was some fantastic storm light the other evening


Jackie was given a couple of goose eggs as a present from H.



Occasionally on walkabout, Thomas returned from his latest leave of absence with a couple of new behaviours: namely jumping up on the counter top for milk as soon as the fridge door is opened, and exhibiting a whole new interest in the opening of tins.......

Hmmmmmmmm........


We managed to catch an image of this little Swifty Swallow perched on the rudder bar....

I'll try to post more pictures soon, but since Orange merged with T-mobile, the uploading of pictures via the Ship's computer proceeds at the speed of vegetable growth.

(Jackie uploaded these for me to edit from the superfast broadband hub at work).

Oh well, that's progress for you, I suppose......

More later, I hope..

A most wonderful day......

Well, it all began very auspisciously with a visit from Bones and Boots and Amy Duck.

We all had coffee and a jolly good natter before B & B had to head off to luncheon. Amy stayed aboard while we unmoored and chugged down to The Bridge at Clayhithe.

Some time back, I had mentioned to the staff at the Hole Making Shop that we should all get together for a jolly aboard Pippin.

Today was the day!

Much food was eaten, beer and wine consumed, and all in all, I think a fine time was had.....

And on the way back from Baits Bite Lock, we managed to add to the excitement by rescuing our friends Trevor and Pam on nb Sunflower who had strategically run out of battery (Sunflower is an electric boat....) and then been blown aground.

wb Pippin found a handy telephone box and transmogrified into The Mighty Pippin for the purposes of effecting a rescue.....

We crept past at 2mph, passed a line onto the bows of Sunflower, saw it safely tied off, then accelerated away from the shoaling water with Sunflower in tow with all the assurance that a Beta 50 at full-chat can afford.

Oh Joy!

We rang ahead to Amy aboard The Lucky Duck on the 48's at Clayhithe to make sure she was there to take a line.

Thus, Sunflower was passed to the safety of the bank with every bit as much ease as she had been extracted from the putty.

Shame all my colleagues on board weren't boaters.

To them, it was all par for the course........

I mean, for heavens sake, a round of applause would have been nice.

But all in all, a most wonderful day spent in the very best of company!!!!