Driving home to Paxton to help Di as she went off late to collect Debbie from a disco
Driving home to Paxton to help Di as she went off late to collect Debbie from a disco

A very hot day, working on the Paxton Princess rubbing strakes, sometimes from The Jolly dinghy, with Jack rowing up and giving advice and sharing anecdotes. Eventually late back driving home to Paxton to help Di as she went off late to collect Debbie from a disco, testing the Range Rover by driving fast and noticing its noisy protests

I was up fairly early and had my Norfolk routine of cereal breakfast and bath to follow. I seemed to take my time but I was still out and working by 8.00am. I concentrated on the Paxton Princess, wiping off the dew and dirt from the woodwork and then starting to remove the old varnish where it had worn and deteriorated. I became concerned at how much the varnish had weathered since last season and decided to go into Jeckells to buy some new varnish and more sandpaper as I began to doubt the value of the varnish that I had been storing these last ten years. It is so much trouble to prepare the woodwork, the last thing to do is to use unsatisfactory materials.

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I stayed in Wroxham for some morning coffee at Roys to complete my break and then came back to attack the job seriously. I got The Jolly out for access and worked on the starboard rails first, judging that the sun would be on the port side last. It was a difficult job, as bad as when I first got the boat, and so I was pleased when old Jack push-rowed up and we chatted a while. He has done up an old dinghy to be able to use the river a bit. He told me a few more yarns about the place and, once he had gone, I carried on until I had stripped the whole of the upper rubbing strake around the boat which was quite an effort. I had rested for a short lunch again and was getting quite hot and sunburnt but at least my big floppy hat protected my head from the sun. It was 4.30pm when I started varnishing and it only took me an hour to finish the job and seal the wood from the cool and mist of the evening after a very hot day.

Though the sun was hot, the airstream was from the north and was quite cold when the sun went down. I was even more weary than yesterday, but I could not rest as Diana wanted me home this evening whilst she went off late to collect Debbie from a party disco. I cleared everything away, cleaned my paint brushes and packed up and worked as quickly as I could but it was 7.15pm before I could leave and then had to stop for my tea on the way. I really pushed on with my journey, there being no lorries late on Saturday evening, and actually managed door-to-door in an hour and a half which was the best that I had done. My poor old Range Rover seems to making all sorts of noises in protest and so I resolved to either get it overhauled or replaced as a matter of urgency. A little time to get myself sorted out this evening before very tired to bed with Diana lagging behind.