Sail on, 'Maggie-May'

I love this photograph of our boat 'MAGGIE-MAY'. Ever since we moved here I have been looking for a boat. Let me stress that I did not want a seaworthy vessel, I have no thoughts of braving the waves and getting wet and cold, no, I wanted an old boat that could end her days happily squatting amongst the greenery of the garden.

Our 'Maggie-May'

So, I put the word out to everyone I could think of. Builders usually have the contacts, they are my main source of my 'containers' for the garden; old wheelbarrows or 'kruiwas'. A friend of ours also put the word out about a boat for his garden, and low and behold, a few weeks later, one arrived in the middle of the night. He did think it was a bit odd, but he was told that it came from a long way away, so that made sense. He paid for it, and parked (moored?) it on the grass and for many months he was under the (false) impression that he had a legally bought boat. Wrong! One day the police arrived with the real owner of the boat! It turned out that the boat had been stolen, hence it's arrival after dark! However, as there was a huge hole in the bottom and it would never float again, (courtesy of the thief!), the owner was quite happy for the boat to stay where it was and it is now quite a talking point in the village! It's also handy for giving directions, 'Turn left at the stolen boat.'
So, not wanting that to happen to me, I decided to forget about it for a while! However, one morning a builder friend arrived to ask me if I still wanted a boat? Silly question! It turned out that a house had recently changed hands and in the back garden was a boat that had doubled as a vegetable garden and was full to the brim with soil. And weeds! The new owner didn't want it, and our builder friend was happy to deliver it to us. The catch? Rob and I had to empty the soil out first!! So, one morning, armed with spades we headed off to spend a couple of hours toiling in the sun! Later that afternoon, stiff and sore and sunburned, we were the proud owners of 'MAGGIE-MAY' . We called her 'Maggie' after the huge barge 'Margaret' that was wrecked on the rocks in 2009, and 'May' because we got her in the month of May! Then we had to decide what we wanted to do with her. A garden was my first thought because she had holes in her hull (see the nautical term there!!) but, we would need loads and loads of soil. And, we had just emptied loads and loads of soil out of her! Then we thought about making a fish pond in her. We could plug the holes and line her with thick black plastic. (I still like that idea I must say!)

The original 'Margaret', wrecked in 2009

In the end, we simply have her sitting among the arctotis, looking as though she is sailing among the flowers.

The good ship 'Maggie-May'

And I just love her!