New old lamps for old, old lamps

Faced with the question as to how to clean antique brass - very dirty antique brass - we turned, of course, to the interweb. And it was fascinating.

There were several solutions, and we tried the lot; a paste made from lemon juice and bicarbonate of soda (which fizzed over the top of the container, and didn't really make a paste at all), tomato ketchup, white vinegar. We spotted a common denominator here, and tried neat lemon juice, too. And a paste of bicarb with water.

To these folksy cleansers, we added the more modern (though actually pretty old now) Brasso, and hob cleaner. Separately, not mixed together. And a lot of elbow grease, kitchen paper and dusters. Between them, we had success! I won't say it was a quick and easy job, but it was actually quicker and easier than I had expected it would be.

That was yesterday. Today it was time to take down our lamp with the broken glass, and replace it with one of the new, old ones.

It was only when we took it down that we realized that it really was in a bit of a state. We knew about the broken glass. That had been our problem with it. But now we saw that the verdigris around the base of the glass was more than just a characterful colouring of the brass, but a full-on attack. We will not be selling this one on Ebay!

Then we realized that the old lamp had a different type of bulb fitting from the new one, and we'd need to buy a bulb for it. After a slow visit to Homebase, we came back with the bulb. And was it really easy to find that bulb? The hell it was!

Putting up the new lamp was almost a doddle. And here we have it, in daylight, and in cosy mode after dark.

We're very pleased. Now we have to decide whether to use the second, matching new lamp to replace the lamp that hangs on the opposite side of the dinette.

Difficult choice. We like this lamp, and wouldn't have anywhere else to put it if we took it down. Do we replace it with the other new one, or leave it, and continue to enjoy their difference?

This is like shopping! Life is too full of choices! Ours is supposed to be a simple life!

"Older lamps for old..."

We have a pair of antique, brass lamps in our dinette. They're both from ships, oil lamps which have been adapted for electric light bulbs. But the glass of one of them was already broken when we bought Kantara, and it's been getting progressively worse over the years, almost as if the glass has become more fragile, cracking under its own weight or from the gentle squeeze of the fitting it sits in.

We've scoured the web, junk shops, all sorts, in search of a replacement, to no avail. Glass-blowers are few, and far between, and the one of those we could find who would be able and willing to make a new glass for us would charge £120 to £150. No way!

Then Grace found a pair of the lamps, identical to ours, and both with intact glasses, up for auction on Ebay. She joined the auction, eventually winning with the very reasonable price of £82. They've recently been removed from a pub that's being demolished, along with several other lamps of different types, and the man who was selling them lives just outside the city of Worcester. Rather than adding postage cost to the £82 - and risking breakage in the post! - we chose to visit him instead. And, to make the drive all the more worthwhile, we booked into the The Pear Tree Inn and Country Hotel for three nights.

It's a good hotel on the site of a very old inn, and built with some sympathy for the style of the original, most of which has been incorporated into a 1990s extension. Amusingly, the lights come on ahead of you as you walk along its corridors, and shut off after you've passed, so that you walk in a moving pool of light.

Yesterday, we spent three hours in Worcester. The weather was poor, cold, wet and windy, but the cathedral was a must for us, so most of our time was spent in the warm and dry. The cathedral is beautiful, its history fascinating. King John of Magna Carta fame is entombed there. So is Arthur, Prince of Wales, elder brother of Henry, the Duke of York. Arthur died within six months of marrying Catherine of Aragon (he, aged 15 at the time), thus paving the way for Henry's accession to the throne after the death of his father, Henry VII. Henry VIII, of course, married the unfortunate Catherine, his first wife, and the first to lose her head.

Worcester seems to be steeped in history, with many ancient buildings.

photo - www.nationaltrust.org.uk

Despite the rain, because of which we took few photos, we walked alongside the River Severn, too, and called to mind the time back in 2004 when we took NB Magnus, a Viking Afloat boat, along this stretch of the Severn at the start of a holiday Stourport Ring trip.

In the afternoon, we revisited Hanbury Hall, lunching there, and being very glad to have somewhere interesting and beautiful to be, away from the rain outside. The photos are from a previous visit.

Now we're back, happy owners of two old lamps that need a very good cleaning and polishing. Michelle comes tomorrow, to spend a few days with us. The weather's grim, so perhaps it's as well we're not out on the cut.

Emma Jane's gone away...

...but only for a while. (Sounds like the start of a song, doesn't it?) Ed and Jan left early this morning, bound for Debdale Wharf and a full repainting job. Debdale staff do the hull, John Barnard the cabin, and Jon Leeson the artwork. Just like our job last year. There's no denying Emma Jane needs it, and we're looking forward to seeing her in her new livery in six weeks' time. Ish.

This leaves us with our port side to an open space, which is great.

Cruising's over for the rest of the year now. This has been imposed upon us by the engine problems that still remain. It's not that Kantara won't go anywhere. We took her all the way across to the service platform the other day, to fill our fuel tank!

Photo taken from Kantara in February. Hence the bare trees.

It's just that I'm awaiting delivery of a new air filter for the engine. And I cannot source a hose for the air filter cassette.

I had to throw away the old one, but I can't find anywhere to buy more.

It's 50mm internal diameter, and I need 1.5m of it. Any ideas please, readers??

We've lined up Colin to do a number of other jobs on the boat - replacing the drive plates, repacking the stern gland, and lubricating the Morse mechanism. Or replacing it if the grease doesn't do the job, or if removal reveals unacceptable wear.

So it's with regret that we've had to postpone the visit of three friends we were going to take out for a few days' cruise next month. And Michelle, our annual visitor, will be staying with us, but that'll be here in the marina, next week.

We're a bit fed up about the washing machine problem; that is, it works fine off the mains electricity supply, but not off the inverter. Having spoken with both Zanussi and Victron, it turns out there's an incompatibility between the two devices, which neither of them knew about. Neither can/will they do anything about it. It's at times like this I wish I were a lawyer. I'd take them both to court and sue them for huge sums of money. In your dreams, Roger!

So we'll be hand-washing whilst cruising in future, then. We can still use the Zanussi as a spin-drier, so that's some consolation.

I've started to wash the boat, doing the first pass a few bits at a time. So far, the roof is done, and the bow and stern decks. Once all of the worst dirt is off (and was never that bad!), it'll be a final once-over, hosing-down and waxing. Of course, the paint touching-up has to be done as well, before the waxing. But we can't take Kantara out of the marina yet. It's very frustrating!

But never mind. We're patient. And it's not as if we have nothing to do. I'm putting the finishing touches to my latest book. It's a bit different to "Life with our feet under water", but still for boaters, especially new or would-be boaters. Watch this space!

We're driving to Worcester tomorrow for a few days, mainly to pick up an Ebay auction win, but we'll stay on a bit to do some sight-seeing. The Ebay item is a pair of old, brass lamps. We already have one, but the glass is broken and we can't find a replacement. We could get one made for about £120. The two lamps, both with intact glasses, is costing us ⅔ of that!

OK, it's time for coffee, then to do a bit more boat-washing. If I don't get blown away, that is. We have something of a gale happening here!