ULLROOIT

The thought of another drought provoked rainy weekend, well the word weekend is by the by, but we are in for harsh weather so the forecasters say. Yes we have brought the worst weather in 100 years. I shouldn’t be so forward to say we brought it but we did the same when we moved to Tauranga. We weren’t long in town when we had the worst rain in 25 years followed 2 weeks later by the worst rains in 100 years. So hope our 7 year itch doesn’t bring exceptional reportable weather here.

Little Della is settled on the boat and is now looking like she is wondering why she is here. The mega daily walks, rain or seldom- shine keep her entertained but I think she is wondering what her purpose is now. The rabbits have a ‘chase me’ scent and the Swans are hissy. I think she thinks the Coots would be fun for a frolic. A few daily treats help.

Today we did the IKEA run in our ‘boat’ on wheels. Breakfast, there, is the best and then a hasty walk to Market Hall, Bargain Basement and we’re done. The self checkout assistant is helpful & friendly and shares the joys of the customer who had a meltdown, earlier, because of a queue. My advice to her for the best customer service was to agree with the customer. They don’t expect it. (If you’re not sure then cross your fingers as you speak. I didn’t tell her that!)

So I’ve been thinking about local vernacular. The daily greeting, here, is ‘AllRight’ sounding like ‘Ullrooit’. The response is meant to be ‘Ullrooit’. When I first had this said to me, I launched in to how I was or wasn’t allright. I did think that everyone was so friendly and caring! And they probably are but they weren’t really asking if I was allright, they were just saying ‘Hi’ in acknowledgement our paths were physically crossing.

It has been nice to have a few days less home improvements motivated. We are trying out a new bed extension layout tonight. That is another story but I would like to sleep without the gunwhale being my new best friend. So let’s see who falls out of bed tonight! Well it is either me, Chris or Della! Yesterday the largest pottery mallard fell off our wall followed by a carpet tile or 3!

ULLROIT…..

‘Rack’ the Knife

 It looks like the canals will have a bit more water than anticipated, well that’s my forecast. There must be some shared benefit with all that rain that we are getting!

We have been at the Marina for 7 weeks, now, and now reap the benefits of our hard work getting AM canal-worthy. We can move ourselves on water independently and AM is running well! Indoors, we have transformed the what-was the galley / dinette, and the lounge room berth into one room with a wide shelved floor to ceiling storage space, a bright and functional galley (an IKEA solution) giving access to the living /dining room (which will also turn into the guest room, at night!). The new door to the Bow (front) is perfect.  There is still more to be done but that is part of the project. I feel excited about this part of the project whereas most of the last 7 weeks have been like living on a building site. But the hard work paid off. This week the never-ending ending did, in a way, arrive and we can be less work focused and go on days out!

So the Galley, I do think of it as a ‘kitchen’ on a boat because it is the sort of kitchen I could live with anywhere on land or water! So if I refer to it as kitchen or galley, I mean the same thing. Chris put our ideas onto paper and drew possible layouts and was able to choose suitable drawers and cabinets to fill the space and offer storage solutions. Next step was IKEA. (We did source another kitchen supplier but we realized IKEA would have a tested product that Chris could professionally install, oh the joys of being a carpenter + builder). A further visit to IKEA (Nottingham) and Chris had his layout to share with an in-house kitchen designer who made some good suggestions and could show a 3 dimensional view of our plans. Needless to say the car was full when we left the store.

Some of the highlights of living without a kitchen…

-aware of water availability

-2 washing up bowls (one to rest the drainer on) and a 5 litre water bottle are essential.

-Use the same crockery and cutlery.

-Paper towels are very helpful with wiping the plates pre-wash

-Purchase of a jug to boil water (cos we have electricity).

-Purchasing prepped/cooked supermarket meals. (as well as fresh veggie stir fry mixes)

-the temporary work table is kept out of the intended galley site until absolutely necessary

-Purchase a microwave/convection oven/grill and work out if the inverter will cope!

-Supermarket meals are fast to get on the table!

-make sure your buckets do not become builder’s buckets

-You get to know your neighbours who send out invites for “us”dinner. Thank you TT’s Dave & Heth.

A few days later the galley housed all kitchen stuff. The kitchen sink was in situ but drained into a bucket and the taps didn’t work! The gas was delayed in being connected but during our wait for this to happen; we realized that we would need a gas cooker. The inverter would struggle to run the microwave/oven which was a lifesaver to have during the Galley refit. So, a week ago, we were reliably connected to our gas bottle and the hob and oven (cooker) are in use. 

We are slowly covering the galley walls with helpful storage items. Today, we were delivered a magnetic knife rack……..