Week 23 Where the sun doesn't shine

Week 23

Birds in a pole

About halfway down the pole 

koolmees (coal mace)

I honestly don't know how they didn't get drowned in last week's downpour.

Parking the bike

I forgot to say last week that Ben rode his bike to Amsterdam Central Station on his first morning, to catch the train to Zwolle for school. He had to search for somewhere to put the bike and 20 minutes later found a spot on a barge! One can only wonder how they ever find their own bike again. He now leaves half an hour earlier....

New roof on the chook shed

We're "allowed" to take 35 square metres of asbestos sheeting to the tip (per year). It has to be wrapped in heavy duty plastic and the council workers won't touch it, so it has to be in small, manageable bundles to lift on and off the trailer. 

I've mentioned before that corrugated iron is not a commonly used building material over here; this is extremely good quality and now matches the new extension. I'm almost tempted to restore the old hayshed out the back.... (and plant a few gum trees!).

Making a new table for the clients' work area.

All my own work, so I'm the only one going to get into trouble for all the sawdust (from sanding) - well, I couldn't shift it outside....

and, if the contents label of the box is to be believed, I used 200 screws (and a pot of glue).

Finally, the boat...

Clean, at least. But the rust spots are more obvious! I'm saving my pension so that I can get it painted again. 

Where the sun doesn't shine.... the aft port quarter was covered with thick green slime after a winter (8 months!!!) of no sun - in fact, in the mooring it gets very little sun even in the summer

Trying something new here - a video - with sound effects! Not sure if it actually works. I can't test it until it is "published".

We just went for a short trip to a nearby island; 6 hours of total relaxation after what has been a fairly hectic last six 8 months. Cleaning, reading, eating, sleeping and soaking up the late afternoon sun - that's more like it! 

In a couple of weeks we will be going down to Blokzijl again for Janny's brother's birthday party.

I had a "win" in the maintenance department. I have been contemplating a new drinking water pump for a couple of years now. It's an old diaphragm pump from 1994 and was becoming more like a trickle than a flow. It stopped altogether this year and I was about to give up when I thought "there must be something" - opened a tap in the bowels of the engine compartment and tightened up a few seals...... all is well! Must have been an airlock (for sure) and probably entrainment of air past one of the hose connections. The pressure and flow are now better than ever!

From the newspaper

New bus depot in Drachten

The existing bus depot is described as looking very "East European" and much in need of a facelift - planned for 2017. 

A new depot is planned on one of the main routes into Drachten - requiring the construction of a "Super Roundabout" and a new depot on land adjacent to the van der Valk Hotel - they sold the land to the local council on the proviso that they had the rights to selling coffee and food. Much more interesting is the fact that a German startup company called Flixbus has chosen Drachten as the Northern Hub of "the largest bus network in Europe". Direct routes to Berlin, Antwerp, Denmark, the Randstad (Amsterdam Rotterdam) and other locations are expected. Flixbus (based in Munich) are "luring" passengers with the promise of low prices and extra legroom! The new depot is expected to be ready in December, 2016.