Allotment!

I received an email from my friend T as I was leaving Newcastle to say that we have reached the top of the allotment list and could we go round that evening to view our plot of land. The yearly fee is a grand total of £8.50 (£4.25 each) and the plot is in really good nick:

You can see it in the left corner of this photo

We have spent the last couple of days discussing what we will plant and what tools we will need and it is all very exciting. Everything seems to be going according to plan, I do believe that if you set your sights on what you want and really go for it, it will happen. A friend of mine calls it 'putting your intentions out into the universe'.

We are going shopping tomorow to get some gardening tools and some plants from the market in town and then we are going to get digging.

In the meantime I am doing a spring clean of the boat. I thought it would take me just a day, but I have spent all day just doing the bedroom and haven't touched the rest of the boat yet. A lot of that is to do with the fact that I have had to deal with the damp in the wardrobes.

When we came back from being away I really noticed the smell of damp much more. Phil still says that I am imagining it, but I really can smell it and it is starting to bug me. I decided that it is time I sorted it out so I have thrown everything at it. I have ordered several types of de-humidifier from Amazon and will keep you posted as to which works the best. Today I thoroughly washed and dried out the insides of the wardrobes and put several de-humidifiers in them and also under the bed. Our boat builder came round last week and showed us where to drill holes in order to get some air flow under there and I think I am on top of it now. I will keep you posted as I know that damp and condensation is a major problem for everyone on boats.

Yesterday we went up to our storage unit and tidied it up.

We sold most of our stuff when we moved out of our house, but there were some things we really couldn't part with, especially my books. I had a house full and probably had several hundred books all over the house. But yesterday we had a look at things again and realised that there was still stuff that we could get rid of, so the charity shops will get another influx. They never used to take books but now there is an oxfam shop in town which is completely dedicated to books and cds. I go in there regularly, buy a book for a couple of quid and then give it back, it works really well.

Our unit looked a lot tidier when we had finished:

We then collected son number 2 who has nearly finished his final year at university. He has completed his dissertation and is now revising hard for the final exams. I worry so much about him as I don't think he eats properly when the pressure is on, so I cooked him his favourite meal;steak, chips with a side salad followed by strawberries and cream. he polished the lot off which really pleased me.

I now have two weeks off, but so many plans that I'm still not sure I will be able to fit everything in that I want to do. We are hoping to get 'out on the water' in the next couple of weeks, so we will see.

Al :)