On the mat

Visibility was quite poor on leaving Waiouru for a walk last night. It’s sometime since we’ve experienced an evening mist so I was keen to see what dawn would be like.  Despite it being quite cold, this morning there was less frost on Waiouru than I’d anticipated.  However the surrounding countryside was white with frost and, combined with the grey sky, almost created a black & white scene.

The plan was to catch the bus to Calcot in order to visit the carpet shop and purchase some perishables in Sainsbury’s.  Why is it when you’re early for the bus it’s always late.  But when you’re on time it’s early?  Today we were early and spent 30 minutes jumping up and down on the spot trying to keep warm.

The plan was to purchase some carpet off-cuts to cover the top of the lockers in the cratch and cockpit.  However this didn’t work out because the off-cuts seemed to be quite expensive.  The idea was rejected but on making our way to Sainsbury’s we passed the local Dunelm Mill store.  A spur of the moment decision took us inside to look a rugs.  It was a good move because we found two cheap rugs that were almost the right size for the tops of the cockpit lockers. 

Back at the boat I cut the mats to shape of the top of the lockers and then bound the cut edge with waterproof glue and duct tape.

There isn’t much “padding” but they will (hopefully) protect the paint and avoid the need to sit on a freezing steel plate.  All we now have to do is find something suitable for the cratch lockers and floor.