Roses, and brasses, and floods, OH MY!

I haven't told my Dad yet so it's a bit of a surprise (good or bad one, i don't know) so I'm going to have to practice ALOT...but...this weekend... I'm going to have my first ever go at painting roses on my front doors. Of course I've got several bits of board to practice on first... I've painted the exterior of the boat before and even did the sign writing. Admittedly it's not perfect but I'm pretty chuffed it's all my own work. So I want the doors to be up to scratch. I've seen some really beautifully painted roses and I've seen some bad ones and as long as I don't fall in the later category I'll be content. I've been watching that episode of 'the boat that guy built' and youtubing it for a few days now and I think, with the video beside me while I do it, I might..maybe... nail it.

Speaking of which, I managed to put up all the brasses from the cratchboard into the engine room. I wanted a plain back to the cratchboard to lean against, but knew I couldn't part with the brasses. They are the history of the boat: Bill and Fred, the previous owners, took gentle Jamel everywhere, and got the brasses to prove it. I'm hoping to add a new brass to them this coming weekend at the Boxmoor canal festival, it's my first ever visit to a boat festival! Though if I'm not taking the boat, can still buy a brass??
Anyway, so, I've relocated Bill and Fred's collection into the engine room. With a polish and some special TLC they gleam like a mirror in the dark scumbled engine room. I'm trying to keep this area as magnolia free as possible, as I know that my modern touch needs curbing now and then. I want my non-traditional back cabin/engine room to be as original as I can keep it. Even though, when I live onboard I know it'll become my understairs storage closet, I'm sure. Bicycle has gotta live somewhere!

Last weekend was a calamity! It seems it's almost two steps forward, then six steps back. In trying to construct the bathroom shelving, it seems I have damaged my beautiful petite basin. I can't even remember doing it, but there's a sneaking crack around the outer side rim of the bowl that snakes around to the top and the porcelain jars upwards in a jagged mess. It's dangerous and ugly but I don't know if I can face ripping it out and re-plumbing the hole thing...yet.
It's all coming together and looking lovely but then I'm noticing little scrapes, scratches, and cracks are forming on worktops, cupboard doors and walls. I want it all to be so prefect but I think I'm slowly learning boats can't be pretty and perfect, they have to be hardy and solid. It's just all a little too late.

Then I was filling up the water tank, holding the hose in place and dozing in the sun, waiting AGES for the tell-tale sound of the overflow to indicate the tank was full when I hear a glugging, sloshing sound coming from beneath the bow deck. I have an access panel on the inside of the boat and pulled it away to find a biblical flood inside (very slight overstatement). Taking the deck up, I discovered the top of my water tank warped and the solid panel with it's clever rubber seal leaking from all sides. So it's either a new tank or a warped panel with an even smarter rubber seal to match the tank... I couldn't face it on a Sunday evening so left it with it's crappy panel and drained the tank instead...There goes my l'eau de canál!