Beez Neez now Chy Whella

This Week

Big Bear and Pepe Millard

Sun 7 Oct 2012 19:13

Back to Beez and Yet More Chores

We booked Julio to pick us up from the Tikal Inn at 07:15. At 08:10 we were hurtling along missing the dogs that make the centre of the road their bed. We screeched to a halt at the bus station at three minutes to nine “sorry no bus at nine but we have seats on the ten o’clock”. Julio had told us that the nine o’clock bus was the nice one with air-con but it didn’t wipe the happy face off the skipper. We waited in the rather pleasant bus terminal and got offered mobile phones, fruit, t-shirts, newspapers, watch straps and a whole host of goodies from well warn baskets.

I loved this advertisement for banning illegal bird export.

On the bus, sadly we sat next to the air-con hot vent. No stop at the fruit border as the guard waved us through. We were back in Fronteras, hot, thirsty and strangely tired at half twelve. Time to sit with the luggage, have a cold drink while Bear went to the supermarket for milk, eggs and butter. His turn to sit whilst I went for fruit and salad. We rang Alex at the marina who came to pick us up in the launcher. Safely back on Beez for a late lunch of the Kentucky Fried Chicken lookalike at half the price.

Road trip over it was ceiling down yet again, and the I was somewhat concerned to see the GPS unit swing past me and bleeping noises coming from the tip-like office.

The desk – once again chaos. Passports out in the midst of it, but that’s another story

Sea berth toilet, empty pod and bedroom floor – skipper says it proves stuff is going on

Mind you, where I’ve been ‘Cabbage Patched’ in the corner doesn’t look too much better. My Pink Jobs are sadly never seen. I’ve had the bedroom floor up, washed the hidey holes beneath, washed all the stowed smellies, put them back neatly after updating the spreadsheet. Of the fifteen toothpastes that originally set sail in June 2008, we only have five left each. Now that really is a saddo fact. Bear’s eggs have been behaving quite well this week but there was one rather good one.

After much ‘dangling’ through the door I can now report that I have my Christmas present in situ. My brand new waterproof AIS unit, set nicely above the GPS unit in the cockpit. The old one was small and we had to nip down into the office to read it – very handy to see ships out there, their course, speed etc. New pink job – to clean the GPS cover. Wired in, all that remained was the test. A nervous skipper switched on and..... all well except for the error message declaring no GPS data available on the satellite recognition screen. A quick email to a nice young techy in New Zealand and all is well. Geoff is now looking forward to welcoming us to his home town of Auckland.

Next job was the Captains Bolts. I always knew he had them but didn’t want to look under his collar. I also didn’t want to ask why they had become a topic of conversation but they have and I did – I plucked up the courage. To change the timing belt – a job that should be done at two thousand engine hours has been slightly delayed as Bear knew it was going to be a bitch of a job and clearly one that had been moved from job list to new job list. With the Pacific crossing looming and two thousand five hundred hours and forty six hours on the clock, the captain could not put it off any longer, especially as he brought back all the necessary parts with him in April.

Bear had to remove the four bolts on the water pump pulley by destroying them in the end. Demolition tactics and a few swear words later - the paint sealed bolts yielded to brute force and ignorance (hammer and chisel). Bear had ordered new ones ready for this job that he admits he was really not looking forward to but went exceedingly well and he now admits was a bit of a doddle – largely due to good preparation, much pondering and vacillation. I’d just call it Bulls- - t and good luck, I will admit to being impressed when Beez engine leapt into life at first request and there was no clanking or clashing noises.

There have been one or two little events this week. First, when Bear dropped the his crimping tool. It bounced and managed to land, perfectly piercing a small vein on the top of his foot. Less blood than was really necessary to sit with it raised, but the nurse was peaked in me. A licked corner of kitchen roll applied, checked for flow stoppage and back the skipper was discharged to his jobs, now just a small mark remains. His big toe nail is another story. He can’t remember how he injured it but the nail has been hanging on like a cheap suit. I have given it a quick yank once or twice but the resultant squealing made me stop and pass a tissue to mop the now sweating brow. I’m on its case though.

I have completed one chore that has something physical in the way of a result. Over many hours I have copied all our films, comedies, documentaries and odds from their various 500 gig hard drives to two, three terabyte master hard drives. All films are in their own folder with a copy of the DVD front cover. All are ‘others’ are logged on spreadsheets. Final job is to date the films and produce a copy for the new booklet.

Sad – definitely - but it did mean that we took a hundred and fifty pounds in weight off the girl and all our DVD’s are now tucked up in storage.

Bear’s little black book has been thrust under my nose to prove the job list IS going down. The nice Argentinian, Peter next door, says anyone can write a busy looking list and add ticks in random places.

Hmmmmm a boy thing to do ???

ALL IN ALL – ALL WELL ON BEEZ