Odd job man.

It is a very pleasant evening now but we have had an hour or so of continuous heavy rain followed by a series of heavy showers of rain and hail. I started with re-grouting some of the tiles in the shower to ensure that it was water proof and wouldn't let water get behind them and cause damage. I then wrote some emails and caught up with a few blogs etc. I had really just been putting off the job that I didn't really want to do. This was the secondary glazing repair. It was nothing really serious but needed doing. The perspex is kept in place with magnetised tape on three sides but on the top there was a gap to the bottom of the hopper window. I filled this with some neoprene tape. To make up the thickness it needed to layers. The glue that sticks the two together seems to have not worked in the middle of the window. Looking closely this seems to be due to the  actual window bowing rather than poor glue as it only happens in the middle of the length. I have wondered whether I should have used thinner perspex so that it bent more easily to the shape. I settled on 4mm perspex in the end.

Here you can see that the hopper window is left free to be used and the lower panel is 'sealed'. The magnetic strips 'A' and 'B' work very well.

Here you can see that there is a gap from where the lower window frame is proud of the upper window. The lower window pane kept in place by the rubber chock piece. The fill that gap you can see on the perspex to the left I have added the neoprene and then the magnetic strip. The two strips of neoprene are now sewn in place.

I am actually surprised as to how well they work. There has been no condensation that needs mopping up at all. The window does have a little mist on them when there is a quick change in temperature, like when it has been chucking it down with rain and then the sun comes out strongly. It soon disappears and having the neoprene may allow this moisture to dispel. I'm sure it has kept the boat warmer too. So for a maximum outlay of under £100 for the six windows, two door and one side hatch I have solved the condensation and heat problems. Mind you a do hope it is a few months before I need to test them again.

When the rain passed I nipped into town to John Beard's Ironmongers that is just near to Wilco as I need some M4 machine screws. The door handles on the kitchen cupboards are just held on by a thread. Well there were held on by a thread but now they seem to be dropping off. I bought longer bolts and now they are secure. Beard's is a lovely shop with plenty of tools and stuff along with all those little things that you never knew you needed. I did manage to resist though having spent only 60p.

To get to the ironmongers I had to pass the Town Hall where there was a statue of Roland Hill. Just round the corner was the defunct headquarters of Brinton Carpets. Kidderminster was well known for being where carpets were made and Brintons were the first, in 1785, of the over thirty companies that were based here at their peak. I'm not sure if any carpets are still made here. On the way back to the boat I passed the local Weatherspoon's and as I had a voucher in my pocket for 50p off a pint I thought I would be daft to not call in. I managed a pint of Iceberg from Titanic Brewery that was very hoppy and went down a treat. The pub was called the Penny Black. I assume that this was connected to the statue of Rowland Hill. He was born in Kidderminster and is credited with reforming the postal system and inventing the postage stamp in the form of the penny black. There was a postal system previously but the system was slow and the postage was paid by the recipient. This meant that many had a code that could be read by looking at the 'envelope' and not having to open it. Therefore the recipient could refuse to pay so the system would not work. Hill decided that prepaying for the postage and proving this by affixing a 'stamp' would make things more efficient and less open to misuse. He argued his case for two years before he was given a two year contract to run the system in 1839. In the first year the number of items through the post increased by 120%.

The statue of Sir Rowland Hill. The inscription reads 'Born Kidderminster 1795, buried in Westminster Abbey 1879. To his creative mind and patient energy the world is indebted for the Penny Post introduced 1840. The statue was produce by Sir Thomas Brock and unveiled in 1881