Cap'n Spack Jarrow
Brownian motion-type musings on barge renovation, life and other bits of flotsam.
An Apology to my Mother...
Um yeah, sorry Mum. I bought another bike... And that's how I got to Holland. Soz.
My initial plan was to buy a big old scooter thing like the Big Ruckus. Can carry lots of stuff and not cost the earth to insure or drive... Unfortunately I had a dreadful experience with a company who wanted to sell me one so I . . .
Power to the People
How I intend to reduce our carbon footprint
So, power, electricity, heat etc. All pretty much a must for the modern home and a topic of much debate amongst engineers, policy makers, politicians etc as regards the national infrastructure for grid requirements etc. There has been talk of rolling "brown outs" once the UK loses its coal fired power stations (although to be honest . . .
Sisyphus Had It Easy
Sisyphus was the king of Ephyrus (now Corinth) and was punished by the Gods for his deceitfulness and self aggrandising by being forced, for eternity, to push a boulder up a hill and then to watch it roll back down. Rather than a boulder up a hill, I had a hold full of cr@p which, despite the equivalent of an ultramarathon in distance covered . . .
Tool Time
(no not a US presidential debate but something far more enlightening)
Tools. Pretty much a staple for an person with a Y chromosome, and a must have for any kind of renovation job on a barge. What did I buy in preparation for the strip?
1) Bandsaw (not taken with me on the first stint) Record Power BS300
2) Plasma Cut 50 (not taken)
3) 14.5 cfm petrol air compressor and 7.5 cfm electric . . .
Why I don't sleep much...
or the Curse of an Overactive Brain
A word of warning before starting a project like this. You won't sleep much. You will have trouble dropping off to sleep while your brain runs through the problems with the plan for the kitchen/bathroom/whatever you were thinking about earlier. I am sure the professionals don't have this problem, given they have done loads of boat . . .
Going Dutch
So, a couple of little things about doing the whole Dutch thing (and not going halvsies on a meal). A slight frustration is that many debit and credit cards are not accepted in stores so a healthy wad of cash is often needed. As can be seen from the photos, I have managed to accumulate a lot of rubbish in the boat and so have attempted to . . .
Put your hands up!
Saturday 5th Mar
Today has been mostly spent with my arms above my head. No I haven’t been moonlighting as an Italian soldier (just FYI they are the best people to buy a rifle from - never been fired and only dropped once) but have been tearing down ceiling panels.
Old, thin plywood has a tendency to delaminate given the . . .
