Glorious sunshine :-)

What a fabulous day it has been today! The sun has been beating down on us all day. Although it's a bit warm to be working, it certainly is enjoyable to have such great weather. The day boats that went out this morning have certainly had a good day for it...

We have turned around eight boats today which has kept Billy and Ralph busy for the majority of the day. Bernard has checked the engines over on all of the boats and has been doing running repairs on the Matbro this afternoon along with a couple of other small jobs required around the yard. Graham has been working on Hawthorne again. The back bulkhead is now taking shape. Mick has been finishing off on Cloud Nine, the finishing touches (varnishing) always make the job! Fred has done the pump outs, gas, diesel and water on all of the boats and has been down in the dock apply the final coat of blacking to the boat that is currently sitting in there.

There's a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes here at Norbury too, as with most businesses. Between us; Ange, Simon and I keep abreast of all the paperwork, advertising, recruiting, book work and the general day-to-day paperwork in the office. We have a superb team of girls that look after the housekeeping. Their work is cut out on a turnaround day to get all the boats clean ready for the next occupants. We do ask the occupants of the boats to strip the beds and put all used linen in the bath/shower cubicle before they depart. This saves the girls tremendous amounts of time, as you would be surprised how long it takes to just strip the beds! As we do all of our washing "in house" it now takes several days to plough through the washing, to get it ready for use again next week... Obviously there is the ongoing tidying of the wharf area which Ralph is really getting on top of now. He has made a superb job of the hanging baskets this year - I think they are the best they have looked for a good few years. Fred; when he isn't in the depths of the dry dock or pumping boats out, does try to keep the workshops and docks tidy. That's an ongoing job and as quick as they are tidied, they need doing again!!!

Well the day boats are back safely and ready to go out tomorrow, all the staff have gone home so I am afraid that's it from me for today. I'm going to go and enjoy a nice cool pint! Have a good evening.

Until tomorrow,

David