Well, not really, but it did feel like it today. My body aches in places that I never knew I had. I ought to have realised when I bought the boat that we needed a couple of slaves as well to do the maintenance. I remember sailing Fiona home for the first time in November 2001 - 500 long, cold, stormy nautical miles from Göteborg to Nynäshamn. We were scared of her because she was considerably bigger and more sophisticated than our old boat and we made a vow to ourselves that we would learn to know every square inch of her. She is making sure that we keep to that promise!

For the last couple of days I've been sanding the timber areas of the cockpit and the wooden rail around the deck. One of the things that really appealed to us about her was the beautiful timber detail . But of course it only stays beautiful with constant work.

Yesterday I hand sanded the cockpit rail and the wooden cleats (under strict poodle supervision):



The whole time I was sanding, I was daydreaming about my lovely nail tecnician, Renata from Perfect Nails at Prospect, who I used to visit every three weeks for my refills. I had lovely acrylic nails in Australia - long, perfect and always painted a startling shade of orange. *sigh*

Acrylic nails are not common in Sweden and horrifically expensive, so I had to grow them out, but I really miss them (and my chats with Renata). I found this site the other day and thought of myself and Lambi being pampered in Renata's salon. I think it's very us. But I bet you can't buy anything as frivilous as that here for pets.

However, back to reality as my daydream came to an end and I realised that there would be no nifty nail varnish for me, only boat varnish...



Once that was done, we went off to Stockholm to visit my mother-in-law in her convalescent home.

Today, I sanded the wooden rail around the deck. Last year we did this and used a new type of teak oil. Whether we didn't apply enough coats, or didn't do it properly I don't know, but what I do know is that it hasn't lasted at all. We decided to use the same varnish we used for the cockpit rail as it seems to be a long lasting finish. We have a variety of sanding machines, so I alternated between an orbital sander and the B&D Mouse and hand sanding, while Lars-Göran used a B&D Powerfile to sand the more awkward areas. Again, under the eagle eye of the poodle supervisor!



As you can see, it is another glorious, sunny spring day and that really helps to make the work seem less arduous. We were delighted with the amount we managed to get done and we ought to finish it tomorrow, so I can start to varnish it and then commence polishing the hull. I must be crazy!


















In the late afternoon we left the hard work behind us and decided to look at a couple of houses in the area where we are considering buying. These two are in the right price range and appeal to us immensely, especially the yellow one - in part because of the colour (we both love yellow houses) and also because it has a large, glassed in conservatory around the back overlooking a compact garden. The whole area is beautifully quiet, with only the sounds being of birds twittering in the trees. We would be surrounded by nature - with woods leading to the sea to the east, a nature reserve to the west and fields to the north and south. It is absolutely the place where we want to live. While we were there, a couple of the neighbours came out for an early evening stroll...



And just a short way up the road is this magnificent house



Now I bet they have servants to do the varnishing.