back to ireland

after several months of pestering neil the poor harbourmaster of penzance he gave in and said he'd squeeze my boat in somewhere.so i rang the owner of the girl jane to tell him i'd be over for her but there was a problem,her gearbox was seized.now i know next to nothing about gear boxes and engines,but i was warned by several good engineers that i could be buying an expensive problem even if they were to get it running again so i backed away from it.such a fine shaped old boat too,i was gutted i wouldnt have her, i just hope someone else takes it on,rediculous how affectionate you can get for a big lump of wood.i got a bit drunk in newlyn once,at the same time that they were scrapping a boat i had worked on.to get home i had to wobble past where she was being broken up.well i dont remember much but i must have got emotional as i woke up with a plank of her timber in the bed and the girlfriend on the couch.anyway,i had to go looking again,but coincidentally an irish lad called shaun who was fishing in newlyn knew his uncle hugh had 2 boats for sale in howth,just outside dublin.hugh had given up fishing due to health reasons and said he'd come down from donegal to meet me if i flew over,so i did.

i'd seen the boat in dunmore once before,for her length she's a big boat,stocky as hell and deep .probably not the prettiest boat in the world either,if i'm honest,but she had plenty of room to work with,the engine is good,and with a lick of paint she'd be a palace,hopefully.however,after the grand tour of the boat we sat down to discuss money,and i soon realised that when we'd spoken on the phone and he'd given me a price,it was sterling and not euros he'd been on about,and i'd just flown to ireland for nothing again.it seemed we'd waisted each others time but unlicenced fishing boats are worth very little now and as it isnt cheap to scrap them either he accepted what i had to offer,about half the price.so all i had to do was get the saint therese home now.