Friday 9th April (Lini's Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Thu 22 Apr 2010 19:56
Simon wasn’t awake quite so early today! Our watermaker pump has
arrived so he ripped up the bunk to remove the old one. He was
horrified. It was full of rust having been sitting in salt water and
far from spinning round, the top was almost jammed solid. It must have
damaged the motor above. We took photos and Si is once again planning
to ask for a total replacement. I hope he perseveres this time;
justice should be done. From the cruisers net on the SSB radio this
morning is sounds like half of the cruising community in the Caribbean
are in English and Falmouth Harbours to see the Antigua Classics
Regatta, so Si decided to take a bus to collect the new pump. The day
was brighter but the strong winds continue as he set off in Shovell
with the old rusted pump in his bag.
On Brindabella Lini picked up wifi so caught up with emails and the
blog before ongoing cleaning. Where does all the dirt come from on a
boat? Si was back in record time though, pulling the devilishly
expensive pump from his bag and setting to install it straight after
lunch. Having to concertina his legs out of the way to get under our
bunk to work in the first place was an amazing feat in itself, but to
then reach under other watermaker paraphernalia to fit the pump in
scorching heat deserved a medal as shiny as the new pump. After ‘ a
few’ naughty words however it was test time and Si smiled at last as
up went the pressure and out came water with salinity levels now
potable. The flow also increased from a drizzle to a fast trickle.
Hurrah! And three cheers for my hero, hip-hip…………………….All well for
now, we are still very concerned about the damage the rusted pump has
done to the motor and output levels are still not quite as they should
be. I continue to think Hallberg Rassy should replace the whole unit
on our return. Far from an ice cold beer, it should have been
champagne we drank after all the grief Si’s gone through, but a nice
bottle of New Zealand white was chilling in the fridge for dinner.
I should have thought earlier about hopefully celebrating this
evening and prepared a special dinner while Si was out, so it was a
speedy riffle through the fridge and a quick decision on sweet and
sour pork with French beans and mash. We had picked up several packet
type desserts when provisioning Brindabella for the transatlantic
which still sat unopened, tucked away in the back of the cupboards. I
retrieved ‘Leite Crème’ (from Portugal) and attempted to decipher the
instructions. Usually the idiot (or Lini) proof diagrams are
sufficient but these instructions left me none the wiser except for
using half a litre of milk per sachet. Thank heavens for Babel Fish; I
typed the instructions, copied them into the website, pressed
translate and voila! All became instantly……….amusing. I never was any
good at things in boxes! For anyone wishing to make a boxed version of
crème caramel instructions follow:- Enjoy!!!!!

Instructions will be Crème Milk Each joins of 4 wallets existents in
this packing destines it ½ litros of milk. In a small portion removed
of ½ liter of milk, to dissolve the content of the wallet juntament
with 3 the 4 soup spoons of acugar. Lever remaining milk to the fire
and when to start to boil to join the portion of milk with the
dissolved dust and sugar already. To leave to always boil about one
minute moving. To lie down crème in a crosspiece or small goblets and
to spread a little of sugar for top of a mountain, burning it with an
iron in live coal. Each saqueta of 23g of dust provides to 5 portions
of 115g of product reconstitutuido with milk melo fat person.

In the absence of an iron and live coals, I stole Si’s blowtorch to
burn my mountain and watched as he spooned up a somewhat floppy
‘crème’. Thank goodness for gall stones and at least the pork was
edible! So, it was a good day for Simon then (apart from dessert!),
especially as he was also able to talk to his dad in Australia on his
birthday.