Lookfar on pontoon today - wind gusting to 45 mph.

21-35 hrs: Only the main sail needs to be put on for it all to happen. Note the sleek shape and that the cockpit is good for grossing out in the sun, as I did this afternooon.

Sloe flowers - 30th March: where we picked actual sloes in the autumn - see 19th September.

15-50 hrs: now all they have to do is to set fruit and grow - and avoid being picked by other people.

11-50 hrs: in Cafe Nero - wonders of OpenZone connectivity and a netbook.

Lookfar snug on her mooring with the furling foresail attached and the deck scrubbed. Much chaos below decks as the main sail still needs to be attached and the gear sorted out. To be done in sunshine - in due course. No actual sailing until the weather is suitable - whatever that means.

The launch - in beautiful weather - at an unearthly hour -

17-10 hrs:  - - and with no problems. Tidied up and sat around in the sun much of the day - but it was tiring as I got up at 7-00!

Lookfar held on the crane so that I can paint the keel before launch.

20-10 hrs> Happiness and exhaustion are boat shaped.

Spent all day doing things to the boat ready for launch tomorrow at 8-30am. Very pleasurable - very tiring - and hot sunshine.
And also explains why I have not written any emails of late. 

- - Back to 'normal' - - three nice days

Friday - antifouling on Lookfar.
Yesterday - hung curtains and did gardening with Aidan in London (and watched frog spawn (which did not do anything of course)). 
Today - rescue duty on the River Deben - light wind so no-one to rescue, but I drove a rib up and down the river and avoided getting cold. Bacon butty for lunch.

Lookfar in winter - the hull cleaned and ready for anti-fouling.
A minnow nestled amongst  grown-up boats.
The one behind has propellers the size and cost of my whole engine - -

16-00 hrs: The hull has since been polished - and is even more ready for the water than shown here. Tomorrow - we have the painting of antifouling.

Today -we have  tidying the flat. This is to make it ready for the annual inspection by the rental agent. Goodness knows what they will make of all the gear lying around but I have moved the ropes and rudder out of the bath and onto the boat. And then - the sailing and the polishing of the topsides and the sailing and the sealing of wood. Mostly sailing I hope.

Nothing annoying here - - - 

Where are all the wigeon gone - - - -

9-40 hrs: I have only walked the river bank a few times lately - and only seen two wigeon - so I assume they have gone off somewhere exotic to lay eggs and generally work hard. There are fewer birds feeding along the river than usual - which I take as a subtle change ready for spring. There are lots of flowers on the sloe bushes - all ready to produce fruit for us to collect later in the year.

And my boat - still uncleaned - but I am going to get it in the water this month - so I can sit on it in the sun. I have not felt like doing it lately. Yesterday - rescue team training at the sailing club - mostly sitting on boats in the sun, giving my opinion about when to drop an anchor and drinking tea - fun.

I have not felt like writing for a while. I don't know if spending a couple of days on the Forums was too much for the system! But also I have been feeling less well for a few weeks and ran into the circular problem of living for the moment. If you live for the day - then there is no tomorrow - so you have to do everything today - and get exhausted and depressed as a result of not being able to do it all. I seem to have anemia as a side effect of Tarceva. It also seems that eating lots of beef (nice) and liver (ugh) does not do the trick because the Tarceva interfers with the development of red blood cells. Planning to do fewer annoying things - we will see - - -

Support Forums

11-00 hrs: I have spent a couple of days behaving as if I were not retired. I was asked a question about something from one of my documents. In answering it I find that various changes had been made to a download from xampp. So - much reading of various Forums and scratching of head. No solution apart from finding and using the older version. I have never really followed Forums and signed up to them, as I have not used Open Source software much. Very easy to get distracted into readng all sorts of stuff - but a new experience.

But - And - it reminded me that, although this stuff is maddening - it also taxes the grey cells. This is what I liked about working and why I do not like retirement - even after 2 1/2 years.

In the home - -

New sewing machine and a pile of curtains

10-00 hrs: The old one gave up the struggle, so I went to Ipswich, found both a car park and the machine shop. Hours of harmless fun creating curtains.

In the wild - -

A kingfisher - sitting in reeds next to a stream alongside the railway

13-50: Seen along the path to the river, by the railway crossing. It stayed put for a long time and only left when I moved a bit near. I have never seen one so close and just sitting. Awesome.

Released into the wild - Joomla! Getting Started docs

 

9-00 hrs:   http://docs.joomla.org/  Under Getting Started. Hope it is not too wild where they are - and that people like them. 

Now all I have to do is re-write them all for the new version. Scary.