Cleaning always takes longer than you think...

I've moved from a small boat to a larger one. Looking at the amount of stuff surrounding me you'd think I'd moved from a large one to a small one. How on earth all this stuff fitted onto the narrowboat is beyond me. Although some do say that I have a particular way of organising and sorting things out magically. Where's that magic now? I'd like it to clean the boat top to bottom please in 5 minutes!

So, I swept through, took the rugs outside, then got out the vacuum. The problem with the old boat is that it is very damp. The wood is rotten in places and I'm not sure how we are going to fix this. I'm not sure how I lived on it for so long and believe this could have been the cause of my chesty cough that would last for months each year.

I then took a trip to the shop to buy a decent mop. The market didn't have anything mop like, everything I touched in the mop department of the supermarket fell apart! So I tried a pound shop place, they had something limp and yellow, but it wasn't very appealing and they didn't have any washing up bowls, nor did they seem to know what one was, despite my dramatic actions and explanations. So I tried another shop which seems to have everything, Zebedee's, great ladies that work there, always bickering with each other in front of the customers but in a funny way. One of them saw me struggling holding lots of things (I'd found a cutlery drawer, washing up bowls, a baking tray, glasses, some tea-towels...) and she rushed to my aide and put it all down at the counter saying 'that's for the lady over there, she's pregnant' - I grinned sheepishly, then seeing nothing else bought my stuff, including a proper mop with handle that you have to bash on (I'll get Jam to do that in a minute, it didn't look like it would fit to be honest). It was a little pricey, but I had at least got what I went out for, without too much hassle and came home.

Jam was resting, he's a bit exhausted, up for work at 5.30am then always something to do on the boat - tiling, but that's another story...) so he was having a rest and I sat beside him with my book, thinking 'I'll have a little read then get on with the mopping, when suddenly my phone rang, my book was on the floor, neck cricked and dribble running down my mouth, two hours gone by, hmmm. So a quick chat, cup of tea and a tea-cake, and I'm off to do the mopping, although I may just leave it until tomorrow morning and catch up with the sorting out of this boat, or just one more chapter of Agatha Christie? I feel like I've been cleaning this boat for years!