Nice afternoon

Spent a very agreeable afternoon going over the boat with Charlie, the newest recruit. He had already been very well briefed by Ludovic on Saturday, but this time, there was sufficient opportunity to look at things in detail. He certainly knows his way around boats, and was surprisingly good at negotiating his way around the old bores, too, Yours Truly and Lulu in this case, when we got on to our pet subject, lifeboat history.

We had planned, as part of the afternoon's activity, to hose the birdshit off the deck, or rather I had programmed for Charlie to do it for a change, but the rain started and did the job for us. One thing is for certain: Charlie will get the chance to hose the deck down, as those birds don't stop defecating for anyone.

Then came the engine-room routine: there, he has the advantage of being small, and able to move around in the cramped spaces between the machinery. He found the switches in the dark, which is pretty reassuring, really. I'd trust him to do it for real.

Then we went over the bits of the boat which, after a season of heat and wet and being closed in, are beginning to pong. I can foresee quite a few hours disinfecting not just the boat, but the equipment too. Still, all in a good cause, even if the nostrils suffer a bit.

Lulu had brought along his clippings and old photos. Fascinating stuff about the old lifeboatmen, and also about the old lifeboats: the first was over thirty years old when it was first assigned to the Antibes station. The war had basically destroyed the entire lifeboat fleet, and this one had been reconditioned and put back in service. He passed over his bravery certificates without a mention...

Then it was off to the Fort Carré to reconnoitre the exhibition hall: not an ideal space, but Charlie had some good ideas, which I think are going to be acted upon. Then back to the lifeboat offices, where, unlike most visitors, he didn't fall through the hole in the floor (it's the old customs offices, completely rotten). Out with the stuff for display, which Charlie duly loaded into Lulu's car. Mind you, just before, he had run the Antibes lifeboatman's biggest risk, that of being kissed on both cheeks by the former head of the Cannes police vice squad, a long serving lifeboatman. He was saved by the fact that all the oldies all had a meeting to go to, to deal with the fishermen's Fête de la Saint Pierre. I don't think he will escape for long! I didn't, either...