Page 297 is perhaps my favourite, ‘Folding lavatories’, and No 2702, if Sally had the room, would suit her admirably: ‘Made in mahogany, polished. Bevelled mirror. Chromium-plated pump. Price £8 15s 0d…’ I am referring, of course, to that bible of the classic yachtsman (although in 1938 this was not so much classic as state of the art), the Simpson-Lawrence catalogue of yacht equipment, all 336 pages of brass and chrome, mahogany and porcelain, including the S-L Standard model, catalogue No 396 (£7 18s 6d), which has been in use in Sally’s forepeak since 1937, and has never – at least in my ownership – lost a beat, or whatever the term is for a gunmetal and chrome yacht’s loo.
Leafing through those pages my eyes will recognise many bits…