The eyeball was excellently repainted and is now resplendent in the later colours of Fellows Morton & Clayton (a UK canal carrying company for our colonial listeners) being red, green and yellow with a nice coat of black bitumen below the waterline. All the seams have been properly caulked with oakum and Stockholm tar rolled by my own fair hands. She's now back in the water and tighter than a duck's arse with not a peep from the bilge pump. Early voyages are being taken with care as I don't want to scratch the new paint!

One disappointment is the lack of a black eyepatch which has meant cancelling the order I made for a parrott (a particularly fine example of a Norwegian Blue).

This typing with one eye is somewhat knackering so I will now leave the cyber airwaves alone for a while.

TTFN Pete