By Friday 9th June "Hazel" has to be ready. She won't be. But her state of unreadiness won't be too bad. Charlie and Danny have been visiting as often as possible. Charlie has been painting, Danny fitting the new windows. Gradually I've been pottering about doing little jobs.
Iain fitted "Forget me Not"s gearbox and I adjusted it. It seemed to be working OK so Aaron and me took her for a test trip up to Jet Amber and back, On our way we stopped by the Great Central bridge to put some old carpet round one of our oak trees to help to conserve water and discourage encroaching Japanese Knotweed.
Back at the basin we breasted "Forget me Not" up to "Lilith" and I moved the pair out of the way while Aaron made a meal of winding "Hazel".
With "Hazel" the other way round Aaron got to work painting the cabinside. At least it would have a top coat on it. As luck would have it a new volunteer called Alison showed up, having come all the way from New Zealand in order to paint "Hazel". She got stuck in and by dusk the second side was beginning to look like someone loved it.
The next few days will have to be spent removing tools and unused materials, cleaning, putting up curtains etc. We set off for Middlewich in a week. Unfinished jobs will have to wait until we get back. It's been a longer job than anticipated, not helped by the fact that I've only been firing on 3 cylinders most of the time. I'm hoping we've turned the corner now and the boats will start to be on the up again. There's a lot to do and more volunteers always needed.