This post is going to be a relatively short one. Mind you, I’ve said that before and ended up rabbiting on about nothing in particular, so let’s see what I come up with.
The thing is there isn’t really much to relate this week. We’ve been blessed with some lovely sunny weather since last weekend, so much of the time, I’ve been escaping work duties to potter around my little garden and enjoy doing jobs on the Vereeniging and the Hennie H. There’s always so much to be done, but this year we’ve started everything late. I blame the weather for that, though. It’s only just warmed up enough to spend much time outdoors.
Today has been particularly lovely, so this morning we woke up on the Vereeniging with the sun streaming through the window and the reflection of rippling water on the ceiling. Lovely. Koos took the car round to the Hennie H with all our tools while Zoe and I walked over to continue with a project we, but mostly Koos, have been working on since the winter — expanding our tiny loo into a throne room of more comfortable dimensions (photos will follow when it’s finished).
It (the loo) was so small, even I couldn’t easily stand to arrange my clothing, so poor Koos really struggled. The new enlarged version is infinitely more accommodating. Anyway, after making some very good progress with installing wall cladding and a ceiling, we returned to the Vereeniging the same way: Koos in the car, Zoe and me on foot. At just under a kilometre each way it gave us (Zoe and me) some exercise, and Koos and I wanted to take a look at some visitors to the harbour.
Hard to see but at the far end are two very cute small tugboats
Next week, from 1 to 4 June, there is a major classic boat festival at Ostend, called Ostend at Anchor, and some 150 traditional craft will be gathering there. If you’d like to know more about it, here is a link to the event’s website. This afternoon, five beautiful old tugboats arrived in our harbour, participants in the festival who’d come across the Westerschelde (Western Scheldt) and will be staying overnight. I assume they’ll be leaving for the next leg of their journey tomorrow. However, from Sas to Ostend by water is only around 80kms (50 miles), so not all that far. Who knows? Maybe they’ll stay an extra day or stop in Bruges (Brugge) for a day. Whatever they do, they were a lovely sight to see opposite the Vereeniging and a welcome, if temporary, addition to our historic harbour.
More immaculate tugboats with flags flying
The Vereeniging from the other side
And a zoomed-in view
The Hennie H is just under a kilometre’s walk from the Vereeniging now.
Still a lot of tidying to do in my scruffy garden, but I keep being distracted by the view
Not very recent, but I found this photo on my phone. Some random tulips and daffodils growing at the edge of the lake near the cottage
Apparently, the fine weather is set to continue, so we’ll try and keep up the momentum on the boats. We’re also planning our summer faring now, so I’ll tell you about that next time. See? It really is a short post for me, isn’t it?
For now, then, have a good week, allemaal, and I’ll be back with news and views from here in Zeeland next week.
