The cottage has been transformed. Old kitchen ripped out, with some of it being recycled into Howard and Sue’s house for their utility room (which is exactly what I did in Chapel Hill House) and after two weeks of puzzling, measuring, sawing, yet more puzzling, the gas spur successfully installed, Fired Earth (floor tiles) / Ikea (units and cooker hood) / Worktop Express (worktop with enough left over to make a shelf and chopping board) / Franke (1.5 sink) / Smeg (aka Smug) oven and gas hob, my lovely old fridge freezer and dinky dishwasher, all fitted in like a made to measure glove. All praise to Ginger the builder and his side kick Tom. What stars and I am very happy.

Ginger puzzling which pipe is the gas and which is the water

Tom in the floor

Tiles done, plastering done

Worktop going in

Dnah!

Before putting everything back in the sitting room, which was made into a workshop for the duration, I painted the walls and floor, reglossed the door and skirting and it looks so much better for it. A pleasure to walk into.

While I concentrated on the cottage, Clive turned his attention to Distant Drum, carrying out any repairs needed, fitting a new radio and fog horn, repairing a stanchion base, sanding down and preparing the hull for anti foul, eradicating the rust around the davit bases, and in the last week, in between paint layers in the cottage, I have commuted to Titchmarsh to get the anti foul painted and apply my decorating skills to our big red stripe along the top of her hull.

I engaged the services of Tad (Clive’s son) and Gareth (Howard’s brother) on Tuesday and Gareth again yesterday to get the anti foul on the hull before she is dropped back in the water today. Clive and I were drenched last night by the time we finished her preparation, getting home steaming from our wet overalls at 10.15pm. Exhausting and good all at the same time.

Clive almost finished with the paint

Gareth applying the finishing touches to the rudder

Big blue splodge of antifoul on Tad’s head – no barnacles here!

Barnacles here however

Dnah!

And she’s ready!

I have done much crying into paint pots this week as my lovely oldest friend Libby, who’s husband Chris was so ill last year, herself succumbed to a horrid aggressive cancer which none of us saw coming when it hit her last August. She died last Friday evening surrounded by Chris and her family. So heart wrenching for all of us, yet she was in so much pain it was a blessing in the end. When I last saw her, I cried because it was so upsetting to see her in so much pain. She laughed at me and with me as we reminisced on life and old friends from our teens and twenties, and when I left I got into the stairwell of the hospital and sobbed. I knew then that I wouldn’t see her again and this was our goodbye. I’ve another funeral today, my friend Bird’s dad, John Webster, another cracking man who was always full of love and life. I had better wear my dark glasses as it’s hard not to have my heart on my sleeve at the moment… along with a lot of snot if I don’t take a box of tissues too.

With Libby in the south of France, when we went to stay with Chris and Bob on their Dutch barge on The Midi (canal)

Relaxing in the sun at an al fresco cafe

Libby

Clive and I are going to bring Distant Drum round to Harwich this evening, and stock her up ready to sail to the Ostend at Anchor 2017 Festival on Monday for a much needed break. Belgium here we come!

This is a disaster and it’s so depressing! . Our stupid politicians, calling a referendum in the first place and relentlessly dragging our country into this situation which could well result in the split of our Union, and far worse. The Fascist Farage and his ilk, back biting, in-fighting, spreading hateful crap each time they open their mouths.

I feel so sorry for the generations to come and I feel angry, and even bitter, such rare emotions for me, however this has got me so riled. This isn’t what I want, or what the 16.1 million other people who voted as I did, to remain in the EU want. 12.9 million people didn’t vote! That adds up to 29 million people who didn’t vote to leave the EU versus 17.9 million who voted for Brexit. Even the made up word makes me nauseous.

I have felt there is no-one representing my voice until an unlikely ally, Michael Heseltine, last night on the news vowed to keep representing those of us who voted to stay.

Oh my days, it’s the end of February and it’s been a busy month. Whilst Clive has been maintaining Distant Drum, getting her ready for the year ahead, I cracked on with the chimney dismantling and after much dust and brick manoeuvres, and help from Gareth down the road, we now have SPACE in the kitchen. Quite remarkable how much space it has opened up. The lovely Ginger the Builder has plastered the little bedroom wall and one coat to go in the kitchen. I’ve been working on a design, graph paper is a marvellous thing, and I am hoping within the next four weeks I may have a new kitchen installed – a revolution. For the past three years Distant Drum has outstripped the cottage for kitchen design and storage. There was so much lost space, as the photos show.

Before

The electricity meter in one corner takes out a whole cupboard space

More inaccessible space under the worktop

Dead space both sides of the chimney breast, only slightly alleviated by installing a slimline dishwasher instead of the washing machine originally here

Before

The start!

The DUST!

Dnah!

Woohoo

Clive and I trekked up to Great Yarmouth on Wednesday for a mini break, meeting my old friend Harold who is accompanying the film crew and cast for Burning Men, the follow up to Blood Moon. A great team and the filming was fun along the sea front of arcades, all their machines pinging and beeping and flashing in an attempt you get you inside. The star of the film is this brilliant old Volvo car owned by Paul from Kentish Town.

Paul’s 1969 Volvo

If you put the number plate into the internet, you get loads of great images of this old beast

The cheap and cheerful hotel we stayed in was like a sauna – their heating bill must be astronomical. The restaurants in the town seemed closed apart from a Casino, where we ate once the filming was over for the evening. A beautiful old colonial style building which was a favourite haunt for Edward VII who visited over a period of 30 years.

That night and the following day a forecasted mega storm hit the UK and we slowly drove back down the coast, stopping in Southwold for the brilliant Under The Pier Show, a superb arcade with games such as Whack the Banker, Mobility Masterclass (you’re given a zimmer, you select your age from 70 to 100 then try and cross and busy motorway), Pirate Practice (get even with the super rich), Art Apocalypse and many more. We both revelled in the pirate game, I took a Micro Break and Clive Whacked the Banker – we laughed so much we cried. A great tonic to the weather raging outside.

Clive playing the Banker! The sound effect were brilliant… ouch! eek! ooof!

Clive the pirate

I had to have a go too.

And then the mirrors….

How we wish we looked, lovely and slender, even though windswept and with the sea raging behind us

Short legs

Long legs

It took a further three hours to skirt Ipswich inland from the Orwell Bridge which was closed, and we got home to Harwich about half an hour before I was playing crib and Clive was seeing a folk band at the cinema. After our excursions we heard that two small boats had sunk or disappeared out into the North Sea, and a huge warehouse storing timber in the Navyard, known as Eddie’s Shed, lost a lot of its roof.

Eddies Shed after the storm

Now on with cottage renovation, interspersed with Reiki days. And tomorrow we’re going to see Trainspotting 2, hurrah!

A very friendly squirrel in Castle Park, Colchester. He thought I had food….

I’ve been a bit slack at writing my blog the last few months, I think because we haven’t been sailing and it is called Distant Drum Sailing. However I shall crack on with an update as we are almost surrounded by water regardless here in Harwich, and Distant Drum has been very close by all summer and autumn.

DD on Ha’penny Pier with the Trinity House ship Patricia behind. Along with Galatea and the smaller Alert, these ships’ crew patrol the UK coast managing the buoyage to keeping us safe on the high (and low) seas

I had a great birthday party in October in the Harwich Town Sailing Club – Sue helped me cook three huge curries and lots of lovely friends came from all parts of the UK, many staying in local hostelries, in our cottage and at Sue & Howard’s house. Perfect evening, a really clear sky and a beautiful moon. We had ‘open boat’ after breakfast the next morning for friends to see Distant Drum, and Fergus came to stay for two weeks holiday by the sea-side. Suffice to say he DIDN’T come aboard DD, hurrumphing on the shore and refusing to walk down the gangway to the pontoon. It was in this fortnight the incident with poor Bruce occurred (see previous Blog).

Clive, JenJen & Roddy

Sue, Chrissie, Tony, Kirsten and Mike

Tanja and Espen over from Oslo

R-L, Sally, Richard, Phil and Kevin

Clive & Roddy in the foreground, Patrick and Jo behind

Liz and Claire

You’re not getting in my car looking like that! Me Innocent after a dip in the muddiest part of the lake in Hatfield Forest

Clive’s brother David moved to Torquay in the autumn and went to see a doctor there about an ingrowing toe-nail giving him gyp. Whilst there he had a coughing fit and the doctor sent him for a scan immediately – cancer in one lung. Just this last week he has undergone major surgery in Plymouth hospital to remove the tumour, which involved cutting out one of the three lobes in his right lung. Very happy to report he survived the operation and there were no complications. He’s very weak, however undergoing intensive physiotherapy to exercise and expand the remaining part of his lung to fill out the space the tumour occupied. Recovery will be a slow and steady, one day at a time. Incredibly the hospital was so full when he reported there on Wednesday evening ready for the operation the next morning, they had no beds and they put him up in a hotel nearby for the night. It didn’t matter, a new lease of life for David.

If you want something done, do it yourself, and that’s what I’ve been doing…. call me DIY Davies! My DIY adventure began in September. The cottage came with a very old boiler, and an extremely badly design kitchen which I detest. There was a loud washing machine next to the sink, which beeped for hours after finishing a spin and drove us to distraction. The door kept falling off too so my plan was to replace the boiler with, as it turned out, a much needed new one, installing this higher up than the existing one, in the small space between the kitchen and bathroom, so I could put a new quiet efficient slim line washing machine underneath it. There was a low ceiling built from wood above the old boiler and I had to take this down in order to free up much needed space. Oh boy! The existing boiler packed in the day before the new one was installed – the exact same thing happened in Stansted when I started renovating Chapel Hill House (in fact there the washing machine packed in too, here I just threatened it with news that we could go wash our stuff at Sue & Howard’s house, so don’t even think about it!) I spent a fortnight sorting out the complicated electric wiring stringing low across the ceiling, moving lights, replacing plugs and junctions, rewiring – thank God for the mobile phone camera, click, unscrew all the wiring, refit the junction box, rewire, check the photo…. I’m very relieved to report it all works. Then insulation, plasterboard – that took forever! And painting, adding a bit of Essex beach hut design to counter the tar, which kept seeping through the white paint, Finally a new shelf above the new washing machine for our towels etc. D’nah! Two months later I have created a proper little utility, hurrah!

Ceiling dismantled revealing lots of head space, new boiler in position and now to tackle the mad wiring

Definitely a cowboy electrician, spaghetti wiring!

Lots of head height, no width or length

Essex beach hut colours mask the ancient tar which seeped through the white, and it’s much more fun

My hand made shelf, made from tongue and groove, which can be dismantled in two sections for access to the plumbing behind. Lovely new washing machine, quiet, the door stays on, no beeping, slimline (unlike me) and 7kg capacity

One thing I vowed to do this autumn was take down a redundant chimney breast in a small bedroom in the cottage, TICK, and in the new year I am going to continue to dismantle the breast down into the kitchen to free up much needed space for my redesign. Watch this space.

Redundant chimney breast before

Getting started

Half way there….

Lovely stack of soft reds to recycle

D’nah! Now for finishing off and making good

I love being part of the Complementary Therapy team since early July at St Helena Hospice in Colchester. I am constantly learning more and more about Reiki energy and how it works and it’s been really good experience for me, especially when faced with friends who are suffering from cancer, injuries, etc – too many, including David. I am confident in offering Reiki knowing how beneficial it can be. I have use of a room at the Harwich Wellness Centre too, alongside a team of great people offering Hypnotherapy, Acupuncture, Hot Wax treatment for arthritis etc and Spiritual Healing. Also now selling Neal’s Yard products, which I love and can never afford, sigh. I can look longingly, ha!

HeartFelt Endeavours is my business name for the Reiki, the brooches and wristbands etc, and I’ll be adding new ventures in the New Year. I’m just getting the website (www.heartfeltendeavours.com) done…. slowly – trying to do it myself. Give me another month (or two).

Clive’s Mariner’s Wristbands, made from three different sailing knots

A very Happy Christmas and splendid New Year one and all.

Big Love for 2017 XXX

A Happy Christmas from Clive

And a Happy Christmas from me

And a Happy New Year from Cpn’ Jack & Fergus

Distant Drum in a beautiful November sunset, Harwich International Port in the distance on the River Stour (photo courtesy of Simon Ashley)

Fergus came to stay for a couple of weeks in October which was great fun and got me out walking every day at least three times a day. You wouldn’t believe he’d had a stroke back in May.

He can be a little unpredictable with other dogs, sometimes wagging his tail and being all pally, and other times…..

Bruce is a rather fine pit bull type beast, rescued by a rather fine elderly lady after his owner, a tramp, had died. Bruce likes to chat and when you go up to him it’s like an orchestra strikes up as he relates his greetings to you. He is unusually for this breed of dog, very friendly to other dogs.

So Fergus and I are walking home along the Esplanade one morning at high tide, the water lapping gently against the sea wall about 4 feet below us, when he spots Bruce and a spaniel with their respective owners further along the Esplanade. He trots up tail wagging, drops the stick he was carrying home, and proceeds with his greetings. Bruce is delighted as Fergus is normally a complete bastard to him, and he wags and sniffs and frolics, at which point Fergus gruffly turned on him, growling fiercely, causing the poor dog to flip over in fear, trying to get away, whereupon his bottom end swings out over the edge of the Esplanade, a lot of flailing and grappling, and PLOP, he drops into the North Sea. Aaaargh! Fergus retrieves his stick and trots on blithely, a grin from one ear to the other and eyes sparkling with mischief.

Bruce’s owner is understandably beside herself and is on the point of jumping over the railing into the sea to retrieve him. I managed to stop her in time. There were steps up about 100m to our right and about 200m to our left. Bruce swam left! I tried to get him to turn however he just kept going, and then he found some footing against the sea wall where a concrete slope was peeking out of the sea. He managed to get a bit higher, and then a bit higher again, until finally I managed to get my hand on his collar and hold him there. The spaniel owner leant down and together we hauled him up. Huge sigh of relief, and that was just from Bruce!

I felt terrible and kept apologising as Mr F looked smugly on. Bruce’s owner kept saying it was Bruce’s fault as he should have remembered Fergus reaction to him and she was really glad it happened as now she knew Bruce could swim.

I haven’t seen either of them since! Hope he’s OK…. hope she’s OK…..

Fergus in the back of Boris the Morris after a run on the beach

Excellent sign from Tendring Council

It’s been a long hot summer, perfect on the coast yet very dry, Harwich dry, so dry the grass is brown, leaves are curling on the trees, the hydrangeas are wilting, the dust blows unchecked and the windows remain wide open day and night. Even the threat of gigantic spiders trying to creep in for the winter (eeeek!) hasn’t got the windows closed. This week we’ve had temperatures to match Bangkok, though perhaps not the humidity. We were assured a heavy downpour last Saturday and about four drops of rain fell, one on my head, another in Dovercourt, maybe one more in Clacton and another in Frinton. You get the picture. It’s been so sweltering this week that rain will come as a great relief, and it’s promised…. It’s on its way…. Yet still the sweat runs down my spine, even when sitting still. Lethargy all around. It’s like waiting for the monsoon in Calcutta, even if it is 20 degrees C cooler. Wishing for a ceiling fan I write this as the sky grows ominously dark.

Clive just texted from his delivery round (for that well known American owned supermarket). Deluge has hit in Woodbridge just north of us, and still we wait….

Last Saturday Clive invited me along for half a day to see the seals in a small bit of the fantastic nature reserve, Hamford Waters. His boss Leon had Okayed it the week before and the Friday night I could hardly sleep with the expectation. This 1500 hectares of coastal reserve is absolutely stunning and the Essex coast here, though not pretty or picturesque, is beautiful. It has a raw unspoiltness that makes me feel quite emotional. There used to be a lot more land here, which has been claimed by the sea over the centuries. The bird life is fantastic and the seals, both grey and common, are in abundance. I grinned from one ear to the other throughout – big happy smiley Sarah

Perfect spot for camping on a sunny weekend

Great sky too

Towing barges positioned along the shoreline to try and stabilise it against storms and high tides

Mum and baby seal taking a dip. Something in the water makes their fur rusty coloured. Here are a few more pictures….

Clive’s official title, “Open Space Ranger”. Don’t you love it!

A few weeks on from the referendum and apart from the country having a change of leadership (thought I’d mention it, just to prove I’m on the ball) I’m not going to talk about politics

Distant Drum back in the Stour and manoeuvring to Ha’penny Pier

Amazing sky behind the truck ferry

Sunset over the Stour

Fergus was back in town, came to stay for a fortnight, and you wouldn’t believe he’d had the stroke a few weeks ago, he is so fit and well for his 13 years and four months

I took him over to Stour woods for a romp and he flatly refused to get out the car, until I walked away….

We opened the garden for Harwich Secret Gardens weekend and had 443 visitors, and two dogs, all trudging through the sitting room and kitchen to get to the garden

With Fergus in pole position welcoming them all, and seeing them back through the cottage and out the door

My friend Butty had her 50th party last weekend, an absolute blast – here she is with another good pal Beany – Looking great honey!!!

Janey (Beany’s wife), Timbo (Tim Villiers) and Beany. I’ve known Tim since I was 17 and Butty is his brother Hugo’s wife. Where does time go????