West Side Story: There's a [dry] place for us

After stripping off the rotten timber on 30th October there were two more work sessions before Good Ship Shed was deemed Irish Seaworthy. They were made fraught by the rapidly expanding hours of darkness. It was rather like (shifting from one adventure arena to another) finishing climbs at dusk: total concentration, no second chances. I learned that my eye was as accurate as the tape measure for certain cuts - and much quicker. Sometimes I couldn't see the markings on the tape measure anyway. In my previous post I preened myself on being meticulous; well it's all the more healthy for me to work at top speed sometimes. And miraculously there were no unscheduled amputations.

Now we have a sound west wall with two windows, giving further illumination to the work-top.

Here's a pictorial resumé:

Stage 1, July 15. Painted, but unimproved. Some nailed-on salvaged fencing material is but a finger in the dike.

Stage 2, September 1. Installing the first windows through the decaying original tongue and groove cladding. You'll get an inkling of its true condition if you click the image.

Stage 3, September 15. South windows in, but south and west wall tongue and groove cladding still to be replaced.

Stage 4, October 29. South wall cladding replaced with overlapping planks, worktop and shelves installed, but west wall still has original tongue-and-groove cladding:

Stage 5, November 7. West wall cladding replaced with overlapping planks, incorporating two further windows. Ready for sunset views!

There'll be some minor enhancements to the storage, and of course we'll need some net curtains to twitch.

Here's the external south west corner, which will bear the brunt of the weather:

And here's the north west corner.

Rather like Frankenstein's monster, this creation has acquired some unforeseen likenesses:

• a guard's van (caboose) 
• a watchtower
• a split-windscreen VW campervan

Do feel free to comment with your own suggestions.