NaBloPoMo 7 boats

I've had an excellent day today.

We had a lazy fry up before the mother in law headed home. I love a sociable breakfast. All the chatting and tea and relaxing.

Next we were off to the Mary Rose museum in Portsmouth. I'd been before with work, but Tom and Sandy hadn't. We enjoyed Boathouse 4 and its exhibit on small naval boats. A ship can carry boats but a boat can't carry ships!

The Mary Rose museum laid out brilliantly. The galleries at either end of each floor explain the smaller finds through the life of the characters thought to have owned the items, like the cook, or the master carpenter. Then you walk through long galleries the length of the ship, with the drying ship visible on one side, and the larger finds for each deck displayed as they might have been on the other.



I cannot fathom a conservation project going on longer than my lifetime, and it's all so excellently done. The little things got to me. The design of shoes, bellows, wood planes and baskets hasn't changed in 500 years. That bodies can deform based on our employment, with archer's shoulder blades and the compressed spines of gunners lifting heavy weights coming to mind.

We had a very late lunch at Azzuros at Gunwharf Quays, and once we got back, I trundled off to church to arrange this year's remembrance flowers. I hope the string holds!

The evening saw beer with Ben and Jon in the Butcher's Hook, games and knitting. And late night ice cream. Wonderful.