Friday 7th May (Lini’s Journal)

Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Sun 16 May 2010 02:21
It rained in the night and refused to stop, pelting down most of
the day but on a positive note giving Brindabella a great bath. Today
was also extremely hot so the only logical thing to wear was swimwear.
I donned quick dry shorts and a tankini top. In torrential rain I hit
the laundry with three large loads at 6.45am giving me plenty of time
to be finished before 9am when we planned to share a taxi with Festina
to get gas bottles filled and shop. Oh! The delights of domestic
appliances I thought as I left the machines doing what would have
taken me all morning on Brindabella. After another drenching we had a
quick breakfast before my shower number three. There was no way
anything would dry on a line today so I transferred my laundry to
driers as I dripped all over the floor. I loaded a small fortune of
coins and was just about to leave when they malfunctioned and ‘Out of
Order’ flashed across the display: Count to ten Lini! The laundry lady
(What is her correct name?) wasn’t due until 8am so I returned to
Brindabella having shower number four. Luckily there were hundreds of
little jobs to fill the time until shower number five and a soggy wait
until 8.15am when she finally arrived. All seemed well now and I left
the machines tumbling away merrily assuming she had credited me with
the amount I’d loaded. Shower number six with expectations of
mountains of fluffy dry laundry ended with laundry as soggy as me. Now
running late but with no point in returning with wet laundry I changed
another small fortune and fed one coin at a time into the machines
until all was dry: What a palaver! A least the sun was shining now.
A quick change of clothes and we all jumped into a taxi as I
offered sincere apologies for holding everyone up. It rained again;
heavily, and we were in one of those Caribbean style taxis which look
like carriages on a train at a theme park with open sides, bench seats
and a very irritating gap between the roof and the cab, between which
we all had another shower. As we clung on over the bumpy road (like a
theme park ride) we had our first look at the interior of Tortola.
Unfortunately when we arrived, one supermarket is much like another
and the guys dropped Lynda and me off in search of gas.
Shopping these days takes ages as I have to check labels for fat
content and once more I was embarrassed to hold everyone up. At least
there was a good selection of everything to stock up for ten days,
although I doubt the refrigerated vegetables from America will keep
well. Back at the marina a brief spell of sunshine took some of the
sting out of the tail of a $60 US taxi fee: It would have been cheaper
to provision at the marina shop!
The rain bucketed down all afternoon and I watched Phillip and
Lynda being drenched while working on their boom as we melted inside
Brindabella with all the hatches sealed. We still had rig checks to do
but the top of the mast right then would have been most unpleasant for
Si. He had an unpleasant time instead trying to sort out computer
problems and check the weather. I had that terrible sense of déjà-vu
from the two weeks of stressful preparations in Gran Canaria with my
stomach in knots with fear he’d actually explode. At least this stress
will be short lived; we now plan to leave tomorrow.
Although the weather doesn’t look brilliant with a band of nasty
stuff passing ahead of us, light winds, then some ‘lively stuff’
later, we have to be in Bermuda by May 27th for Si’s flight. The seven
day forecast shows some tropical activity building here and beyond
that forecast, things could be worse and we may not get away.
The fridge was now repacked, meat in the icebox and the vegetables
in the freezer lined with a coolbag and beach towel in case we leave
it on too long each day. I dug out the electric Remoska cooker and set
it up on the table under the bimini. How lucky I didn’t have to cook
inside with all the hatches shut; we would have cooked ourselves. With
the possibility of bad weather I threw meat and vegetables in the
Remoska first to pre-cook a couple of meals to freeze, then made
flapjacks and ginger and lemon galantes (our name for flat, hard, fat
free cookies!). There was then a mass of tidying and stowing to do. At
sea, when sleep deprived, even the tiniest rattle will drive you
slowly insane as you try to sleep. I have an ongoing ‘At Sea
Anti-Rattle Check List’ which was added to in other areas too after
the transatlantic crossing when constant swinging of clothes in the
wardrobe made fluffy scuff marks on my silk going out clothes. Today
they were packed in bags. Things were still extremely angry in Simon’s
world but I’ve learned it’s best to steer clear rather than offer
help.
This morning Si suggested we eat out tonight but time was now
creeping on. We had a swift ‘after’ sundowner, showered and now really
hungry shot off to the marina restaurant. This evening I could have
eaten a whole horse, with chips, and one of those chocolate fudgy
puddings with lashings of custard or a sizable dollop of ice cream (or
both!). Instead, after waiting so long we were slumped over the table
fighting off sleep, I had salad with a little grilled tuna while
drooling over Si’s steak and chips. My tummy was still rumbling when I
fell into bed.