Thursday 25th March

Fred's put Big Gate back up... started painting it today with this RED stuff. Genie said "Why are you painting it red when the rest of it's green?" and Fred said "Nosey!" and put a little dab of paint on her nose but he wiped it off straight away with his special cloth.

Then he said "It's what we always used in the Andrew" (his word for the Royal Navy) "Undercoat, see... nothing like it for keeping the rust off. Used to use it in the old Sheffield." Slam said "Why were you in Sheffield? That's nowhere near the sea!" Fred did this big sigh and said " Sheffield was a destroyer... 'Shiny Sheff' we called her. Sunk in the Falklands War - real shame. Good ship..." He looked sad for a moment then said "Now you bloomin' kids, you let me get on! Or I'll paint you all red too!"

It's kind of nice he was sad about his old ship...