Hello again

Where does one start? Its obviously been a very long time since I not only made a contribution to my blog but even since i visited the site, and as I have so often discovered when reading old journals and diaries, life is different now compared to then. I was full of expectation, a degree of naivety, novelty, youth, exuberance.............we were all young once. If I continue with this blog, its possible it will take two directions. The first being to update and chart further boat news and progress and secondly to employ it for more personal reflection on myself and life in general. Last week saw the 5th anniversary of the commencement of the fit out and this very moment 5 years ago, I would have been busy doing 3 jobs at once, tiring myself out, getting cut and bruised and losing weight. In some ways Ive done very little real boat work after I moved on board and got settled in. Life took over and I just got on with doing other things like earning some money and getting a social life. Maybe I got a little burned out with it, maybe the novelty wore off, maybe I just needed distracting for a while. I guess it was a reflection of my state of mind and when ever something broke down or simply didn't work right, I begrudgingly did a quick fix just to pacify the problem, so that I could go on ignoring it again. For that reason, Ive been feeling somewhat guilty about the part finished status of the project and yet it seems I need not have worried unduly. I can identify with the Buddhist saying 'When the Pupil is ready, the teacher will appear' or in my case, I will get back to it when the time is right And so it seems the right time is indeed now. My state of mind seems to be happy, content and ready to accept some more of the challenge at last. Its therefore ironic that on the very day after the 5th anniversary of Boat landing, I had a call from a friend. Terry had just spent a week on a wide beam, cruising the Kennet and Avon and he called to tell me that the engine was being pulled and replaced with a bigger one and was therefore for sale with all bits and bobs and @ 3000 hours on the clock, which in diesel boat engine terms is barely run in To that end, I have this very morning been and collected the engine and right now its sitting on a pallet outside having just had a good clean so I can get a better look at it About the only jobs left to be done on Boat are in the engine room - hooking up the engine, and the one thing which has psychologically held me back, nay, made it easier to ignore is the fact the Peugeot engine isnt a marine engine. That is to say its got no marine heritage and will be difficult to set up and get certificated. An Isuzu by comparison is very different, so that will be the next project. But, I have skipped a lot here and shall endeavor to chronicle as much as I can.