But first...
Dulltown, UK: Today's very silly sounding word is - cornucopia.
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Look, here it is, finished and drying, hanging on a garden rake in the vice, on the workbench in my scruffy workshop:
It looks good, doesn't it? Also, a bit mysterious, too.
A friend of mine asked me to tidy up her old life belt.
It used to be on a small boat that belonged to her father, but the boat itself is long gone. She very much likes the life belt, it is a 'family' thing.
As it is very old, it was rather battered and scratched from lots of work and weather, but the ropes are good, and are still attached.
The lettering had mostly flaked off. The boat was called Sounder, and she came from Hull, a port on the River Humber, in East Yorkshire.
Sounder is a funny sort of name, isn't it? Apparently, the boat was called that because it used to go out to attract the attention of ships, in the great wide river, with a sound. Perhaps it was, or wasn't, something to do with the river pilots, or Her Majesty's Customs & Excise officials?
It was a good and very satisfying little task, tidying it up and giving it some new paintwork.
It badly needed some red and white paint. Perhaps they are the traditional colours for life belts - easy for the eye to spot on in the swirling dark green murky waters? After painting, I gave it a coat of yacht varnish to keep the rain off. It is going to hang on a wall in her garden.
The lettering was a little bit iffy. But as it wasn't painted that well originally, that didn't really matter too much.
Eye-catching, isn't it?
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