Time Passes on 'Rosy'

I met up with the crew of 'Partner', a Danish registered Vega - an 8 m sailing yacht.  Her mast and sails are off, and she is used as a motor boat for the summer.  Her owner is Ruth, who ran a sailing school, but when she was 50 the Danish Government offered her a full pension if she stopped work to make way for an unemployed younger person.  So she sold the business and started cruising.  She doesn't wash very often, preferring to oil herself.  He partner is Jørn (with the 'o' crossed out, like they do in Denmark).  I guess that he has had a stroke, as bits of his body don't do as he wants them to, and he has great difficulty in speaking.  Jørn had a shower on 'Rosy' (their boat carries about 50 litres of water only).  They have been very helpful with info about Dutch canals.

The brass plaque that Dick 'n' Jeanie gave 'Rosy' is now on the engine room cabin side, and looks EXTREMELY good - I even put a second coat of paint on the wall.

The pigeon box (a ventilator for the engine room) was very dilapidated and rusty.  It's been wire brushed, Hammerited, and painted black.  I painted around the castle picture, which is very weathered - I'll try to restore it.  I had to paint over the roses and scroll decorations, but I've got the paints and brush, so I hope to get into painting roses and castles.

I bought a Nancy Mitford book from Jeff - it's all about a woman called Fanny.  This unfortunate name always reminds me of Fanny and Johnny Craddock, who were among the first of the TV cooks (along with Philip Harbin).  Fanny fronted the show, whilst Johnny chopped the onions in the background and popped in the occasional helpful comment.  We first took notice of the program when Fanny was making doughnuts.  At one point she said "...and at this point your doughnuts should look like this".  Johnny then came out with the amazing remark "So make sure all YOUR doughnuts look like Fanny's".  Of course, you can't see spellings and apostrophes when people are talking.  Anyway, the show became unmissable, and we were rewarded a few weeks later when the subject under discussion was fish.  Fanny explained how to buy fish, and using her fish as an example showed us the firm flesh, bright eyes, red gill. Then she sniffed her fish and told us that the fish must smell fresh. Johnny said "So make sure YOUR fish smell like Fanny's".

The general opinion was that the Craddocks and the BBC just didn't realise what was going on, and why the viewing figures were so high.

The weather has been good for the past few days.  Some little painting jobs are getting done, and I saw a terrapin sunning itself on the bank - I've never seen one before outside of Florida.  Maria, with Robert and Wendy on board, has sailed off into the sunset.  I head down to Ternuzen on Sunday to get the propeller changed.

Toodle pip!!

Bill