Oldies On Tour

Normal morning, breakfast, then two hours of generator, doing jobs whilst it is on.

Working well now, seems to charge well, not sure what has happened but we only have it on once a day now, and that seems to bring the amps right down, to last the day.

We then went ashore, and did some internet, then did some shopping again, we have bought lots of flour, so hopefully they will use it, to make bread, and otherwise I will be cooking a lot when they get back.

We had more lasagna, which was lovely, then in the evening we played crib, lots of games, and very very close all the time, but Geoff was the overall winner.

We were both up and down at various times, boat still holding her position, even though we are on the magic roundabout, Zebedee went to sleep hours ago, why can’t we!

Made a cuppa, but in no rush to get up, we had fresh bread for breakfast, makes a change from cereals, we are both chuffed at how the bread turned out.

We were going to leave today, but at the last minute decided to stay the week-end and let the weather settle, we know the anchor is holding, so why push our luck. So I cleaned round with hover, whilst Geoff cooked the lasagna for dinner tonight.

Decided to go to town, to get some odds and sods, it was lovely to go out, and not have to struggle back with provisions, although I think we will be doing more tomorrow. We strolled through the marina, and onto Kmart, bought new bread tins, and we bought an adapter for IPod, forgot to bring ours, so we now have all our music playing through the speakers it is lovely, just like home. Sometimes I miss it, and other times, I think not a bad life we have on board, it is only when we have bad nights, I think about my 6’6 bed at home.

We had sherry on the terrace, (cockpit) then a bottle of red wine, with one of Geoff’s lasagna, it was lovely, we had the music on in the background, the wind has dropped a bit, so all in all a good night, especially as I beat Geoff 4-1 at dominoes.

We then watched Sharpe, but I fell asleep in the middle, not so exciting as 24.

Alarm went off about 2am, so that Geoff could wish Mark a ‘Happy Birthday’ before he went off to work, hope he had a good day, not too much work.

We had our breakfast, then I continued with the clearing away of the debris, getting there, if I see another cereal bar, I shall tell you what to do with it. All stacked nicely away, we are wandering what we are going to do with the next lot!

Over the last few days, hundreds of sea gulls, have arrived, never seen them before, I know why now, the weather had deteriated, and is very windy. I wonder if there is a connection.

We had the generator on for two hours, to catch up with the amps, batteries a bit low, soon piled in, and we were back to normal, I even managed to do the ironing, the DVD takes quite a bit out of batteries.

Onto internet, have some problems with my flat, as the tenant is leaving, so have to make sure that is ok, will know more tomorrow.

Back on board, I showed Geoff how to make bread, it was quite fun, he hates getting his fingers dirty, and although it was not dirt, it was messy, so funny to watch. I showed him how to knead the bread, and the result was brilliant, we have two perfect loaves, not good for the figure. Now have to go back to shop to buy flour and yeast, hope the others make it too.

The winds are now quite strong, and we are all going in different directions, one of the boats in front of us, has pulled some of his anchor up, as we nearly touched at one point, his stern to our bows, looks weird, it is like being in a washing machine, back and forward, hopefully the anchor will stay put overnight. Seagulls have become really noisy now, very eerie. Have put the dinghy on the side, as a big fender, fingers crossed! The sky went very black, and some more sudden gusts, off we go again, I hate funfairs, so this is doing my head in.

Geoff put on the last 24 hour disc, we were up and down like yoyo’s checking the boat, but we managed to finish another series, have to buy the next one now. We survived the night without any dramas although I am very tired.

Nothing much happened today, Geoff went over to the internet again, left me trying to sort out where all the food is going to be stored. When he eventually came back we went shopping for another load, we came back, and then I suggested having lunch out and going again, to hopefully finish it. Our cabin was a mess anyway, I had stripped the bed, to store stuff under, if we can sort it and pack it, we will not have to do it again, or at least I will not anyway.

So off we went to Hooters, which is I guess an American quick food outlet, the girls run around in hot pants, and t/shirts, and they serve chicken, & beef burgers, etc., KFC with a difference, prefer KFC.

We then did the supermarket, Geoff’s card was refused, so not sure why, he must have overspent, good job I was there. We take the trolley to Dinghy Park; I load it, whilst Geoff takes the trolley back, then back to the boat to unload. Then find a spot for it, which is not an easy task. The cupboard is full to overflowing, and now, under our bed is full, we still have the forward cabin, with a locker free, but we have all the water to go yet.

Made the bed, had a shower, then watched 24, I am shattered, half way through one episode we heard a big bang, we thought we had hit something, I ran up with the key, expecting the worse, it was as calm could be, no one near us, we were still in the same position. The only thing we can think it was, is one of the big windows dropped back, and we were so engrossed in the DVD, it sounded worse than it was. Time for some sleep.

My whole body aches, first time for a long time, still the joys of old age, and keep taking the pills! Decided not to do much today, but rest, we had breakfast then went off to internet, we had a lovely walk through the gardens. The internet was on a go slow, so it was difficult to get things done, plus Geoff somehow seemed to lose everything, so another quick SOS to Martin, thank goodness he sorted it.

Back to the boat for lunch, we had halibut, but as delicate as it was, not very tasty, plus it was very expensive, so will not be buying that again.

After lunch we had some fellow Westerly owners come aboard, they have just arrived, they came over in a 36’ it took them 28 days, apparently no wind, and I would have gone mad. We had a cup of tea with them, and then we went shopping, this time to Kmart, well when we came out of the shop, we were wondering how we were going to get it back, we had packs of toilet rolls x 36, paper towels, cereals, all bulky stuff, fortunately not too much heavy stuff, our arms must have stretched six inches. Still into the dinghy and back on board, we have started the buying for the trip.

We had another cuppa, and Geoff took some pills for his shoulder, and I took some for my bones, after tea, we went and lay down on the bed and watched some more 24.

Geoff was up at 7.30am making tea; he has two appointments at 8am, but wants to do some printing before. Off he went to the Marina office, and left me with the canvas guy, who wanted to replace our spray hood, fortunately Geoff came back to deal with him. Something’s can wait until we get back to Spain and that is one of them.

Internet next, Martin is waiting to sort our new mail sail programme out, well Geoff and computers are bad, Geoff and bad connections and computers is awful. Firstly when Geoff switched on he pressed the wrong button, and suddenly the screen was on the side, and he did not know how to retrieve it. I was on my computer, with Martin on skype, oh dear it is not going to be a good day. Martin sorted that out, and then they started with the job in hand. I was trying to get Geoff some breakfast whilst doing what I had to do for Geoff. It was getting all very fraught, so I suggested Geoff went over to the internet office, and sat there, and talked and did what he had to, which he did. I popped my head in later and things were going well.

Meanwhile I was still sorting the washing out, the bedding which is going to be used for trip has been stored in the boat for a long time, so I have washed and ironed everything, I scrubbed the bunk room, and aired it out, emptied everything I could from room, so there will be more space. I even put some Danish oil on the wood, to restore it a bit, looks nice now.

Geoff came back, the sat phone did not work over there, so he is going to try it on board, guess what it did not work here either, poor Geoff he gets so desperate, neither of us are computer literate, he was all for Martin buying a new laptop, and getting one of the boys to bring it out with them, I calmed him down a bit, and suggested it might not work because he has not paid!

So back he went to the internet, fortunately the lady said he could come in, even though she was closed, as she had some work to do. All paid up, back he came, and yippee it worked, the computer is now talking to the sat phone, and sat phone is sending our emails out. Thank you Martin for being so patient, and talking him through everything, mind you if you had done the trip, I would not have suffered today. Still by keeping busy, I got loads done too.

I had found some Italian sausages over the supermarket, they were lovely and spicy, what a day, we did not do much after lunch, by which time it was 4pm, we read a little.

I decided as my back was aching that I would have an early shower, and lay on the bed, and later we broke into Series 6 of 24, (American drama) we watched four hours straight off, I do enjoy it.