Still working lots of daft hours, hence the lack of updates. Still, less than a week till Christmas and I'll only have one job then.......
Scott has been spending lots of time down in the engine room, freeing off and oiling up the main engine and looking at the electrics. The donkey engine starts every time now, and he's had the main engine turning over. Can't fire it up properly without being in water - guess what Scott will be doing Christmas Day!
Talking of Christmas Saff has put her "order" in to Father Christmas - hope Playmobil have sent lots of stuff to Lapland this year!
Last Monday the tide was in when I returned from work at the pub. In an effort to get me out of The Concle so they could go to bed Phil and Carolyn kindly lent me some waterproof trousers and wellingtons. Scott said the water would be up to my knees so off I set to paddle to the boat. The words "up to my knees be buggered!" issued from my mouth as the water lapped around my bum. Needless to say the waterproof trousers and wellys didn't keep me dry!
Tuesday, tide in again, waterproof trousers and wellys still on boat drying off, but I thought it can't be any worse than yesterday so set off to paddle in my ordinary trousers and crocs on the basis I could get dried off when I got home. Famous last words.......It was worse, up to my waist this time and icy cold. I stood panicking for a while because I could see a rock and couldn't work out what it was. Scott stood on deck trying to calm me down and shout encouragement.
On Wednesday I decided I obviously can't walk on water and decided to sit in the car for two hours rather than risk hypothermia for a third night running.
The upshot of all this was I spoke to Carolyn at the pub and Phil brought the dingy he's been promising we could borrow.
So on Friday Scott and Saff went out thinking I was getting paid from Gamestation. However I'd been given the wrong date so they couldn't get any money out of the bank. The tide was in, the idea was that by time Scott and Saff had done all the shopping etc they would be able to get aboard but because I hadn't been paid they couldn't go shopping.
We decided to test out the dingy.............
First of all Scott suggested I try to throw the oar to him, tied onto a rope. I used to be quite good at the javelin at school but my skills failed me this time. I suggested I untie the dingy and let it drift towards Scott, I had to tie a longer rope onto the rope that was on it so I could keep hold. The dingy eventually got to Scott and I pulled him back to the boat so he could collect the oar. From that moment onwards the plan deteriorated, Scott rowed back to shore to pick Saff up, shouting instructions to me about which way to pull the rope to guide him away from rocks. He got Saff safely into the dingy and I pulled while Scott rowed to get them round to the ladder.
By this point we were both freezing cold and communications broke down entirely, I couldn't hear what Scott was shouting and kept crashing them into the ladder whilst he was trying to go past it. Abort! Abort! Abort! The only choice available to us once they'd crashed into the ladder so much it was floating around and no longer safe to climb up - good job Scott keeps it tied to the boat! So they rowed back round to shore and bailed out in The Concle until the tide went out. Saff enjoyed the ride anyway, adrenaline junkie that girl!
Thursday 20 December 2007
Saturday 1 December 2007
All work and no play.....
All work and no play makes the Vita Nova website somewhere that's not updated very often!
Not much been going on to be honest - the weather has pretty much stopped work outside for the moment and Scott has spent loads of time inside pottering.
Today (actually just looked at the time - it was yesterday) Scott got the donkey engine going!!!!!
He was down there and there were the usual grinding noises as he turned the handle. Suddenly the noise changed and was accompanied by cheering from downstairs.
He dropped me off at work then came back and started her up again - the test now is whether she starts tomorrow when she's cooled down!
Scott's just popped out to check the TV aerial, it's extremely windy and the TV went off, he came back in going "It had my hat!", so if you see a grey "Thinsulate" hat around it's Scott's please return it!. Last seen heading towards Ireland - and we don't mean Roa!
PS
Couldn't publish this post last night, the internet was having trouble communicating. So may as well add to it.
The engine works again today, Scott said it was harder to start but that may be because he did it in the morning when he hasn't got his reserves of energy built up.
Call off the search for Scott's hat - he found it on the deck this morning so it didn't make it to Ireland, Roa or any other!
Not much been going on to be honest - the weather has pretty much stopped work outside for the moment and Scott has spent loads of time inside pottering.
Today (actually just looked at the time - it was yesterday) Scott got the donkey engine going!!!!!
He was down there and there were the usual grinding noises as he turned the handle. Suddenly the noise changed and was accompanied by cheering from downstairs.
He dropped me off at work then came back and started her up again - the test now is whether she starts tomorrow when she's cooled down!
Scott's just popped out to check the TV aerial, it's extremely windy and the TV went off, he came back in going "It had my hat!", so if you see a grey "Thinsulate" hat around it's Scott's please return it!. Last seen heading towards Ireland - and we don't mean Roa!
PS
Couldn't publish this post last night, the internet was having trouble communicating. So may as well add to it.
The engine works again today, Scott said it was harder to start but that may be because he did it in the morning when he hasn't got his reserves of energy built up.
Call off the search for Scott's hat - he found it on the deck this morning so it didn't make it to Ireland, Roa or any other!
Saturday 10 November 2007
Full Speed Ahead!
Two blogs in as many days - should be careful you might start to think this is a daily blog.
Scott got his other piston in the engine room freed off so the job now is to put it all back together again, he just popped up long enough to eat and has now gone back to finish his reassembling.
Still too windy to go on the roof and put the wind generator back up, must buy some solar panels - bet it won't be too sunny for them though!
Scott got his other piston in the engine room freed off so the job now is to put it all back together again, he just popped up long enough to eat and has now gone back to finish his reassembling.
Still too windy to go on the roof and put the wind generator back up, must buy some solar panels - bet it won't be too sunny for them though!
Friday 9 November 2007
Bermuda and Back Again
Ok so it's been a while - but please note that nowhere on this new blog does it say it's a daily blog.
So, when last we communicated with the big wide world we were visiting the Bermuda Triangle - luckily no people disappeared (look up the words to the Barry Manilow Song Bermuda Triangle - which Scott thought I'd made up, actually come to think about it why did I know the words anyway - very sad)
Well although we haven't physically moved we do seem to have overcome most of the effects of the triangle, the internet now works again (otherwise I wouldn't be doing this), the TV works, the wind generator - well that's another story. We've had so much wind here, severe weather warnings and the alternator from the wind generator was winging its way to Huddersfield. Still we're fed up of the wind now but at least we've got the solution - the new alternator arrived today - put that up that should stop the wind.
A big thank you must go to The Concle for Bonfire night - loads of fireworks, great food - excellent, although Scott did trap his thumb in a door trying to get himself and Saff safely off the boat and we did have to paddle to get on board when we got back.
Thanks also to all the lovely people round here who have started talking to us and offering words of support and encouragement, please sign the guestbook when you visit our website just so we know you have.
The weather has been so awful here Scott keeps disappearing to the engine room to work there,
he has stripped the auxiliary engine down and freed one of the two cylinders off but the other piston appears to like the bore that much it's not moving. Never mind, gives Scott something else to hit with his hammer.
So, when last we communicated with the big wide world we were visiting the Bermuda Triangle - luckily no people disappeared (look up the words to the Barry Manilow Song Bermuda Triangle - which Scott thought I'd made up, actually come to think about it why did I know the words anyway - very sad)
Well although we haven't physically moved we do seem to have overcome most of the effects of the triangle, the internet now works again (otherwise I wouldn't be doing this), the TV works, the wind generator - well that's another story. We've had so much wind here, severe weather warnings and the alternator from the wind generator was winging its way to Huddersfield. Still we're fed up of the wind now but at least we've got the solution - the new alternator arrived today - put that up that should stop the wind.
A big thank you must go to The Concle for Bonfire night - loads of fireworks, great food - excellent, although Scott did trap his thumb in a door trying to get himself and Saff safely off the boat and we did have to paddle to get on board when we got back.
Thanks also to all the lovely people round here who have started talking to us and offering words of support and encouragement, please sign the guestbook when you visit our website just so we know you have.
The weather has been so awful here Scott keeps disappearing to the engine room to work there,
he has stripped the auxiliary engine down and freed one of the two cylinders off but the other piston appears to like the bore that much it's not moving. Never mind, gives Scott something else to hit with his hammer.
Sunday 28 October 2007
Hell and High Water
Well, it's that time of the month again.
Friday night, high tide Scott moved Vita Nova. Unfortunately when she landed it was on the pile of stones Scott was trying to avoid so we tipped over (bit of a deja vu feeling here - didn't this happen last month?) Saturday lunch time tide we didn't manage to get her straight so we spent 24 hours at an angle until last night (early hours of this morning). I thought painting at an angle wasn't fun, living at an angle isn't either. Had to cook dinner without falling into the oven, hold onto everything that could possibly slide and untangle Saff out of a fold up chair when it fell over and collapsed with her in it.
So Saturday night (early hours of Sunday Morning) we moved! Vita Nova is out of her hole! I can't even get into one photo where she was and where she is now! The stern now faces towards the causeway, and we're on the other side of our moorings. Scott has ruined my modern art photos of the chain in a pile by pulling it tight again.
We seem to have moved into some kind of Bermuda Triangle though, everything that worked perfectly previously has stopped working. Took me about 20 minutes to connect to the internet and Scott can't get the TV to work at all. The wind generator was on overdrive last night, Scott had to dump the excess power into a heater, today you practically get blown over board and the wind generator is laughing in the face of the wind and not moving - maybe it's exhausted after last night!
Friday night, high tide Scott moved Vita Nova. Unfortunately when she landed it was on the pile of stones Scott was trying to avoid so we tipped over (bit of a deja vu feeling here - didn't this happen last month?) Saturday lunch time tide we didn't manage to get her straight so we spent 24 hours at an angle until last night (early hours of this morning). I thought painting at an angle wasn't fun, living at an angle isn't either. Had to cook dinner without falling into the oven, hold onto everything that could possibly slide and untangle Saff out of a fold up chair when it fell over and collapsed with her in it.
So Saturday night (early hours of Sunday Morning) we moved! Vita Nova is out of her hole! I can't even get into one photo where she was and where she is now! The stern now faces towards the causeway, and we're on the other side of our moorings. Scott has ruined my modern art photos of the chain in a pile by pulling it tight again.
We seem to have moved into some kind of Bermuda Triangle though, everything that worked perfectly previously has stopped working. Took me about 20 minutes to connect to the internet and Scott can't get the TV to work at all. The wind generator was on overdrive last night, Scott had to dump the excess power into a heater, today you practically get blown over board and the wind generator is laughing in the face of the wind and not moving - maybe it's exhausted after last night!
Tuesday 23 October 2007
Fun and Games - and work
First day working at gamestation today. Definitely need to go to work more often because Scott's got loads done.
He's done the deck round to the wheelhouse on one side, chipped off rust and painted up with red oxide.
He's moved a fishing pulley out of the engine room, haven't tried lifting it but it looks very heavy so how he managed to do that alone is beyond me
He's done more investigating of the flue, and sometime in between all this he washed up, cooked dinner, brushed the carpet and looked after Saff.
Just to finish the day nicely Scott's just spent 20 minutes investigating why we're going through petrol so quickly and fixing a hole in the fuel pipe of the generator
He's just shown me a load of pics he took on route today, will get those published tomorrow
He's done the deck round to the wheelhouse on one side, chipped off rust and painted up with red oxide.
He's moved a fishing pulley out of the engine room, haven't tried lifting it but it looks very heavy so how he managed to do that alone is beyond me
He's done more investigating of the flue, and sometime in between all this he washed up, cooked dinner, brushed the carpet and looked after Saff.
Just to finish the day nicely Scott's just spent 20 minutes investigating why we're going through petrol so quickly and fixing a hole in the fuel pipe of the generator
He's just shown me a load of pics he took on route today, will get those published tomorrow
Sunday 21 October 2007
New Website - New Blog!
Getting good at all this website stuff now so we thought we'd have a new blog to go with the new website.
You can read previous posts from our old blog here
If you found this blog on google, or anywhere else for that matter make sure you visit our website
You can read previous posts from our old blog here
If you found this blog on google, or anywhere else for that matter make sure you visit our website
From previous blog October..........
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Today we went to the Abbey FM (our local radio) first birthday party, Scott was trying to push me in front of a man with a microphone so we could get on radio but he ran away.On the way there we met another local chap, whose name we didn’t get (good at this name business aren’t we) who said he’s got 5 gallons of international paint if we want it. We really must improve on this introducing ourselves, and we’ll be along to collect the paint, thank you.We do have wind at the moment but Scott has to keep popping onto the roof to give the wind generator a nudge in the right direction. It’s not turning itself into the wind, so he needs to have a closer look.
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
Today Scott investigated the flue for our downstairs fire, we can only light it when the wind’s in the right direction or we fill up with smoke. He discovered a load of fibre glass insulation which has caused some of the flue to rust away.He also did some more work on the decks but Myrna walked through the paint just after he’d finished.
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Had a visitor this morning. Suddenly heard banging and before I even managed to get up, footsteps along the deck and a man standing at the door. he brought us an advert from Morrisons, someone is selling an engine and he saw it and thought of us because he’s been talking to Phil at The Concle. Sorry we didn’t get your name but thank you for thinking of us! Scott says the engine would be useful to get the winches going - only thing is we could do with the winches going to get the engine on the boat if we buy it! Scott also said we should get a door bell if we’re going to get visitors and not to worry we can get one that you don’t need an electrician to fit.Scott put the name signs up today, he did it as the tide was coming in in the hopes that I wouldn’t photograph him, but I risked wet feet and hotfooted down to the beach to get the pics.Scott also went down into the fish hold to take some photos which you can now see in our photo album
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Very windy again today - good for the wind generator but not much else. Re the lovely comments from Bryan and Lillian in the guest book. The fine vessel Vita Nova is in Cumbria, moored (or rather stranded) near the little known island of Roa. We haven’t managed to sink her yet, however we do manage quite a dramatic lean if we land wrongly after a high tide! We could really do with some crew member so you are welcome anytime - Scott’s having a little trouble tuning into The World Service, so any tips from Captain Fullastern would be much appreciated
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
I was woken up at 6 o’ clock this morning by torrential rain and rushed around in the dark finding towels and buckets to mop up and collect the water as it came into the bunk room, what I didn’t realise at the time was that as well as the leak I could see it was also going into Scott’s bunk. Scott has spent most of the day blocking up leaks, he’s now pleased he chose to sleep on an airbed instead of a mattress because when he woke up this morning he was floating! (Yes my parents did tell me a million times not to exaggerate).We got a message at lunch time from a chap driving past that there was some mail waiting for us at the pub (The Concle), so me and Saff rushed down there for 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps (Ok Saff’s just informed me she had a coke and I had half a cider) The mail in question was a “letter” we sent to ourselves just to see if it would get here. It was addressed to Scott, Vita Nova (Fishing Trawler) The Causeway, Barrow in Furness. Well at least we know the postman has made the connection between us and the pub now. Forgot to mention swimming yesterday, Saff swam a whole width of the swimming pool without stopping. She’s really proud of herself and we’re proud of her too. She’s still got armbands at the moment but we take a bit of air out each week.Hey, anyway are you impressed? Two Daily Blog entries in two days!
DON’T FORGET IF YOU’VE COME HERE THROUGH vitanovaweb, VISIT OUR NEW SITE www.vitanova.me.uk
Monday, October 15th, 2007
Daily?! Blog?! The two words don’t fit together in my vocabulary! It’s a bit like Garlic?! Bread?!I do have a good excuse this time though - our webhost wasn’t doing what I wanted it to so as a result we’ve now got a new website which is in essence the same as the last one but better . So vitanovaweb will no longer be updated but it’ll still be there for a while, the website to visit now is vitanova.me.uk. The weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worse at the moment, which is delaying the outside work somewhat - however every cloud has a silver lining, and the wind generator is wizzing around merrily day and night at the moment. Solar power isn’t up to much - bought some solar lamps to go round the deck for if we arrive home late or need to go outside at night - be better off eating carrots!Got a parttime job at gamestation - knew my hours playing Sims weren’t wasted!Anyway, enjoy the new, improved website - tried to put a link from the old one but it’s not working properly again - and now that the new website is up and running you never know I might put some time into this blog!
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Ok daily blog is not strictly true - sorry didn’t think you’d really want a description of us going to the laundrette yesterday.Today I’ve painted the other name sign for the boat. Scott worked on the hatch which leads down into the bunkroom, putting new portholes in, his bunk’s at that side and it leaks when it rains.
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Car Boot sale this morning. Got a bit delayed, thought the tide wasn’t going to reach us when we looked out at 9 o’ clock, wrong! 5 minutes later we were surrounded by water and didn’t end up getting off the boat until 11. Nothing really exciting there anyway -maybe we missed all the bargains.Scott did more work on the outside of the wheelhouse, more sunny weather, photos to follow on website when I can edit it again - still not fixed! Expecting bad weather from tomorrow, thanks dad, can’t possibly be nice for dad’s holiday.Saff is beginning to take a real interest in cooking, helped me make a stew today and said it smelt nice. She wouldn’t even consider eating it though as anyone who knows her would know.That’s all folks!
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Absolutely glorious here today which was great for Scott getting more rust off the Wheelhouse and painting it up with red oxide but not much good for our green energy source.Me and Saff went into town to buy some fire cement, searched all round a major high street DIY shop which shall remain nameless, paid particular attention to the aisle with fires down it, eventually gave up and went to ask. Where was it? Down the plumbing aisle! Well obviously, people often light fires in their sinks and toilets!Whilst we were out Scott also cleared a blockage in the chimney in preparation for getting the fire going, it’s now glowing away merrily.After shopping me and Saff went and played on the beach for a couple of hours, in short sleeves - that’s how nice the weather was.Tomorrow Car Boot Sale - let you know what bargains were to be had.
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Went out looking for a job today, must say Gamestation have the best application form I’ve ever seen! Two pages, name address, phone number usual stuff then how many hours a week do you spend gaming, what games do you like to play - relevant to the job - not like some others I won’t mention by name eight pages and what qualifications did you get 20 years ago at school. For God’s sake I’m only applying for a temporary Christmas job not head of MI5. Scott did some work on the outside of the wheelhouse, it’s been a glorious sunny day today so outside work. Then we got a phone call about 6.30 to say our fire had arrived at the pub, The Concle Inn - great pub if you’re ever in the area pay a visit. Scott went down to pick it up. Cast iron multi fuel stove, ready for the winter. Scott’s just told me Phil, the landlord at The Concle offered to come and help get it aboard but Scott replied he’d just use me as a counterbalance! Not friendly, he gets me to sleep and sit on particular sides of the boat to act as ballast. Anyway it’s only a little stove but it was quite heavy. I pulled on a rope and Scott pushed whilst walking up the ladder calling “no sudden movements” All accompanied by Saff shining a torch towards us informing us “it’s too heavy and you’ll never get it up” Refusing to be defeated we did in fact get the stove to the top of the ladder and then down into the bunkroom, the chimney is already in place going up through the engine room and out the top of the wheelhouse so all we need now is some fire cement to seal it all up and Bob’s your uncle. Not that we’ve got any uncles called Bob that we know of.
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
Scott stayed up half the night again fathering the wind generator. We are now reconsidering solar power, the wind disappeared for about 24 hours after the installation of the wind generator but then started again and has charged the batteries. So, install solar power 24 hours of dull weather and then eternal sunlight?!I have painted one of the name signs for Vita Nova - with the assistance of Saff - so when it’s dry we’ll get it up and get a photo for the website. Scott has made a wardrobe downstairs by cutting a bit out of one of the bunks and filling it with boxes of clothes. Well it’s a step forward from living out of binliners.So another exciting day for the crew of Vita Nova draws to a close……..
Sunday, October 21st, 2007
Today we went to the Abbey FM (our local radio) first birthday party, Scott was trying to push me in front of a man with a microphone so we could get on radio but he ran away.On the way there we met another local chap, whose name we didn’t get (good at this name business aren’t we) who said he’s got 5 gallons of international paint if we want it. We really must improve on this introducing ourselves, and we’ll be along to collect the paint, thank you.We do have wind at the moment but Scott has to keep popping onto the roof to give the wind generator a nudge in the right direction. It’s not turning itself into the wind, so he needs to have a closer look.
Saturday, October 20th, 2007
Today Scott investigated the flue for our downstairs fire, we can only light it when the wind’s in the right direction or we fill up with smoke. He discovered a load of fibre glass insulation which has caused some of the flue to rust away.He also did some more work on the decks but Myrna walked through the paint just after he’d finished.
Thursday, October 18th, 2007
Had a visitor this morning. Suddenly heard banging and before I even managed to get up, footsteps along the deck and a man standing at the door. he brought us an advert from Morrisons, someone is selling an engine and he saw it and thought of us because he’s been talking to Phil at The Concle. Sorry we didn’t get your name but thank you for thinking of us! Scott says the engine would be useful to get the winches going - only thing is we could do with the winches going to get the engine on the boat if we buy it! Scott also said we should get a door bell if we’re going to get visitors and not to worry we can get one that you don’t need an electrician to fit.Scott put the name signs up today, he did it as the tide was coming in in the hopes that I wouldn’t photograph him, but I risked wet feet and hotfooted down to the beach to get the pics.Scott also went down into the fish hold to take some photos which you can now see in our photo album
Wednesday, October 17th, 2007
Very windy again today - good for the wind generator but not much else. Re the lovely comments from Bryan and Lillian in the guest book. The fine vessel Vita Nova is in Cumbria, moored (or rather stranded) near the little known island of Roa. We haven’t managed to sink her yet, however we do manage quite a dramatic lean if we land wrongly after a high tide! We could really do with some crew member so you are welcome anytime - Scott’s having a little trouble tuning into The World Service, so any tips from Captain Fullastern would be much appreciated
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
I was woken up at 6 o’ clock this morning by torrential rain and rushed around in the dark finding towels and buckets to mop up and collect the water as it came into the bunk room, what I didn’t realise at the time was that as well as the leak I could see it was also going into Scott’s bunk. Scott has spent most of the day blocking up leaks, he’s now pleased he chose to sleep on an airbed instead of a mattress because when he woke up this morning he was floating! (Yes my parents did tell me a million times not to exaggerate).We got a message at lunch time from a chap driving past that there was some mail waiting for us at the pub (The Concle), so me and Saff rushed down there for 2 pints of lager and a packet of crisps (Ok Saff’s just informed me she had a coke and I had half a cider) The mail in question was a “letter” we sent to ourselves just to see if it would get here. It was addressed to Scott, Vita Nova (Fishing Trawler) The Causeway, Barrow in Furness. Well at least we know the postman has made the connection between us and the pub now. Forgot to mention swimming yesterday, Saff swam a whole width of the swimming pool without stopping. She’s really proud of herself and we’re proud of her too. She’s still got armbands at the moment but we take a bit of air out each week.Hey, anyway are you impressed? Two Daily Blog entries in two days!
DON’T FORGET IF YOU’VE COME HERE THROUGH vitanovaweb, VISIT OUR NEW SITE www.vitanova.me.uk
Monday, October 15th, 2007
Daily?! Blog?! The two words don’t fit together in my vocabulary! It’s a bit like Garlic?! Bread?!I do have a good excuse this time though - our webhost wasn’t doing what I wanted it to so as a result we’ve now got a new website which is in essence the same as the last one but better . So vitanovaweb will no longer be updated but it’ll still be there for a while, the website to visit now is vitanova.me.uk. The weather has taken a bit of a turn for the worse at the moment, which is delaying the outside work somewhat - however every cloud has a silver lining, and the wind generator is wizzing around merrily day and night at the moment. Solar power isn’t up to much - bought some solar lamps to go round the deck for if we arrive home late or need to go outside at night - be better off eating carrots!Got a parttime job at gamestation - knew my hours playing Sims weren’t wasted!Anyway, enjoy the new, improved website - tried to put a link from the old one but it’s not working properly again - and now that the new website is up and running you never know I might put some time into this blog!
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
Ok daily blog is not strictly true - sorry didn’t think you’d really want a description of us going to the laundrette yesterday.Today I’ve painted the other name sign for the boat. Scott worked on the hatch which leads down into the bunkroom, putting new portholes in, his bunk’s at that side and it leaks when it rains.
Sunday, October 7th, 2007
Car Boot sale this morning. Got a bit delayed, thought the tide wasn’t going to reach us when we looked out at 9 o’ clock, wrong! 5 minutes later we were surrounded by water and didn’t end up getting off the boat until 11. Nothing really exciting there anyway -maybe we missed all the bargains.Scott did more work on the outside of the wheelhouse, more sunny weather, photos to follow on website when I can edit it again - still not fixed! Expecting bad weather from tomorrow, thanks dad, can’t possibly be nice for dad’s holiday.Saff is beginning to take a real interest in cooking, helped me make a stew today and said it smelt nice. She wouldn’t even consider eating it though as anyone who knows her would know.That’s all folks!
Saturday, October 6th, 2007
Absolutely glorious here today which was great for Scott getting more rust off the Wheelhouse and painting it up with red oxide but not much good for our green energy source.Me and Saff went into town to buy some fire cement, searched all round a major high street DIY shop which shall remain nameless, paid particular attention to the aisle with fires down it, eventually gave up and went to ask. Where was it? Down the plumbing aisle! Well obviously, people often light fires in their sinks and toilets!Whilst we were out Scott also cleared a blockage in the chimney in preparation for getting the fire going, it’s now glowing away merrily.After shopping me and Saff went and played on the beach for a couple of hours, in short sleeves - that’s how nice the weather was.Tomorrow Car Boot Sale - let you know what bargains were to be had.
Friday, October 5th, 2007
Went out looking for a job today, must say Gamestation have the best application form I’ve ever seen! Two pages, name address, phone number usual stuff then how many hours a week do you spend gaming, what games do you like to play - relevant to the job - not like some others I won’t mention by name eight pages and what qualifications did you get 20 years ago at school. For God’s sake I’m only applying for a temporary Christmas job not head of MI5. Scott did some work on the outside of the wheelhouse, it’s been a glorious sunny day today so outside work. Then we got a phone call about 6.30 to say our fire had arrived at the pub, The Concle Inn - great pub if you’re ever in the area pay a visit. Scott went down to pick it up. Cast iron multi fuel stove, ready for the winter. Scott’s just told me Phil, the landlord at The Concle offered to come and help get it aboard but Scott replied he’d just use me as a counterbalance! Not friendly, he gets me to sleep and sit on particular sides of the boat to act as ballast. Anyway it’s only a little stove but it was quite heavy. I pulled on a rope and Scott pushed whilst walking up the ladder calling “no sudden movements” All accompanied by Saff shining a torch towards us informing us “it’s too heavy and you’ll never get it up” Refusing to be defeated we did in fact get the stove to the top of the ladder and then down into the bunkroom, the chimney is already in place going up through the engine room and out the top of the wheelhouse so all we need now is some fire cement to seal it all up and Bob’s your uncle. Not that we’ve got any uncles called Bob that we know of.
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
Scott stayed up half the night again fathering the wind generator. We are now reconsidering solar power, the wind disappeared for about 24 hours after the installation of the wind generator but then started again and has charged the batteries. So, install solar power 24 hours of dull weather and then eternal sunlight?!I have painted one of the name signs for Vita Nova - with the assistance of Saff - so when it’s dry we’ll get it up and get a photo for the website. Scott has made a wardrobe downstairs by cutting a bit out of one of the bunks and filling it with boxes of clothes. Well it’s a step forward from living out of binliners.So another exciting day for the crew of Vita Nova draws to a close……..
From previous Blog.......
Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Ok think I’ve got the hang of this blog malarky now!I admit it’s not the most professional link to a blog I’ve ever seen but hey it does the job. Having sought “professional advice” the problems with our website are numerous - “no meta tags in the head of the document, theres no alt tags on the images, you’ve no text based links for the image links on the left and the text that you have on the home page - while cute - isn’t descriptive enough for the search engines” - thanks Richard!So anyway it’s a week since I put anything on here and no one was able to read it any way because I couldn’t link it to the website so here we go - a potted week in the life of Vita Nova.
New generator arrived Monday - how we ever existed before Ebay is quite beyond me. Unfortunately the generator had been damaged in transit and had a hole in the petrol tank - it never rains but it pours so they say, and that’s exactly what the petrol did straight out of the bottom. Scott temporarily fixed it and we’re now waiting for a new petrol tank.On Tuesday our wind generator arrived and is now fastened on to the wheelhouse roof - no cables for it yet though.
The rest of the week passed in a bit of a blur waiting for this weekends high tides.The intention was to pull Vita Nova out of her hole and a bit further towards Roa Island, however things did not go entirely according to plan……..Friday night (early hours of Saturday morning), Scott managed to turn the bow (front landlubbers) quite a few feet round to the port side (left landlubbers) but the stern (back landlubbers - ok getting bored of this now look the words up - check out interesting links on vitanovaweb) just didn’t move. The result of all this was we ended up leaning towards starboard at quite an angle as the tide went out and of course couldn’t do anything about it till the lunch time high tide the next day. We blamed Scott the next morning when Saffi’s drink fell over! So Saturday lunchtime Scott straightened her up only to tip her the other way Saturday night. Maybe he thinks we won’t have to buy me so many bottles of wine if he puts my whole life on an angle!So here we are Sunday - last night was spent straightening her out again, so we’ve moved a bit but are now straight again. We were wondering the last two nights how on earth we came aboard and did the work we did when she was on an angle originally - it’s really hard to deal with having got straight
Monday, September 24th, 2007
The day dawned bright and sunny. Scott’s task for the day was to work on the electrics, he’s trying to work out where all the wiring goes from the engine room, not easy when it’s all marked up in Dutch. So 20 minutes on babelfish translator later and still no wiser he was making it up as he went along - no change there then!The day took a turn for the worse when the generator decided to go pop. What really upset Scott was he’d spent half of Saturday servicing the generator to try and get enough voltage out of it.Every down has an up according to Scott and the upside of all of this is we’ve actually got around to ordering the wind generator we’ve been talking about. Unfortunately we also had to order a new petrol generator in case it’s needed to top up our batteries on non windy days
Sunday, September 30th, 2007
Ok think I’ve got the hang of this blog malarky now!I admit it’s not the most professional link to a blog I’ve ever seen but hey it does the job. Having sought “professional advice” the problems with our website are numerous - “no meta tags in the head of the document, theres no alt tags on the images, you’ve no text based links for the image links on the left and the text that you have on the home page - while cute - isn’t descriptive enough for the search engines” - thanks Richard!So anyway it’s a week since I put anything on here and no one was able to read it any way because I couldn’t link it to the website so here we go - a potted week in the life of Vita Nova.
New generator arrived Monday - how we ever existed before Ebay is quite beyond me. Unfortunately the generator had been damaged in transit and had a hole in the petrol tank - it never rains but it pours so they say, and that’s exactly what the petrol did straight out of the bottom. Scott temporarily fixed it and we’re now waiting for a new petrol tank.On Tuesday our wind generator arrived and is now fastened on to the wheelhouse roof - no cables for it yet though.
The rest of the week passed in a bit of a blur waiting for this weekends high tides.The intention was to pull Vita Nova out of her hole and a bit further towards Roa Island, however things did not go entirely according to plan……..Friday night (early hours of Saturday morning), Scott managed to turn the bow (front landlubbers) quite a few feet round to the port side (left landlubbers) but the stern (back landlubbers - ok getting bored of this now look the words up - check out interesting links on vitanovaweb) just didn’t move. The result of all this was we ended up leaning towards starboard at quite an angle as the tide went out and of course couldn’t do anything about it till the lunch time high tide the next day. We blamed Scott the next morning when Saffi’s drink fell over! So Saturday lunchtime Scott straightened her up only to tip her the other way Saturday night. Maybe he thinks we won’t have to buy me so many bottles of wine if he puts my whole life on an angle!So here we are Sunday - last night was spent straightening her out again, so we’ve moved a bit but are now straight again. We were wondering the last two nights how on earth we came aboard and did the work we did when she was on an angle originally - it’s really hard to deal with having got straight
Monday, September 24th, 2007
The day dawned bright and sunny. Scott’s task for the day was to work on the electrics, he’s trying to work out where all the wiring goes from the engine room, not easy when it’s all marked up in Dutch. So 20 minutes on babelfish translator later and still no wiser he was making it up as he went along - no change there then!The day took a turn for the worse when the generator decided to go pop. What really upset Scott was he’d spent half of Saturday servicing the generator to try and get enough voltage out of it.Every down has an up according to Scott and the upside of all of this is we’ve actually got around to ordering the wind generator we’ve been talking about. Unfortunately we also had to order a new petrol generator in case it’s needed to top up our batteries on non windy days
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