Painting a roof

The rubbish was cleared from the top of Crack’s Hill sometime that afternoon. Later in the week Ann returned to me after her week away in Devon.
Painting a narrowboat’s roof is not a simple matter of just applying paint. Preparation takes longer as any good painter knows. The roof becomes a storage area for all manner of things. TV aerials or satellite dishes, centre ropes, gang planks, and boat poles to name but a few.
We also needed guaranteed dry weather for a few days and some drive to get going. When all the equipment had been removed from the roof it became vast and intimidating. On close inspection every blemish is spotted, scraped, rubbed down and primed. Not with the usual ‘red lead’ but with ‘zinc phosphate’!

The day was just too hot when it came for the top coat so we waited till mid afternoon before opening the tin. “Oh that’s a bit bright” Ann said. “I wanted grey, not white.” International ‘Seattle Grey 251’ it said on the tin. There was nothing for it but to continue our task which took all afternoon and evening.
Boaters are going by almost every 5 minutes this Easter weekend and some have tried to send comments or emails without success. I am sorry but I have to approve them these days because some are just ‘unreadable’ or 'unprintable'.
Ann went walkabout with Molly and saw Tony and Judy on Jubilee two bridges away.